Nowadays there is no single public institution or entity left, which does not somehow use modern digital services.

For the majority of B2G customers it is reasonable to consume telecommunications and IT services, as well as participation of the industry-specific companies in the public sector projects and further maintenance of digital services are expedient.

The government has extremely extensive requirements to such tasks, and to this effect, as regards work of the Information and communications technology area, B2G format is notable for the strict requirements to the company’s authority, engineering capabilities and convenient pricing policy.

We are speaking on the above-mentioned theme with a famous Ukrainian telecommunications leader COSMONOVA|NET with experience of successful participation in a considerable amount of the Ukrainian public sector tenders.

What are the requirements currently imposed on the Ukrainian operators and providers of engineering solutions engaged in B2G segment?

Konstantin Novitsky, Commercial Director, COSMONOVA | NET

K.N.: All government agencies operate in terms of tenders, while services are assessed at more than 200,000 hryvnias. Each agency specifies individual requirements to the tenders; it depends on the contract tendered. In our case, for the tender purposes we regularly furnish:

• official information regarding the availability of equipment, facilities and resources;
• information regarding accomplishment of similar contracts or letters of recommendation for the similar cases;
• it is also necessary to provide "Letter of guarantee stating that there are no grounds for the customer to reject tenderer’s participation in the procurement procedure according to article 17 of the Law of Ukraine on Public Procurement”;
• documentary evidence that telecommunication services are provided lawfully, in particular, it includes license of the National Commission for the State Regulation of Communications and Informatization for providing network maintenance and operation services, certificate of inclusion in the register of telecommunication operators and providers;
• other documents.

On one occasion, we provided even statements from the State Register of Encumbrances over Real Estate and Personal Estate used during the provision of services. There were cases of requested originals or copies of the bank statements proving that there’s no credit indebtedness. And this is only a part of those materials we’re ready to furnish during participation in the public tenders.

What services does COSMONOVA|NET offer to its government customers, and what is special about them?

K.N.: Since 2004 the company has been providing competent telephony and broadband internet access services, data center services, data transfer services and organization of high-quality live broadcasts of the nationwide industry-specific events. Among the B2G features, we may highlight a whole range of successful projects for B2B segment that entirely defines the company’s image within the Ukrainian and international market. Over the years of successful IT business conduct in Ukraine the company tested solutions and put them into practice, and today all of them are widely available, first of all, for the entities requiring the highest engineering capability, on a turnkey basis. COSMONOVA|NET constantly develops, the company takes part in the large-scale international events, exhibitions and forums, including outside of Ukraine. Specialists always find solutions when it comes to the reasonable innovation tasks, and we share widely our strategic gains in mass media.

Tell about COSMONOVA|NET projects for the B2G customers?

K.N.: It is largely banking sector, number of executive and judicial authorities, political parties and, of course, Ukrainian national television broadcasting. It’s not the first year of being a strategic partner for the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine in many nationwide projects. Among them, we may proudly point out live broadcasts of the Olympic Games and Winter Olympic Games, as well as international Eurovision Song Contest events. In 2018, owing to our technical cooperation with NPBCU, Ukrainian music lovers could, for the first time, enjoy the contest in Full HD quality with stereo sound, and for that COSMONOVA|NET received a prestigious Telecom Awards national award.

Cosmonova LLC has recently obtained Certificate of CISS of SIAN (comprehensive information security system of secure internet access node). What were the reasons for this, what is special about this document, what does it give to the operator, and was it easy to obtain it?

Alexander Lashin, Head of Legal Services COSMONOVA | NET

A.L.: Yes, in 2018 the company successfully obtained a favorable opinion of the CISS of SIAN examination from the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine. We had been expecting the certificate for 9 months since the registration.

It is commonly known that in 2017 the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine brought up the issue of forbidding public authorities, state-owned enterprises, institutions and organizations to purchase internet access services (enter into internet access contracts) from the telecommunication operators (providers) that do not have documents proving compliance of information security system with applicable requirements in the relevant field. This resulted in the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated August 30, 2017 that gave effect to the Decision of the NSDC of Ukraine dated July 10, 2017, with one of the key points being the need for "settling the issue of forbidding public authorities, state-owned enterprises, institutions and organizations to enter into contractual arrangements and purchase internet access services from the telecommunication operators (providers) that do not have documents proving compliance of information security system with specified information security requirements."

Since among our clients there was quite a considerable number of those entities that fell under the ban stated, COSMONOVA|NET initiated activities intended to create CISS in the information and telecommunication system of secure internet access node immediately after the respective decision of the NSDC had been put into effect by the Decree of the President of Ukraine.

Currently we have an evident result of the work performed in the form of the Certificate No.17136 dated July 24, 2018 proving compliance of COSMONOVA LLC CISS of ITS of secure internet access node with the requirements of the regulations governing technical information protection in Ukraine, registered by the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine.

Internet access node of our company has been verified and acknowledged by the state expert review of the customer information resource and data stream security (private and public sectors) – for both clients that receive internet access services from Cosmonova LLC and those clients that enjoy colocation web hosting service by locating their equipment at our data center connected to SIAN.

What’s your opinion about the development of B2G operator services segment in Ukraine?

K.N.: Government demands do not often differ from the normal business needs. Differences between business and governmental organizations lie purely in the requirements imposed on operator within the framework of participation in various tenders. The more the government will be involved in a wide range of new capabilities resulted from the deliverables of scientific and technological progress, the more solutions telecommunications industry will be able to generate and implement. COSMONOVA|NET has been providing a number of innovative technology solutions for business purposes for many years and it is the main partner for the large companies, including the leading media groups of Ukraine that rank among top 10 Ukrainian businesses. The government tries not to fall behind the trends in engineering terms, in large part due to the requirements of our international partners – leading technocratic world economies. In this respect, the future of industrial development is predetermined by a strong and ever-growing demand for good-quality service facilitating process management.

What are the most promising areas in B2G telecommunications sphere and how is COSMONOVA|NET planning to respond to the market fluctuations?

K.N.: Broadband internet access and uninterrupted operation. Certainly, we will point out data center, to be exact – data center services, colocation services and lease of physical servers, which reinforced its primacy among the most high-demand ones long ago.