Food, fuel and things for army: Prozorro ens data on non-armed defense procurement

According to Ukrinform, the press service of the Ministry of Economy reported this on its website.

"Since April 23, a new function has become available in the Prozorro system – the display of information on non-armed defense procurement," the statement said.

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From now on, defense customers and military units will start publishing information on unit prices in their non-armed procurement. The new version of the Law "On Defense Procurement" provides for this obligation.

"In our experience, the mere fact that information about your procurement will be published in Prozorro is an incentive to take a more careful approach to procurement," said Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Nada Bihun.

According to her, defense customers will report on non-armed procurement (food, clothing, fuel, etc.) starting at UAH 200,000 for goods and services and UAH 1.5 million for works. The reports will contain a limited amount of information – the name of the contracting authority, the subject of procurement and the price per unit.

In the case of procurement of catering services, procuring entities will have to report on the price per unit of each product included in the service. To do this, they will be able to upload a file with the relevant calculations to the Prozorro system.

"Returning transparency to defense procurement is only the first step. We are currently working on creating a new procedure for framework agreements for defense needs, which will allow the defense industry to conduct competitive selection of suppliers through Prozorro without publishing sensitive information in the system," explained Bihun.

The law stipulates that defense contracting authorities and military units must publish reports in the Prozorro system within 10 working days from the date of signing the contract. In addition, by June 22, they will have to report on all contracts concluded since February 24, 2022, i.e., from the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

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As reported, on January 30, 2023, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal ordered the develment of an updated system to balance secrecy and public contr over procurement for the army.

On March 4, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the State Anti-Corruption Program for 2023-2025. This document defines a system of specific anti-corruption measures aimed at implementing the Anti-Corruption Strategy. On March 13, its text was published on the government's website.

The program covers such areas as improving the effectiveness of the anti-corruption system; ensuring the inevitability of liability for corruption; defense; justice; state regulation of the economy; customs and taxation; construction, land relations and infrastructure; healthcare; education and social protection; and antitrust picy.