Maintaining AOZ and DOT after the war will be too expensive: the Ministry of Defense explained the merger of the two agencies
Kyiv • UNN
After the war, the Defense Procurement Agency and the State Operator of the Rear will be merged into one structure. Maintaining two agencies will be too expensive and does not meet NATO standards.
In Ukraine, after the end of the war, it is planned to merge the Defense Procurement Agency (DPA) and the State Logistics Operator (SLO), because maintaining two separate agencies will be too expensive for the state budget and does not meet NATO standards.
This was announced by the director of the Defense Procurement Agency, the head of the Commission for the reorganization of the State Logistics Operator for the synchronization of all processes between the DOT and the DPA Arsen Zhumadilov during a briefing, reports the correspondent UNN.
Details
The merger, according to Zhumadilov, is scheduled for the period after the end of martial law. At the same time, it is necessary to prepare for this now - a special commission has been created for this.
Because, in fact, after the war, we understand that, most likely, defense spending in our country will be significantly reduced, because our country will have many other priorities that need to be financed. Due to the fact that the financial operating model of both the DPA and the DOT is based on the volume of purchases they make, there is a risk that it will simply be impractical to maintain two agencies after the war. Too expensive, simply put, for the state
He stressed that the key challenges are not only legal reorganization, but also operational integration - the two structures have been working separately for more than a year and a half and have differences in processes.
So that we do not receive, for example, two functions for two agencies, those that can be combined. For example, analytical support or legal support, communications, etc. And this is what we plan to focus on within this commission, preparing everything necessary for such a merger
He also explained that the decision to merge both the DPA and the DOT after the war is due to the standard defined as a NATO requirement.
This is clearly stated in the strategic bulletin of our interactions with NATO. And when we talk about merging the two agencies, we are, in fact, talking about the first step on this path
In addition, he reminded that in 2024, Ukraine asked NATO to postpone the requirement to create a single agency until the end of the war, given the risks of launching new structures.
And now it may look inconsistent from our Ukrainian side that we ourselves asked NATO not to demand that we merge the agency until the end of the war, and here we are merging them ourselves. Therefore, in order not to look inconsistent, now there is such a decision
Reminder
Earlier, the Ministry of Defense reported that they are preparing the ground for merging the two structures - the Defense Procurement Agency and the State Logistics Operator - into a single unit.