Procurement agency to be established at MoD

This was announced at a press conference by Yulia Marushevska, head of the Change Support Office at the Ministry of Defense, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"The first project is a procurement reform, which concerns, in fact, only the nomenclature that is not lethal. And as a result of the launch of this project, a procurement agency should be created to help divide the functionality that the ministry has, which is concentrated in one department. This is the formation of policies, norms, rules of the game, how the relationship between buyer and seller should function, how procurement should function," Marushevska said.

She added that policy-making should remain in the ministry, while the procurement process will be transferred to the agency, which will employ "people who have experience in concluding transparent contracts and can analyze the market, enable the best Ukrainian suppliers, possibly international ones, to enter this market and provide services to our army on the best terms."

According to Marushevska, the Change Support Office should formulate a vision of how the agency should be launched and prepare a regulatory framework.

She emphasized that the Change Support Office is an advisory body to the Ministry of Defense, and its main function will be to involve professionals and experts in the transformation processes in the MoD and all related structures. A project-based approach is planned, with a gradual implementation of changes, for which a separate team of specialists and experts will be formed. Currently, she said, the analysis of projects for which there is a critical demand is underway.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Office of Change Support at the Ministry of Defense will involve the best experts and specialists who will provide comprehensive support to the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, accompanying the implementation of changes.