Success Story

How does the tender department of the Kyiv Mystetskyi Arsenal conduct procurement and what exactly does it purchase? What are the features of this cultural institution's cooperation with suppliers and what five tips will help the buyer do his job well? We talked about this and much more with Anna Sofishchenko – Head of the Public Procurement Department of the SE "NATIONAL CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC AND MUSEUM COMPLEX "MYSTETSKYI ARSENAL".

How long have you been working in procurement and why did you decide to choose this particular specialty?

I began to deal with purchases in 2010, at the Regional utility company Donetskteplokommunenergo. Then the word "tender" evoked completely new sensations: it was unknown and, perhaps, that is why it was very interesting for me. Now I understand that nothing was interesting in that work. Routine and 24/7 stress. I am very reluctant to recall the so-called "paper tenders": all these endless minutes of committee meetings, competitive bidding documents, folders in folders, archives, endless checks by regulatory authorities, etc.

I think that the professional life of a Ukrainian buyer can be safely divided into two periods: purchases before 2016 and after 2016. What happened before is perhaps the topic of a separate article or even a book. After 2016, the life of "tenderers" began to play with new colors, and indeed, the concept of "purchaser" appeared as such. That is, the understanding is fully formed that this is not just a person who prepares and churns out piles of documents, but, first of all, a manager initiator and implementer of certain processes.

In 2018, I started to deal with purchases at the State Enterprise “NCAMC “Mystetskyi arsenal” as the secretary of the tender committee. Now at Arsenal, I head a full-fledged public procurement department.

How do you apply the knowledge gained from studying at KSE in practice?

I can only describe my feelings after studying at KSE: “Life will never be the same as before”! For example, an analytics module. I don’t understand at all how I used to live without it! A separate topic is business/procurement processes. It was then that I realized that absolutely everything we do, even everyday life, is a set of processes, the result of which can be controlled or predicted. KSE teaches this in the context of the purchaser's activities. You begin to understand that the purchase of goods, works and services is not only a procedure and the conclusion of a contract. This is a much broader process that includes many stages and requires the involvement of many specialists. The main thing is to first create the "right processes" and then make them work for a certain result.

The topic of my project at KSE was "Optimization of the enterprise tender committee’s work, taking into account future changes in the legislation". I was able to analyze all existing processes related to procurement, identify unnecessary links, optimize the work of the involved specialists, reduce the time to obtain a certain result, and most importantly, prepare our cultural institution for future reforms in the field of public procurement (transition to authorized persons). Today this project has been fully successfully implemented at the Mystetskyi Arsenal.

What is the total volume of purchases in your company and how many people are working in this direction?

The Mystetskyi Arsenal is about 10 large cultural projects a year: from the Book Arsenal (with its 450 events, 150+ participants, and 55,000 visitors), the Arsenal of Ideas children's festival (with research laboratories), to international exhibitions of contemporary art (with fees, acquisition of licenses and objects). Mystetskyi Arsenal is an exceptional cultural organization, so all its purchases are unique.

On average, we conclude about 350 contracts for the purchase of goods, works and services per year, of which, on average, 100 contracts based on the results of the performed procedures. Of course, the volume of procurement procedures has increased significantly since the introduction of simplified procurement. Therefore, the Mystetskyi Arsenal expanded the staff of the public procurement department: now three specialists are working here.

How do you work with suppliers and do you build long-term partnerships with them?

Cooperation begins at the stage of preparation of the purchase. Especially when the purchase concerns some atypical services. For example, at the International Book Arsenal Festival, we purchased services for the production of die-cutting of text from the film (this is the text that visitors see on information plates at the stand of each publishing house). The terms of reference for this purchase alone were worked out for more than a month, there were a lot of consultations with the market of suppliers of such services. We look for some suppliers on our own through open sources, other suppliers find us. We pay attention to everyone, collect all commercial offers, explain our specifics of activities, and needs. And after that, we invite them to participate.

Success Story

In general, the Mystetskyi Arsenal is an open organization. We try to make our purchases, including technical tasks, understandable not only to specialized cultural contractors but also to everyone else. We always support expanding the circle of participants, we often use the “Invitation to Participation” tool built into the site. There are also such purchases, where we send out more than 300 invitations for one lot. This also has a positive result. In 2019-2021, our base of new contractors has significantly increased. In some of our purchases, the savings as a result of the auction reached more than 70%.

What are your TOP-5 personal tips for the effective work of a buyer?

I would like to recommend the following to all buyers:

1. You have to love purchasing. If you get annoyed when you hear the word "Prozorro", then you shouldn't be a buyer :)
2. Continuously learn and improve your knowledge. In the modern world, this can be done even for free. For example, thanks to tender bloggers, consultants, purchasing resources, business breakfasts. Spend time reading and listening to webinars, audio materials. There is always a "nuance", something new that you did not know yet.
3. Be completely immersed in the life of the institution, know what it breathes.
4. A responsibility. Do not be afraid to take responsibility for certain decisions – without this, there will never be a result.
5. Remember the importance of the team. After all, no matter how smart and responsible you are, no matter how “correct processes” you set up, nothing will work without professionals in the team. Full understanding and support from management and the willingness of the team to innovate are the two driving forces and basic pledges to support procurement reforms.

Read the previous Success Story within the joint special project SmartTender and KSE here.

Learn the most interesting things about procurement and win with SmartTender!