In the course of the study, the authors conducted a survey in the format of self-completion of a formalized questionnaire in a special program or by means of a telephone computerized interview among employees of companies participating in procurement carried out in accordance with Federal Law No. 44-FZ of April 5, 2013 "On Contract System in the Sphere of Procurement of Goods, Works and Services for State and Municipal Needs" and Federal Law No. 223-FZ of July 18, 2011 "On Procurement of Goods, Works and Services by Certain Types of Legal Entities". The companies participating in the survey were distributed by region and by industry using a multi-stage country survey.

The companies that took part in the survey were distributed by region and by industry using multistage stratification, then the answers of randomly selected companies in each stratum were used as a basis for statistical analysis - the total sample size amounted to 1,228 respondents. 18.5% of them were representatives of healthcare and social services, 13.1% - production and supply of pharmaceuticals, 5.8% - production and supply of medical equipment, 14.6% - trade and repair services.

Although the HSE experts did not ask the participants directly whether they personally had to give kickbacks, the analysis of answers to indirect questions revealed that the overwhelming majority of companies (71%) believe that informal payments take place within the framework of procurement, and, according to respondents, the amount of such payments in some cases reaches 65% of the contract value, while the average size of a kickback, according to the survey results, is 22.5% of the contract value.

Based on this "average size" of corruption payments, the HSE experts calculated that if the total volume of public procurement in 2020 amounted to 29.1 trillion rubles, then almost 6.6 trillion rubles was spent on kickbacks, which is more than 6% of Russia's GDP and exceeds the size of government spending on education and healthcare.

At the same time, while the vast majority (83%) of survey participants said they have a negative attitude to bribes, kickbacks and other informal payments in any area of business, more than a third of respondents (37%) directly indicated that they consider corrupt practices - vertical and horizontal collusion - to be a key factor in successfully obtaining government contracts, noting the very high level of competition and the impossibility of overcoming it by other means.