Company’s reputation on Kyiv City State Administration website restored

Complainee: Kyiv City State Administration
Complaint in brief: A food supplier to Kyiv and Kyiv region educational institutions approached the Council. The company complained that the Kyiv City State Administration had included it in the list of companies cooperation with which led to ineffective use of budget funds. This situation also negatively influenced the complainant’s reputation.
In 2016, the company won the procurement for  supply of sugar to the Department of Education of Holosiivskyi District in Kyiv City State Administration (Department of Education). However, as a result of the audit of the Department of Education activities on compliance with the law when making procurement, Kyiv City State Administration detected violations and shortcomings in the tender procedure. Thus, the local authority concluded that the enterprise of the Department of Education did not ensure maximum savings and effective use of funds during procurement. This led to excess costs in the amount of UAH 215k. It should be noted that the complainant was not the subject of audit, so auditors did not provide their opinion on the company’s compliance with the law.
However, the company was “lucky” to be included in the list of companies with a negative experience of cooperation with contractors on Kyivaudit official internet portal and Kyiv City State Administration website. Being on such a list harmed the company’s interests and could  limit its right to participate in public procurement procedures. To restore fair competition, the Business Ombudsman Council got down to reviewing the company’s complaint.
Actions taken: After examining the case file, the investigator found the complaint substantiated. The Council recommended that Kyiv City State Administration check the grounds for including the company in the list with a negative cooperation attribute and exclude the company from the list in accordance with the law on protection of economic competition. The Council arranged a discussion of the complaint with the participation of the complainant and the leadership team of Kyiv City State Administration by video conference within the expert group between the BOC and Kyiv City State Administration. The participants agreed that the company would provide information on tenders it was not allowed to participate in due to being on the list. For its part, Kyiv City State Administration informed that the “Experience of Cooperation with Contractors” section was constantly updating and the entry of the complainant would be deleted in the nearest future.
Result achieved: Thanks to a successful mediation of the Council, Kyiv City State Administration excluded the food supplier from the list of companies with a negative experience of cooperation and updated the information on its web portal. The case was closed.