A panel of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine considers 23 complaints a day on average and the committee is mulling the possibility of optimizing its operations thanks to IT solutions, Committee Head Yuriy Terentiev has said.

"We are working with Maksym Nefyodov [Deputy Economic Development and Trade Minister of Ukraine] on optimization of consideration of complaints," he said at a briefing on Tuesday.

A possibility of considering complaints without presence of representatives of customers and the complainants is discussed, Terentiev said.

As reported, the number of complaints about public procurement in 2017 grew by 1.8-fold, to 5,684 from 3,067 in 2016.

In turn, the number of complaints examined in December 2017 more than doubled, from 221 in December 2016 to 325. Some 92 cases were refused, and 181 cases were satisfied in full or partially. In general, the number of complaints examined in 2017 increased to 3,611, which is 2.3 times higher than in 2016. For 2,054 cases the panel of the committee satisfied the complaints in full or partially, and refused 1,083 complaints.

Deputy Head of the Committee Nina Sidorenko said that on average, it takes 6 minutes to consider a complaint.

"Among the more than 5,000 complaints, there were five main categories: procurement of transport equipment - 504 complaints, construction works - 437, purchase of petroleum products - 399, medical equipment – 359 and food products - 278. This is more than half of all complaints," Terentiev said.