Audit revealed: State Reserve is accumulated without regard to risks and managed with gaps

2026-01-22

The State Reserve is one of the most important guarantees of national security, used in extreme situations or crises, when mobilization is declared, or a state of emergency or martial law is imposed. The audit conducted by the National Audit Office, "Formation, Accumulation, and Management of the State Reserve," shows that the State Reserve is formed without taking into account the most significant risks and is not justified by the scenarios provided for in their management plans. Furthermore, the current system for accumulating and managing the Reserve does not ensure that it is sufficient, appropriate, and, if necessary, can be delivered quickly to the required location.

This is not the first audit conducted by the National Audit Office to assess whether appropriate conditions have been created and a State Reserve has been formed to ensure that the State's needs in emergency situations, during a crisis (and to eliminate its consequences), after the declaration of mobilization, the imposition of a state of emergency or martial law, and in other cases. Back in 2017, the National Audit Office assessed the preparedness of state and municipal institutions and economic entities for individual or collective state defense. Unfortunately, the recommendation on adequate state preparedness has not been implemented in eight years.

From 2022 to 2025, EUR 12.6 million has been allocated for the accumulation and maintenance of State Reserve stocks. It consists of 665 different stock items - medical, food, transport, and civil protection supplies. The audit found that the Government has not approved 660 State Reserve stock items and their quantities, nor has it set deadlines for the accumulation of these stocks, as required by law. Without defining the size and composition of the State Reserve necessary to cover all possible high-risk threats, it is not possible to create the right conditions for its reasonable planning, accumulation, and control.

"We cannot blindly accumulate stocks in the hope that they will be needed someday. Every euro allocated to the Reserve must be used where the risk is greatest. Only when the State Reserve and municipal actions are in line with realistic defence and security plans will we be able to trust in the State's preparedness," noted Auditor General Irena Segalovičienė.

The National Audit Office draws attention to the fact that, in the event of a threat to national security, State Reserve food stocks would only be used from the seventh day onwards. During the first 72 hours, residents would have to take care of their own food supplies, while on the fourth to sixth days, food supplies would be provided by municipalities. However, this model has not been legally established - the audit showed that municipalities do not accumulate food reserves for this purpose.

The audit also revealed shortcomings in the accumulation of the State Reserve. Most of the annual State Reserve accumulation targets set by the Government for 2021-2024 were not met. As a result, 37% of the appropriations remained unused in 2024, of which 25% was used for other needs of State Reserve managers.

The auditors noted that food stocks for the State Reserve are not accumulated by purchasing and storing them, but by reserving them under contracts. This method of accumulating food products is based on lower costs, as when accumulating stocks physically, the state would have to allocate funding for the purchase, transport, storage, administration, and renewal of stocks. However, this method was chosen without conducting a cost-benefit analysis to justify that it requires less expenditure than purchasing and continuously storing stocks.

It should be noted that the storage locations for stocks were selected without assessing the greatest threats and their possible consequences, and without ensuring the decentralization of stock storage. Therefore, in the event of a threat, part of the state reserve stocks may be contaminated, lost, or become inaccessible. In order to address these issues, a concept for the decentralization of medical stock storage locations has been developed, and plans have been made to build new warehouses for the storage of civil protection measures stocks.

The audit revealed that there is no clear plan for who should ensure the delivery of State Reserve stocks to their places of use and how this should be done. Therefore, in the event of an emergency, the reserves may not reach the recipients or may be delivered late. The national mobilization exercise "Vyčio skliautas" also revealed the need for centralized logistics services. By the end of 2026, the Government plans to conclude centralized transport service contracts to ensure that logistics services are provided in a timely manner in the event of an emergency.

The National Audit Office made 16 recommendations to the institutions responsible for the State Reserve (the Government and its Office's National Crisis Management Center, the Ministries of Health, Transport and Communications, Agriculture, and the Ministry of Health's Emergency Health Situations Centre). If implemented, the State Reserve adapted to real threats would be planned this year, ensuring the needs of rescue forces and affected residents during emergencies, crises, mobilization, or war.

Once the State Reserve that meets actual needs has been formed, the Government will approve a plan for its accumulation by 2030. The implementation of the recommendations will create conditions for the systematic accumulation and management of the Reserve, the targeted and effective use of funding, increased security of stocks, and, if necessary, their prompt delivery.

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