This year, 402 school buses worth almost UAH 1.4 billion have been purchased by communities in the Prozorro Market electronic catalogue administered by the State Enterprise Professional Procurement. The school vehicle fleet is being renewed as part of the School Offline policy, which aims to increase access to safe education in an in-person format.

The distribution of purchased school buses by region is as follows:

• Kyiv region - 42
• Dnipropetrovsk region - 34
• Vinnytsia region - 30
• Odesa region - 27
• Zaporizhzhia region - 26
• Mykolaiv region - 25
• Zakarpattia region - 23
• Ternopil region - 23
• Poltava region - 21
• Kharkiv region - 21
• Ivano-Frankivsk region - 19
• Zhytomyr region - 17
• Sumy region - 16
• Lviv region - 14
• Cherkasy region - 12
• Rivne region - 11
• Chernihiv region - 11
• Khmelnytsky region - 9
• Volyn region - 8
• Chernivtsi region - 7
• Kirovograd region - 5
• Kherson region - 1

Buses are procured through the e-catalogue from national manufacturers in compliance with localisation requirements. 4 Ukrainian machine-building plants will supply school transport to communities. In this way, the Government not only meets the needs of schools but also supports national businesses that pay taxes and create jobs.

"As part of the Made in Ukraine programme, we are working to stimulate domestic engineering. Thanks to the School Bus programme, about 10,000 employees have jobs and a stable income. More than 200 Ukrainian manufacturers and related companies from different regions of the country are involved in the production of buses. Thus, the programme enhances the industrial potential of the country and the economic development of the regions‘’ said Yuliia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Economy.

The renewal of the school bus fleet began last year at the initiative of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Over the past two years, a total of 970 buses worth over UAH 3 billion have been purchased through Prozorro Market, using the Government's subvention and co-financing from local budgets.

"The purchase of school buses is an important step towards ensuring safe and full-time education. These buses will enable children to get to schools with shelters and study full-time. This year, the Government has invested UAH 1.2 billion in buses and UAH 7.5 billion in school shelters for frontline and border communities. Investments in school infrastructure are part of the comprehensive School Offline policy, which not only preserves the continuity of education but also brings the return to full-time education closer," said Nadiia Kuzmychova, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine.

In total, more than 500 school buses are planned to be purchased this year, so the procurement process is still ongoing. The use of an electronic catalogue allows us to speed up the procedures to the maximum extent possible so that schools receive the necessary transport promptly.

"We have been purchasing school buses with the subvention for the second year in a row, as the need for safe and comfortable transport for students remains relevant. This is especially true for the frontline regions. The procurement procedure in Prozorro Market lasts only 9 days, which allows us to meet the transport needs of students as quickly as possible. The Professional Procurement team is making efforts to make Prozorro Market effective for both small customers and large-scale national projects," explains Yevhen Yakubovsky, Director of Professional Procurement.

Background information

The School Bus programme is implemented by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy through Prozorro Market and is part of the Made in Ukraine national policy initiated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.