From a Supplier to a Procurement Customer of the Armed Forces

The full-scale war in Ukraine made adjustments to everyone's life. Someone went to serve in the defense forces, someone changed the direction of their business, or became a volunteer. Kateryna Zolotarova, the head of the key supplier engagement department of SmartTender.biz, spoke with Ruslan Kasprovych, who has been working as a supplier at our site for a long time and since March was called up for service in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. From this interview, you will learn about the peculiarities of the work of electricity suppliers and how Ruslan applies this experience now to meet the needs of the Armed Forces.

How long has your company been working with government customers, participating in procurement?

ENERGOINVESTPROJECT LLC has been working in the electric energy market for over 16 years. Since 2018, our company began to actively participate in procurement and supply electricity to state customers throughout Ukraine. During the entire time of our working, more than 230 consumers worked in partnership relations with us.

What was your job at ENERGOINVESTPROJECT LLC?

My position is the head of the sector, an expert on public procurement. I was engaged in conducting preliminary market consultations to analyze the electricity market, organizing work on the preparation and submission of tender offers, developing a strategy for winning the tender, participating in auctions, checking competitors' offers, studying the feasibility of appeals, and preparing complaints to the AMCU panel.

What traits and professional skills should a public procurement specialist have, in your opinion?

First of all, we take into account the interests and needs of our consumer and give them a sense of safety and security, as well as build partnerships based on honesty and trust and achieve this thanks to an experienced team and professional management.

Share your experience with e-procurement. What helps you win more often?

In 2018, when our company began to actively participate in procurement, SmartTender.biz became the first platform with which we actively cooperated. Since then, there have been many offers from other platforms, and we even tried to work for them. But I would like to highlight SmartTender.biz, which is constantly working on improving its functionality and creating convenient tools that help us successfully participate in public procurement:

- signing with QES of each document in the tender offer immediately on the site page (SmartTender was one of the first to implement this tool);
- legal assistance or free consultation – allows us to understand the nuances of participation in the procurement and increases our chances of winning;
- competitor and competition analysis modules – allow us to analyze what bids our competitors are making and how much the price of the product fluctuates since the electricity market is quite volatile.

How did you decide to join the Armed Forces?

For a significant part of my adult life, I was working in the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and over the past few years, I have mastered a civilian specialty in the field of public procurement. On March 1, I received a proposal from the cyber community of Ukraine, which needed help in spreading the truth, overcoming propaganda, and blocking Internet resources that spread fakes and propaganda. And a little later, I decided to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

I wanted to protect Ukraine from the enemy and I understood that there is little that can be done sitting in a chair in front of a computer, but if I and thousands of the same volunteers stand on the outskirts of Ukraine, then we will be able to stop this invasion. That is why I decided to enlist in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I chose this path based on my conviction because every person must defend their home and country from the enemy.

What is your job in the Armed Forces?

My job is to provide units that are involved actively in hostilities with spare parts and materials needed to repair weapons and military equipment. We find suppliers of the necessary goods with the help of SmartTender.biz.

My experience as a supplier helps me better understand how to conduct procurement, but it's still hard work every day. However, we all have one common plan – to win the battle for independence, so we do everything possible to make it happen.

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Since the beginning of the full-scale war, 71,608 tenders have been held on Prozorro to support the country's economy. Through the electronic procurement system, suppliers and organizers from all over Ukraine successfully find each other and conclude procurement contracts. All of them are united by a single common goal – the speedy victory of Ukraine.

We thank the defense forces for their dedicated service and the business and volunteers for supporting and providing for our army! Everything will be Ukraine!

From a Supplier to a Procurement Customer of the Armed Forces