The Verkhovna Rada did not adopt draft law No. 11520 on public procurement – only 223 deputies voted for it, out of the required 226. Because of this, Ukraine risks not receiving $3.5 billion in aid from the World Bank, which was supposed to go to pensions, salaries and social expenses. OBOZ.UA informs about this, the PromPolitInform portal reports.
Draft law No. 11520 provides for updating the rules of public procurement in accordance with European legislation – in particular, EU Directive 2014/24/EU. Its goal is to make the procurement system more transparent, competitive and protected from corruption risks.
In fact, this is one of the steps towards full integration of Ukraine into the European economic space. However, the document caused a significant resonance even at the preparation stage.
In the previous version of the draft law, experts and anti-corruption organizations identified a number of norms that created potential corruption risks. Among them:
the possibility of closing information about procurement under the pretext of “security risks”;
a change in the principle of selecting the winner from “the most economically advantageous offer” to the subjectively “best” one;
expanding the government’s powers to bypass competitive procedures.
Such provisions, according to experts, could actually roll the system back to opaque practices that were already associated with scandals in Ukraine such as “eggs for 17 hryvnias”. After the disclosure, the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada finalized the document and removed these norms.
The updated version of the draft law, according to experts and the Anti-Corruption Center, already met the requirements of the European Union and did not contain critical corruption risks. It was in this form that the document was put to a vote in the second reading.
Anti-corruption organizations directly called on deputies to support it, emphasizing that the adoption of the law is part of Ukraine’s international obligations. Despite this, the parliament was unable to mobilize a sufficient number of votes.
The bill was not supported by some deputies from various factions, including the pro-government and opposition political forces. The formal reason was the failure to approve three votes.
The adoption of this bill was a condition for Ukraine to receive $3.5 billion from the World Bank – funds that were planned to be directed to the state budget. The money was to go to:
payment of pensions;
salaries to teachers;
salaries to doctors;
financing of social programs;
other critical budget expenses.
Bill No. 11520 has not been rejected outright – it has been sent for a second reading. The document may be revised or put to a vote again.
