Construction Expert

(Construction Expert for the Risk Assessment of Project Documentation for the Kitchen-Factory Facilities)

Background and context

Supporting anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine is a high political priority for the European Union and Denmark. By combating corruption, the EU contributes to the consolidation of democracy and economic growth of Ukraine, as well as the successful approximation of Ukraine with the EU.

The European Union Anti-Corruption Initiative (hereinafter – EUACI) in Ukraine is a joint programme funded by the EU and the Government of Denmark, aimed at supporting Ukraine in its efforts to reduce corruption at both national and local levels by empowering citizens, civil society, and public institutions. At the beginning of 2024, EUACI entered its third phase, which will run until mid-2027. Within this phase, EUACI was invited to identify activities related to schools. As a result of cooperation with the Ministry of Science and Education and analysis of school canteen project documentation in 2024, UAH 132.9 million was saved and reallocated to include 20 additional schools. In 2025, savings of UAH 187.5 million allowed for the selection of 16 more projects.

The school nutrition reform was initiated in 2020 by First Lady Olena Zelenska. Since its inception, school meals have undergone comprehensive improvements to fully transition away from outdated Soviet-era practices. This transformation is not merely a menu change but a fundamental overhaul of infrastructure, logistics, and quality standards. At the center of this new system is the “kitchen-factory”, an innovative model designed to provide thousands of children with safe, nutritious, and high-quality meals from a centralized facility. In the context of war reconstruction and European integration, developing such facilities is critical as it links public health, energy efficiency, social equity, and transparent public administration.

The “kitchen-factory” model was officially approved by the Government of Ukraine in 2023. It operates as a standalone enterprise on its own premises, located outside of educational institutions. While the regulatory basis is established under Cabinet Resolution No. 305, a single, comprehensive regulatory framework for implementing this specific model is still under development.

This model differs fundamentally from the traditional “in-school kitchen” system. A kitchen-factory operates as a technological hub capable of supplying up to 40 schools across several territorial communities, serving 7,500 to 10,000+ meals per day. Currently, only two such enterprises operate in Ukraine, both built with philanthropic funding. At the state level, a decision has been made to construct five kitchen-factory facilities. These projects are co-financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB). Key stakeholders include the EIB, the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The EUACI has already gained valuable experience through its cooperation on the School Nutrition Reform, providing technical support for canteen modernization via anti-corruption assessments, procurement analysis, and distance monitoring for the Ministry of Education and Science.

Based on this previous collaboration and the EUACI’s unique experience in monitoring construction projects, particularly school canteens, the EUACI, The First lady Foundation, School Nutrition Reform Team, following discussions with the EIB, have agreed the EUACI’s involvement in reviewing project documentation for the development of kitchen-factories.

These projects are large-scale and high-value: on average, a single facility costs approximately UAH 500 million, requiring extensive documentation and rigorous monitoring. According to the EUACI’s methodology, experts analyze design briefs, working drawings, and cost estimates.

For a comprehensive analysis of these facilities, the primary verification risk aspects include:

• Technological Compliance: Verifying the factory’s capacity to produce the declared volume (e.g., 10,000 portions per day), considering equipment capacity and logistics.
• Price Analysis: Reviewing cost estimates against market prices to prevent inflated material and labor costs.
• Risk Management: Assessing financial, corruption, and sanction-related risks (including verifying the country of origin for equipment).
• HACCP Review: Confirming the design meets food safety requirements (ensuring raw material and finished-product flows do not cross).

Based on this analysis, the Ministry and the EIB receive recommendations to decide on financing and to control the use of funds raised by the Government of Ukraine.

To implement this comprehensive task, EUACI needs to find an expert (Construction Expert) or a team of experts who can analyze large volumes of data, identify key problem areas, and minimize risks ,including corruption risks.

Objective:

To provide expert, independent risk analysis of kitchen-factory project documentation to ensure transparent, efficient, and effective implementation. The goal is to mitigate risks and ensure the sound use of funds by:

Reviewing project designs, drawings, and cost estimates.

Verifying technical, food safety (HACCP), and pricing compliance.

Assessing financial, corruption, and sanction-related risks.

Providing actionable recommendations to the Ministry and the EIB to inform financing decisions and strengthen oversight.

Scope of work:

The scope of work of the assignment includes different tasks, including, but not necessarily limited to:

