iPad tablets will not be the property of deputies, the Moscow City Duma reported

Bugagashenka! MOSCOW, Nov 16 — RIA Novosti. iPad tablet computers are being purchased by the Moscow City Duma as part of the development of electronic document management and in order to reduce “paperwork”, they will not be the property of deputies, but of the regional parliament, RIA Novosti reported on Friday in its press service.Earlier, information appeared on the public procurement portal that the Moscow Regional Duma announced a tender for the supply of Apple iPad tablet computers of the third generation, the initial contract price is three million rubles.

Nadezhda Smirnova, responsible for the tender, explained to the media that the Duma buys gadgets for deputies for the New Year as gifts.

Konstantin Surkov, First Deputy chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Regulations and Parliamentary Procedures, told RIA Novosti that he sees nothing criminal in the deputies’ decision. Moscow City Duma to purchase an iPad.

“Tablets are indeed purchased for all deputies, but they will belong to the Duma. They will also be provided to the heads of structural divisions of the parliament. The purchase is carried out as part of the modernization of the Duma’s material and technical base, reducing the cost of purchasing paper media and developing electronic document management,” the press service said.

As the head of the Fair Russia faction Ivan Charyshkin explained, the purpose of purchasing tablets is to get away from the use of paper consumables and get rid of paperwork so that deputies can see all the necessary documents for the parliament meeting on a tablet.

“At each meeting, the Duma considers a huge number of issues: draft laws, resolutions, decisions, explanatory notes — all this is printed on paper in advance and handed over to each deputy, he analyzes the documents and makes a decision on voting: “for” or “against”. The amount of paperwork is huge,” Charyshkin said.

The leader of the United Russia faction, Ivan Zhukov, noted that the use of information technology in work is the reality of today.

“Tablets are purchased for the needs of the Duma and will remain the property of the parliament. They will belong to the Moscow Regional Duma — each deputy, in accordance with the law, is obliged to give gifts to the parliament, the cost of which exceeds three thousand rubles,” said Konstantin Cheremisov, head of the Communist Party faction.

Alexander Livadchenko, head of the LDPR faction in The Moscow City Duma also recalled that in the previous convocation of the parliament under Expensive writing sets, bronze statuettes, frames for thank-you letters, vases were bought for the New Year.

“The deputies of the fifth convocation refused this practice: at the end of 2011, a multimillion-dollar tender for New Year’s gifts and premium products was canceled. Convenient and economical from the point of view of household expenses, the tablet can be considered a New Year’s gift. There are 50 deputies working in the Duma, the equipment will also be used by the parliamentary apparatus,” he concluded.