The number of complaints about public procurement in 2017 grew by 1.8 times, to 5,684 from 3,067 in 2016, Head of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) Yuriy Terentyev has reported on his Facebook page.

"More than 500 complaints a month are now normal. In 2013 there, were an average of less than 100 per month," he wrote.

According to AMCU, 473 complaints per month were received on average in 2017, while in 2016 the average monthly figure was 255.

The largest number of complaints about public purchases was received by the AMCU in August - 573, December - 550, March – 533, and May - 531, AMCU statistics shows.

For five years, the number of complaints received by AMCU has grown by 4.8 times - their number was 1,182 in 2013. However, a certain decline occurred in 2014, when the number of complaints shrank to 930, while in 2015 this figure again showed growth and reached 1,342 complaints per year.

As reported, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry noted cases of abuse of the mechanism of contesting the results of tenders to disrupt purchases. In connection with this, a draft resolution was worked out to ensure a fee for contesting tenders at 0.3-0.6% of the expected purchase price.

AMCU, in turn, as the appeal body for the procurement procedure, stressed the need to increase the payment for appeals, but expressed concerns that the introduction of fees as a percentage of the expected cost of the tender would create additional barriers for small companies.