EUROPEAN STANDARDS OF FAIR COMPETITION IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The subject of the present study is the incorporation of European standards of fair competition into Ukraine's public administration through administrative procedures that govern access to public resources. The research focuses on the applied interaction between fair competition and good governance as procedural benchmarks for legality, predictability, and equal contestability in public decision-making. It pays particular attention to public procurement reform via Prozorro and to broader resource-allocation regimes under conditions of martial law and European integration. Methodology. The methodological framework underpinning this study combines comparative legal analysis and systemic institutional analysis, complemented by case-oriented examination of data-enabled governance instruments in Ukraine, including Prozorro and electronic auction mechanisms, as well as the EU-derived logic of narrow and reasoned exceptions, transparency, and reviewability. The objective of the present study is to conceptualise European standards of fair competition as an element of good governance in Ukraine's public administration. In addition, the study will assess how procedural safeguards and digital transparency mechanisms shape equal access to public resources across procurement and related allocation regimes under conditions of European integration and martial law. The study's findings indicate that competition within the public sector is predominantly influenced by procedural design. Mechanisms such as transparency, non-discrimination, proportionality, adequate reasoning, the right to be heard, conflict-of-interest controls, and effective remedies function as safeguards, constraining selective advantages and systematically embedding equal access. Although digitalisation strengthens these safeguards by making decision criteria and patterns observable on a large scale, it does not guarantee fair competition where procedures still permit discriminatory specifications, fragmentation, formalistic exclusions or the abuse of exceptions. Evidence from wartime procurement dynamics confirms that competitive outcomes are sensitive to the scope of non-competitive regimes and the controllability of derogations. Conclusion. European standards of fair competition in Ukraine should be regarded as a governance architecture that integrates good administration, digital transparency, and competitive neutrality into a unified procedural discipline for the allocation of public resources across procurement, state support measures, and public asset management.