Defence billions expose Lithuania’s procurement capacity gaps

Rapidly rising defence funding is exposing Lithuania’s difficulties in managing larger budgets and carrying out complex arms purchases, LRT reported. The Defence Resources Agency says the market lacks some of the necessary specialists, while members of the Seimas National Security and Defence Committee say both human resources and the procurement system need strengthening.

A State Control audit found that the arms and military equipment procurement system has been unable to keep pace with the army’s needs as defence funding has grown rapidly.

Administrative gaps exposed

Laurynas Kasčiūnas, a former defence minister and deputy chairman of the National Security and Defence Committee, said institutions’ administrative capacity was not keeping pace with increased defence spending.

“Defence funding is growing faster than the capacity to invest it properly and turn it into military and defence capabilities,” Kasčiūnas told ELTA.

He said the sharp increase in funding had highlighted institutional problems in the national defence system. According to Kasčiūnas, the system is struggling to invest properly in procurement and to develop a defence ecosystem linking industry, science and the army’s needs.

Kasčiūnas said simplifying procurement procedures alone would not be enough. He called for stronger project management at the Defence Resources Agency and more staff with the expertise and confidence to make swift decisions.

He said changes were needed both in the procurement system and in efforts to attract and motivate employees. Bureaucratic obstacles should be reduced and procedures accelerated while maintaining transparency standards, he said, adding that the national defence system should seek to attract more private-sector specialists.

However, Kasčiūnas said business experience alone was not sufficient for defence procurement. Specialists must also understand the specifics of military equipment, he said, arguing that the system needed to combine the dynamism of business with the knowledge held by military personnel.

He said the shortage of specialists had also been felt while he was defence minister, but had become especially apparent in recent years as funding rose sharply to around five billion euros. The situation had exposed gaps in administrative capacity, Kasčiūnas said.

In his assessment, there was no single main problem. Shortcomings existed in procedures, expert competencies and efforts to attract new specialists, he said.

Social Democrat Tomas Martinaitis, a member of the National Security and Defence Committee, also acknowledged the risk that institutions could lack sufficient administrative capacity as defence spending rises.

“There is certainly some risk here. But we must understand the geopolitical situation in which we are living,” Martinaitis told ELTA. He said the drastic increase in spending on the defence sector created an additional risk factor and made stronger competencies among those managing the funds necessary.