Money collected by the people for “Okhmatdyt” will be transferred to one of the most expensive contractors: details of the scandal
The tender for the reconstruction of "Okhmatdyt" was won by the "Bud-Technology" company, which offered to perform the work at a much higher price than other bidders.
After Ukrainians collected a significant amount of funds for the reconstruction of the Okhmatdyt Hospital, the charity fund of the institution found itself at the center of a scandal due to the choice of a contractor to repair the damaged building. The fund chose “Bud-technologies” LLC as the winner of the competition, although this proposal was one of the most expensive among 14 participants. About this informs “Our Money” publication.
Details of the scandal
The cost of works by “Bud-Technology” is 307 million hryvnias without VAT, while other participants offered to perform repairs much cheaper – from 42 to 286 million hryvnias. The foundation did not provide an explanation for ignoring the cheaper bids, although at least seven of them contained fully completed commercial bids detailing the work and prices.
The “Okhmatdyt” charitable foundation stated that the competitive selection was not a tender within the meaning of the Law of Ukraine “On Public Procurement”, as they are not a state institution.
“Competitive selection is a private competition organized for the purpose of open and honest use of funds donated by citizens”, the fund noted.
Problems with the “Bud-Technology” proposal
Journalists claim that this does not explain why the customer ignored cheaper offers. In addition, the children’s hospital did not pay attention to some problems in the proposal of the “Bud-Technology” company. In particular, the company indicated the lease of only three types of construction equipment: a Kamaz mobile crane, a MAN with a manipulator, and a JCB excavator. None of these mechanisms are suitable for the installation of facades located above the second floor. Also, the company did not provide any data on the tile installation equipment.
The reaction of the Ministry of Health and further actions
The Ministry of Health announced the review of the tender for the reconstruction of “Okhmatdyt”. Minister of Health Viktor Lyashko stated, that the law enforcement officers will additionally check the tender, the winner of which was the company that offers its services at inflated prices.
Lyashko said that each tender participant was evaluated according to five criteria: interview, personnel assessment, material and technical base assessment, experience and price offer. Some companies have been removed due to integrity violations, including open criminal proceedings.
“We are aware that the choice of the contractor caused a wide response. Therefore, in “Okhmatdyt” we will hold a briefing with the participation of the hospital’s management and its charitable foundation, where the selection process will be explained in detail.”, – noted Lyashko.
Transparency of the reconstruction process
“The Ministry of Health is doing everything possible to ensure that the process of rebuilding the hospital is completely transparent and meets the highest standards”, – emphasized Lyashko. The minister also promised that all funds collected by the people will be used as effectively and purposefully as possible.
