Odesa utilities selected a deputy's firm as a contractor in a 34-million tender

The City Roads utility company has held a tender to select a company to be paid to restore the road surface after emergency repairs to heating networks in Odesa.

This is stated in the Prozorro electronic procurement system, according to the Center for Public Investigations.

The tender with an expected purchase price of UAH 34 million 666.3 thousand was held on November 12 in the format of an open tender with special conditions. The winning company will have to work until December 31, 2024. It was the only bidder, Rostdorstroy Limited Liability Company. The company expects to receive UAH 34 million 579.3 thousand if the deal is concluded.

The ultimate beneficiaries of Rostdorstroy LLC are currently Yuriy Shumacher, a deputy of the Odesa City Council and representative of the Trust the Deeds party, and businessman Yevhen Konovalov.

Open bidding with special features means that almost all terms are shorter than in open bidding under the Law on Public Procurement. This means that this procurement is much faster than open tenders.

The period for submitting proposals is seven calendar days, and the period for challenging qualifications is five calendar days. Often, there is no auction during such tenders, so the participant has no competitors.

However, the year before last, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine temporarily changed the rules of bidding for the period of martial law in Ukraine and within 90 days from the date of its termination or cancellation. The government temporarily canceled electronic auctions. Since then, tenders announced in Prozorro can be held without an auction.

For example, in October , Rostdorstroy received another contract to repair roads and sidewalks in Odesa. It will be paid over UAH 16 million from the budget. The customer was the Road Maintenance Department of the Odesa City Council. The open bidding with special conditions was held on October 8 with the only participant who registered in the system, and he became the winner.

In January, the Municipal Enterprise "City Roads " chose Rostdorstroy Limited Liability Company as the contractor to restore the road surface after emergency repairs of heating networks in Odesa. According to the system, the procurement was conducted in the format of open bidding with the peculiarity that the company had no competitors. The company has to restore roads after repairing heating networks within a year - until December 31, 2024 - and will receive UAH 27 million 913.2 thousand for this.