In 2023, the number of procurements completed in the Prozorro system increased by 28% to 3.6 million lots compared to 2022. And the expected value of procurement increased by almost 70% to UAH 622 billion compared to the previous period. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Nadiya Bihun.

"Despite the full-scale war, the public procurement sector is developing dynamically as never before. Last year proved that it is possible to reach the level of procurement that was before the full-scale invasion. Today, about 80% of all public procurement funds are spent through Prozorro. Not only the number, but also the success of procurements and competition have increased. In 2022, 60% of procurements were successful, and in 2023 – 68%. The level of competition in 2022 was 1.8, which is the average number of offers per procurement. And last year, it was already 2.02," said Nadiya Bihun.

In 2023, the number of announced competitive procurements increased by a quarter to 400,000, and the number of contracts concluded increased by 47% to 270,000. At the same time, savings on competitive procurement amounted to UAH 42 billion (an increase of 135% compared to 2022).

Last year, Prozorro was used most frequently for procurement of food products (35,000 purchases), medicines (28,000), petrol and diesel fuel (16,000), and electricity (14,000).

The Deputy Minister emphasised that in addition to transparency, competition and openness, simplicity and speed of procurement were also important during the war. 

"That is why the Prozorro Market tool has been actively developed. With its help, procurement was 15-20% cheaper than under direct contracts," said Nadiya Bihun.

As a result, in 2023, Prozorro Market made purchases worth more than UAH 12.5 billion. Over the year, more than 6,000 customers made more than 44,000 purchases on Prozorro Market.

Significant budgetary savings were achieved through solutions designed to increase the transparency of defence procurement and minimise corruption risks. In particular, we are talking about the decision that obliged defence contracting authorities to conduct simplified procurement through the Prozorro electronic system.

"Prozorro managed to find an optimal balance between transparency and security during the war. The decision to open up the Ministry of Defence's (MoD's) procurements at the rear has saved almost UAH 7 billion. In the future, Prozorro will become even more open, while protecting sensitive information," noted Nadiya Bihun.

The value of completed defence procurements last year was UAH 52.4 billion. In total, 11,000 procurements were announced, and 8,000 contracts were concluded. The share of competitive procurements at expected value reached 85%. The average number of bids per auction was 2.28. By the end of 2023, almost 100% of the MoD's logistics procurement was carried out in the Prozorro system.

The strong results in all areas are also due to the work on improving procurement procedures and expanding opportunities for participants. For example, a procurement mechanism was launched in accordance with the rules of international donor organisations. It combines proven donor rules with the standards of transparent and open procurement in Ukraine. This procedure will allow Prozorro to conduct procurement with funds from international organisations, which will, among other things, finance Ukraine's recovery. Important amendments to Government Resolutions No. 1178 and No. 1275 were also adopted to increase transparency of procedures and return procurement to a competitive environment.

According to Nadiya Bihun, the Ministry of Economy is continuing to work on improving public procurement procedures.

"We are actively working to bring our legislation closer to the EU and ensure transparent reconstruction of Ukraine. The Ministry of Economy has prepared draft amendments to the Law of Ukraine "On Public Procurement". The goal of the project is to transfer to regular legislation those initiatives that proved to be effective during the war, to bring our legislation closer to European standards, to create new tools to ensure the efficiency of complex procurement, in particular for the reconstruction of Ukraine," said the Deputy Minister of Economy.