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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
“Forests of Ukraine” wrote Fortinet into a tender for 10,8 million hryvnias and narrowed competition with experience requirements
State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” announced a tender for almost 11 million UAH to protect its IT infrastructure, but instead of open competition specified the procurement for the Fortinet ecosystem. Additionally, the potential pool of participants was narrowed by a qualification requirement for experience executing similar contracts specifically in 2024–2026 years.
This is evidenced by procurement data UA-2026-09-01-011978-a, published in Prozorro 1 September at 22:37.
Almost 11 million — for a specific Fortinet
The expected cost of the procurement is 10 839 820,89 UAH excluding VAT.
The tender concerns “protection of IT infrastructure,” but the list of equipment and software products looks highly specific. “Forests of Ukraine” want to purchase Fortinet licenses for 36 months for specific models: FortiGate-200F, 42 FortiAP-221E units, switches 124E-POE, 448E and 148F-FPOE.
The package also includes virtual FortiGate, FortiAnalyzer, FortiWeb and FortiMail.
And all of this is to be delivered to an address in Kyiv: Bolsunovska St., 6. The end date listed in the procurement card is 28 February 2030.
At the same time, the item names lack the usual “or equivalent” phrasing common in competitive procurements.
In other words, formally the enterprise announced a tender, but in practice it formed a specification around a specific manufacturer and specific models.
This is not a new system — it’s a continuation of one already built
There is another interesting point.
In 2023 the “Forests of Ukraine” themselves already built their network infrastructure on FortiGate-200F and the same switch models.
In May 2026 the enterprise separately tried to purchase a one-year UTP subscription for FortiGate-200F for 229 549 UAH including VAT. That tender did not take place.
Now instead of a one-year subscription — three years at once. Instead of a single item — an entire package for dozens of devices. And instead of 229 thousand — the expected cost is almost 11 million UAH.
This is precisely where the procurement stops looking like a routine license renewal.
Competitors are filtered out before price competition even begins
But the most telling part of the tender is hidden not in the Fortinet names but in the qualification requirements.
An “analogous contract” in the “Forests of Ukraine” documentation is not just any IT contract. The participant must confirm a contract performed or partially performed in 2024–2026 years specifically for cybersecurity software or software security packages.
This must be supported by a counterparty’s reference or invoices.
And here the most interesting part begins.
A company that has worked in IT for years, installed cybersecurity systems, antiviruses or solutions from other major vendors may simply not fit within this formal framework.
For example, many years of experience with Cisco alone does not guarantee qualification here. Experience with Kaspersky products won’t help either if it does not match the documentation’s prescribed construction of an “analogous contract.”
But a company that has already worked with Fortinet in the public sector specifically in 2024–2026 years gets an obviously more comfortable position.
Yes, the tender declares a single criterion — price.
But what good is price competition if you first narrow the circle of those who are even allowed to reach that competition?
This is how a procurement is formed where the brand can be embedded not only in technical specifications but also in the experience requirements for potential participants.
Tender posted in the system after 22:00
The timing also draws attention.
The announcement appeared in Prozorro 1 September at 22:37.
Participants can submit clarifications until 15 September. The deadline for submitting proposals is midnight on 18 September. The auction is scheduled for that same morning.
No tender bid security was required.
The contact person listed in the procurement is Tetiana Sviderska, who manages other procurements for “Forests of Ukraine.”
And all this — against a backdrop of personnel turbulence
At the same time, the enterprise is currently operating without a permanent general director.
Since 1 July, Ihor Zubovych has been performing the duties of the head.
The previous general director, Yurii Bolokhovets, left the post at the end of June. During his last month in office he was paid 7,68 million UAH in bonuses, and the total amount of payments over three and a half years in the position amounted to 27,63 million UAH.
Bolokhovets’s history also has a criminal background. Since 2023 the State Bureau of Investigation has been investigating his illegal enrichment. Later the High Anti-Corruption Court annulled the suspicion due to a procedural defect related to a search.
And it is against this background that late in the evening “Forests of Ukraine” posted in Prozorro a tender for 10,8 million UAH that effectively specifies a particular manufacturer, particular models, and a specific time window of participant experience.
Of course, such a procurement by itself is not proof of collusion or price inflation.
But the structure is more than telling: first a specific brand is chosen, then a list of compatible equipment is formed for it, and after that potential competitors are additionally filtered by a requirement for “analogous” experience over the last two years.
As a result, on paper we have a tender with the single criterion “price.” In practice — a bidding process where a significant part of the market can be excluded even before the auction begins.
And here the main question for “Forests of Ukraine” arises: how will the enterprise obtain a real market price for Fortinet at 10,8 million UAH if the procurement conditions themselves narrow competition to a small group of companies that match a pre-drawn profile?
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "«Ліси України» прописали Fortinet у тендері на 10,8 мільйона гривень і звузили конкуренцію вимогами до досвіду". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: ANTIKOR.
