The Ministry of Defense conducted an audit of the Defense Procurement Agency. Here are the main problems

In October 2024, the Internal Audit Department of the Ministry of Defense completed an audit of the Defense Procurement Agencyʼs (DPA) work for the first half of 2024. Among the main problems are delays in the delivery of first-priority goods, poor organization of key processes, and the lack of algorithms for selecting suppliers.

The head of the department Oleksandr Tytkovsky told this in an exclusive comment to Babel.

According to the contracts DPA concluded in the first half of the year for first-priority goods — that is, those needed at the front right now — 70% were to be delivered in 2024. The remaining 30% were planned to be delivered in 2025-2026. The Ministry of Defense says that as of the end of 2024, there were delays even for the planned 70%.

The Agency also does not have a general database of potential suppliers and manufacturers of weapons around the world for each category. Their capabilities are not systematically assessed. The Agency says that they have such a database and showed it to auditors. However, due to the fact that the information is classified, there is no special software — everything is kept in an Excel spreadsheet.

Commercial offers are lost in the jungle of DPA due to the lack of a unified accounting and processing system. There is also no systematic assessment of risky suppliers and risk identifiers that reduce the percentage of unfulfilled and overdue contracts. Because of this, in particular, the auditors did not see the risk assessment of the Ukrainian plant that disrupted the supply of ammunition.

Among the Agencyʼs problems is the lack of algorithms and unified instructions for selecting suppliers and preparing contracts. As well as a low percentage of direct contracts. For six months of 2024, 45% of the total value of contracts fell on importing enterprises. And 24% of the value of all contracts DPA concluded with one special exporter, who "had certain problematic issues in relations with the Ministry of Defense".

At the same time, according to Babel, in the second half of the year the number of direct contracts in DPA increased significantly. Including with well-known foreign manufacturers. And the Agency concluded a large share of contracts with special importers in 2023, before Bezrukova arrived.

In addition, auditors recorded the purchase of goods that were too expensive for the Agencyʼs work using budget funds.

Based on the audit results, the Ministry provided the Agency with its recommendations, and now, says Oleksandr Tytkovsky, they plan to check whether the Agency has taken them into account. According to the contract, the head of the Agency is required to do this.

Outside of the audit, the key complaint of the Ministry of Defense to DPA is that contracts are signed for a long time, and deliveries are delayed. According to the Ministry of Defense, slightly less than a third of the money (29%) allocated to DPA in 2024 went to new contracts under which weapons were delivered in the same year; 21% of all money went to close contracts for 2023; 44% — contracts under which deliveries will be made in 2025; 5% — these are overdue contracts under which there are no deliveries; 1% of the funds were not used and returned to the budget.

What is happening in DPA

The Defense Procurement Agency was created in July 2022, modeled after the NATO Support and Procurement Agency. Its task is to make arms purchases for Ukraine transparent and eliminate corruption. Since January 2024, the agency has been headed by Maryna Bezrukova.

On January 20, 2025, the Supervisory Board of the Agency submitted a recommendation to Defense Minister Umerov to extend the contract of the current director of the Agency Maryna Bezrukova for one year.

On January 23, the supervisory board concluded an additional agreement to extend the contract with Bezrukova. However, the next day, Umerov announced the dismissal of his deputy Dmitry Klimenkov and a change in the leadership of the Defense Procurement Agency. Umerov noted that the results of arms purchases were unsatisfactory, so the system needed to be changed. Instead of Bezrukova, the agency will be headed by Arsen Zhumadilov, who heads the State Logistics Operator.

The Ministry of Defense also recalled two state representatives from the supervisory board — Taras Chmut, director of the "Come Back Alive" foundation, and Yuriy Dzyhyr, former Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine. Both voted to extend Bezrukovaʼs contract.

On January 25, DPA reported that it would continue working under Bezrukovaʼs leadership, despite Umerovʼs decision. However, on January 27, Suspilne, citing its own sources, wrote that the minister had initiated an internal investigation into the agency, and Bezrukova had been suspended from work for the duration of the investigation.

The Anti-Corruption Center criticized Umerovʼs decision not to extend Bezrukovaʼs contract. The Executive Director of the Anti-Corruption Center Darya Kalenyuk previously explained that the Supervisory Board has the legal right to extend the contract with the Director of the Defense Procurement Agency without the consent of the Ministry of Defense. Bezrukova herself said that her relations with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov "began to deteriorate" due to the incident with low-quality 120-mm mines.

On January 28, it became known that, at the request of the Central Anti-Corruption Commission, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) had launched an investigation into possible abuse of power by Umerov when he fired Bezrukova.

On January 31, the Ministry of Defense announced that from February 1, the Defense Procurement Agency will be headed by Arsen Zhumadilov instead of Marina Bezrukova. Bezrukova appealed to President Volodymyr Zelensky to intervene in the conflict. Zelensky said that Minister Umerov has the right to do everything to avoid slowing down the provision of weapons to the Ukrainian army.

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