On August 17, 2015, the Berdyansk Sea Trade Port state enterprise posted a protocol for rejecting bids from participants in the competitive bidding process for the purchase of two forklifts on its public procurement website. According to this protocol, the bids from MIKRO-F LLC and Trans-Service-KTT LLC, which submitted the most favorable bids, were rejected due to the forklifts not meeting the port's stated technical specifications.
After analyzing the tender documentation, the NGO "Rule of Law" concluded that it contained discriminatory and anticompetitive conditions that could result in a loss of over 2 million hryvnias to the state budget. These conditions include the requirement to supply the port with a Kalmar DCG160-6 forklift or another forklift that is a full equivalent. However, a forklift of another brand that meets all requirements for speed, lifting capacity, safety, etc., cannot be identical to the forklift required by the company.
For example, we can cite the requirement that the forklift must have a different brand of engine with a capacity of no more than 6,0 liters, a Kessler D81 drive axle or its full equivalent, a hydraulic system with a pressure of no more than 17 MPa, as well as weight, clearance, and dimensions.
It remains a mystery to activists why the Berdyansk port has decided to take such a principled stance in selecting equipment, while blatantly ignoring equally high-quality equipment at a lower price. This suggests that the tender was tailored to a specific participant, with the winning bidder predetermined by the organizers, and the anomalous conditions were specifically designed to weed out outsiders, purchase equipment from a "preferred" company, and, naturally, extract a kickback.
Due to the presence of anti-competitive and discriminatory conditions in the tender documentation, as well as the rejection of the most economically advantageous proposals, the public organization "Rule of Law" contacted law enforcement and regulatory authorities of the Zaporizhzhia region to conduct investigations into the legality of the actions of officials of the competitive bidding committee and to cancel the illegal bidding.
Going forward, the public organization "Rule of Law" will continue to monitor procurement conducted by the Berdyansk Commercial Seaport. The results of the inspections and pre-trial investigations will be published on the website.
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