VILNIUS, Aug 30, BNS – Lithuania's Armed Forces bought various types of kitchen utensils at a price that was eight times above the market price, the Public Procurement Service stated.

According to the press release, the army in its 2014 procurement of 173,800 euros purchased a cutting board for 180 euros, whereas an identical board then cost 28 euros in a store at the time, also buying a bread knife for 142 euros, while its price at a store was 13 euros. A steak fork was purchased for 184 euros, a colander for 70 euros, a hone for 103 euros, a meat chopping knife for 250 euros.

All of the prices are about eight times the market prices of the time.

The utensils were purchased from Nota Bene company, the only firm that submitted an offer for the purchase. Since 2006, Nota Bene has won nearly 30 million euros worth of over 50 public procurement tenders of the Armed Forces, being among the top 10 suppliers of the army.

The public procurement watchdog also criticized the 1.342-million-euro purchase of military shovels where the army rejected other offers and chose Nota Bene, which offered the highest price of 1.522 million euros.

The agency is currently analyzing a claim in connection to the Nota Bene victory of a procurement bid for supply of blankets. A preliminary contract has been signed with Nota Bene, which offered to provide the blankets for 126,800 euros, while the other supplier's offer of 66,400 euros was rejected as falling short of technical requirements.

Vilnius newsroom, politika@bns.lt, +370 5 205 85 08