Economic and legal responsibility for anti-competitive collected actions in the form of correction of the results of tender, bids, auctions, competitions as a manifestation of collected behavior of procurement participants
Authors: Shvydka T. 
Published: March 2024

The article is devoted to consideration of the issue of coordinated behavior of participants and customers of public procurement. The need to observe the principles of competition in the public procurement procedure is substantiated. The key point in conducting procurement is compliance with the conditions of competitive selection of the procurement winner, elimination of the possibility of victory of the "necessary” participants and overcoming corruption and speculation. Regulation of public procurement mechanisms is a combination of economic and legal and administrative legal aspects. Relations that arise in the process of procurement have different aspects of legal regulation, as well as the subjects of offenses in this area can be both business entities and bodies of state power, local self-government, management and control. It has been proven that public procurement involves a competitive selection of the winner, in compliance with all other procurement principles stipulated by the Law of Ukraine "On Public Procurement”. It was emphasized that the main purpose of the Law "On Public Procurement” is to ensure effective and transparent procurement, create a competitive environment in the field of public procurement, prevent corruption and develop fair competition. Public institutions must make purchases in accordance with special requirements of confidentiality and security, as well as taking into account national interests. It is argued that today the field of public procurement is quite corrupt, and many cases of violations of the main basic principles of the Law have been recorded, which leads to the distortion of the results of tenders, trades, and auctions. Distortion occurs due to the concerted behavior of procurement participants, or participants and customers. That is, concerted actions can be vertical and horizontal, mixed and conglomerate actions can also take place. Any concerted behavior during public procurement violates the terms of competition, is prohibited and entails liability in accordance with the legislation of Ukraine. The article emphasizes that proving collusion in procurement and actually bringing violators to justice is a complex issue that requires improvement both from the point of view of theoretical points and procedural aspects. Of course, the state is interested in ensuring transparent implementation of public procurement, and this can be achieved thanks to the introduction of a clear mechanism to overcome the corruption component. It is argued that regulation and control by state bodies play an important role in this institute. The state acts as a special customer, which is an expression of public interests. The use of such a legal instrument as public procurement of goods, works and services gives the state the right to choose business entities that will fulfill the state order on the most favorable market terms, on the basis of compliance with the terms of competition. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to observe honest and fair procurement.

Attention was drawn to the fact that overcoming a large number of conspiracies in the field of public procurement and ensuring compliance with the principles of fair competition during procurement is one of the tasks of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, as a public procurement appeals body. However, issues of combating and implementing effective mechanisms to prevent the occurrence of collusion between public procurement entities and, as a consequence, procedural aspects regarding appeals and prosecution of offenders for concerted actions that led to the distortion of the results of tenders (tenders) remain problematic.