The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine has ordered Fastiv City Council to cancel the decision to reject the tender offer of Group Intrade LLC for the purchase of 5 Spys compact M anti-drone guns for UAH 2,250,000, which it had previously refused to purchase. Slidstvo.Info journalists found that the city executive committee held a tender where Group Intrade won the auction. This company dealt with grain and started selling anti-drone guns only a month before the tender. After a call from Slidstvo.Info journalists, the city council reviewed the results of the tender and quickly rejected the company’s offer, stating that the tender documentation did not meet the technical requirements of the goods. However, Group Intrade LLC filed a complaint with the Antimonopoly Committee, which ordered Fastiv City Council to cancel the decision to reject its proposal. Although the city council may appeal this in court.
This was reported by Slidstvo.Info.
On 24 November, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine ordered the Fastiv City Council to cancel the decision to reject the tender offer of Intrade Group LLC for the purchase of Spys Compact M anti-drone guns.
Decision of the Commission of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine
Therefore, the Executive Committee of the City Council should cancel the decision and announce the winner who submitted the most economically advantageous offer. The Antimonopoly Committee found that the tender documents did not contain any specific requirements for the technical specifications of the State Standard of Ukraine, so Fastiv City Council had no reason to reject the offer of Group Intrade LLC. This was reported to journalists by Natalia Kondratovych, head of the public procurement sector of the executive committee of the Fastiv City Council, during a telephone conversation.
The journalists of Slidstvo.Info found in the Prozorro electronic system a tender for the purchase of anti-drone guns ANTIDORON PORTABLE QUERTUS AD G-6 or the equivalent for the amount of UAH 2,757,500.00 by the Fastiv City Council. In particular, special attention was drawn to the participant Group Intrade LLC (with a charter capital of UAH 1000, the company specialises in wholesale trade in grain, tobacco, etc. Group Intrade started selling anti-aircraft drones only on 22 September 2023).
For example, the second bidder, KVERTUS LLC (the largest domestic manufacturer of electronic warfare and reconnaissance equipment), offered to buy the ANTIDRON KVSG-6 specified in the tender for UAH 551,500 per unit. Instead, Group Intrade LLC presented the equivalent of the device with completely identical characteristics and UAH 100,000 cheaper — Spys compact M (UAH 450,000 per unit). However, as it turned out, there is no mention or photo of this anti-drone in the public domain.
On 9 November, Group Intrade was declared the winner of the auction and was awaiting the final announcement of the decision.
On the same day, journalists of Slidstvo.Info asked the Fastiv City Council to comment on the purchase of uncertified equipment. The head of the public procurement sector of the executive committee of the Fastiv City Council, Natalia Kondratovych, noted that the requirements of the tender documentation did not include the availability of test reports for the anti-drone systems.
The next day, on 10 November, Fastiv City Council published a protocol on the rejection of the bid of the tenderer, Group Intrade LLC, in the Prozorro system. This was due to the sudden discovery that the proposed anti-drone guns Spys compact M had not been tested, and therefore had no information on certification, operation and safe use, etc. As a result, the city council rejected the proposal to purchase the Spys.
Following the publication of the news on the Slidstvo.Info website that Fastiv City Council would purchase uncertified anti-drone guns, Mayor Mykhailo Netiazhuk accused the journalists of publishing false information and threatened to sue. However, the man provided false information, in particular, he said that Slidstvo.Info published the news after the city executive committee rejected the offer of Group Intrade. However, the decision to reject the bid was published in the Prozorro system an hour after the news was published.
Protocol of tender offers disclosureNetiazhuk also noted that he had received an official request from journalists on 17 November, although the request itself indicated a different date — 16 November.
Nastia Stanko, editor-in-chief of the Slidstvo.Info agency, said that “unfortunately, the situation is typical for many Ukrainian officials. They spend money on things of dubious quality, and journalists are to blame. We are pleased that the authorities are responding to our publications, albeit in a less than adequate way, such as threats of legal action. But in case of a lawsuit, we are ready to defend ourselves. It’s good that the city officials finally changed their minds about spending two million budget hryvnias on a dubious product, but it’s bad that the decision was made too late.”
Finally, Group Intrade LLC, disagreeing with the decision of the city council, appealed to the Antimonopoly Committee. The Specialised Commission for Review of Complaints on Violations of Public Procurement Law considered the complaint and ordered Fastiv City Council to cancel the decision to reject the tender offer. Therefore, the city council is likely to purchase these products, as they are the most cost-effective offer.
Earlier, Slidstvo.Info journalists spoke to the manufacturer of Spys, who confirmed that the anti-drone guns do not yet have certificates, but tests at the test site are ongoing. In addition, the journalists showed the technical passport and specification of these guns to the military from the electronic warfare units, as well as to a defence specialist, and asked him to analyse the characteristics of the planned purchase. The latter called the purchase a “toy for toys”, and the military agreed that only civilian drones would be able to be “downed” by such guns.
