Don't be afraid to speak out - an expert on attempts to put pressure on suppliers under the first contracts of the State Defense Ministry
Kyiv • UNN
New suppliers of food to the Armed Forces should not be afraid to report attempts to put pressure on them by companies that have previously tried to disrupt tenders, and law enforcement should respond to this information.
New suppliers of food for the Armed Forces should not be afraid to report attempts to put pressure on them by companies that previously tried to disrupt tenders. This opinion was expressed in an exclusive commentary to UNN by political scientist Ihor Reiterovych.
Details
According to him, law enforcement officers should respond to this information.
"Law enforcement officers, of course, have to respond to this, and companies have to report pressure. It's not necessarily a criminal case, but it's a story that requires an appropriate response. Because it's clear why this is being done-to throw them out of the market, to make sure they don't participate in anything. Therefore, all law enforcement agencies that are involved should be involved. Just in the context of even an official fact-checking.
And those firms that are under pressure should not be afraid to apply, because if they don't, they will be tied to some pseudo-corruption schemes," Reiterovich said.
He also noted that the first conclusions about the effectiveness of the new food supply system for the Armed Forces could be drawn in a few months.
"In fact, it takes at least a few months: on average, three months, because we need to see how it reaches the military units, how quickly and efficiently it is, then collect feedback from people who consume what is being delivered, and this also takes time. Then we have to process all this and, accordingly, have some intermediate results. In general, according to Western standards, this takes an average of 100 days - monitoring is carried out, then suggestions and comments are prepared at the end of 100 days. They are taken into account, and after that, adjustments are made to the program and it is implemented further, but with certain changes to remove the shortcomings that have been identified," the political scientist added.
Context
Last week, food deliveries to the Ukrainian Armed Forces began under the first contracts signed by the State Logistics Operator, with 300 trucks heading to military units across Ukraine.
According to Yakym Kovalenko, Director of Supply Management at the DOT, in an exclusive comment to UNN, they are receiving some information that companies that used to supply the Armed Forces with food are trying to put pressure on new suppliers.
"We receive signals of attempts to put pressure on new suppliers and manufacturers who supply their products as subcontractors. Mostly, it is intimidation to close the possibility of supplying the Armed Forces for them when the old companies "resume supplying". Unfortunately, we also receive signals from the heads of food services regarding the exclusive list of producers from whom goods can be accepted by military units," said Kovalenko.
