MOSCOW, May 13 (RAPSI) – Russia's Economy Ministry proposed amendments to the public procurement bill introducing new rules for the state-owned companies that buy equipment, Vedomosti newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The amendments are aimed at adjusting the bids of the state-owned enterprises and capacities of domestic producers.

The amendments were proposed after President Vladimir Putin gave his annual state of the union address in December. He said that a coordinating authority in the government should supervise the procurement procedures.

According to the ministry’s amendments, the government would only coordinate large acquisitions of mechanical engineering products for investment projects worth over 10 billion rubles ($196.4 million) requested by state-owned companies that receive state support. State support, which amounts to at least 10 percent of the project’s cost, includes budget subsidies and government guarantees, as well as allocations from the National Wealth Fund or the participation of a given company in a project financing program.

These companies must submit plans to the government import substitution commission on large-scale purchases of equipment for the following five years or until the end of the investment project. The commission would coordinate these plans with the given industry development programs, including import substitution plans, which could be adjusted to the companies’ plans, if necessary, the ministry official said.

“It is only reasonable to substitute what we really need to substitute; not everything that can be substituted,” the official said.

The public procurement bill was submitted to the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, that has passed it in its first reading.