Journalists collected stories of the most expensive inappropriate tenders in the South

The journalists of the Center for Public Investigations investigated which tenders in Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions were announced and canceled precisely because they were inappropriate during the full-scale invasion.

The most high-profile tender during the war in the South was the tender for the reconstruction of the Kyiv District Court building in Odesa, which was held in August 2023 by the Capital Construction Department of the Odesa City Council, the CPR noted.

After it became known that 106 million hryvnias would be spent from the city budget to repair the building (while in 2019 it had already been reconstructed at a cost of about 33 million hryvnias), the head of the Monster Corporation charity foundation, Kateryna Nozhevnikova, announced a single picket outside the city hall. The volunteer was supported by concerned Odessans, so the single picket turned into a mass rally against the spending of millions of budget funds on civilian facilities.

Despite the protests of the residents, the tender went ahead. And the department even signed a contract with PJSC Odeskolovpostach Repair and Construction Site in September 2023. However, due to public pressure, the UCB was forced to terminate it.

In February 2023, the administration of the Zavodskyi district of Mykolaiv City Council held a tender for mechanized vacuum and wet road cleaning services in the Zavodskyi district of the city. The contract for UAH 7.2 million was signed with the only bidder, Kars Cleaning LLC. However, the Western Office of the State Audit Service in Zakarpattia Oblast found violations of the law in the preparation of tender documents. Therefore, the Zavodsky district administration terminated the agreement with Kars Cleaning. However, since almost six months had passed between the signing of the contract and the termination, the administration had to pay the contractor UAH 1.8 million.

In Kherson, a tender for grass mowing services was not held. At the end of March 2022, the executive committee of the Dniprovskyi District Council announced a tender for these services for UAH 458 thousand. However, due to the impossibility of the procurement due to force majeure (Kherson was already under occupation), the tender was canceled.

In September 2023, the Regional Hockey Center utility company of the Kherson Regional Council failed to purchase hockey equipment worth UAH 1.7 million. The tender was canceled due to lack of funds.

Кирило Бойко