Senior Expert on Local Government Engagement and Cooperation for the SARDI | EU4Reconstruction Stream 2

General background

EU4Reconstruction. The European Union (EU), together with Denmark, Germany, France and Lithuania, launched EU4Reconstruction, a €37 million Team Europe Initiative (TEI) that unites the strength, experience and solidarity of the EU to support Ukraine’s ongoing recovery and reconstruction.

The initiative aims to strengthen governance, improve public investment management, and enhance coordination across levels of government, with a strong emphasis on EU values. The TEl is divided in two parallel streams; one stream is composed of GIZ (Lead Organisation) and Expertise France (Partner Organisation) and the other gathers the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Lead Organisation) and Central Project Management Agency (Partner Organisation).

EU4Reconstruction will reinforce the leadership of the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, strengthen the State Agency for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure (SARDI or Agency), empower local governments to manage reconstruction professionally and sustainably, and support civil society and independent media to play an active role in oversight, ensuring public trust and reducing corruption risks.

The Programme will strengthen the policy dialogue around reconstruction and recovery and will focus in particular on the governance of public investment management, public infrastructure management at national, regional and local levels and how to link this with necessary capacity development to make the system work. Part of this process will ensure that the stakeholders in the programme and their policy and regulatory setup are prepared for EU accession. This will, in particular, ensure resources are allocated effectively, transparently, accountably and with broad inclusion in infrastructure planning and execution, reflecting the subsidiarity principle.

SARDI and its ecosystem. SARDI was established by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, dated 13 January 2023. It was created through the renaming of the State Road Agency of Ukraine and the merger with the State Agency for Infrastructure Projects.

SARDI is structured around a central authority in Kyiv and a broad network of regional and subordinate entities, including 24 Regional Offices for Restoration and Infrastructure Development (the SARDI ecosystem).

SARDI is currently responsible for prioritisation, planning and implementation of road infrastructure projects, as well as implementation of other reconstruction projects delegated by the Cabinet of Ministers.

SARDI is currently key national-level coordination and implementing body for the recovery and modernization of municipal infrastructure, including water supply and wastewater systems, energy efficiency measures, housing, and public utilities. Realization of this task requires close cooperation and coordination with local governments and regional administrations on a daily basis.

The 2025 EU Enlargement report on Ukraine emphasises that the role of SARDI in supporting local self-government authorities during the preparation and implementation of infrastructure projects need to be clarified. This objective requires policy dialogue with both central government and local authorities to shape future modes of cooperation and introduce, if required, relevant legislative amendments.

This process is connected with a broader goal to update SARDI’s mandate and its ecosystem to align with the challenges of the war time and need for a fast, efficient and accountable nation- wide reconstruction.

In view of the above, the Agency – supported by the EU4Reconstruction – seeks for a Senior Expert on Local Government Engagement and Cooperation (the Senior Expert) who will be embedded within the Agency and work directly with the Head of the Agency.

Objective

To find an experienced consultant to support SARDI and its Head with:

• Clarification of the SARDI’s role in supporting local self-government authorities (theLSGAs) during the preparation and implementation of infrastructure projects;
  
• Facilitating effective cooperation with LSGAs to ensure smooth implementation ofinfrastructure projects of local and regional importance;
  
• Provide inputs for organizational transformation of the SARDI and its ecosystem to make it a more effective institution, inter alia, supporting LSGAs during the preparation and implementation of infrastructure projects.

Scope of work

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

1. Provide inputs and suggestions to the SARDI strategic documents to clarify and formalize SARDI’s role, functions, and engagement mechanisms with LSGAs in line with decentralization and reconstruction priorities.

2. Contribute to SARDI ecosystem’s organizational transformation, identifying changes needed in structure, processes, and capacities to enhance institutional effectiveness and service orientation for LSGA’s.

3. Facilitatecommunicationandcoordination(meetings,digitaltools,feedback channels) between SARDI and LSGAs, as well as central government, regional administrations, and other institutional partners to ensure coordinated design and implementation of infrastructure projects;

4. Facilitate dialogue and cooperation between the Agency and its ecosystem with EU4Reconstruction, including through regular briefings, progress reports, and participation in coordination meetings.

5. Contribute to capacity building activities for SARDI and its ecosystem in relation to institutional effectiveness and support for LSGA’s.

