Commercial law

New defense procurement system informs society about product prices

Amendments to the law on defense procurement have already entered into force. From April 24, defense customers began publishing information on prices and the subject of procurement.

About this told Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Nadiya Bihun on the air of the National Telethon "United News".

"The public procurement system Prozorro has opened information on the prices at which defense customers purchase goods for the military. We took into account the wishes that were voiced regarding security. Therefore, customers have the opportunity not to publish sensitive information regarding the volumes of purchases, places of delivery, and information about suppliers. But the information that is important for society and for us, namely the price of what is being purchased, will be published,” said Nadiya Bihun.

According to her, clear deadlines for the publication of such reports have been established. Thus, within ten days from the moment of payment under the contract, information on current purchases must be published, and by June 22, reports on all old contracts that were concluded from the moment of the full-scale invasion, that is, from February 24, 2022, must be published.

If customers do not follow this procedure, then the authorized persons of such institutions risk receiving a fine for this.

The advantage of the new reporting system is that at the same time military secrecy is preserved, but the society also receives information on the prices at which products are purchased.

“From the point of view of public control, it does not matter to us how many conditional eggs were purchased. It is important for us to understand the purchase price of one egg. Because information about the purchase volume can be used by our enemy in order to have more information about the number of military personnel in a particular unit. If we find out that the purchase price raises questions, then we will contact the State Audit Service and ask for a deeper check,” explained Nadiya Bihun.

Separately, the Deputy Minister of Economy focused on how the public procurement procedure changed last year.

“Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, customers in the defense sector have been allowed to purchase without procedures in Prozorro. Accordingly, they followed the path of concluding direct contracts. Since the fall we have gradually begun to return to normal procedures. Where there was no risk of sensitive information leaking, where there was an opportunity to attract a broad market and get the best prices through competition, we began to make framework agreements for defense needs. That is, now in Prozorro you can see several dozen customers who have begun to purchase, primarily, tangible property, through the defense framework, and the number of such customers is growing. And I hope that during this year most customers will start to return to the Prozorro system. Because competition is the best way to get the most effective price,” Nadiya Bihun summarized.

We would like to remind you that the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine is working on creating a new framework agreement procedure for defense needs, thanks to which defense officials will be able to conduct competitive selections of suppliers through the Prozorro system, while not publishing sensitive information in the system.

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