MOSCOW, July 27 (RAPSI) – The Russian government has filed a bill on improvement of state procurement regarding the provision of state social services aimed to develop free services in the spheres of education, healthcare and sports, with the State Duma, the government’s statement reads.

As the bill reads, customers getting the said services will have the right to choose the provider of social services paid for from the state budget funds according to the “money follows consumer” principle. However, the bill does not envisage that providers should be selected by competition-based methods.

The authors of the bill believe that competition between state-owned and private entities assuming the majority of them are objectively interested in transparent distribution of state funds will result in an increase in the quality of state services in the social sphere and creation of a level playing field in this area.