The DOT began purchasing property for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, hiding suppliers and prices
The state enterprise “State Rear Operator” (DOT) of the Ministry of Defense has started the purchase of body armor and other tangible property for the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the help of framework agreements, without disclosing data on suppliers and prices. About this informs Prozorro system.
DOT for the first time signed a contract under the framework agreement for the purchase of 20,000 sets of body armor for the total amount of UAH 416.40 million. This is the first purchase of bulletproof vests under a dynamic framework agreement in the two years of the DOT’s existence. During this procedure, suppliers are first selected, among whom the contractor for a specific lot is subsequently determined. However, information about the winners and the value of the deal has not been made public.
This approach speeds up the procurement process and simplifies the preparation of documents for suppliers. At the same time, the purchases themselves remain virtually closed — it is not known who applied, who was chosen, who is the manufacturer of the goods, what exactly will be delivered and when. These data are available only to the customer, the Antimonopoly Committee, the State Audit Service, its regional bodies and law enforcement agencies — upon request. For others, in particular for journalists, this information is “hidden”.
In the Prozorro system, only the contract amount and information about participants admitted to the framework agreement are made public. Among them are Kharkiv Personal Protective Equipment LLC, NVP Temp 3000 LLC, and Ukrtak.YU LLC, but this list can be expanded.
The choice of a closed procedure at the DOT was explained by the fact that it is provided for the operational additional purchase of certain goods. Back in 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers gave the DOT, the “Defense Procurement Agency” and the State Intelligence Service the right to use four forms of procurement: open tenders, simplified procurement, request for proposals from “Prozorro Market” and framework agreements.
The DOT did not explain why a more closed form of procurement was chosen in this case. During 2024-2025, the company never used such a procedure for the purchase of body armor — out of 55 announced tenders, 49 went through the simplified procedure, four contracts were concluded directly, and open bidding was held only once.
