On November 9, 2017, the Verkhovna Rada is going to consider draft law 4738-d “On Introducing Changes to the Law of Ukraine ‘On Public Procurement’ and Certain Other Laws of Ukraine Concerning Implementation of Procurement Monitoring.” We call on MPs to vote for this document.

If the law is approved, the State Audit Service of Ukraine will receive clear authority to monitor procurement done through the electronic system ProZorro. Namely, the procedure of verification of customers will be regulated. Another important innovation will be the system of automatic risk indicators. It will notify auditors of violations in tenders. In addition to that, the indicators will work based on mathematical formulas and work without human intervention, which minimizes corruption risks.

Approval of draft law 4738-d is an urgent need on the road to a reform of public procurement. After all, the experience of 2016-2017 has shown that transparency alone is not enough to beat corruption in this area. Without proper control customers and participants of procurement try to bring back the corruption schemes from the country’s past. At the same time, they are not at all ashamed of the fact that evidence of these schemes is now accessible for everyone with Internet connection to see. This situation is caused by impunity. State Audit Service of Ukraine is defined as the very body which has to carry out monitoring of public procurement. However, ironic as it is, it still has no legally provisioned authority to influence those who violate requirements.

It is noteworthy that draft law 4738-d is supported by experts and the Government. Taking all of that into account, we believe approval of this law one of the priorities of the current parliamentary session.