The changes not only affect the Ministry of Defense and its agencies, but also the Ministry of the Interior, and those agencies which are under its purview.

The government on Thursday appointed the Estonian Defense Investment Center (RKIK) as centralized procurer of defense equipment.

Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur (Reform) said: "Based on the Ministry of Defense's experience so far, we can see a demand for a centralized public procurement service, especially in the case of purchasing comparable materials and services in the are of defense and security, where there is a desire to achieve economies of scale and to find bidders for public procurement from across the international market."

RKIK Director General Magnus-Valdemar Saar said: "We have for over six years acted as a competence center in conducting public procurements, both in Estonia and internationally, and one of our biggest cooperation partners has been the institutions relating to the Ministry of the Interior."

"Across the state as a whole, it does not make sense to disperse one service across different institutions, hence we are happy to be able to offer a procurement service nationwide," Saar went on, via a Ministry of Defense press release.

In the case of central procurement, the ministry argues, among other things, it will be viable to make procurements more cheaply under the new method, as well as improving the quality of procurements, rendering a failed procurement less likely.

All agencies falling under the Ministry of the Interior purview have between them15 joint procurements as organized by the RKIK at the time of writing, including tenders for

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!