Dispute flares around drone tender: manufacturer appeals to NABU, Sternenko warns of supply disruption
Ukrainian drone manufacturer "General Cherries" has raised concerns about corruption risks in the procurement of fiber-optic FPV drones conducted by the Defense Procurement Agency DOT. The company is preparing an appeal to NABU and demands to suspend or cancel the procedure. In response, volunteer Serhiy Sternenko said that such actions could disrupt the purchase of hundreds of thousands of FPV drones for the Defense Forces.
"General Cherries" claims that the procurement conditions are formulated in such a way that they can be met by products of a limited circle or even a single manufacturer. The company also questioned the way the procedure itself was conducted and called for transferring it to the open Prozorro platform.
The manufacturer said it is preparing a report on a possible criminal offense to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and asks to check the actions of officials of the Defense Procurement Agency and the Ministry of Defense. This refers specifically to the company's assertions and suspicions - the fact that officials committed a criminal offense has not been established at this time.
Manufacturer's complaints about procurement terms
Among the problems, "General Cherries" cites that some characteristics of future drones, such as maximum and operating flight altitude, cruising speed and takeoff weight, are allegedly not defined, while other parameters, in the company's opinion, are overly narrowly detailed.
The manufacturer also claims a lack of sufficiently clear requirements for participants and objective criteria for evaluating some documents. In particular, companies are required to provide a letter about the enterprise's capabilities for testing, but, according to "General Cherries", the criteria for evaluating such a document are not specified.
Another complaint concerns the deadlines. The company states that participants were given four working days to prepare the proposal and documents, while, according to its interpretation of the legislation, the minimum period should be six days. The manufacturer believes that meeting the requirements in such a time is realistic primarily for companies that knew about them in advance.
Separately, "General Cherries" opposes conducting the procurement outside Prozorro. According to the company, documentation is sent by e-mail to a limited circle of enterprises, without public announcement and an open electronic auction.
The company demands to stop the procedure until the complaints are addressed and to conduct the procurement on the open Prozorro platform.
Sternenko announced risk of supply disruption
Volunteer Serhiy Sternenko responded to the manufacturer's statements. He claims that appealing the procedure could block the purchase of hundreds of thousands of fiber-optic FPV drones for the Defense Forces.
According to Sternenko, the technical specifications for new procurements were developed with the participation of the military, the General Staff, experts and manufacturers. He acknowledged that the requirements have become higher, but explained this by technology development and military requests.
Sternenko also made claims about the quality of "General Cherries" products. According to him, his foundation received complaints from servicemen about certain FPV drones of the manufacturer, particularly regarding components and operating frequencies. This is Sternenko's own claim; there is no independent confirmation of his stated complaints in the published materials.
In addition, the volunteer said that the procurement is agreed with European partners, so its blocking could lead to repeated approval procedures, delays in drone supplies and create risks for further funding of arms procurement.
Ministry of Defense stated procurement not for a specific model
The Ministry of Defense, when announcing this procurement on August 21, described it differently. The agency reported that the Defense Procurement Agency DOT would for the first time purchase strike fiber-optic FPV drones not for a specific manufacturer or model, but according to tactical and technical characteristics determined by the Ministry of Defense.
According to the official position, manufacturers and suppliers can offer their own products provided they meet the established characteristics. The DPA then said that such a mechanism should expand the circle of potential suppliers and maintain competition.
Thus, the parties give opposite assessments of the procedure: "General Cherries" considers the established conditions potentially discriminatory and non-transparent, while officially the procurement was presented as a transition from contracting specific models to competition based on specified military characteristics.
At the time of publication, there is no information about NABU opening criminal proceedings based on the manufacturer's statements. Also, no public announcement has been made about the final cancellation or suspension of the procurement itself.
Based on materials: "General Cherries", Serhiy Sternenko, Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
