Transparency International calls for law on public procurement to be reworked
The draft Law on Public Procurement No. 7532, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in its first reading on 15 March is not capable of countering corruption, Transparency International warns.
It has called on the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Volodymyr Lytvyn to ensure that the law is revised. The letter stresses that Ukraine is losing around 3 billion Euros a year due to inefficient public tenders.
Transparency International warns that the adoption of the draft law carries the danger that the public will not have access to most tender documentation. “Neither business, nor journalists, nor civic organizations, nor public supervisory bodies will be able to carry out control over tenders.”
The letter also emphasizes that the draft law makes it possible to do without tenders in cases where the State owns 50% of the shares of a commercial or municipal enterprise. It concludes that up to 70% of contracts amounting to 7 billion Euros per year could be carried out without tenders. It notes that this is supposedly to simplify the process, but says that such simplification weakens public control over expenditure and demonstrates a lack of will to reform the process in the interests of the public as a whole.
Previously the civic partnership “For Integrity of Public Procurement in Ukraine” sent a letter to the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Volodymyr Lytvyn, calling on him to make all efforts to return Draft Law No. 7533 to the Cabinet of Ministers for reworking.