Odesa Council to Spend 200,000 Hryvnias on Awards and Watches, Bypassing Tender Process.

Planned Expenditures by the Odesa Regional Council

According to Novyny.live: The Odesa Regional Council intends to spend nearly 200,000 hryvnias on awards and gift watches, procuring these items without holding a public tender. Approximately 100,000 hryvnias of this sum is allocated for 38 'Honorary Award of the Odesa Regional Council' badges, with the cost of a single badge exceeding 2,500 hryvnias. The contract for these awards has been awarded to a private entrepreneur, Oleh Oleksiyovych Petrenko, who was registered in Kyiv in 2022. Notably, the regional council had already entered into a similar contract with him earlier in 2025.

Procurement of Watches and Other Projects

Regarding the watches, the council plans to purchase 18 commemorative timepieces for a total sum of around 100,000 hryvnias, averaging about 5,500 hryvnias each. The contract for the watches has been granted to the company Kyiv Watch Factory.

In other spending, the municipal enterprise 'Miskzelentrest' has announced a tender for the purchase of flowers worth over 800,000 hryvnias. Furthermore, Children and Youth Sports School No. 5 in Odesa is preparing for a major renovation of its building. These developments indicate the council is continuing with its various projects, despite the controversial nature of some procurement decisions.

The Odesa Regional Council's commitment to purchasing awards and watches without competitive bidding raises serious questions about the transparency and appropriateness of these budgetary expenditures.

Such direct procurement practices often attract scrutiny from the public and oversight bodies, especially in a region where efficient use of public funds is a constant concern. While the flower tender and building renovation show activity in municipal projects, the non-competitive awards spending casts a shadow over the council's procurement integrity.