Doubtful competition: almost half of the tenders in Kherson region had one participant

In Kherson, there were problems with transparency and competitiveness of tender procedures. In total, the region held 402 tenders for more than UAH 670 million.

This is evidenced by the analysis of public procurement by the Kherson Regional Charitable Foundation "United" for the third quarter of 2024.

Despite the fact that successful tenders for significant amounts were held, the negative dynamics with tenders that did not take place due to the absence of participants, winners with corruption experience and open court proceedings may indicate a lack of efficiency and lack of competition in the procurement process. This is a negative trend for the region, which should already be transitioning from humanitarian support to the recovery process.

According to Prozorro data, 593 tenders with an open procurement procedure were announced in Kherson region in the third quarter of 2024. At the same time, 189 tenders did not take place due to the lack of participants. Among the organizers were 96 institutions of Kherson region.

In total, 402 tenders were held for a total amount of UAH 670,737,665.02.

Screenshot: Charitable Foundation "Ednannia"

206 procurements had two or more tenderers, which created a competitive environment and potentially minimized corruption risks.

196 tenders with one tenderer who also became the winner. This is a rather large number and could potentially raise doubts about the competitiveness and transparency of tender procedures.

However, analysts are more inclined to suspect that the tender was specifically targeted at a particular participant and prepared in such a way as to give it an advantage over other participants. This practice is a form of corruption in e-procurement and violates the terms of competition.

It should be noted that such an outcome may be justified by a coincidence - for example, other potential tenderers refused to participate in the tender for a number of reasons.

The following types of procurement should be singled out separately:

Screenshot: Charitable Foundation "United"

The total amount of procurements that did not take place amounted to UAH 143,532,314.81. Two procurements totaling UAH 416,562.00 were also canceled.

On the one hand, this may indicate that local companies do not have sufficient competitive capacity compared to other participants, which may be due to lack of capital, education, technical knowledge and, of course, military actions in the region. On the other hand, this may indicate bias in the relationship between the seller and the bidders. This is a rather low figure, which results in very low local budget revenues from taxes paid by local entrepreneurs.

At the end of October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Bill 11057 on mandatory publication of estimates in public procurement, also known as the "transparent construction" law.

Also in early November, the European Commission published a report on Ukraine's progress as a candidate country for EU membership in 2024. This report examines the compliance of Ukrainian standards with the EU criteria, and public procurement is highlighted in a separate section.

Анна Бальчінос