The Verkhovna Rada has adopted draft law 3715 which significantly limits the list of what you can buy to fight the coronavirus without auctions. Instead, the MPs created a new corruption opportunity: now anyone can buy anything under a competitive, but almost uncontrolled, simplified procedure.

Transparency International Ukraine, and in particular our DOZORRO project, has long called for transferring procurement to fight the coronavirus to a competitive basis. And finally, it happened. Draft law 3715 has been adopted integrally.

Now the list of what you can buy without auctions to fight COVID-19 should be significantly reduced — how exactly, the Cabinet of Ministers will determine. It will include only medicines, vaccines, and medical devices for vaccination, immunobiological preparations, consumables for providing medical care to patients with COVID-19, and medical equipment for health care institutions that provide care to patients with coronavirus, as well as medical gas supply systems.

On the other hand, from now on, everything necessary to fight the coronavirus can be purchased on a competitive market under a simplified procedure. This is a type of auction, but its main difference from regular auctions is that if only one participant takes part, you do not need to cancel the procurement, you can conclude a contract immediately with them. At the same time, such procurement is not monitored by auditors, and participants cannot contest them in the AMCU. After all, this procedure was invented for procurement for small amounts — up to UAH 200,000.

The problem is that the adopted law does not regulate in any way what exactly can be “necessary to fight COVID-19.” Any procuring entity will get the right to buy under the simplified procedure in this way.

“The fact that coronavirus procurement will be partially conducted as competitive is a good step forward. However, the list of what you can buy with simplified procurement to combat COVID-19 also needs to be determined,” explains the deputy executive director for the implementation of innovative projects of TI Ukraine Ivan Lakhtionov.

 

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The fact that coronavirus procurement will be partially conducted as competitive is a good step forward. However, the list of what you can buy with simplified procurement to combat COVID-19 also needs to be determined.

Ivan Lakhtionov