DJI Matrice 300 reconnaissance drones, bought through the ‘Army of Drones’ program, are seen during test flights in the Kyiv region on Aug. 2, 2022, prior to being sent to the front line. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)
This section was brought to you by Kyiv Independent reporter Igor Kossov.
The government on Feb. 1 approved a resolution to buy all the stuff that doesn’t kill people through the country’s transparent bidding platform called Prozorro for the Ukrainian word “transparent.”
It also approved two additional resolutions related to the defense sector, one on the deregulation of ammunition production for drones by “improving the procedure for registering manufacturers.”
To explain. There are now two bodies: The lethal and nonlethal defense acquisition agencies. The first buys most of the weapons, vehicles and sensitive technology. The other buys just about everything else, and only through Prozorro.
The ministry’s Procurement Policy Department has authority over both bodies and sets their agenda. They then go out and try to get Ukraine the best possible deals. (The lethal defense acquisition agency was launched last year but never quite took off and is being rebooted. The nonlethal one, briefly known as the State Rear Operator, launched two months ago.)
The need for transparent bidding for government contracts is self-evident — procurement is a source of easy corruption in every state agency, especially in countries with weak rule of law. Prozorro was created during the post-Viktor Yanukovych (Ukraine’s former president) reforms to address that very thing.
Until recently, defense procurements were exempt from having to use this system. But corruption scandal after corruption scandalpushed the Defense Ministry’s reputation to a dangerous edge.
As Ukraine begged for money to survive and the military cut combat bonuses, the state paid for food at inflated prices, bought useless jackets and body armor, and sometimes got nothing at all.
Going full Prozorro will be nothing new to Arsen Zhumadilov, the head of the State Rear Operator. In fact, he used to have almost the same job, but in health. He was in charge of Medical Procurements of Ukraine, which was supposed to get Ukraine the best deals on medications and medical supplies, bypassing entrenched corruption at the Health Ministry.
When I was investigating health procurements during the Covid-19 years and often spoke with Medical Procurements, I got the picture of a competent team trying to keep succeeding at its job and being stonewalled by the Health Ministry at every turn. The state’s rear may be in a good operator’s hands.
But this is just a piece of the major overhaul that will be sweeping through the ministry not just in the weeks but the years to come. At some point, Ukraine will have to pass a NATO inspection of its procurement system.
We really need to get rid of any and all corruption. Sure other countries have corruption but unfortunately we are the ones with our hands out. Our hands must be clean IMHO
A great deal of progress has been made. But with the greater accountability and scrutiny it has uncovered some ugly creatures under the rocks. Unfortunately the ones messing things up get the most coverage in the headlines and news feeds. While those working behind the scenes doing what they are supposed to do, do not see the lime light and often times don’t get the recognition of a job well done. Though these reforms have at times been painful to implement it will make Ukraine even better and help win the war.
I agree. I don’t suggest that we aren’t doing anything but it is hard after 100 years of inbred corruption with the Soviet Union. It’s a shame that some Ukrainians don’t get it and are still corrupted SOBs. Since it’s independence I was hoping we’d be further along but it’s not my place to judge. I don’t know if I’d do any better
Yes, it’s a tough job getting rid of the soviet past in this regard, Sir Cap. But, Ukraine has been making strides to rise in the corruption index, while the birth land of state-sponsored corruption, mafia land, keeps on sinking deeper into this stinking cesspit.
I think it’s important to keep those investigators in incognito mode, Sir Bill. Unfortunately, some of those filthy, corrupt creatures have friends in various places.
I’ve recently read (at the Kyiv Pist? Don’t remember) an opinion piece, by someone in the drone business, that Prozorro wants to force manufacturers to communicate vital data about the companies and products by unsecured email transfer. That’s unacceptable in wartime, a dangerous matter of national security. So, while fighting corruption is an important issue, I don’t think that organisation is well suited for handling weapon purchases. Ukraine can’t afford such dangerous information leaks.
Still looking for that article. On further thought, it may have been at Censor Net. This blog posting by technology analyst Alexander Kochetkov seems to be based on the security risk associated with the obligatory, but unsecured registration, too:
https://censor.net/ua/blogs/3471427/z_dronamy_dlya_zsu_nazrivaye_velyka_bida
And should someone here believe that this ain’t an important issue, I suggest to read the story at UkraineToday about Ukrainian hackers copying data about Iranian drone trade again. Russia has lots of hackers, too, and so any Ukrainian site with highly sensitive data needs to use secure communication methods. Total transparency, without safeguards, may be ok when registering companies selling eggs, but not for drone manufacturers.
Ok, found it, a blog posting at Censor Net:
https://censor.net/ua/blogs/3471098/shahed_vam_na_golovu