Background
The EU Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine (EUACI) is the European Union’s technical support programme in the area of anti-corruption in Ukraine, financed by the European Union, the United Kingdom International Development, and co-financed and implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. Its overall objective is to achieve significant progress in preventing and combating corruption, ensure coherent and systemic anti-corruption action by state and local self-government bodies, and empower civil society and citizens to contribute to anti-corruption efforts and Ukraine’s recovery. The programme runs until April 2027.
One of the key beneficiaries of the EUACI is the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO). Established in 2015 and reconstituted as a separate legal entity in 2024, SAPO is a prosecutorial agency with a primary mandate to prosecute top-level corruption, including criminal offences committed by senior public and local officials. The Law “On the Prosecution Service” determines SAPO’s status, mandate, powers, and organization, while the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine defines its investigative jurisdiction.
Under Article 29-1 of the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Prosecutor’s Office’, the competition for the positions of Head, First Deputy Head and Deputy Head of SAPO is conducted by a six-member Selection Commission. Three members are appointed by the Prosecutor General on the proposal of the Council of Prosecutors of Ukraine, and three are appointed on the proposal of qualifying international and foreign organisations.
The independence, institutional effectiveness and public credibility of SAPO depend substantially on the leadership and managerial capacity of its senior officials. The selection processes for the Deputy Head of SAPO and future Head therefore will require a structured assessment of candidates’ ability to lead the institution, make complex decisions, safeguard independence and integrity, manage personnel and institutional risks, and communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders.
Practical leadership cases will be used to assess these competencies through realistic dilemmas and decision-making scenarios reflecting SAPO’s operational environment and the broader Ukrainian context.
2. Objective of the assignment
The objective of the assignment is to support the Selection Commission in assessing the leadership and managerial competencies of candidates for SAPO management through four professionally designed practical leadership cases.
All four cases shall be suitable for use in the selection process of SAPO Head and SAPO Deputy Head. They shall assess competencies relevant to both positions and shall not depend on powers, functions or circumstances exclusive to only one of the two positions.
3. Scope of work
The Expert shall develop four original practical leadership cases tailored to the Ukrainian context and SAPO’s institutional environment. The assignment shall be implemented through the following sequence:
1. Review the relevant background materials provided for the assignment, including the applicable legal and institutional framework, competition documents, competency requirements and available information concerning SAPO’s structure and operating environment.
2. Participate in an initial brainstorming meeting with the Ukrainian expert. The meeting shall identify relevant features of the Ukrainian context, realistic institutional and managerial challenges, appropriate terminology, potential sensitivities and the competencies that can be tested through practical cases.
3. Participate in a subsequent meeting with the Selection Commission to understand how the Commission envisages the leadership assessment, which competencies and attributes it wishes to assess, and its expectations regarding the format, complexity, duration and scoring of the exercise.
4. Develop a proposed assessment framework and one initial practical leadership case. The initial case shall serve as the reference case for validating the structure, level of difficulty, instructions, competency framework and scoring approach to be used across the assignment.
5. Submit the initial case and its complete assessment package to the Selection Commission for review. The package shall include the candidate instructions, scenario, questions or tasks, competencies assessed, key response elements, scoring rubric and guidance for assessors.
6. Revise and finalise the initial case and assessment methodology on the basis of the Selection Commission’s consolidated comments.
7. Develop three additional practical leadership cases using the structure, quality standard and assessment methodology approved through the review of the initial case. The three additional cases shall not be submitted to the Selection Commission for advance substantive review and shall be disclosed to the Commission only on the day of testing.
8. Work closely with the Ukrainian expert throughout the development process to ensure that all four cases are factually credible, institutionally relevant and aligned with the Ukrainian legal, political, organisational and operational context. The Ukrainian expert shall also support the review of terminology and contextual accuracy. This cooperation shall not alter the Expert’s responsibility for the professional quality and consistency of the final materials.
9. Ensure that all four cases are applicable to the assessment of candidates for either the Head or Deputy Head of SAPO. The cases should place candidates in a senior SAPO leadership role and should require no substantive changes, or only neutral administrative adjustments, when used in either selection process.
10. Ensure that the cases collectively assess a balanced range of leadership competencies, including, but not limited to:
• strategic leadership and institutional development;
• professional independence and resistance to improper influence;
• ethics, integrity and management of conflicts of interest;
• personnel management, delegation, team leadership and management of underperformance;
• prioritisation of limited human, financial and operational resources;
• crisis management and decision-making under pressure;
• cooperation with prosecutorial, law-enforcement and other public institutions;
• engagement with international partners, civil society and other stakeholders;
• public communication and interaction with the media; and
• accountability, transparency and protection of confidential information.
