On Thursday, 13 October, the Saeima adopted in the final reading and through an expedited procedure the Law on Defence and Security Procurements, which is intended to provide an efficient procurement procedure in the defence and security sectors.

Previously defence and security procurements were regulated by the Public Procurement Law and the Law on the Procurement of Public Service Providers; however, as the authors of the Draft Law point out, the application of these laws to procurements of military nature caused various problems. The new regulations have been drafted because, for the most part, there is limited competition in the defence and security sectors, and procurements are conducted without following the general procedure.

The objective of the new Law is to ensure transparency of procurements, free competition to suppliers and efficient use of public funds, thus minimising risks to the procurer. 

The Law stipulates procurement procedures that are specifically adapted to the defence and security sectors and that will facilitate competition among suppliers, including involvement of small and medium enterprises in the construction, as well as delivery of goods and services, in the defence and security sectors. Specific requirements pertaining to the sensitive nature of these contracts are also considered in the new procurement procedures.

The Law provides the following procurement procedures for the defence and security sectors: closed tender procedures, competitive dialogue and a negotiation procedure. In order to guarantee the protection of classified information during the procurement procedures, as well as throughout the execution of contracts, the new Law provides for special data protection requirements for suppliers. Additional requirements have also been set pertaining to the execution of the contract in order to ensure that applicants are able to fulfil their contractual obligations even at a time of crisis or armed conflict. In order to facilitate the involvement of small and medium suppliers, including local suppliers, in the execution of large procurement contracts, the Law stipulates subcontracting procedures.

The new regulations will apply to procurements in the defence sector, which are conducted by the Ministry of Defence and its subordinated institutions. Procurements in the security sector are conducted by the Ministry of the Interior and its subordinated institutions, as well as municipal police authorities, other public safety institutions and public service providers. 

Procurers in the defence and security sectors will have to submit a statistical report on conducted procurements to the Procurement Monitoring Bureau by 1 March each year.

Saeima Press Service