Public Audit

• As defence funding has increased, the volume of acquisition of armaments and military equipment has risen rapidly: procurement contracts worth EUR 8.7 billion were concluded between 2023 and 2025, while funding for this area within the national defence system rose from 14 percent to 40 percent of total expenditure.
• The efficiency of armaments and military equipment procurement is declining – the proportion of unsuccessful procurements rose from 24 percent (in 2023) to 59 percent (in 2025). 
• Decision-making is slow – 42 percent of procurement consultations with advisory bodies took between 30 and 374 days, while advisory groups effectively make decisions without declaring conflicts of interest. 
• Armaments procurement under exemptions accounted for almost half (EUR 3.4 billion) of the contract value; no significant systemic breaches were identified in procurement, but 38 percent of standard armaments procurement contracts were found to contain high and/or medium significance non-conformities.
• No significant systemic breaches were identified in procurement but increasing funding and reputational risk necessitate the strengthening of controls, monitoring of efficiency and prevention of conflicts of interest.

Funding for Lithuania’s national defence is growing rapidly and has reached record levels, with the focus on accelerating the armed forces’ readiness for national defence. To ensure deterrence and national security, modern armaments are being procured, the armed forces’ requirements are being updated, and the First Division of the Lithuanian Armed Forces is being developed. However, an audit carried out by the National Audit Office entitled “Acquisitions of Weapons and Military Equipment” revealed that the proportion of failed procurements in the defence sector has increased by as much as 2.5 times over two years, and that decision-making could be more efficient.

The audit showed that both internal and external factors are hindering the system for acquisition of armaments and military equipment from meeting the armed forces’ needs in a timely manner. Internal causes include fluctuations in funding and priorities when planning procurements, failure to update capability development plans, protracted decision-coordination processes, a shortage of qualified specialists, insufficient monitoring of procurement efficiency and fragmented management of key armaments procurement projects. Meanwhile, the external environment is characterised by growing demand for armaments on the international market, limited manufacturers’ capacity, and long lead times for the production and supply of armaments and military equipment. For these reasons, some of the armed forces’ requirements are met later than planned. 

“Today, time is just as critical a resource in the defence sector as funding. The number of failed procurements has doubled, and the months-long process of coordinating decisions is directly hindering the necessary expansion of the armed forces. We must therefore not only review the legal framework but also eliminate other internal causes that are causing procurement bottlenecks and delays in decision-making. Our audit has provided a clear picture of what needs to be improved and how. Now all the responsible institutions must work together constructively – the defence procurement system must be given a real priority, not just a declarative one, guaranteeing concrete results for the armed forces and our defence capabilities,” emphasises Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė.

The arms procurement process is slowed down by lengthy coordination and a lack of capacity

Audit data show that, as funding levels increased, the proportion of unsuccessful arms procurement contracts rose from 24 percent in 2023 to as much as 59 percent in 2025. This was due to changing requirements, unprepared operational specifications, suppliers’ tenders not being submitted on time, or prices that were too high and therefore unacceptable to the contracting authority. 

In turn, the coordination of decisions significantly prolongs the procurement process. In as many as 42 percent of the procurement cases analysed, coordination with ministry departments and advisory groups took between 30 and as many as 374 days, even though the recommended maximum duration for an international procurement process should not exceed 180–240 calendar days. Furthermore, advisory bodies such as the Defence Resources Council or the Armaments and Military Equipment Group effectively make decisions, even though they have no independent legal powers, and their members, as participants in the procurement process, do not declare any private interests, which creates a risk of bias and a lack of transparency.

Due to ineffective selection processes and the rotation of officers, the Defence Resources Agency also faces a shortage of specialists with specific knowledge and military qualifications. Procurement of armaments and military equipment requires not only a thorough understanding of public procurement procedures, but also the expertise of officers and specific military experience. As procurement needs grow, procurement capacity is not increasing, which hinders the continuity and smooth completion of projects already underway.

Procurement under exceptional circumstances accounts for almost half the value of arms procurement

The Defence Resources Agency, having made use of the exemptions provided for in the Law on Public Procurement in the field of defence and security between 2023 and 2025, concluded 62 contracts for the acquisition of armaments and military equipment, with a total value of nearly 3.4 billion euros. This accounted for 48 percent of all contracts for the acquisition of armaments and military equipment and 40 percent of the total value. The exemptions were applied lawfully.

When assessing routine public procurement of armaments, no significant breaches of the law were identified that would have altered the outcome of the procurements; however, serious control deficiencies were identified – 38 percent (8 out of 21) procurements were found to contain high and/or medium significance non-conformities. During the preparation stage, procurement officers often fail to carry out or document market research, which poses a direct risk of the improper planning of public funds. 

