MOSCOW. April 10 (Interfax-AVN) - New departments will be attached to the Russian armed forces in the summer to involve companies, based in the regions where troops are based, in supplying military units, Col. Gen. Dmitry Bulgakov, first deputy head of the armed forces' Logistics Service, told Interfax-AVN.
"An instruction has been readied which requires that we set up order and supplies departments in the first half of the year at each district and fleet, to be in charge of this problem. They will start working fully in the second half [of the year]," Bulgakov said.
"Not all regions where troops are based can provide the complete list of materiel the army needs," the general said. This has to do, in the first place, with fuel and clothing with which the troops are supplied in a centralized way. Food accounts for only 7%-10% of centralized supplies. The larger share of 80%-85% is purchased in military districts. Garrisons and military organizations have the right to purchase a small share of food (worth up to 250,000 rubles) using banking guarantees and without tenders. Such purchases are intended for pilots' canteens and for military personnel on duty, he said.
The military has already been allowed to hold tenders for regional small businesses (employing not more than 100 people) and buy food worth not more than 3 million rubles. This usually involves seasonal purchases of potatoes, vegetables, fruit juice and other foodstuffs, Bulgakov said.