1. Analysis of the PD’s compliance with current construction norms, standards, technical specifications, and legislation;
2. Assessment of the scope of work in PD, including a comparison of the volumes specified in the cost estimates with drawings and specifications, unaccounted work, etc.;
3. Analysis of the technological part of the PD to ensure the capability for preparing and delivering the declared volumes of finished products, including an analysis of delivery routes and the planned technological equipment for the network of recipients of ready meals;
4. Analysis of the cost estimate part, including analysis of pricing, calculations, resources used, and compliance with market prices and regulatory frameworks;
5. Analysis of the cost estimate part of the PD to ensure the specified technological equipment corresponds to the declared technological solutions;
6. Financial and economic assessment, including determining the feasibility of costs and an analysis for exceeding average market indicators;
7. Assessment of corruption, sanction-related, and organizational risks;
8. Preparation of recommendations for making changes to the PD based on the results of the project analysis;
9. Analysis of changes made to the PD after adjustments (if any);
10. Develop draft regulatory documents and standards for kitchen factories in Ukraine (e.g., a resolution and accompanying guidance), to be finalized in coordination with the Ministry; This regulation must include the basic legal framework for such facilities, operational requirements, provisions to minimize sanction risks, norms for mitigating other risks, and technical and technological specifications;
11. Prepare reports on the status and using of funds for submission to the Ministry, the EIB, and other relevant authorities;
12. Prepare information-analytical materials, briefings, and presentations regarding the progress;
13. Participate in working meetings and provide ongoing support to EUACI in activities related to the project’s scope;
14. Other activities related to the scope of work.

The Construction Expert must maintain a regular in-person presence, including frequent attendance at on-site meetings at the Ministry`s premises, meetings with local communities and project designers , and occasional work from the EUACI office.

Expected deliverables:

The Deliverables are presented below in Table 1 with a tentative schedule. All results are expected to be provided in Ukrainian unless otherwise agreed¹. Electronic copies should be sent by email to the particular EUACI contact person.

Table 1: Summary of deliverables/outputs and the tentative timeline for delivery:

Qualifications:

The contract will be awarded to the expert or team of experts who together will meet the following minimum requirements:

Legal Status

The Constructor Expert must be an officially registered individual entrepreneur or legal entity in Ukraine.

General qualifications:

1. a minimum of a bachelor degree in construction, engineering, or a similar field is required;
2. Experience in project management and/or monitoring of construction of nutrition infrastructure will be an asset;
3. Experience in the construction industry and project management, conducting corruption and/or managerial risks assessments will be an asset;
4. Fluency in Ukrainian is required.

Adequacy for the assignment:

1. a minimum of three (3) years of professional experience working with construction projects;
2. Proven experience in cooperation with stakeholders in the national government, local self-government, development partners, state enterprises, public contracting authorities, and civil society in building processes;
3. Proven experience in analysing design project documentation and monitoring of construction processes.
4. Experience analyzing the cost estimate section of project documentation and evaluating equipment costs will be an advantage.
5. Experience in analyzing construction project documentation for compliance with HACCP requirements is an advantage.

Practical Experience

Expert or Team of experts should have at least three (3) years of practical professional experience in at least one of the following fields: infrastructure, engineering, construction, developing or analysis design project documentation, corruption and other risks management, or similar areas.

Budget, timeframe, and location:

The intended commencement date is the date of signature of the contract with the Construction Expert and the period of implementation of the contract will be 5 months with a tentative start in April 2026 and completion in the end of September 2026. Implementation timelines may be adjusted due to changes from the Ministry side.

The maximum budget available for this assignment is 30 000 EUR (up to 5 000 EUR per project and up to 5 000 EUR for draft of the regulation)².

Proposals, where the Contract Price offered, exceed the above maximum budget will be rejected.

Payments will be based on the deliverables of the Contractor after following verification of the EUACI representative person.

Reporting and management

Definition of indicators

The performance of the contractor will be judged upon reaching the purpose of this contract as well as obtaining its results, as indicated in the sections “Objective” and “Expected Deliverables” herein respectively.

Special requirements

By signing the contract, the contractor (and its representatives) agree to hold in trust and confidence any information or documents (“confidential information”), disclosed to the contractor or discovered by the contractor or prepared by the contractor in the course of or as a result of the implementation of the contract and agrees that it shall be used only for the purposes of the contract implementation and shall not be disclosed to any third party without EUACI authorization.

The contractor reports to the EUACI. The contractor shall de-brief the EUACI prior to finalizing the assignment.

Bidding Details:

The bidder must submit the following information to be considered:

1. The CV (no more than three pages long) that should include a description of the previous relevant assignments, and key duties on this assignment.
2. Information about the level of daily fee, inclusive of all taxes or other such charges.

If these documents are not submitted in line with the request above, the bid will not be considered.

Please be aware that the EUACI will publish the name of the winner of this tender.

The contract budget cannot exceed 30 000 EUR.

How to apply:

The deadline for submitting the proposals is 27 April 2026, 18:00 Kyiv time.

The proposals shall be submitted within the above deadline to [email protected] with copy to [email protected], indicating the subject line “Construction Expert (FK)”.

Bidding language: English

Any clarification questions for the bid request should be addressed to [email protected], no later than21 April 2026, 18:00 Kyiv time.

To ensure your documents were successfully received, please check that you receive an auto-reply from our system. If your application is properly received, you will receive an auto-reply from the EUACI mailbox.

If you don’t receive an auto-reply, your application was not received, please try again or contact.

Evaluationcriteria

Bids will be evaluated under the criteria provided below:

1 Final report to be submitted in Ukrainian and English.

2 See the budget Annex 1