The Ministry of Defense announced the introduction of a new architecture for the procurement of food products for the nutrition of military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Purchase of products for the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Until May 2023, suppliers could independently set the prices at which they shipped products to military units. The day before, they set a low price for the entire meal set, which included all the products, in order to win the tender.
After the victory, the supplier made changes to the cost of certain products. Prices for mass groups of goods were set upwards — vegetables, fruits, dairy products and meat. At the same time, they reduced prices for unpopular goods, for example, strawberries or blueberries.
Now watching
— This made it possible to leave the total price of the food set unchanged. It was according to this scheme that the infamous eggs for 17 UAH appeared, — explained in the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
What has changed
The Ministry of Defense has introduced maximum prices for products, above which companies cannot supply products to the military.
In particular, previously suppliers set the purchase price for potatoes at 16 UAH per kg, but in one of the tenders of the Ministry of Defense in December 2023 they indicated a maximum price of 10.35 UAH. This was the case with prices for cabbage (28 UAH and 14.54 UAH, respectively), onions (39 UAH and 22.86 UAH, respectively) and other goods.
The system now provides two-level verification. The Ministry of Defense sets procurement rules and checks quality, and direct procurement is carried out by a new agency, the State Logistics Operator. The Ministry of Defense believes that the distribution of responsibilities should eliminate corruption risks.
The first tenders for the purchase of products for the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine under the new system, which will start in the second quarter of 2024, have already been announced on the Prozorro website.
