Presentation of MoD Procurement Plan for 2013

The Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces were represented by the Defence Minister, Mr. Ante Kotromanović and the Deputy Minister, Ms Višnja Tafra, and by Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Plannning and Resources, RAdm Ante Urlić respectively. The Parliament’s Defence Committee and the National Council were represented by the respective Chairmans, Mr. Tomislav Ivić and Mr. Vladimir Šeks, and to attend was also the Advisor to the President of the Republic, Mr. Zlatko Gareljić.
In the introductory part of the meeting the Defence Minister emphasized that the Procurement Plan has to be transparent and open. The Ministry of Defence staff consulted with the General Staff in the preparing process. The Procurement Plan was first drafted in 2012 for the current year. The Minister also stated that the Ministry of Defence intends to extensively consult the Parliamentary Committee for Defence in the implementation and monitoring of the procurement process.
The Plan was presented by the Head of the Autonomous Public Procurement Sector of the Ministry of Defence, Mr. Branko Pribolšan, who stated that the Plan has been prepared to prevent  the expenditure exceed the funds allocated for defence purposes, and to ensure effectiveness and transparency. It was also emphasised that the officials  assigned with procurement requests and finance planning would not be allowed to sit in procurement commissions.
According to the Plan, the funds allocated for material provisions in the 2013 amount to 1,741 billion kuna out of total MoD budget (4,78 billion kuna), which comprises the reserved funds from multi-annual contracts (27%), procurement agreements with the existing partners such as the Aeronautical Technical Centre (the „ZTC“), the „Pleter“ catering firm, the utilities companies and the like (16%), the classified procurement projects (9%), subject matters based on the Public Procurement legislation (43%) and subject matters that are being processed (5%).

Speaking of classified projects in view of the public attention, Pribolšan pointed out that they had been agreed on previously and that they would be allocated reduced amounts as had already been the case in 2011 (the respective funds totalled 887 mil kuna and in the year 2012 840 mil kuna respectively, while in 2013 some 154 mil kuna have been set aside for the purpose). These include the services and spare parts for the Armoured Combat Vehicle maintenance, the NBC equipment, the assault rifle, the ammunition, the transmission lines, the combat communications maintenance, the mines and boats overhaul, the ammunition disposal and the equipment for special units. Concluding the presentation, Mr. Pribolšan listed the most important procurement projects for the year 2013 – namely the multi-role fighter aircraft, the patrol boat, the helicopters, the Air Tractor, the final phase of the armoured combat vehicle project, the ammunition depots, the accomodation facilities and kitchen in the Zemunik Barracks, the autonomous underwater vehicle, the combat uniform, industrial disposal of the ammunition and explosive ordnance and the equipment for peace missions. He also informed that technical documentation for fighter aircraft had been completed three days earlier.