AMCU uncovers collusion in tender for South Ukrainian NPP

The Antimonopoly Committee has uncovered collusion in a public tender and fined the bidders. It concerns the purchase of network equipment for the South Ukrainian NPP.

This was reported by the Southern Interregional Territorial Department of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.

In particular, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine revealed an agreement between DTZ Group LLC and individual entrepreneur Ivan Spychak during participation in a tender for the purchase of network equipment organized by the South Ukrainian NPP in 2020. The estimated value of the tender was UAH 222,796.84.

The investigation found that the participants used common telecommunications equipment, had business relations, used similar documents and purchased goods from the same suppliers. These facts indicate that their actions during the tender were coordinated.

Antimonopoly authorities recognized such actions as a violation of the Law on Protection of Economic Competition due to anti-competitive collusion that distorted the bidding results. DTC Group LLC was fined UAH 33,419, and Spychak's individual entrepreneur was fined UAH 33,087.

The agency reminded that according to the law, companies that have been prosecuted for misrepresenting tender results over the past three years are not allowed to participate in public procurement.

Prior to that, the antimonopoly authorities suspected collusion among the participants in the public procurement of heat meters for Mykolaivoblteploenergo. The scheme was discovered in 2022 during a tender held by the regional utility company Mykolaivoblteploenergo for the purchase of heat meters worth UAH 7.371 million.

Recently, Mykolaiv fined the company for misrepresenting the results of a tender held on Prozorro. In addition to falsifying the auction results, the company is accused of failing to provide information and obstructing the investigation of antitrust authorities.

Antimonopoly authorities also found collusion between Blahoustriy-NK and individual entrepreneur A.M. Yakovenko during the tender. It was about repairing a green zone on a street in Zavodskyi district of Mykolaiv in 2019. The cost of the work was estimated at almost UAH 5.8 million. The investigation showed that these participants acted in concert to distort the results of the tender.

Ірина Глухова