In Mykolaiv, construction of an 80-million shelter has been halted at the bidding stage

In Mykolaiv, efforts to select a contractor for the construction of a fallout shelter on the grounds of Kindergarten No. 75 were unsuccessful. The only bid submitted for the tender was rejected because it exceeded the approved budget.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations.

The Capital Construction Department of the Mykolaiv City Council held a tender for the construction of the shelter at Kindergarten No. 75. The estimated cost of the project was 86.05 million hryvnias. 

Only one bidder participated in the tender—PGS Bud LLC. The company offered to perform the work for 83.08 million hryvnias, excluding VAT. However, during the evaluation, the contracting authority considered the total cost, including taxes. After adding 20% VAT, the total rose to nearly 99.7 million hryvnias, which exceeded the procurement budget by approximately 13.7 million. As a result, the bid was rejected, since the tender documentation did not allow for a contract to be signed for an amount exceeding the estimated cost.

Under the terms of the tender, the contractor was to receive an advance payment of 30% of the cost of the work and complete construction of the shelter by the end of December 2027.

According to the YouControl analytical system, PGS Bud LLC was registered in Mykolaiv in 2016. The company is engaged in the construction of residential and non-residential buildings. Its owner, director, and ultimate beneficiary is Mykola Semenov. The company’s authorized capital is 70,000 hryvnias.

The 2025 financial statements show that the company employed only two people. Over the course of the year, it generated 159,000 hryvnias in revenue and 2,000 hryvnias in net profit. During its time in operation, the company has been awarded government contracts totaling only 260,800 hryvnias. All of these contracts were signed in 2019–2020 with the Mykolaiv Astronomical Observatory. 

As a result, the sole bidder for the contract was a company with two employees, minimal revenue, and virtually no experience fulfilling government contracts.

Also in July, the contractor to build a shelter for Kindergarten No. 126 was selected—a contract worth over 98 million hryvnias was awarded to a firm that regularly wins city tenders.

Анна Бальчінос