6. Prepare analytical and advisory briefs summarizing key findings, recommendations, and progress on institutional transformation and local cooperation;

7. Other tasks as agreed upon with the Agency and the EU4Reconstruction.

Deliverables

Given the routine and advisory nature of the assignment, deliverables cannot be strictly quantified; however, it is expected that the Consultant will demonstrate tangible progress through the implementation of agreed activities and the provision of analytical and coordination outputs, as detailed below:

• Inputs and recommendations integrated into SARDI’s strategic and policy documents clarifying its institutional role, functions, and engagement mechanisms with LSGAs.
• Contribution to coordination frameworks, methodologies, and manuals for cooperation between the Agency, ministries, regional administrations, and local governments.
• Development of detailed procedures and processes for interaction between SARDI/RORs and local governments
• Briefing notes and analytical papers prepared for SARDI leadership, EU4Reconstruction partners, and other donors, presenting progress, findings, and policy recommendations.
• Documentation of coordination activities, including agendas, presentations and other working materials, minutes of meetings, consultations, and cooperation events.
• Interventions during public and working-level meetings, working groups, public events (if needed) to present findings and analysis of the projects and activities implementation.
• Monthly timesheets (progress reports), summarising actual days worked and expenses incurred, as well as progress made and results achieved over the period (in English).
• Completion Report consolidating key results and lessons learned (in English).
• Other deliverables as agreed upon with the Agency and the EU4Reconstruction.

Written deliverables should be in Ukrainian, unless otherwise specifically indicated herein or agreed with the EU4Reconstruction. Deliverables should be translated into English upon request of the Agency / EU4Reconstruction.

Qualification

The contract will be awarded to the expert meeting the following criteria:

General qualifications:

a)  Minimum of a Master’s degree in law, finance, economics, social sciences, public administration, or similar field.
b)  At least 5 years of professional experience of working with state and local authorities, institutional reform, or organizational development.
c)  Proven experience in advising senior government officials or managing reform programs in Ukraine.
d)  Proven experience working with or liaising between government institutions, LSGAs, international partners, and donor organizations.

Adequacy for the assignment

a)  Professional experience in decentralization reform, and/or infrastructure development frameworks is regarded as an asset.
b)  Strong analytical, strategic thinking, and problem-solving skills.
c)  Excellent communication, negotiation, and stakeholder management abilities.
d)  High standards of integrity, confidentiality, and political neutrality.

Experience with the region and languages

a) Practical experience working in Ukraine.
b) Fluency in Ukrainian and English (written and spoken).

Budget, timeframe, and location

The maximum budget available for this assignment is EUR 31,500 (inclusive of all applicable expenses and taxes).

Payments to the Consultant shall be done on a monthly basis against Consultant’s timesheet and invoice for the respective period. Payments shall be based on the actual days worked, the agreed daily fee rate, and the expenses occurred by the Consultant during the period (if any). Payments will require verification of completion of deliverables and approval of the Consultant’s timesheets and expense outlay by the Project Manager on the SARDI CapacityDevelopment. Travel costs and other reimbursable costs will only be accepted if they are in compliance with the guidelines in the contract.

The intended commencement date is the date of signature of the contract with the Consultant and the period of implementation of the contract will be 10 months, with a start in December 2025. The assignment includes up to 200 working days per full term of the Contract (up to 21 working days per month) including up to 5 travel days.

The expert is expected to work from the premises of the Agency with possible business travels in Ukraine.

Reporting and management

The performance of the Consultant will be judged upon reaching the purpose of this contract as well as obtaining its results, as indicated in the section “Objective” and “Deliverables” herein respectively. Moreover, the performance of the Consultant will be judged upon the successful implementation of all the specific activities indicated in Section “Scope of work” of this document.

By signing the contract, the Consultant agrees to hold in trust and confidence any information or documents (“confidential information”) disclosed to the Consultant or discovered by the Consultant or prepared by the Consultant in the course of or as a result of the implementation of the contract, and agrees that it shall be used only for the contract implementation and shall not be disclosed to any third party. The Consultant also agrees not to retain copies of any written information or prototypes in its archive and for its use.

Senior Expert will report to the Project Manager for the SARDI Capacity Development, who will review / approve deliverables indicated above. Regular planning and reporting sessions with the representative of the Agency and EU4Reconstruction are expected.

How to apply

The deadline for submitting the proposal is 4 December 2025, 18:00 Kyiv time. All interested candidates should submit the following documents in English:

• Completed Annex 1, including:
  • CV for Key staff (Section 3)
  • Supplier’s Technical Proposal / Methodology (Section 4)
  • Workplan (Sections 5)
• Financial offer (Annex 2, forms 1 and 2) in EUR, including daily fee and other related expenses (taxes, if applicable), with calculation of maximum 200 working days and 5 days of business travel.If these documents are not submitted in line with the requirements above, the bid will not be considered.

The proposal shall include the aforementioned information and should be submitted within the above deadline to [email protected] cc to [email protected] indicating the subject line: “Senior Expert on Local Government Engagement and Cooperation for SARDI”.

Bidding language: English.

Any clarification questions regarding the terms of reference should be addressed to [email protected] cc to [email protected], not later than 28 November 2025, 18-00 Kyiv time.

Evaluation criteria

Bids will be evaluated under the criteria provided below: