Anti-corruption activists insist on unblocking procurement of UAVs and radar for the military
21 February 12:49
The Public Anti-Corruption Council at the Ministry of Defense demands that the Ministry immediately take measures to unblock the procurement of UAVs and electronic warfare systems for military units. This was reported on the Facebook page of the Public Council, according to
Anti-corruption activists emphasize that as a result of the adoption of amendments to the Cabinet of Ministers’ Resolution No. 1275, which was supposed to simplify procedures, the procurement of UAVs and electronic warfare devices is under threat, as some units will have to wait at least a month for suppliers with new documents due to the new requirements.
From now on, according to the Civil Anti-Corruption Council, to purchase a UAV, a military procurement officer in a military unit in Kharkiv or Donetsk region must receive the following from the supplier
– price calculation;
– an expert opinion on the estimated cost of the product, which is valid for 6 months;
– a certificate that the supplier’s profit does not exceed 25% of the production cost.
In addition, the military needs to receive one of the following documents from the supplier for further use of the products received
– certificate of compliance with standards or technical specifications;
– certificate of registration of a staffing item;
– a document on admission to operation;
– an act of joint departmental testing.
As noted, the most problematic issue for units is obtaining a certificate. Currently, according to members of the Civil Anti-Corruption Council, some units, having agreements with a dozen suppliers of codified products, have to wait 3-4 weeks for the suppliers to receive a certificate of compliance with the standards, which costs approximately 70 thousand hryvnias.
The Civic Anti-Corruption Council at the Ministry of Defense claims that due to the changes to the government resolution, the military spent barely a third of the 5 billion funds allocated for December-January!
According to the information obtained by anti-corruption activists, military units cannot purchase even the systems they have used before and which have proven their effectiveness. And manufacturers have difficulty concluding contracts, even for codified products, when it comes to replacing components.
In this regard, the Public Anti-Corruption Council demands that the Ministry of Defense:
– Revise (cancel for the duration of martial law) Resolution N1450 of 20.12.2024 and really simplify the procurement mechanism.
– Allow changes to modifications (purchase of individual components: batteries, antennas, modules), rather than forcing to buy the entire complex again.
– Remove restrictions that give a monopoly to a few manufacturers and restore a competitive market.
– Transfer the authority to make procurement decisions as close to military units as possible, instead of keeping everything “at the top.”
It is reported that the Public Anti-Corruption Council has sent a request to the Ministry of Defense, the General Staff and all relevant authorities.
As a reminder, the Defense Procurement Agency of the Ministry of Defense has just presented new rules of interaction between the state, the army and business to arms manufacturers. In particular, it concerns the introduction of the DOT-Chain system in the procurement of drones.
As Defense Minister Rustem Umerov explained when presenting the new procurement rules, the system is already successfully operating in non-lethal procurement and will now help deliver drones to the frontline faster, as units will choose the UAVs they need, and delivery time will be reduced from months to a few weeks, and will also support manufacturers as they will receive predictable orders and be able to plan production scaling.
