Mykolaiv Awards ₴5M Firewood Tender to New Entrepreneur Amid Concerns

Mykolaiv held a tender for firewood to supply defense facilities. The contract was awarded to an entrepreneur who was recently registered but had already earned more than UAH 10 million from procurement.

This is evidenced by data from the Prozorro procurement system.

At the end of February, the Housing and Maintenance Department of Mykolaiv announced a tender for the purchase of 2,000 cubic meters of hardwood, for which more than five million hryvnias were allocated from the local budget.

According to the terms of the tender, the firewood must be made of oak, beech, hornbeam or acacia, with a moisture content of no more than 30%, of the appropriate size and without external rot.

Four bidders came to the auction, but the entrepreneur with the lowest offer won. Sole proprietor Larysa Ten offered UAH 4 million 760 thousand, while the winner, sole proprietor Oleh Groshev, offered UAH 5 million 98 thousand, which is UAH 380 thousand 920 less than the expected purchase price.

Screenshot: Prozorro

According to the YouControl online service, Oleh Mykolaiovych Groshev was registered in 2023 in the Dnipro region. The main KVED of the entrepreneur is other types of retail trade outside stores, but there is also timber production and logging.

Since 2024, the entrepreneur has participated in nine tenders, earning UAH 10 million 17 thousand 175. All purchases were for the supply of firewood for heating. His customers were education departments and offices, a hospital and a lyceum, a penal colony, and Ukrposhta. The last purchase was ordered by the Housing and Maintenance Department of Mykolaiv. The entrepreneur did not appear in court cases, nor in journalistic investigations.

The contractor has to deliver the firewood by April 11, 2025.

And a mini-football field will be repaired at a school in Pivdenoukrainsk, Mykolaiv region, for almost a million hryvnias. Ukrbudservice & Co. was the only bidder and will carry out the work. The company regularly receives budget contracts.

Meanwhile, Pervomaisk has selected contractors for street cleaning and landscaping. The total value of the two tenders announced by the local authorities exceeds UAH 6 million, and the winners were chosen without competition.

Анна Бальчінос