The government has initiated creation of a working group chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy Yuliia Svyrydenko to develop an updated system of food procurement for the Army. The new procurement mechanism should balance secrecy and public scrutiny while ensuring uninterrupted supplies. A mandatory element of such a system should be the publication of food prices in the public domain. This was stated by Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine.

“We need to change approaches to public procurement of food in the military sphere in such a way as to maximize competition for suppliers. Competition can ensure fair prices and uninterrupted supply. We are currently working on creating a dedicated section in Prozorro for military procurement. Our main goal is to do everything possible to ensure that food procurement for the Army is efficient and deliveries are timely and of high quality,” explained Yuliia Svyrydenko.

Deputy Minister of Economy Nadiya Bihun said that the new procurement mechanism could be based on the principles that had already been laid down in Resolution No. 1275 regulating the procurement of material assets.

“We have a proposal to extend the framework agreement for defense procurement, which is regulated by Resolution No. 1275 for the procurement of materiel, to include food. At the same time, we are working on technical implementation of the framework agreement for defense procurement in Prozorro. We propose that the Ministry of Defense should move from procuring “catering services” to procuring “food with delivery”. In addition, we have proposals to change the terms of contracting – contracts with suppliers should not be made for a year, as it is now, but for a quarter of a year. In this case, the seasonal factor will not have such a significant impact on prices, and suppliers will not have to include relevant risks in their contracts, as is the case with vegetable prices when formulating a year-long offer. We also propose to introduce the function of reviewing lots by region, which will allow us to attract a much wider market of suppliers,” said Nadiya Bihun.

According to her, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine is highly interested in the widest possible involvement of businesses in food procurement for the Armed Forces.

“The Ministry of Economy should become a platform for an effective dialogue between businesses and defense customers to find common ground and develop a mechanism that would simultaneously meet the requirements of transparency and state security,” summarized Nadiya Bihun.