The Mykolaiv Department of Education Conducted Uncompetitive Procurements Worth Hundreds of Millions of Hryvnias

<span><span><span><span><span><span>Over the course of eight months in 2026, nearly 85% of the completed procurement contracts by the Mykolaiv Department of Education—totaling more than 558 million hryvnias—involved only a single bidder. The lion’s share of these budget funds was divided among three key contractors in the food service and energy sectors, while minor repairs at educational institutions were widely awarded to a small circle of contractors through simplified procedures.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

<span><span><span><span><span><span>This was reported by theCenter for Public Investigations.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

Three favored entities—a municipal food service enterprise, a regional heat supplier, and a private energy company—accounted for<span><span><span><span><span><span>76.8% of the total value of all completed procurements by the Department of Education</span></span></span></span></span></span>.

<span><span><span><span><span><span>In total, the Mykolaiv City Council’s Department of Education published 371 procurement lots worth 1.1 billion hryvnias between January 1 and mid-August 2026. Of these, 324 lots worth over 658 million hryvnias have been completed; 31 lots worth 344 million hryvnias are listed as unsuccessful or canceled; and 16 lots remained active at the time the data was downloaded.</span></span></span></span></span></span>

In the Department of Education and Science of the Odesa City Council, 23 out of 24 completed procurements had only one bidder. This accounts for 95.8% of all completed lots in the 2026 sample. This is the highest rate of sole-bidder wins among Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson, although the smallest number of lots was examined in Odesa.

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