The National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has presented a study “Corruption Risks in Centralized Logistics Procurement for the Armed Forces of Ukraine”. The study is available in Ukrainian and English.
The purpose of the study was to unite the efforts of stakeholders to improve the defense procurement system and facilitate the implementation of the recommendations provided by the Strategic Review of the Defense Procurement System of Ukraine. The review was conducted as part of NATO's Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine (CAP) to bring the country closer to NATO standards.
The study was conducted jointly with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (MoD) and the MoD's state-owned enterprise State Logistics Operator, as well as with the advisory and financial support of the Center for Integrity in the Defense Sector (CIDS) at the Norwegian Ministry of Defense.
The presentation was also attended by representatives of NATO, the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, the Embassy of Latvia, the acting Special Adviser on Defence to the United Kingdom, the Ministry of Defence, the State Logistics Operator and the Defence Procurement Agency, as well as representatives of other security and defence agencies, civil society and international organizations.
The lack of a systematic approach to the formation and implementation of defense procurement policy, inconsistency of legislation and roles of ministries, lack of proper verification of counterparties in defense procurement, a unified approach to determining the cost of goods, failure to update technical specifications for supplies, unclear terms of transferring advance payment, lack of a sufficient mechanism to monitor the fulfillment of the contract terms are just some of the 11 key problems identified in the defense procurement system.
"The defense sector has been identified as one of the priority areas for preventing corruption in the Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2021-2025, and the topic of defense procurement is one of the five issues in this area. Within the framework of the NATO Strategic Defense Procurement Review, based on the results of the work of the Ukrainian delegation, which included, in particular, representatives of NACP, in cooperation with the NATO side, three high-level Political Recommendations on strategic changes in the Ukrainian defense procurement system were developed and a separate recommendation for action was identified, as well as 21 generalized recommendations were provided, which are in addition to the high-level Political Recommendations,” said Viktor Pavlushchyk, Head of the NACP.
He also pointed out that improving Ukraine's defense procurement system and addressing systemic corruption problems remains an important task. In addition, there is still a need to strengthen coordination between the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Strategic Industry in policy-making in this area.
"During the NATO Summit, we agreed on a Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine, and this work continues with a focus on accountability and responsibility. Implementing reforms and fighting corruption are strategic priorities for Ukraine, as corruption is a challenge to our security, undermining trust and reducing the effectiveness of defense efforts. Among the key areas are strengthening good governance and partnership efforts with NATO. The presented study is an important step in the long-term process of minimizing risks,” said Riana Andriyo, Program Manager of the NATO Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine at the NATO Representation to Ukraine.
Yaroslav Lyubchenko, Head of the NACP Security and Defense Integrity Policy Development Department, together with representatives of the Department Marta Ivashkiv and Daryna Polous, presented the study and emphasized that the National Agency actively cooperated with experts from the Center for Integrity in the Defense Sector at the Norwegian Ministry of Defense and the Alliance, and took into account their recommendations developed as part of the Strategic Review of Ukraine's Defense Procurement System, which is part of NATO's Comprehensive Assistance Package.
In addition, NACP is currently involved in joint work on a plan to implement these recommendations together with the Ministry of Defense, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economy and other agencies within the security and defense sector. The implementation of these recommendations is aimed at bringing Ukrainian defense procurement in line with international standards and Euro-Atlantic integration.
A separate panel was devoted to discussing key achievements in the defense procurement system in 2024 and challenges for the defense procurement system in 2025.
