Transparency International Ukraine calls on the Government and Parliament to stop granting unjustified exceptions to the current procurement rules, such as the recent one for Tysiachovesna, a presidential initiative. In its enlargement reports on Ukraine, the European Commission has repeatedly urged Ukraine to shorten the list of such exceptions. Instead, we keep expanding it.
The Government has amended Resolution No. 1178 to allow direct contracts with the winners of the Tysiachovesna arts competition until the end of 2026. Transparency International Ukraine considers this exception unjustified and urges that nothing similar be allowed in the future.
Under the general rules, such contracts should be concluded through a negotiated procedure. However, the Ministry of Culture initiated the exception, ostensibly because the procedure is lengthy and complex and these purchases could be appealed to the AMCU. Committee on Economic Development approved it.
Our experts opposed this exception at Committee meetings, as we see no sufficient justification for changing the rules to suit this competition:
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- under the current negotiated procedure rules, only 5 days must pass between the notice of intent to award a contract and its signing, so the time frame is quite short;
- the notice requires uploading only the competition documents and a record that the competition winner was invited to conclude a contract, so the document package is small;
- the contracting authority knew the winners in advance and had ample time to run negotiated procedures with them; it had even started doing so.
According to BI Prozorro, in October the Center for the Protection of the Information Space successfully completed 38 negotiated procedures with Tysiachovesna winners, and another 46 are currently active. None of these transactions has been appealed. Four were canceled due to technical errors in publication.
“Every new ground for a direct contract not provided for in the EU directives moves our legislation further from compliance with the European Commission’s requirements and harms the EU integration process. Requiring approval of such exceptions by the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development was meant to be a safeguard, but it did not work,” states Ivan Lakhtionov, Deputy Executive Director of TI Ukraine for Innovative Projects.
Transparency International Ukraine calls on the Government to limit the number of exceptions, and on the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development to weigh such initiatives carefully and reject them when they lack grounds.
Background: Tysiachovesna is a state initiative of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to support the production of Ukrainian cultural content. It was originally known as 1,000 Hours of Ukrainian Content. The program officially launched on April 3, 2026. It is implemented by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine together with the Office of the President, the State Film Agency of Ukraine, and the State Agency of Ukraine for Arts and Arts Education. UAH 4 billion from the state budget was allocated for the initiative in 2026, making it one of the largest state support programs for cultural content in Ukraine. According to the official results, 680 projects were recommended for funding.
This material is funded by the European Union. Its content is the sole responsibility of Transparency International Ukraine and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
Every new ground for a direct contract not provided for in the EU directives moves our legislation further from compliance with the European Commission’s requirements and harms the EU integration process. Requiring approval of such exceptions by the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development was meant to be a safeguard, but it did not work
Ivan Lakhtionov
