Introduction. The challenges of martial law and post-war reconstruction require rethinking the essence of economic categories in order to use their potential to restore socio-economic potential. The categories whose essence it is advisable to rethink include competition as a specific form of competition for consumers and a powerful tool for influencing market prices. Competition, along with other factors, is taken into account during pricing, but we consider its potential to be insufficiently used to optimize cost indicators and improve the quality of road works.
Issues. Pricing for road works remains a relevant topic for discussions among scientists and practitioners to find optimal approaches to pricing while respecting the interests of all stakeholders in this process and society as a whole. The basis of the issues of pricing for road works is the understanding of existing shortcomings, contradictions and problems by different groups of stakeholders. Some of the above shortcomings and contradictions were taken into account when improving the regulatory support for pricing road works and their procurement, including in the amendments to the Law of Ukraine «On Public Procurement», Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 19.12.2025 No. 1512, however, the current problem remains competitiveness in the road works market and the use of the potential of competition for a synergistic positive effect.
Purpose of the study. The purpose of the study is to generalize the theoretical and practical provisions of the influence of competition on the pricing of road works in Ukraine and to substantiate the directions of using the potential of competition for the reconstruction of transport infrastructure.
Materials and methods. The scientific and theoretical basis of the study is the general scientific provisions of economic theory regarding the theory of competition and the understanding of competition as a historical form of struggle for the consumer, natural resources, sales markets, etc. An empirical study of the assessment of the impact of competition on the pricing of road works was conducted with the determination of statistical indicators of variation. The information base of the study was the official statistical data of the State Statistics Service of Ukraine and data from the electronic system Prozorro on announced public procurements in 2017-2025. The sample size is 365 public procurements.
Results. The main provisions of the theory of competition are summarized and the need to review the essence and manifestations of competition for the reconstruction of the transport infrastructure of Ukraine is identified, which will allow optimizing the cost indicators for road works without losing quality and compliance with requirements. For the needs of this study, the advantage of competition for a market economy is highlighted, which is based on pricing based on individual price offers from a business entity, which will allow optimizing the cost of road works and optimizing budget expenditures in the conditions of Ukraine's fiscal deficit. An analysis of the number of business entities whose main or additional activity is the construction of roads and highways (KVED 42.11), construction of bridges and tunnels (KVED 42.13) and others was conducted, and the existing market conditions for perfect competition and a positive impact on the pricing of road works were determined. An empirical study of the level of competition in the market for road works carried out at the expense of state or local budgets was conducted, a sample of 365 public procurements was formed under the code DK 021:2015: 45230000-8 and the average number of participants was determined from 3 participants at the beginning of the studied period to 1 participant, which indicates significant violations of the principle of competitiveness. The level of savings during open bidding and a high level of variation of the indicator were determined, which does not allow formulating a single conclusion and indicates that the imperfection and heterogeneity of the impact of competition and the pricing of road works.
Conclusions. It is substantiated that for the reconstruction and restoration of the transport infrastructure of Ukraine, a set of institutional conditions for a competitive environment in the road works market has been formed, and more than 2 thousand business entities are engaged in this type of activity, however, public procurement of road works is characterized by a low level of competition. The main participants in the road works market are identified as LLC Avtomagistral-Pivden, LLC Rostdorstroy, LLC Onur Konstruktion International, LLC Joint Ukrainian-German Enterprise Avtostrada, LLC PBS, LLC Shlyakhbud, LLC Techno-Bud-Center and individual regional companies, which violates the principles of perfect competition. We believe that the issue of the impact of competition on pricing requires scientific, methodological and practical justification taking into account price and non-price criteria, the creation of favorable institutional conditions for the activation of the participation of business entities in public procurement and the reconstruction of the transport infrastructure of Ukraine.
