The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine noted on January 3, 2023, that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine temporarily, until the end of martial law, canceled auctions in the Prozorro system (public electronic procurement system) due to the lack of access to all bidders to the system due to the Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid.
Source: The Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko
This cancellation is in no way related to national security, as all military purchases have not been made through the Prozorro system since February 24, 2022.
Auctions will not be held during the period of martial law and within 90 days from the moment of its termination.
“As a response to the blackouts, we have temporarily canceled electronic auctions. Starting today, all auctions that will be announced in Prozorro will be conducted without an auction. That is, the participant’s tender offer is final, and the winner will be the one who gave the lowest price during the submission of the offer,” explained the Minister of Economy of Ukraine.
According to Yulia Svyrydenko, in conditions of power outages, not all participants had an equal opportunity to bargain in the auction, which is a key principle of public procurement.
“We will return the auctions as soon as the situation stabilizes,” added the Minister of Economy of Ukraine.
In addition, the Ukrainian government abolished localization in purchases for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. That is, pickup trucks, cargo vehicles, ambulances, etc. can be purchased for the needs of the Armed Forces without localization requirements.
“At the request of the World Bank Ukraine, we are implementing a separate procedure in which auctions will be optional, that is, at the customer’s decision. Therefore, in 1-2 months we will look at the numbers, if it is confirmed that in various procurement categories, the tender strategy without an auction can be more effective, we will return auctions as an optional bidding tool for all purchases,” summarizes the Minister of Economy of Ukraine.
Uaposition memo: Prozorro [transparent, clear – ed.] – is a public electronic procurement system where state and municipal customers announce tenders to purchase goods, works and services, and business representatives compete for the opportunity to become a state supplier.
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