The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has adopted a resolution on deregulation of ammunition production and marginality of drone purchases. In addition, the state will purchase UAVs through the Prozorro system.
This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Fedorov.
Procurement through Prozorro
Suppliers of mass-market drones from foreign manufacturers such as Mavic, Autel, and Matrice will be given a level playing field to access government contracts, and competition will help drive down costs. Procurement will be fast and at favorable prices.
“We understand the sensitivity of the information, so the terms and places of delivery will be closed to the general public and inaccessible to Russians,” says Fedorov.
How it will work:
- A customer who wants to buy a drone places a frame ad on Prozorro with a description of the drone he wants.
- Sellers will be able to register in this framework, and then they will receive information about the terms, place of delivery, and other data necessary for the procurement.
- Then there will be an auction, and the seller with the most favorable offer will win.
Purchase of drones without overpayments
The government supported the resolution regarding the margin of drones purchased by the state for the Defense Forces. The margin, in simple terms, is the difference between the price and the cost of the product, in this case drones. For example, a drone costs 10 thousand hryvnias and its cost is 7 thousand, so the margin will be 3 thousand hryvnias, or 30%. Currently, when purchasing drones, our margin is 25%, while in NATO countries it is 17%.
“We understand that in market conditions, the cost of goods can fluctuate, and therefore the actual margin changes. Now manufacturers must specify how they calculated prices if the profit exceeds 25%,” the official said.
According to him, after the recalculation, the state gives the option to either return the difference to the budget or to supply drones. “This removes the potential risks of overpayment when purchasing drones, saves public funds and allows for the purchase of more drones.
There will be more ammunition and missiles
In July 2023, the government launched a pilot project to simplify the production of ammunition for drones, and now it is expanding to include all types of shells and even missiles.
Deregulation of the market will increase the number of producers and, consequently, the rate of production.
“Deregulation works. We realized this with the production of ammunition for UAVs: in 6 months we have 20+ new ammunition manufacturers and more than 20 ammunition products approved for use. We are now extending our positive experience to the production of all types of ammunition and strengthening the Defense Forces,” adds Fedorov.
