A meeting of the Council of the Tambov Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry was held under the chairmanship of the Head of the Council, General Director of "KRATA Management Company" LLC (JSC "Pigment"), Andrey Utrobin. Deputy Head of the Tambov Region Nikolay Fedoseenkov and Acting Minister of Economic and Investment Policy of the region Ivan Safronov attended the event. The main topic was the prospects for implementing the ECG-Rating and the Social Capital Standard.
Opening the discussion, Nikolay Fedoseenkov noted that the ECG-Rating is a tool with clear and transparent indicators that characterizes the sustainability of commercial organizations and delivers practical results in the public procurement system. Ivan Safronov reported that the region has significantly revised its mechanism for evaluating investment projects: a threshold criterion has been introduced — a bid is not considered if the company's ECG-Rating is below 60 points.
Chief Accountant Elena Alexandrovna Chetyrina presented the position of ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING. The company has been operating on the market since 2014 and develops comprehensive engineering services for industrial enterprises — from design and engineering development to the supply of process lines, plants and factories, installation and commissioning. We act as an EPC/EPCM partner in implementing high-tech and energy-efficient solutions forpetrochemicals, biotechnology, and the food industry.
Council meeting. Photo: Information and Publishing Center of the Tambov Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Based on the results of participation in the national ECG-Rating, our company was awarded the status of "Leader (AAA)" with a score of 106 out of a possible 160. Thus, the company was ranked among the leaders of the rating in the region — alongside JSC "Pigment," LLC "Agrofirma 'Oktyabrskaya'," LLC "Nadezhda-Farm," LLC "Pozitiv," and LLC "Agro.AI."The standard "Index of Business Reputation of Business Entities (ECG-Rating)(GOST R 71198-2023) has been implemented since February 1, 2024, in pursuance of the directive of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin on responsible business conduct.
"We underwent ECG-Rating certification among the first in the country. What initially attracted us was that the methodology evaluates not only the financial condition, but also the social responsibility of business, environmental contribution, and the quality of management processes. After completing the questionnaire stage, the company's rating further increased — this confirmed that our internal processes are structured systematically, not formally.
At the same time, the assessment mechanism within the ECG-Rating, in our opinion, needs further development. In a number of regions, including the Tambov Region, the rating is already taken into account when organizing competitive procurement. However, a significant part of business operates far beyond the scope of state and municipal contracts.
Specifically, taking ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING as an example: we have state and municipal contracts, but 90% of our procurement consists of ordinary commercial contracts. For instance, in tender procedures for commercial contracts, we do not encounter ECG-Rating requirements. The major customers with whom we cooperate — SIBUR, Gazprom, NOVATEK, ALROSA — have never included such requirements in their tender conditions,"— noted the Chief Accountant of ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING, Elena Chetyrina.
Our company is a large commercial enterprise, but a similar picture exists in the small and medium-sized business segment: companies actively participate in tender platforms, but there is no practical application of the ECG-Rating there.
Hence the first proposal from ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING: Extend the ECG-Rating not only to state and municipal procurement, but also to the entire range of contracts in the Russian Federation. Such an approach would require legislative support and the development of an information framework around the business assessment mechanism.
Broader application of the rating works in both directions. Already at the qualification stage, it allows customers to weed out fly-by-night companies and protect themselves from tax gaps and personnel instability among contractors. As is often the case in practice: a contract is signed, and then, due to a shortage of personnel, the contractor loses workers, wages are not paid — and the customer is left with missed deadlines and unfinished projects.
This logic is also directly linked to the application of the rating in the contract system: procurement legislation allows the use of business reputation criteria when evaluating bids, and a confirmed ECG-Rating becomes an additional argument in favor of a company's reliability, financial discipline, and transparency.
"And we would very much like a high ECG-Rating to be not just a beautiful certificate of honor for us, but to become our competitive asset," , The second set of our proposals concerns the "Ecology" criterion. The ECG-Rating has 10 criteria, and the environmental criterion is one of the key ones. Our company has repeatedly implemented major federal projects to eliminate accumulated environmental damage from former Soviet enterprises and continues to build treatment facilities for such high-hazard industrial waste landfills:
The second set of our proposals concerns the "Ecology" criterion. The ECG-Rating has 10 criteria, and the environmental criterion is one of the key ones. Our company has repeatedly implemented major federal projects to eliminate accumulated environmental damage from former Soviet enterprises and continues to build treatment facilities for such high-hazard industrial waste landfills:
We developed, manufactured, supplied, and commissioned brine concentrate evaporation units for the Krasny Borlandfill in the Leningrad Region — a well-known site for the disposal and storage of toxic waste
We are building treatment facilities to eliminate accumulated environmental damage at the former Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill BabkhinskyandSolzansky
Nevertheless, based on the review of documents submitted by ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING as part of the ECG-Rating assessment under the "Ecology" criterion, the company received 0 points. The reason — the current methodology evaluates contributions to environmental projects only within the region of the company's presence, but does not account for contributions to federal environmental projects across the entire country.
Babkhinsky landfill. Photo: ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING.
Hence the second proposal from ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING: Carefully review the assessment methodology for the "Ecology" criterion. If a company participates in projects in another region, this should be encouraged, not ignored., summarized the Chief Accountant of ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING, Elena Chetyrina.
During the meeting, the Financial Director of the "Oktyabrskoye" Group of Companies, Irina Shirshova, also highlighted barriers encountered when filling out questionnaires as part of the ECG-Rating. The Commissioner for the Protection of Entrepreneurs' Rights in the Tambov Region, Ekaterina Movchan, proposed taking the ECG-Rating into account when evaluating participants in the regional competition "Best Entrepreneur of the Year" and introducing a separate nomination for rating leaders. A special guest of the meeting via videoconference was the Head of the "Social Capital" Autonomous Non-Profit Organization, Asiyat Bagatyrova, who explained the essence of the Social Capital Standard — a voluntary methodology that assesses the real contribution of organizations to national projects and social and environmental development.
The ECG-Rating, from ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING's perspective, is a sought-after mechanism for assessing business that supports the development of responsible companies and fosters a transparent business environment. We support its further development: expanding its application in B2G and B2B procurement, adjusting the methodology for the environmental criterion, and strengthening the information framework. A high ECG-Rating should function as a genuine competitive asset — in the interests of customers, contractors, and the state.
Following the meeting of the Council of the Tambov Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, all proposals made were recorded in the minutes and will be submitted to the Ministry of Economic Development of the Tambov Region and the "Social Capital" Autonomous Non-Profit Organization for consideration, including the proposals from ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING on expanding the practical application of the ECG-Rating and refining the assessment methodology for the "Ecology" criterion.
Krasny Bor landfill. Photo: ZAVKOM-ENGINEERING.