The Resource Support Department of the Ministry of Defence, which was responsible for non-lethal procurement before the launch of the state agency State Logistics Operator (SLO, also known as DOT), committed to holding the last tenders for the supply of food to the Armed Forces for the 1st quarter of 2024. To this end, in December-January, the Resource Support Department concluded 32 contracts worth over UAH 9.2 billion. In total, the department has contracted nine suppliers to supply products to military units in different regions by 31 March. 

This was reported by StateWatch after analysing open procurements on the Prozorro e-platform.

• The most funds were allocated to Grand Consult LLC: UAH 2.8 billion under ten contracts for the supply of products to military units in the cities of Kyiv and Rivne, in the Zhytomyr, Zakarpattia, Kyiv, Lviv and Chernivtsi regions. The contracts with Grand Consult LLC, which belongs to the Bila Tserkva group of companies owned by Tetiana Hlyniana, account for 30% of the total number of all Resource Support Department contracts in December-January. 
• Meat Prom LLC received the least amount of money: UAH 400 million under one contract for the supply of products in the Luhansk and Kharkiv regions.
• The highest price per set of food products (UAH 117.84) is stipulated in the UAH 509 million contract with Grand Consult LLC for the supply of goods in the Kyiv region.
• The lowest price per set of food products, UAH 104.04, is stipulated in a UAH 264 million contract with Kontrakt Prodrezerv 5 LLC for the supply of products in the Donetsk region. 

It is noteworthy that on 17 January, the Ukrainian MoD cancelled the UAH 470.7 million contract with Trade Lions Retail LLC for the supply of food to the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. Trade Lions Retail LLC is a part of the group of companies owned by the Hrynkevych family, whose members are suspected by the State Bureau of Investigation of causing UAH 934 million worth of damage to the Defence Ministry. 

To avoid supply disruption, the Resource Support Department re-announced the procurement on the basis of direct contracting, but at the same time amended another existing contract with the supplier Kontrakt Prodrezerv 5 LLC, to meet the immediate needs of the military. 

The military units of the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions were added to the contract of 28 December 2023, according to which Kontrakt Prodrezerv 5 LLC was to supply products only to the Donetsk region. At the same time, the volume of goods did not increase. Meanwhile, the products intended only for the Donetsk region were distributed among the three regions in January-February, and the volume of supplies to the Donetsk region decreased accordingly. 

Eventually, the cancellation of the contract with Trade Lions Retail LLC, caused the need to re-announce the procurement not only for the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, but also for the Donetsk region separately. 

• On 29 January 2024, the Resource Support Department concluded a direct UAH 340.4 million contract with Kontrakt Prodrezerv 5 LLC for conducting food supplies to military units in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions until the end of March. 
• On 07 March 2024, the Resource Support Department selected Trade Poltava LLC as the winner of a simplified tender procedure and signed a UAH 187.9 million contract for conducting supplies to military units in Donetsk Oblast by the end of March. 

The state agency State Logistics Operator (DOT) is responsible for procuring food for the second quarter of 2024 (April–June) and for all subsequent periods. Given that the DOT had to be first recognized as an institution, it was not assigned the responsibility to conduct procurement for the first quarter of 2024. In addition to food, since December 2023, the DOT has been responsible for procuring fuel, uniforms for the military. The agency’s total annual budget is nearly UAH 95 billion. Of this amount, the agency is supposed to receive a commission of 0.4% of the executed contracts (this should not exceed UAH 250 million per year). 

This monitoring has been supported by the British Embassy’s Office of the Special Defence Advisor, and delivered by EDGE Foundation and StateWatch.