Derzhstat finally pays UAH 30mn debt for IT services rendered in 2012

Subject of complaint: State Treasury Service (Treasury), the State Statistics Service (Derzhstat) 
Complaint in brief: On April 21, 2017, an IT company addressed the BOC. For five years, the Complainant could not recover a debt from the state budget worth almost UAH 30mn. 
In 2012, the IT company had installed equipment to conduct a census at the request of Derzhstat. The cost of these services was almost UAH 30mn. However, after the work was completed, it turned out that Derzhstat could not pay the provider. In the summer of 2013, the Commercial Court of Kyiv confirmed the debt to the Complainant and ruled that it be paid. The Treasury was mandated to pay this amount to the company.
The procedure for state guaranteed payments is complicated: all payments are divided into three groups by type. Queues are formed within each group according to the date of the related court decision.  The Treasury’s debt was commercial, so it belonged to the third group. Every year, the State Tax Administration allocates a certain amount from the budget to repay such debts If the applicant’s turn doesn’t come in a given year, the obligation is shifted to the next year. 
The Complainant patiently waited for five years, regularly monitoring the Treasury website and checking the status of the queue. In early 2017, the company had real grounds to expect compensation. Payment amounts approved by the budget of 2017 covered the company’s expenses and other applicants who were ahead in the queue. That was confirmed by the information published on the Treasury website. Finally, in March 2017, the company received funds from the Treasury on its account. But, to the Complainant’s shock, only 3% of the total debt had been paid. 
As the BOC found out, the payment order on the Treasury website was displayed incorrectly. In fact, the amount of arrears was three times as much as the budgeted amount of payments, making it unlikely that the Complainant would receive compensation in 2017. 
Actions taken: The BOC investigator appealed to the Ministry of Finance with a request to repay the debt to the company in 2018. In addition, he initiated a correction of the systemic error on the Treasury website, noting that information on the status and order of payments on the official website needed to be accurate and up-to-date. 
Result achieved: With the assistance of the Council, after nearly 6 years of unsuccessful efforts, the Complainant received the full arrears from Derzhstat in March 2018. The Treasury also corrected its systemic error and settlements on debts guaranteed by the state are now correctly displayed on its web portal.