11. Design each case so that candidates must analyse the situation, identify relevant risks and stakeholders, explain their reasoning, propose and justify a course of action, and describe implementation and follow-up measures. The cases shall allow for more than one reasonable approach and assess the quality of judgement rather than the reproduction of a single predetermined answer.
12. Prepare a complete and internally consistent assessment package for each case, comprising:
• candidate instructions and the case scenario;
• a description of the competencies assessed;
• an assessor’s guide identifying the principal issues and relevant considerations;
• key elements expected in strong, acceptable and weak responses.
13. Maintain strict confidentiality and secure handling of all case materials, assessment criteria, scoring guides and related information. The three additional cases and their assessment materials shall remain restricted and shall not be disclosed to the Selection Commission, candidates or any other unauthorised person before the day of testing. On the testing day, they shall be provided to the Selection Commission through a secure method agreed in advance with the Commission.
14. Coordinate the substantive development of the cases only with the Selection Commission and the Ukrainian expert. Any contractual or administrative reporting required under the contract shall not involve substantive review or approval of the case content by other parties.
4. Key outputs
The key outputs to be delivered under the assignment are:
1. A common competency and assessment framework applicable to all four leadership cases and to candidates for either the Head or Deputy Head of SAPO.
2. One initial practical leadership case, together with its complete assessment package, submitted to the Selection Commission for review and finalised on the basis of the Commission’s consolidated comments.
3. Three additional practical leadership cases developed on the basis of the approved initial case and assessment methodology, together with complete assessment packages, to be disclosed to the Selection Commission only on the day of testing.
4. Four assessor’s guides and scoring rubrics, one for each case, enabling consistent, evidence-based assessment of candidates’ responses.
5. A testing-day briefing for the Selection Commission on the three confidential cases and their assessment materials, if requested by the Commission.
5. Budget, timeframe and level of effort
Maximum available budget: EUR 7,500. The assignment shall commence on the date the contract is signed by both Parties. All four cases and the accompanying assessment materials shall be finalised no later than 10 November 2026.
The expected level of effort is 15 working days.
6. Professional requirements
- University degree in law or another directly relevant field.
- At least 15 years of professional experience in prosecution, criminal justice, anti-corruption, law enforcement, or another closely related field.
- At least 10 years of professional experience in anti-corruption and/or prosecution, including substantial practical experience related to the investigation or prosecution of corruption and/or other serious or complex criminal offences.
- At least 5 years of experience in senior managerial or leadership positions within a prosecution service, anti-corruption authority, law-enforcement institution, judicial institution, or comparable public-sector body, including responsibility for managing teams, institutional processes, or complex professional functions.
- Demonstrated practical understanding of the competencies required for senior prosecutorial leadership, including strategic decision-making, management and allocation of resources, professional independence, integrity, prioritisation of cases, internal coordination, institutional accountability, communication, and management of complex or sensitive situations.
- Demonstrated international experience in the field of anti-corruption and/or prosecutorial reform, including participation in international evaluations, peer reviews, advisory assignments, technical assistance projects, or development of recommendations concerning anti-corruption or prosecutorial institutions.
- Experience in assessing institutional or individual professional performance in the prosecution, judiciary, anti-corruption, or law-enforcement sectors would be a strong advantage.
- Previous professional experience related to Ukraine’s anti-corruption or justice-sector reforms would be an advantage.
- Excellent analytical, drafting, and communication skills and fluency in written and spoken English.
7. Reporting and management
The service provider will report contractually to EUACI and coordinate operationally with the Secretariat of the Selection Commission. The service provider shall attend online coordination meetings as reasonably required and promptly flag any risk to timing, security, equal treatment or validity of results.
The leadership cases shall be delivered directly and securely to the Selection Commission. EUACI will verify performance of the contracted tasks based on used, publicly available cases.
By signing the contract, the service provider agrees to hold in trust and confidence all information and documents disclosed, discovered or prepared in connection with the assignment; to use them only for contract implementation; not to disclose them to third parties; and not to retain copies beyond the authorised retention period.
8. How to apply
The deadline for submitting proposals is the end of the day on 21 September 2026.
Interested service providers shall submit:
- CV not exceeding 4 pages;
- Daily rate and budget for the assignment.
Proposals shall be submitted to [email protected] with a copy to [email protected] with cc to [email protected] , indicating the subject line: Practical Leadership cases for SAPO management. The bidding language is English.
Clarification questions shall be addressed to [email protected] no later than 19 September 2026 at 17:00 Kyiv time.
EUACI reserves the right to request clarifications, verify references, reject any or all proposals, cancel the procurement, or negotiate reasonable adjustments to the scope without increasing the maximum budget. Late or materially incomplete proposals may be rejected.
9. Evaluation criteria
| No. | Criterion | Weight |
| 1 | Relevant experience according to the CV | 70% |
| 2 | Budget (financial offer) | 30% |