Complaints in Prozorro

The new edition of the Law "On Public Procurement", which came into force in Ukraine on April 19, 2020, among other things, significantly changed the procedure for filing complaints with the Antimonopoly Committee. The fact that the list of the customer's actions subject to appeal has significantly expanded has been written more than once. It's time to consider how in the new realities there is payment for filing an appeal with the appeals body.

How Much Does It Cost to File a Complaint to AMCU?

The new version of the Law defines only the very fact of transition to the amount of payment for filing a complaint with the Appeals Panel, which would depend on the expected cost in the tender. We remind you that earlier this payment was fixed and amounted to UAH 5,000 (UAH 15,000 when purchasing works). Regardless of what the actual procurement budget is. That is, it was more profitable to file a complaint in huge multimillion-dollar tenders than in small ones.

Important: the payment for the complaint is by no means a tariff or fee in favor of the appellate body, intended to finance its activities, it is only necessary to confirm that there is a real desire to defend one's truly violated rights.

The direct figures for calculating the cost of the appeal are established by a separate document - Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine No. 292 "On establishing the number of fees for filing a complaint and approving the Procedure for making a fee for filing a complaint with the appellate body through the electronic procurement system and returning it to the subject of the appeal" dated April 22, 2020, year. According to it, the participant must pay

1. 0.3% of the procurement budget (in the range from 2 to 85,000 hryvnia) – if the subject of the appeal is the conditions of the customer's tender documents.
2. 0.6% of the procurement budget (in the range from 3 to 170,000 hryvnia) – in the event of an appeal against the actions and decisions of the customer during prequalification or after the auction.

What conclusions can be drawn from this? Firstly, in large tenders, where the reward for winning is more than substantial, it will no longer be possible to file dozens of complaints, overwhelming the AMCU with unnecessary work and putting pressure on the customer - it will be too expensive to do this. Secondly, about small tenders, in which mainly small and medium-sized businesses participate, the number of complaints about real violations by customers will increase, before there was no point in spending UAH 5,000 to have a chance to earn UAH 25,000.

Important: the legislators have also provided for such a rule, according to which in the event of a decision in favor of the participant who filed the complaint, the money for filing it is returned.

Method of Payment for Filing a Complaint to AMCU

Since the mechanisms for working with funds in the system for appealing public procurements have slightly changed, SE “Prozorro” created a separate account for them. According to the new version of the Law, it is stipulated that payment will be made by the complainant of the same date, when the appeal is submitted to the AMCU, using electronic trading platforms in one of two ways: by an

- electronic payment system: by
- cashless transfer of funds.

Payment by Transfer at a Bank Branch

In case of payment through a bank branch, when creating a complaint, you need to upload a payment document template, be sure to indicate the details for a refund (EDRPOU code of a legal entity or TIN individual, IBAN). Then the system will generate a payment document automatically. There you will need to enter:

- name and recipient code;
- transfer amount;
- beneficiary's bank name and account;
- appointment.

After making the payment, you need to make sure that the funds are credited. Usually, the Prozorro system gives feedback on the receipt of payment within a few hours, but sometimes, very rarely, it takes up to 3 working days.

Important: now the AMCU Collegium considers only those complaints, the fact of receipt of payment for which is confirmed by the electronic system.

Payment for Filing a Complaint Online

To make online payment of an appeal in the Prozoro system, the LiqPay system is used. To take advantage of this opportunity, you need to click "Pay online" button. Then you will automatically go to the payment page, where all the necessary details will already be indicated.

To make a payment, all that remains is to enter your bank card details and confirm the payment. Optionally, you can specify your email, to which the LiqPay system will send a receipt in electronic form.

Important: the LiqPay system has established a commission for transferring funds in the amount of 2.5% of the payment amount.

How You Can File a Complaint to AMCU?

The process of filing complaints in the Prozorro system is as simple as possible. First, you need to go to the purchase page in which you think there was a violation of your legal rights. This must be done exactly on the electronic platform on which you are registered as a supplier and through which you participate in the tender.

On the page of the public procurement procedure, you will find a button "Complain". The system will prompt you to fill in the field with the name of the complaint (you need to write concisely and to the point) and add a file describing the situation. This document, by part 5 of Article 18 of the Law "On Public Procurement", must contain the following information:

1. The name of the state or utility company, the decision, action, or inaction of which is the subject of an appeal to the AMCU.
2. Full name (name) and residential address (location) of the subject of the appeal - an individual or legal entity.
3. Grounds for filing an appeal (the appeal subject) - a description of the existing violations in the procurement, decisions made, actions or inaction of the customer, actual circumstances confirming this.
4. About the justification of the fact of violation of rights and legally protected interests, the presence of decisions, actions, or inaction of the customer that violate the legislation in the field of procurement.
5. Requirements of the subject of the appeal with due justification.

In addition to the description of the complaint, it is necessary, if available, to include files confirming the illegality of the customer's activities in the purchase.

Important: the form and content of the complaint are arbitrary, but you should not write it as a comment on a social network - emotions and value judgments will only confuse the College, it is better to focus on a concise retelling of facts and argumentation.

After you specify the name of the complaint and add a document with a description, it will receive the status of a draft before making a payment (the amount of which will be calculated by the system automatically), you have every right to cancel the filing of the complaint.

Important: according to the new version of the Law, after the payment has been paid, the complaint is sent for consideration to the AMCU and can no longer be canceled by the complainant, it must be considered by the Board.

Payment can be made by the complainant only in hryvnia, therefore, even if the procurement budget is set in foreign currency, the amount will be calculated at the current NBU rate at the time the complaint is created in the system. For more convenience, the cost is rounded up to 10 upwards.

What to Check When Paying for a Complaint?

To ensure the timely receipt of payment, you need to check the following data:

1. In the "Purpose of payment" field, the must be indicated complaint ID (not the purchase ID, but the complaint identification code, it is generated on the complaint draft page during saving it) and payment key.
2. The correct IBAN code of your account must be indicated in the field with data for refund in case of satisfaction of the complaint.
3. All data should be indicated without unnecessary punctuation marks.
4. The fields should not contain unnecessary information since there are restrictions on the length of the line.

Reasons for Refunding Money for Filing a Complaint in the Prozorro System

money that the complainant paid for filing his complaint with the AMCU is returned to him in such cases: the

- deadline for filing a complaint expired before the receipt of payment;
- the payment amount does not correspond to the one calculated by the system for this purchase;
- The complainant made several identical payments (extra payments are returned)
- The Appeals Panel ruled in favor of the complainant.

Important: for the funds to be guaranteed to have time to enter the system before the expiry of the appeal deadline, you need to pay with a margin of time, and not on the last day.

What to Do if there is an Error in the Amount, But the Complaint ID is Correct?

In this case, it makes no sense to pay the same complaint again with the correct amount. The system has already associated your payment with a specific appeal and will simply return the money to your account for inconsistencies with the calculated amount of payment within two working days. You just need to create a new complaint with an identical description and pay the correct amount.

What to Do if there is an Error in the Data for a Refund?

If you accidentally entered incorrect data for a refund, they will still not be lost. In this case, you just need to contact the SE "Prozorro" on thee-mail box feedback@prozorro.ua, indicating the correct data. Of course, the funds will be returned only if it is provided by the results of consideration of the appeal.

Important: after making the payment, the complaint remains in the draft status, and the funds were not returned within 2 working days, then you made a mistake when specifying the data for the return.

We hope that all this information will help you more comfortably understand the new conditions for filing complaints and quickly start using this protection mechanism to your advantage. Participate in government tenders, appeal against illegal decisions, and win together with SmartTender!