OREANDA-NEWS. January 20, 2016. "The transition of all public procurement in electronic format will allow Ukraine to save budget funds significantly. Even at a conservative estimate, this year Ukraine will save UAH 5 billion of the budget funds, while the next year could see several times higher economic effect due to the full transition to an electronic system," Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk in the Ten minutes program on Sunday, January 17.

The Prime Minister noted that public procurement for many years was the largest source for corrupt schemes, "According to our estimates, losses from the direct corruption and poor management made up around 20% of the total volume of public procurement. And this is about UAH 50 billion annually. It's almost as much as budget expenses for the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

He stressed that the ProZorro e-procurement system will return tens of billions of hryvnias to the budget, "We are transferring all the state tenders in the online format. All procedures, every step, every decision becomes public."

The electronic format also facilitates access to the bidding process for business, Arseniy Yatsenyuk pointed out: "And this means an increase in competition in public procurement."

The Head of Government noted that ProZorro allows each company or entrepreneur to register on the bidding platform, find an auction and apply for participation: "Then the anonymous bidding takes place. The name of the company will be revealed only after selection of a winner following the results of the auction. Thus, it becomes almost impossible to appoint your own supplier. And the winners will become only honest suppliers."

"Thus, anyone can visit the site and find out what a particular state enterprise procured and at what price," he said.

ProZorro was launched as a pilot project in February 2015 and saved more than UAH 500 million, "And this is despite the fact that today only 2% of public tenders are being held via this system."

The Ministry of Infrastructure and companies that are under its authority have conducted tenders via the ProZorro system worth over UAH1.3 billion. Total savings exceeded 75 million, "The Ministry of Defence has fully moved to electronic procurement, which led to nearly 1000 tenders and savings worth UAH 200 million."

All the large procurers (ministries, departments, the largest state-owned enterprises) will need to join the ProZorro system starting from April 1, while the rest - from August.

The Prime Minister noted that the development of the electronic system is financed by donors, and every item of expenditure is controlled by Transparency International: "Volunteers provided considerable assistance and support - in the form of advice, training, work and resources. Some activists, who were pioneers of the reform since the days of the Maidan, are now successfully working as civil servants."

The Prime Minister appealed to those officials "who are still hoping to save some "schemes":" The transition to an electronic system is mandatory, with no exceptions. We have everything to implement this: legal framework, efficient electronic system, selfless team that works for the success of reform as well as full support of international partners."

Arseniy Yatsenyuk urged businessmen to join the state e-procurement system, "We work openly and transparently with you and we are your reliable partner."

The Prime Minister also addressed volunteers and journalists: "Monitor procurement data, look for possible violations. Talk and write about it. Public control is the most effective mechanism to combat corruption."

"Together we can defeat corruption in procurement and return the funds for the needs of Ukrainian people," stressed Arseniy Yatsenyuk.