It was also found that the start of procurement procedures following approval by the Public Procurement Service took anywhere from a dozen or so days to one and a half years, even in cases where the Service had to be approached urgently. A lack of control was also noted during the contract implementation stages: information on concluded contracts and their amendments was not published in a timely manner, and some contracts were implemented for a certain period without the mandatory bank guarantees or letters of guarantee, thereby jeopardising the state’s financial protection.

Lithuanian Armed Forces capabilities and project management

The capabilities of the Lithuanian Armed Forces are strengthened with a view to increasing their combat power and ensuring the consistent development of the First Division by 2030. However, of the 16 capabilities relating to armaments acquisition, 13 are still being developed in accordance with plans drawn up some time ago. An audit carried out by the National Audit Office shows that no indicators have been established to specify the level of development each capability must achieve and within what timeframe, nor is the current level of capability development being recorded.

The National Audit Office emphasises that it is important to strengthen monitoring and project management in armaments acquisition. At present, almost half of the procurements carried out under exemptions are not monitored, and their efficiency is simply lost in the overall procurement picture. Not all of the high-priority armaments acquisition projects identified by the Ministry are managed on a project basis by the Defence Resources Agency. 

Due to the fragmented application of project management in the analysed projects, no project implementation plans were drawn up, and decisions were taken without assessing the total project value, which includes the life-cycle maintenance costs of ammunition, infrastructure and armaments. Assessing only the purchase price of the equipment itself can give a misleading picture of the actual financial commitments. For example, the value of the ‘Leopard 2 A8 tank project increased by 33 percent when all contracts already concluded and planned were taken into account. This shows that without taking into account all project-related costs, it becomes difficult to plan funding accurately, manage risks and ensure the smooth implementation of the project. This becomes critically important as budgets grow and the scope of modernisation projects expands. 

The National Audit Office’s recommendations to ensure change

With a view to ensuring that growing investment in armaments and military equipment is translated in a timely manner into the actual capabilities of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, the National Audit Office has issued recommendations to the Ministry of National Defence, the Defence Resources Agency and the Lithuanian Armed Forces. One of the most important changes envisaged is a clearly defined timeframe for supplying the armed forces. The aim is for no more than 730 calendar days to elapse between the approval of a requirement and its fulfilment. This indicator will make it possible to assess not only the duration of individual procurement procedures, but also the ability of the entire procurement system to supply the armed forces with the armaments and military equipment they require in a timely manner.

It has been recommended that the Ministry of National Defence clearly distinguish between the competences and responsibilities of advisory bodies and those authorised to take decisions and establish the procedures and deadlines for coordinating decisions. Once the planned measures have been implemented, the aim is for all final decisions to be taken by the authorised bodies, whilet the coordination process will be shortened to no more than 35 working days.

The Ministry has also undertaken to improve the system for assessing the efficiency of procurement. It is planned to establish separate performance indicators for the procurement of armaments and military equipment, including procurements carried out under statutory exemptions. The aim is to reduce the proportion of unsuccessful procurements to 20 percent, while ensuring that at least 80 percent of procurements are completed within the recommended timeframe.

To ensure that armaments can be acquired promptly in exceptional circumstances, we have recommended that the Ministry of National Defence initiate legislative amendments and establish a mechanism enabling the prompt acquisition of armaments and military equipment in the event of threats to national security, mobilisation or war.

To ensure greater transparency, we recommended that the Ministry precisely define the persons who may influence the outcome of procurements, and the measures for the prevention and control of conflicts of interest applicable to them. The aim of implementing this recommendation is to ensure that 100 percent of those involved in procurement have duly declared their private interests.

The Ministry of National Defence has also planned to strengthen the management of high-value acquisition projects. The total value of a project must be determined at the very start, covering not only the cost of the armaments or equipment being acquired, but also the costs of the necessary infrastructure, ammunition, maintenance and other life-cycle costs. It is also planned to introduce periodic monitoring of project implementation. The aim is for 100 percent of high-priority projects to be managed in accordance with established project management requirements, and for at least 80 percent of them to be implemented on time, in full and within the approved budget.

The Defence Resources Agency will strengthen procurement controls and traceability, document market analysis, verify the validity of unusually low prices, and establish clear requirements for unadvertised negotiations. It will also be possible to offer the contract to another supplier if the successful tenderer fails to ensure the necessary performance of the contract. The aim is for at least 80 percent of verified procurements to meet the requirements.

The Lithuanian Armed Forces have undertaken to update the capability development plans for all capabilities, to establish the current and target levels of development for each capability, and to set indicators against which the impact of specific acquisitions on the overall progress of military capabilities can be assessed. It is envisaged that by 2030, 80 percent of capabilities will have a target development level set, and 95 percent of capabilities will have actually reached the level of progress planned for 2030.

