The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has announced a tender for the purchase of software with potential risks of overestimating the expected purchase price by more than UAH 180 million.
This was announced by the Bureau of Economic Security of Ukraine (BES) after analytical and search work.
The procurement is for the implementation of an ERP business process automation system with an expected value of almost UAH 240 million. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning system) is a software that helps companies automate and integrate core business processes such as accounting, finance, manufacturing, supply chain, sales, and human resources, etc.
What the experts found
According to BES Deputy Director Andriy Pashchuk, in addition to the possible overstatement of the procurement cost, analysts also recorded signs of discriminatory requirements for tenderers.
“This may indicate the artificial creation of conditions for the victory of a particular participant in a public procurement,” he said.
Pashchuk also emphasized that such actions of officials violate the procurement principles of maximum economy, efficiency and proportionality, as well as non-discrimination of participants and equal treatment of them, which are stipulated in the Law of Ukraine “On Public Procurement”.
Therefore, the BES experts sent letters of recommendation to the State Audit Service and the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine with a proposal to check the procurement of the SE “Forests of Ukraine”.
How the state enterprise responded to this information
The reaction of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” to the suspicions of the BES was almost instantaneous: 3 hours after the publication of this information, the state enterprise published its commentary on this matter on the official Telegram channel.
The Forests of Ukraine stated that the feasibility study and calculation of the expected cost of the procurement was prepared by the Ukrainian Institute for the Design and Development of Information and Telecommunications Infrastructure “Diprosvyaz”. Its specialists calculated the cost in accordance with the methodology approved by the Ministry of Economy.
The foresters also claim to have an expert opinion from the Institute of Telecommunications and Global Information Space of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which confirms that the developed feasibility study meets the requirements of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” and the law.
According to the state-owned enterprise, the AMCU has not yet received any complaints from bidders that would indicate the existence of discriminatory conditions.
The foresters also claim that the expected value of the timber may decrease significantly during the bidding process.
“Therefore, it is premature to draw conclusions about the final purchase price,” they say.
EcoPolitic, for its part, will closely monitor what the State Audit Service and the Antimonopoly Committee find out in the course of their inspections. We also still hope to see an official comment from the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” regarding the suspicion of the Director General Yuriy Bolokhovets, which was reported by the media on May 23.
The other day, EcoPolitic reported that the Polissia Forest Office branch of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” ordered a private company of the former taxpayer to cut trees in the forest for UAH 5.7 million.
