July 21, 2025, 3:12 p.m.
(ILLUSTRATION: AI)
The contract to modernize a heating plant in Mykolaiv region may be awarded to a company considered a favorite of the Uman authorities. The company has already earned more than UAH 400 million in government contracts and is involved in criminal proceedings.
This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations, citing data from the Prozorro procurement system.
In June 2025, the Department of Construction and Repairs of the South Ukrainian City Council announced a tender for the overhaul of the heat control center. It was a complete modernization of one of the key units of the city's heat supply system, with the replacement of technological equipment and utility networks. The expected cost of the works was UAH 31.4 million, and they are to be completed by December 20, 2026.
The auction, which took place on July 17, brought together two companies: First Ukrainian Construction LLC and ED Temp LLC. The winner was the latter, a company that already has extensive experience in public procurement and has been repeatedly featured in journalists' investigations due to suspiciously frequent wins in tenders, particularly in the Cherkasy region.
The company is registered in Kyiv, but according to YouControl, its founder is Ivan Didenko, a resident of Uman. This is the reason for the fact that a significant part of the contracts are awarded to Uman local authorities. In local media publications, ED Temp was called a "favorite of the Uman authorities" because many contracts were awarded without any real competition.
The company was established in 2004 with a start-up capital of UAH 5.5 million. ED Temp began to actively participate in public procurement in 2018. Since then, its revenue has grown rapidly, peaking in 2023 at over UAH 99 million. In total, the firm has earned more than UAH 426 million from public tenders.
The most frequent customer in 2021-2024 was the Department of Education and Humanitarian Policy of the Uman City Council.
In November 2023, the company came to the attention of law enforcement: while performing work on the territory of a school in the village of Mankivka, a company employee fell into a three-meter pit and was injured. The police opened a criminal investigation into this incident under the article on violation of labor protection requirements.
Also in Mykolaiv, a company that was previously involved in a criminal proceeding for misappropriation of budget funds won a multimillion-dollar tender for the reconstruction of a water supply system in the city's central district. Despite suspicions of overcharging, the company continues to receive contracting orders from local authorities.
Анна Бальчінос