Ukrainian def ministry’s procurement reports partially made public

Ukraine’s defence ministry is now obligated to publish procurement prices relating to non-weapon contracts, as the amendment to the relevant law came into force on Sunday.

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Procurement reports are now made public through Prozorro, an online public procurement platform. Those include purchases starting from UAH 200,000 for goods and services and from UAH 1.5 million, for works involving, for instance, food, material property, fuel, etc.

Reports are to be published ten business days from the date of the conclusion of the contract.

Although public, they will contain limited information – the name of the contracting authority, the subject of procurement, and the price per unit.

In addition, the defence ministry has the right to refrain from publishing data on the total amount and volume of procurement, delivery locations, and the name of the supplier.

Until 22 June, defence contracting authorities are also required to retroactively report on all contracts concluded since 24 February 2022, that is since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"Returning transparency to defence procurement is only the first step," deputy economy minister Nataliia Bihun said.

"We are working to create a new procedure for framework agreements for defence needs, which will allow defence ministries to conduct competitive selection of suppliers through the Prozorro system without publishing sensitive information in the system."

Partial disclosure of defence procurements follows a scandal earlier this year regarding inflated food prices under which the defence ministry contracted food supplies to Ukraine’s Armed Forces.

While the ministry first denied allegations, a deputy defence minister and the head of a procurement department were later dismissed and are awaiting trial.

Oleksii Reznikov, the defence minister, pledged to reform the procurement system following the scandal.