Polish Humanitarian Action

We spoke with representatives of the Polish Humanitarian Action, which has been helping Ukrainians affected by military aggression since 2014. Specialists of the logistics department of the PGA from Lviv – Iryna Shpyrka, and from Kyiv – Oleksiy Kachura – told us how electronic procurement helps to cover the urgent needs of people, what exactly is purchased first and how tenders abroad differ from those held on Ukrainian online sites.

Polish Humanitarian Action

What Is the Polish Humanitarian Action and What Is Its Activity in Ukraine

The Polish Humanitarian Action was founded in 1992. Its purpose is to assist the civilian population suffering from armed conflicts and natural disasters, as well as to alleviate human suffering and promote humanitarian values. Currently, PHA has active missions and helps victims of humanitarian crises in Ukraine, South Sudan, Iraq and Kurdistan, Somalia, Yemen, Kenya, Lebanon, and Madagascar.

Polish Humanitarian Action

The PHA has been present in Ukraine since 2014 with an immediate response to the conflict in the east of the country. A permanent operational mission was introduced in 2015. Since February 24, 2022, the efforts of the PHA mission have instantly multiplied, and the team has almost tripled in size since then and continues to grow and help the people of Ukraine. Currently, PHA has four operating offices here: in Lviv, Kyiv, Dnipro, and Kharkiv. They plan to restore their presence in Kramatorsk very soon.

Polish Humanitarian Action

In Ukraine, PHA helps the affected population with shelter, repair of damaged property, food and non-food kits, improvement of sanitary conditions, psychosocial support, and direct financial support.

PHA implemented a large program for the reconstruction of destroyed property and the installation of modular houses in the Kyiv region. With the support of partners, they completely restore residential buildings and provide materials for repairs. Temporary modular houses are fully capable of helping the population survive the harsh and cold winter: they are equipped with heating, and there is a toilet and a shower cabin inside. Of course, all activity in the shelter and housing sector is based on procurement and the efficient work of the PHA logistics department.

1. Why Did You Decide to Switch to Online Procurement?

Iryna: For us, online purchases have become an effective tool for compliance with our internal rules. That is, if the purchase exceeds a certain monetary threshold, then we are obliged to conduct a tender purchase through online platforms. And it's convenient. It also allows us to replenish the supplier base.

2. Implementation of an Electronic Bidding System — Was It Your Choice to Optimize the Procurement Process or Was It a Requirement of Foreign Donors?

Iryna: Yes, indeed, the electronic bidding system complies with our internal rules agreed with our partners – institutional donors. But this is also our personal choice, so here everything coincided successfully. In addition, the introduction of electronic bidding gave us access to a large base of suppliers. Now we have more tools and can choose the best one for us. All this, as a result, improves the procurement process and reporting on them.

3. Why and How Did You Choose Smart Procurement as Your Procurement Tool?

Iryna: We liked the ease of use of the platform, as well as the cool option that shows how many suppliers received our request and how many suppliers viewed it.

Polish Humanitarian Action

Oleksii: Smart Procurement has a very convenient, intuitive interface, a professional customer service team, as well as more than 100,000 registered suppliers of goods and services, which simplifies and speeds up our procurement.

4. What Goods and Services Do You Purchase Using the System?

Iryna: It is the filling for our grocery and hygiene kits for individual households and institutions, for children and adults. And mainly the transport services: transport by large trucks for our humanitarian aid programs, as well as the repair work we carry out in the shelter and housing reconstruction sector.

5. Have You Already Managed to Implement any Projects with the Help of Smart Procurement?

Iryna: With the help of Smart Procurement, we purchase the components of our NFI (non-food items) sets, in particular, those designed to help the population bear the cold in winter more easily. For example, warm blankets, stoves, generators, and so on. Also, as mentioned earlier, our housing reconstruction projects are highly dependent on efficient procurement, as we are dealing with large volumes of repair materials and important transport services.

Oleksiy: We launched the Smart Procurement platform in November 2022. So far, 16 procurement procedures have taken place or are in progress. All procedures allowed for choosing the necessary materials, products, or service providers. For example, we found a transport company that is currently delivering our humanitarian goods to Ukraine, provided insulation materials and boilers to several rural households in the Chernihiv region, victims of the war, and much more.

6. Your Organization Also Works in Poland, Where a Significant Number of War-Affected Refugees from Ukraine Are Concentrated. How Are Procurement Processes Outside of Ukraine Taking Place?

Indeed, the Polish Humanitarian Action has missions in different parts of the world, but the same procedures apply everywhere. Everything depends only on the purchase price.

Since February 2022, we have held several tenders in Poland to purchase what is necessary for Ukraine. In general, the tender procedure is the same both in Poland and Ukraine. But it is worth noting that in Poland we do not have such a platform as in Ukraine, so there we publish tenders on our website, advertise on social networks, and send invitations to potential suppliers.

But in the tenders held on Smart Procurement, the site's tools are enough to invite suppliers. There are e-mails and notifications for companies that work in the categories of goods or services we need, the ability to invite suppliers who are not yet registered on the site, but with whom we would like to cooperate, and much more. Thanks to this, we do not need to spend time posting announcements about the tender procedure on other sites and following up on the responses of interested companies by mail or social networks. Purchasing and searching for suppliers is quick, convenient, and in one place.