Filenews 14 October 2025 - by Vasos Vassiliou
Three major contracting companies undertook 40.8% of the public works of the period 2015-2024, during which 2,164 contracts worth €2.5 billion were awarded, as stated in the Report of the Audit Office which examined the award of public construction projects to contractors.
In total, Cyfield in the period 2015-2024 undertook 157 projects worth €563,955.27, Iakovou Brothers undertook 84 projects worth €321,977,123 while Cybarco Ltd undertook 40 projects worth €140,976,255.
How the €2.5bn of the 2015-2024 period was distributed.
It is also noteworthy that in several cases of tenders (14.2%) only one bid had been submitted, which, in the end, was awarded to the one who submitted it.
The Auditor General indicates that the above fact should concern the Contracting Authorities and especially where there is an indication that a specific Economic Operator is repeatedly the sole tenderer.
It is noted that most of the projects (612) with the highest value (596,037,514) were awarded in the year 2023.
The Auditor, Mr. Andreas Papaconstantinou, indirectly refers to an oligopoly while also referring to a dominant position of the Cyfield group, noting that "a significant percentage of the total contract value was concentrated in a limited number of contractors", to add:
"Specifically, three contractors (Cyfield, Iacovou and Cybarco), although together they undertook only 13% of the number of contracts, secured 40.8% of the total market value. This statistic indicates an increasing concentration of the market for large projects in specific contractors."
The Auditor General's preface also states that "an interesting fact is the fact that Cyfield ranked first in market share allocation for four consecutive years (2019–2023), which is likely to be another indication of the creation of a dominant position".
Any lack of a satisfactory number of options, the Auditor General continues, limits the state's negotiating ability and may "force" the resumption of collaborations with contractors who may not respond adequately.
In addition, according to the Auditor General, the concentration of major projects in specific contractors raises questions whether these bodies have the operational capacity to successfully implement multiple projects in parallel.
"The above is of particular concern, especially from the fact that several major projects of the Republic of Cyprus are either subject to long delays or are not completed at all," adds Mr. Papaconstantinou.
It is also interesting to find that the average delay in the implementation of projects is 461 days. These translate into a delay of 76.7% compared to their conventional execution time. It is noted that the average contract for each project is 601 days.
The Auditor General's Report, which covers Contracting Authorities (AAs) of the public and wider public sector, as well as Local Government Authorities, also shows the following:
In 2015 Cyfield took projects about 3% of the total projects and Lois Builders Ltd projects that accounted for 72% of the total.
The Report states that for the year 2015, the Contractor "Lois Builders Ltd" presents the highest total contract value assigned to it, which amounts to €13.5 million. According to the Auditor General, the remaining three (large) Contractors are collecting significantly smaller contracts in total value, from €596,999 to €2.9 million.
In 2017, the Cyfield group of companies is among the four companies that won the most projects with a percentage of 13%. In 2018 the company is limited to 9%. In 2019, it receives projects of €51,390,673 and a percentage of 20% of the total projects. In 2020, the company receives projects amounting to €106,794,435 and skyrockets to 40% of the total. In the year 2022, the company is assigned projects of €77.385206 corresponding to 22% of the total. In the year 2023, the group receives projects worth €175,818,768, corresponding to 30% of the total. In 2024 (last audit year) the company receives projects of €28,188,514 corresponding to 8%
According to the Auditor General, it is interesting that Cyfield ranked first in market share for four consecutive years (2019–2023), which is likely to be another indication of the creation of a dominant position.
The Report states that despite the concentration of a large part of the value of contracts in a few contractors, 80% of the total number of contracts is allocated to a large number of smaller contractors. Of the 2,164 contracts, 1,734 were undertaken by small or individual contractors, indicating a fragmentation of the market in smaller-scale projects.
The Report also records that "the participation of economic operators in tenders is considered satisfactory to limited". 60.3% of the tenders (2021-2024) attracted at least three entries, while in 14.2% of the cases there was no competition at all.
It is also indicated that the prevention of over-concentration or fragmentation phenomena is a basic condition for the formation of a healthy and competitive public works market.
The Auditor General emphasizes that "the Report does not intend to target any Economic Operator but expects to highlight the big picture in the construction sector in the context of information and transparency". For this reason, especially in the Summary, any commentary is avoided in order to exclude the possibility of misinterpretations, concludes the Auditor General.
