Supervisory board extends arms procurement head’s contract, initiates audit following proposed merger

The supervisory board of Ukraine’s Protection Procurement Company (DPA) prolonged a 1-year contract to Maryna Bezrukova, the present director of the DPA, the company introduced on Jan. 21.

The contract extensions comes after Protection Minister Rustem Umerov walked again on plans to merge the Defense Procurement Agency and the State Logistics Operator (DOT) into one company, following a NATO assertion stated that the 2 companies ought to be stored separate and two separate supervisory boards established "to carry out their duties and supporting their independence and anti-corruption insurance policies."

Along with the contract extension, the board stated in a press release that it had initiated a "complete audit of the Company's actions," which can concerned NATO's Worldwide Board of Auditors (IBAN).

Bezrukova, whose contract was prolonged by a unanimous vote, is a former worker of Ukraine’s vitality firm Ukrenergo, earlier than being appointed to move the DPA.

Separate boards have been arrange for Ukraine’s deadly and non-lethal procurement companies, complying with NATO requirements, within the fall of 2024.

The protection procurement sector was reshaped in December 2023, aiming to satisfy NATO requirements. The DPA, first established in August 2022, was to focus solely on deadly support. In the meantime, the DOT was shaped to buy non-lethal support resembling meals and clothes.

Arms procurement head should keep post, supervisory board saysDefense Minister Rustem Umerov planned to merge the Defense Procurement Agency (DPA) and the State Logistics Operator (DOT) into one agency but changed his mind after a NATO statement said that the two agencies should be kept separate and two separate supervisory boards should be established.The Kyiv IndependentBoldizsar Gyori