The measures committed to by the Ministry of National Defence, the Defence Resources Agency and the Lithuanian Armed Forces will be implemented in stages. The National Audit Office will assess their progress against established indicators of change. The expected outcome is not only more efficiently organised procurement, but also faster supply to the armed forces, more accurate planning of the funding required for all defence projects, greater transparency of processes and a measurable strengthening of Lithuania’s military capabilities. 

Part of this audit report is classified in accordance with the Republic of Lithuania Law on State and Official Secrets. The full audit report has been submitted to decision-makers authorised to access this information.

Inclusive education within the Lithuanian education system still faces significant challenges, which prevent children with special educational needs (SEN) from receiving the support they require in a timely manner and from realising their potential. An audit carried out by the National Audit Office, entitled “Educational Support in Schools”, revealed that a child’s educational opportunities are limited by systemic gaps, a shortage of specialists and parental vetoes. Another key challenge is the inclusion of children with exceptional talents, whose education is currently left to chance and depends on their families’ financial circumstances.

“Every child – whether facing learning difficulties or possessing exceptional intellectual potential – must be recognised and receive an education that meets their needs. We are now facing a painful reality: due to inefficient processes, a lack of adapted tools and resistance from parents, support for children is delayed by months, and sometimes they never even make it to school. The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and the Lithuanian Centre for Inclusive Education must develop standardised and adapted tools for specialists, and provide schools with clear guidelines on how to proceed when faced with deadlocks,” emphasises Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė. 

Delayed support, parental vetoes and reliance on medical certificates

Although the country has an extensive network of Educational Psychology Services (EPS), support for children with special educational needs is often delayed. As many as 34 percent of these services report that children have to wait more than a month for a needs assessment. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the proportion of children with SEN varies by more than a factor of four across municipalities (from 5 percent to 24 percent), and lower rates of identification correlate directly with a shortage of specialists in schools. If there is no one at the school to provide support, the child’s needs often simply remain unidentified. 

Upon receiving information about a pupil’s educational or other difficulties, the school’s Child Welfare Committee organises a meeting with the parents and decides to carry out an initial assessment to identify the pupil’s needs and plan the necessary support. However, not all parents agree to such an assessment being carried out. Although, under the current procedure, parents should merely be informed about the initial assessment at school, in practice, without the parents’ consent, this assessment and the subsequent referral to the EPS are usually not carried out.

According to the report, 35.8 percent of EPSs stated that they had received reports from schools which were unable to register a pupil for assessment due to parental refusal. Schools attempt to change parents’ attitudes through discussions, but this takes time, and parents are usually only warned verbally about the possibility of the Child Protection and Adoption Service being informed. In such cases, help for the child is delayed or never provided at all, and the educational conditions they need are not created.

Assistance is also delayed due to documentation issues. 85 percent of EPSs receive a child’s medical records directly from the parents, so the process is delayed or the quality of the conclusions suffers if the parents refuse to provide them. Furthermore, schools themselves are failing to fulfil their obligation to provide initial support without final EPS conclusions – as many as 21 percent of pupils assessed, for whom an initial assessment was carried out in the 2024–2025 academic year, received no support at school due to a shortage of human resources.

A lack of tools hinders the work of specialists

The smooth running of the child’s needs assessment process is hampered by a lack of adapted methodological tools. According to the audit findings, as many as 88–98 per cent of special needs teachers, speech and language therapists, social pedagogues and psychologists working in PPTs indicate that they lack adapted and standardised assessment tools. The assessment of pre-school-age children, pupils in higher year groups, those who speak a different language, or those with more complex developmental needs poses a particularly significant challenge. 

School staff face an identical situation – as many as 73 per cent of educational support specialists working in schools report facing a shortage of tools, whilst around 40 per cent of them use tools they have prepared themselves for initial assessment. Although the specialists’ ability to adapt flexibly and find solutions demonstrates their professional competence, the lack of standardised methodological tools creates additional challenges. This results in both an additional administrative burden and a time cost for educational support specialists, whilst the identification of a child’s needs in the country becomes dependent on the personal capabilities and available resources of individual specialists. 

Realising the potential of gifted children - an important task

Educational support is not just about helping with difficulties, but also about providing the right conditions for talent to flourish. The proportion of children with exceptional talents in society can range from 3 to 20 percent. Although the new regulations, which came into force on 1 September 2024, abolished the exemption that allowed the needs arising from exceptional talents to be disregarded, no legal clarification or identification algorithm has yet been established. 

As a result, chaos prevails in practice: some EPSs do not assess the needs of gifted children, claiming that this is not their responsibility and that there are simply no methodologies for doing so. According to experts, there is simply no coherent system for identifying and educating gifted children in Lithuania – everything is done in a piecemeal fashion, depending on individual enthusiasts and the financial means of parents. In state schools, teachers face an enormous workload, leaving no time for gifted children, while school heads lack the funds for their additional education. 

