The State Operator For Non-Lethal Acquisition has initiated a pilot project to control suppliers directly during the acceptance of food products at military units. The project is being implemented in several regions and, if successful, will be scaled across Ukraine. The pilot will last for one month.

The DOT team will visit military units and be present when goods are received from suppliers. Previously, such checks were not conducted, but this will help ensure more thorough control of supplier deliveries.

DOT's quality control specialists will check the quality of the products, accompanying documents, whether the transportation temperature regime and the commodity neighbourhood of food products is violated, and whether the goods match the requirements and the order. They will also verify that the quantities on the documents match the order. If any issues are found, complaints will be filed with the suppliers, who will be required to provide quality products promptly.

DOT monitors suppliers at all stages of the contract. Before signing a contract, suppliers' capabilities are assessed, their warehouses inspected, and additional checks are conducted during product acceptance.

"DOT's task goes beyond merely controlling suppliers for timely and complete deliveries. We want to ensure the quality of the received products, so we need to go down to the level of manufacturers and subcontractors of the suppliers, visiting military units during the receipt of goods. We aim to simplify the feedback system on product quality from both the military unit and the supplier," said Halyna Litosh, Director of the food project portfolio management at DOT.

We also encourage the heads of food departments to not neglect the right to draw up acts on breaches of contractual obligations regarding non-compliant goods if substandard products are detected.