On May 29, 2019 the competitive selection of asset manager of the Residence "Mezhyhirya" was completed. However, the analysis of information in the media shows that some journalists, activists and Public Council of ARMA do not support the decision of ARMA’s Tender Committee and call for the cancelation of the results of competition and announcement of the new selection of the asset manager.
The competitive selection of the asset manager of the Residence "Mezhyhirya" has lasted for more than six months. Five times ARMA continued the selection, inviting to join the process public activists, business and all interested.
At the same time, competitive selection can not last indefinitely. Similarly, if there are no preconditions for the emergence of qualitatively better participants, the selection time can not be prolonged endlessly. Moreover, ARMA can not proceed with the selection of a new asset manager without any preconditions, while the State Bureau of Investigation has initiated a criminal proceeding against possible negligence of ARMA’s employees in delaying this process. In addition, pursuant to the legislation of Ukraine, ARMA’s Tender Committee can not cancel the results of competition on the basis of a journalist’s disagreement or recommendations of the Public Council.
However, ARMA was and remains open to the expert opinion, criticism of society and understands the huge political, social, historical and cultural significance of the assets of the Residence "Mezhyhirya".
So, as for the future of Residence we can suggest (remind) the following possible options.
Firstly, the transfer of seized assets of the Residence "Mezhyhirya" is only one of the ways to establish the state control over them. Nationalization of the Residence can serve as alternative. Members of the Parliament have the right to raise the question about nationalization of these assets. In case of nationalization, ARMA's involvement in the management process is not needed.
Secondly, the transfer of seized assets into the management of ARMA is one of the possible options for the execution of the decision of the court on seizure. Another option is to transfer the seized assets to the person directly defined by the prosecutor for responsible preservation. If the society, activists and journalists support the transfer of Residence "Mezhyhirya" to the public organization that is located there now, but which does not want to do anything to meet formally the requirements for participants in the competitive selection, the prosecutor's office can just ask the court about this and, in the case of an appropriate decision ARMA won’t need to hold a competition.
Thirdly, in the context of public statements of public organization, which is currently exercising actual control over the Residence "Mezhyhirya", on the armed resistance to the future manager, the interest of the business to participate in the competition has consequently declined. The same negative influence bears the unnecessary pressure of the media concerning the competitive selection procedures in ARMA. For half of the year of the competitive selection, ARMA has heard no examples of support in finding a good manager initiative for the Residence on behalf of the journalists and activists, while ARMA repeatedly stated the necessity of such support. Under these circumstances, ARMA does not see any prospects of participation in competitive selection of companies with qualitatively better indicators, than current participants do. However, if a certain company supported by activists, journalists and society within one month expresses a desire to become a manager of the Residence "Mezhyhirya", publishes a business plan with more effective and better-than-expected forecasts than the business plan of the winner of competitive selection, in this case the question of announcement of the new competitive selection can be on the agenda.
For the purpose of analysis, ARMA publishes the declarations of consent to participate in the competitive selection of all three participants, as the persons who can provide asset management services as managers of the Residence "Mezhyhirya", their management programs and presentation materials:
Asset Management Program provided by NGO National Park “Mezhyhirya”
Asset Management Program provided by LLC “SKOMPANI”
Presentation Materials on the Asset Management Services Program provided by LLC “SKOMPANI”