Constantly bored and lacking challenges commensurate with their abilities, children lose motivation and fail to realise their potential.

The National Audit Office’s recommendations to ensure change

With a view to ensuring the protection of children’s rights, an objective assessment of their needs and practical support for gifted pupils, the National Audit Office has made systematic recommendations to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and the Lithuanian Centre for Inclusive Education. 

The Ministry of Education, Science and Sport is recommended, in order to guarantee a child’s right to education and educational support, to establish a clear sequence of actions for schools in cases where parents (guardians, carers) refuse to undergo an initial assessment, refuse to sign the conclusions of the initial or special educational needs assessment, fail to attend to review the documents, or simply do not respond to invitations from the school or the Educational Psychology Service. Furthermore, in order to facilitate the identification and nurturing of pupils’ exceptional talents, it is recommended that the Ministry establish measures for the identification and assessment of special educational needs arising from exceptional abilities, both at school and at the service, as well as measures for adapting education accordingly. Finally, in order to assess a pupil’s needs as objectively as possible and to formulate detailed recommendations for their education, it is proposed to supplement the assessment process by utilising the information provided in the pupil’s health certificate. 

It is recommended that the Lithuanian Centre for Inclusive Education develop and implement a standard for the pedagogical and psychological assessment of children, and procure and prepare the necessary assessment tools, so that educational support specialists and educational psychology services across the country can assess pupils’ special educational needs in a consistent and high-quality manner.

  
Comments:     
Gretė Maziliauskaitė, 
External Communications Specialist, Department of Communications and International Relations 
mobile: +370 627 21 287, [email protected] 

The state’s commitment to ensuring inclusive education and educational support for every child must not depend on geographical location. Although overall funding for educational support in the country is growing rapidly, the independent contribution per pupil by local authorities varies by a factor of hundreds. However, the audit “Educational Support in Schools” carried out by the National Audit Office shows that funding is only one of the factors – the actual situation regarding the availability of educational support in schools is considerably more complex.

In recent years, the total funding allocated to educational support in the country has increased noticeably: in 2025, EUR 287.4 million was spent on educational support in schools (compared with EUR 233.4 million in 2024). Of this amount, EUR 199.5 million came from the state budget, while local authorities contributed EUR 87.9 million from their own budgets.

“State-guaranteed support should not become a lottery depending on the municipality in which a child lives. Differences in funding create unequal starting points. However, we must look at the full picture – the availability of support is strongly influenced by other systemic and practical factors that cannot be resolved by money alone,” says State Auditor Irena Segalovičienė.

Despite the rising figures, municipal financial commitment remains extremely uneven: in 2025, municipal expenditure per pupil ranged from as little as EUR 1 to EUR 648, with an average of EUR 190. Only 30 percent of municipalities allocated more than the average. Furthermore, 93 percent of municipalities allocated less of their own funds to educational support than the state did. With municipalities contributing little or nothing, schools are forced to make do with the state funding allocated for teaching.

However, the audit shows that increased funding does not in itself guarantee better access to educational support. Although additional funds provide more opportunities to create posts or strengthen the support system, the final outcome also depends on whether it is possible to attract specialists, provide them with suitable working conditions and organise their work eff9ciently.

In 2025, employers were seeking 1,157 educational support specialists, while the number of jobseekers was almost three times lower. There were seven times more vacancies for speech and language therapists than there were applicants. Consequently, even schools with greater funding or municipalities in major cities are not always able to fill vacant posts – there are simply not enough specialists on the labour market across Lithuania.

During the audit, schools also pointed out that the availability of support is also determined by challenges relating to infrastructure and the organisation of work. Some schools lack premises adapted for specialists, while some specialists have to work across several school branches located in different areas. As the number of children with special educational needs in such branches is small, a full-time post is often not filled there, and specialists refuse to travel. In such cases, a great deal of time is lost not on direct work with the children, but on travelling between distant workplaces or resolving issues relating to the organisation of work.

Furthermore, the audit revealed that some schools were unable to admit all pupils with special educational needs precisely because of a lack of infrastructure, premises or specialists.

The audit showed that current funding is often sufficient only for pupils with mild special educational needs. An assessment of specific cases of support provision found that, on average, approximately twice as much funding as is currently allocated would be required to ensure support for pupils with severe or very severe special educational needs.

According to the audit’s calculations, approximately 1.6 times more funding would be required to support pupils with moderate special educational needs, approximately 2.1 times more for those with severe needs, and approximately 2.6 times more for those with very severe needs. This indicates that the current funding model does not ensure equal opportunities for all children to receive support that meets their needs.

Comments:     
Gretė Maziliauskaitė, 
External Communications Specialist, Department of Communications and International Relations 
mobile: +370 627 21 287, [email protected]