Kyiv, April 10, 2014 - Public procurement reform has been an important area of policy dialogue between Government of Ukraine, the World Bank and other development partners as a sound public procurement law is essential for ensuring efficient use of public resources. The current Public Procurement Law has a number of deficiencies and the Ukrainian Government has submitted draft amendments to the Rada to address some of these deficiencies. The proposed amendments bring greater alignment with good international practices in public procurement, in particular through reducing the number of exceptions to the Law and limiting the cases for exception to categories commonly found in international procurement practices. The publication requirements, institutional arrangements and complaints review mechanisms are in line with good international practices and the World Bank believes that the proposed amendments will contribute to achieving transparency, openness and integrity needed in a sound public procurement system. In addition, the amendments to the Law stipulate greater involvement of civil society in different stages of the procurement process which, we believe, will contribute to improved transparency of the procurement process by allowing public oversight and higher accountability standards.
