Sprud has instructed the officer parade swords to procure / day

Sprud emphasizes that the traditions of officers are important and honorable, but the costs must be carefully evaluated and reduced, adding that the current priority must be to strengthen the battle.

The Minister emphasizes that the amount of the swords of the officers’ parade is not proportionate to the procurement of the procurement, so the procurement planning must be stopped and carefully evaluated, as well as reviewing the specifications, volumes and the granting of the swords to the categories of officers.

Sprud has also instructed to evaluate the positions of the centralized procurement plan to prevent any costs that do not apply to strengthening Latvia’s defense capabilities.

« My priority is and will be responsible for investing funds in the defense industry, » the minister emphasizes.

It has already been reported that the Ministry of Defense (MoD) had planned to spend a total of € 900,000 for the purchase of parade swords in the National Armed Forces (NAF) officers.

Similarly, hundreds of thousands of euros have already been concluded in recent years for the supply of such attributes, LETA found.

LETA made sure that, according to the information available on the Procurement Monitoring Bureau (PMB) website in February this year, the National Defense Logistics and Procurement Center (Valic) announced an open tender for the purchase of sword holder. At the end of last year, the company « Pils LVA » won the procurement for the purchase of sword bouquets and the contract price is 41,999 euros.

In 2023, Wilco, organized by Valic for the purchase of officers’ swords, was won by the company Wilco and the contract price was 110,501 euros at that time. In 2022, the company « Sils & Sons » won the tender for the supply of officers and the contract price was EUR 100,000 at that time. In 2022, Wilco received the right to supply officers’ swords for the procurement of the officers for EUR 148,749 and EUR 495,867 respectively. In 2020, « Sils & Sons » won EUR 100,000 in procurement for the acquisition of officers’ swords.

The ministry pointed out that the swords were intended for issuing and prospective officers – graduates of the National Defense Academy. In addition, the ministry said that the Cabinet of Ministers regulations define the components of the officer uniform, which includes the sword with the sword holder and the sword bouquet.

The tradition of teaching the sword was established in 1920 and is presented by the President.