Antitrust authorities suspend tender for 135 million in Kherson region

A tender for the reconstruction of a village council in Kherson Oblast into an outpatient clinic is under threat due to a complaint. The price at stake is over UAH 135 million. The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has accepted the complaint for consideration and scheduled a hearing.

This is evidenced by data from the Prozorro procurement system.

In early August, the Department of Territorial Development of the Kherson Regional State Administration announced a tender for the reconstruction of the building of the Vysokopil Village Council into a modern outpatient clinic for general family medicine. The expected cost of the project is UAH 135.22 million, and funding is provided under the Ukraine Facility program of the European Union.

According to the project, the administrative complex will be completely re-equipped to provide the community residents with affordable primary health care.

The tender was published on August 11, and the auction was scheduled for August 29. However, on August 13, Avtomagistral-Zakhid LLC filed a complaint against the procurement. The company challenged the requirement of the tender documentation regarding the financial capacity of the bidders: the average annual turnover of the bidders' funds over the last year had to be at least 60% of the expected cost of the reconstruction, i.e. UAH 81.13 million.

SCREENSHOT: Prozorro

According to the company, such a criterion is discriminatory, as it artificially narrows the range of participants and prevents small and medium-sized enterprises that may be efficient and experienced contractors but do not have a large turnover due to martial law in Ukraine from participating.

The company requested changes to the documentation and emphasized that if the changes were not made, it would be forced to apply to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine. Since the department did not make changes to the tender documentation, the company filed a complaint on August 22, and on August 26, the AMCU commission accepted it for consideration.

The Department of Territorial Development of the Kherson Regional State Administration will be required to provide explanations and documents on the procurement procedure. The AMCU's consideration of the complaint is scheduled for September 3, 2025 at 10:00 in Kyiv. The document notes that the decision of the Antimonopoly Committee may be appealed in court.

At the end of August, a tender for the reconstruction of the main water supply system in Kherson region drew criticism for discrimination against bidders. The client insisted on having certified welders and a site manager, positions not required by law.

Анна Бальчінос