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The Ukrainian Finance Ministry has signed contracts with two electronic trading platforms and will switch to a Web-based public procurements system in electronic format, it has been reported on the ministry's Web site.
"In order to ensure there is public oversight over the spending of public funds and improving the efficiency of budget expenditures, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has embraced the procedure of performing subthreshold public procurements in electronic format," the statement reads.
The Ministry of Finance has signed contracts with two electronic trading platforms, SmartTender.biz and E-Tender, for e-procurement through the ProZorro system. It is expected that the ministry will carry out procurement of goods and services, the value of which does not exceed UAH 100,000, and regarding for labor to a threshold of UAH 1 million, through such platforms.
"Holding subthreshold procurements through electronic platforms will attract more suppliers, which in turn will lower the price and help reduce expenditure of public funds," Deputy Minister of Finance Oksana Markarova said, quoted in a ministry statement.
As UNIAN reported earlier, in April 2015, the National Council on reforms ordered the chiefs of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Regional Development and the Ministry of Education to explain the reasons for a failure to join the system of electronic public procurements.
On April 10, 2014 the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed at the second attempt the law on public procurement included in the package of necessary legislative acts to combat corruption in public finances that had to be adopted to enable the signing of a new cooperation program with the International Monetary Fund. The law provides for a gradual transition from a paper-based to electronic trading system for carrying out public procurements.
According to estimates of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the implementation and active use of electronic public procurement system in Ukraine, the annual volume of which equals about UAH 200 billion, will help save around UAH 20-40 billion in budget funds.