Three Times Less: How to Improve Reporting Under Contracts

Transparency International Ukraine presented the report “Three times less: how to improve reporting under contracts.”

Conducting procurement is only a stage in providing communities and the state as a whole with everything they need. Procurement ends with a contract, and the finale of the whole process is the fulfillment of obligations under it.

Now, procuring entities report under contracts in three independent systems: Prozorro, Spending, Treasury Client — Treasury. Moreover, almost the same information is submitted to each system.

Such duplication in 2021 alone cost the state at least 1.2 million working hours, which is equivalent to more than UAH 30 million. At the same time, the data collected in these systems do not show the real situation under the contracts and are not suitable for quality use due to several reasons:

• inaccuracy of data, or even non-submission;
• branching of systems and fields to be filled in;
• lack of consolidated contract information in one source.

To correct these shortcomings, it is necessary to create a single reporting system under contracts. It should be based on the following principles:

• data are entered into the unified system;
• data are stored in the unified system with one administrator;
• data are validated;
• data are standardized and have a single interpretation;
• data are open and accessible;
• data that have already been entered do not need to be reentered;
• data on the contract are linked to previous / subsequent stages.

Currently, the creation of a system that complies with these principles faces several problems, including the following: a possible reduction in the “flexibility of the system,” determining an institution that will take over the creation and administration of the system, significant time and resources spent on data verification and correction, the distribution of obligations and responsibilities for filling out and verifying data in the institutions of procuring entities.

The advantages of creating such a system, in addition to solving these problems, are:

• improving the quality of decisions made on the basis of data;
• increasing the possibilities of monitoring the current situation in the field of procurement and fulfillment of contracts;
• efficient use of human resources;
• saving budget funds and time for the process of reporting under contracts and administration of state data accounting systems;
• creating a favorable environment for the improvement, development, and implementation of technical solutions in the field of procurement and public finance.