Secrecy was reduced by 30% in the three-year procurement plan. This was stated by Oleksiy Reznikov, Ukrainian Defence Minister, in his interview for the Left Bank. According to Reznikov, the open part of the plan is already adopted while the closed part is pending review by the Rada Committee on National Security, Defence, and Intelligence. Next, key numbers and figures should be approved by the National Security and Defence Council before the document will be adopted by the Government.
Minister Reznikov underlined that less secrecy will help reduce corruption in defence procurements. “Less bias and monopoly, less interest in specific manufacturers. We are less dependent on monopolists, even if they offer appropriate quality. Tomorrow they have a force majeure and then we are in trouble,” he explained.
According to Reznikov, the open part of the three-year procurement plan was submitted to the Rada Committee on National Security, Defence, and Intelligence and the National Security and Defence Council for their review and approval in December. The open part was already adopted. In January, the closed part of the plan was sent along the same route.
Minister Reznikov explained that the Armed Forces of Ukraine prepares a three-year projection of procurement needs, the Ministry of Defence represents a consolidated customer, and the Ministry for Strategic Industries plans procurements from both local and international producers. Next, the three-year procurement plan goes for review by the Parliamentary committee, key figures of the plan are approved by the National Security and Defence Council, and the document is adopted as a whole by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
The Law on State Secrets should be amended to ensure a significant reduction of secrecy in the defence sector. The Parliamentary committee is now finalizing a relevant bill. According to Oleksandr Zavytnevych, the Committee Chair, up to 70% of defence procurements could be declassified based on the bill.
NAKO hopes that the bill will put in place effective mechanisms for achieving the results promised. Last year, NAKO was included on the working group to prepare the bill. Our experts noted that, unfortunately, the bill failed to address the problem of overclassification of bulk information categories and lacked effective safeguards against restricting publicly important information. Therefore, we recommended to continue elaborating the document.
The full text of the interview can be found here.
Photo: Kyiv City Council website
Minister Reznikov underlined that less secrecy will help reduce corruption in defence procurements. “Less bias and monopoly, less interest in specific manufacturers. We are less dependent on monopolists, even if they offer appropriate quality. Tomorrow they have a force majeure and then we are in trouble,” he explained.
According to Reznikov, the open part of the three-year procurement plan was submitted to the Rada Committee on National Security, Defence, and Intelligence and the National Security and Defence Council for their review and approval in December. The open part was already adopted. In January, the closed part of the plan was sent along the same route.
Minister Reznikov explained that the Armed Forces of Ukraine prepares a three-year projection of procurement needs, the Ministry of Defence represents a consolidated customer, and the Ministry for Strategic Industries plans procurements from both local and international producers. Next, the three-year procurement plan goes for review by the Parliamentary committee, key figures of the plan are approved by the National Security and Defence Council, and the document is adopted as a whole by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
The Law on State Secrets should be amended to ensure a significant reduction of secrecy in the defence sector. The Parliamentary committee is now finalizing a relevant bill. According to Oleksandr Zavytnevych, the Committee Chair, up to 70% of defence procurements could be declassified based on the bill.
NAKO hopes that the bill will put in place effective mechanisms for achieving the results promised. Last year, NAKO was included on the working group to prepare the bill. Our experts noted that, unfortunately, the bill failed to address the problem of overclassification of bulk information categories and lacked effective safeguards against restricting publicly important information. Therefore, we recommended to continue elaborating the document.
The full text of the interview can be found here.
Photo: Kyiv City Council website