procurement

The order suspended the VA’s extensive procurement requirements and ordered the agency to pick up the bill.

The country's infrastructure minister, Vladimir Svet, insisted "we are decreasing the budget as much as possible, we’ve rationalised the public procurement process and, if necessary, we'll take on a loan."

One insider told me, “the worst thing we could do is spend more and spend it badly … the number needs to go up but we absolutely need to get a proper grip of procurement.”

The government says it wants to shake up and sort out the mess that defence procurement has become.

A National Audit Office inquiry into public procurement during the pandemic, published in November 2020, found no evidence of ministerial involvement in procurement decisions or contract management.