Entrepreneurs suspected of tender fraud in the sale of fire alarms for schools in Mykolaiv region

The Antimonopoly Committee is investigating violations of competition in fire safety tenders. The case has been initiated.

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

Thus, the companies Spetspozhservice-Yug and Spetsavtomatika-2007 are suspected of concerted actions when participating in tenders in 2023.

These are three large procurements: installation of fire alarms in educational institutions of the Bratske village council of Voznesensk district, Mykolaiv region, overhaul of the fire system in the Yelanets village council, and works at Odesa Polytechnic University.

According to preliminary data, the actions of the bidders may have been coordinated, which is a violation of the law on protection of economic competition. As a result, the administrative board of the Southern Interregional Department launched an investigation.

By the way, the number of public procurements in Ukraine is growing every year. From 2020 to 2021, their number almost tripled from 440 thousand to 1.2 million. In 2023, compared to the period before the war, their number tripled again to 3.6 million. So far in 2024, almost 2.5 million procurements have already been made.

The Prozorro e-procurement system was launched in Ukraine to increase competition in tenders and thereby reduce budget spending. However, sometimes customers of works, services and goods prescribe conditions in the tender documentation that, on the contrary, reduce the number of potential participants, but not the cost of the procurement.

Recently, the Center for Public Investigations has investigated the top 5 discriminatory requirements that budget organizations in the South have included in tender documents over the past two months. The rating includes tenders from three regions - Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kherson.

Ірина Глухова