How Energoatom winds its way from prison

Representatives of Energoatom did not confirm their own words about reducing prices in procurement, where they discovered an inflated cost of building materials. And they put in a bad light a state-owned company that does not know how to determine what it needs - the construction of facilities necessary for its work or the development of corruption margins in estimates.

This happened on November 9 at a meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission of the Verkhovna Rada to investigate possible violations of the law in public procurement during the war.

VSK, under the leadership of Vladimir Tsabal, demanded that the management of Energoatom provide explanations for 27 purchases in 2022 and 2023. The head of the state-owned company, Petr Kotin, did not come to parliament because he went to the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant to solve sudden problems with the quality of protective structures. The representatives sent in his place reported that they had canceled contracts based on the results of 6 purchases. Contracts for another 16 purchases are being implemented, of which the contract amount has been reduced in four. One purchase has been cancelled, proposals are still being considered for one, and “measures are being taken to establish the circumstances” for three.

Instead of one tender for 355 million, we have two reports for 174 million

In February, nuclear scientists ordered the Energoprombud company to carry out work on Power Unit No. 3 of the South Ukrainian NPP at a cost of UAH 335 million. The estimated prices of the cables turned out to be 2.6 times higher than the then market prices. A day after the publication of “Our Pennies,” the contract was terminated, citing a shortage of manufacturers of these cables. Energoatom commented to VSK that the feasibility of the purchase was reviewed and the contract was terminated “after additional analysis and in order to save the company’s money.”

After that, Atomproektengineering carried out two separate purchases for power unit No. 3 for the modernization of the SVRK (81 million UAH) and the replacement of switchgear (93 million UAH). The total purchase cost of UAH 174 million is half the price of the terminated agreement of UAH 335 million. But it is worth noting that new procurements were carried out without the use of an electronic system, so estimates were not made public, and we know nothing about the marketability of new prices in non-tender procurements.

Turkish electric buses across the Ukrainian assembly

In June, Energoatom ordered Turkish electric buses and charging stations from the Avto-Region company to transport workers to nuclear power plants for UAH 235 million. The purchase was announced three times, and each time the Lviv Elektronmash Plant offered electric buses assembled in Lvov cheaper than the Turkish ones, but it was rejected for various reasons. At the third auction, Elektronmash’s offer was a quarter lower - UAH 174 million. It was rejected due to the fact that during the first year of the invasion the plant did not have the turnover desired by nuclear scientists; the entire Ukrainian economy came to a standstill. And of course, few municipalities in 2022 thought about purchasing new electric vehicles. That is, Energoatom deliberately discriminated against the Ukrainian manufacturer. But in the end, after the intervention of People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the contract was terminated “due to the lack of real financing of the Buyer’s expenses.”

Concrete X2 at KhNPP

In August, the Atommontazhservice company received a contract from Energoatom for the construction of a complex for processing radioactive waste at the Khmelnitsky NPP for UAH 168 million. In the estimates, the largest amounts were for items with unknown characteristics. However, there were also understandable materials, for example, concrete was twice the market price. In addition, steel was more expensive than Ukrenergo’s estimate. As the customer responded to VSK, this contract was also terminated “after additional analysis and in order to save the company’s money.” But there is no confirmation of this in the Prozorro system; as of November 15, it is displayed as valid.

Was the construction of the rope workshop necessary only to develop margins?

In October, Energoatom ordered the Alliance company to build a workshop for the production of reinforcing ropes and pipeline elements in Yuzhnoukrainsk for UAH 89 million. Steel was taken into account at 1.5-2 times more expensive than prices from other customers, and concrete - 40-45% more expensive than manufacturer prices. A day after the publication of “Our Pennies,” a publication was published on the Energoatom website that the information presented was not true. Then “Nashi Groshi” spoke in more detail about price gouging. And a few days later the contract was terminated, and the publication on the Energoatom website disappeared.

Energoatom informed VSK that “the purchase was carried out to ensure the priority and critical needs of the NPP as a result of the military aggression of the Russian Federation and the temporary occupation of the production facilities of the Atomenergomash in Energodar.”

That is, in the occupied territory there remained a workshop for the production of ropes, necessary to maintain the work of Energoatom. Therefore, the need arose for its construction.

But the official explanation of nuclear scientists at VSK proves that nuclear scientists rather need not just a workshop, but the construction of a workshop at inflated prices:

“Based on the results of additional study of the feasibility of the purchase, as well as the need to conduct additional marketing research on the cost of materials that will be used in performing the specified work.”

Two weeks have passed since then, but Energoatom has not announced new tenders for the construction of the workshop, despite the priority and critical needs.

Big bags X5

For another two out of nine purchases, representatives of Energoatom told VSK that “a thorough check of the cost of the contractor’s products is expected when closing certificates of work performed, and a reduction in the cost of work is possible.”

We are talking about the construction of temporary protective structures at the South Ukrainian Nuclear Power Plant for 31 million UAH, where “Our Money” discovered big bags at a strange price of 3,029 UAH per piece, while on the market empty big bags of various types were at least five times cheaper . And also about the reconstruction of the overhead line to the Khmelnitsky NPP for UAH 16 million, where the prices of KVVGEng cables again turned out to be 2-2.5 times inflated compared to the market and Ukrenergo. Prozorro has no evidence of a decrease in the cost of work under these contracts. And representatives of Energoatom did not bother to present the people's deputies with documentary evidence of their words. Just as earlier, Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov refused to show deputies invoices that included eggs for 17 hryvnia.

Objections

In the remaining three cases, Energoatom denied everything stated in the publications. It was about the purchase of oil purification equipment for the Rivne NPP for 318 thousand euros (“the cost of filter elements is market, the contract has been completed and paid for”), services for the assessment of Energoatom’s fixed assets for 36 million UAH (“implementation of the contract continues”) and diesel fuel for 13 million UAH (according to the customer, the wrong fuel density was taken in the news, so the price is not 49.75 UAH/l, but 49.44 UAH/l and is market price).