Terms of Reference for
Сonsultancy for Monitoring Reconstruction of School Canteens for the Ministry of Science and education of Ukraine
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 (EUACI) in Ukraine is a joint EU and Government of Denmark financed programme aimed at supporting Ukraine in its efforts to reduce corruption at the national and local level through empowerment of citizens, civil society, businesses and state institutions. In early 2024, the EUACI entered its phase III which runs till mid-2027. As part of the new phase, the EUACI has been asked to identify activities related to schools.
The EUACI has 4 intervention areas, namely:
Area I.; that supports key state anti-corruption agencies in improving their effectiveness and independence;
Area II; that supports the efforts of the Government of Ukraine to ensure transparent and accountable reconstruction
Area III; that supports Integrity cities in their efforts to strengthen their integrity, transparency, and accountability;
Area IV: that supports Ukraine’s civil society, media, and business community with a view to increase awareness of and engagement in anti-corruption activities.
In 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the Strategy for Reforming the School Nutrition System (hereinafter - the Strategy) for 2023-2027, and one of the stages of its implementation is the restoration and modernization of canteens in schools using the latest technological processes, improving energy efficiency and following the principles of the HACCP system. The state budget of Ukraine for 2024 provided a state budget subvention, in the amount of 1.5 billion UAH to local budgets for the procurement of equipment creation and modernization (reconstruction and major repair) of canteens (catering units) of secondary schools, as a part of the implementation of the Strategy.
The Ministry of education and science of Ukraine (hereinafter - the Ministry), as the main manager of resources, established a Commission to review project applications for reconstruction of canteens (catering units) of secondary schools.
In May 2024, the EUACI has received a request to assist in assessing project design of school canteen projects as part of an initiative of School Nutrition Reform project, supported by the Zelenska Foundation and in a partnership with the Ministry.
During the work, 187 projects were analyzed to assess the corruption and management risks of design estimates for restoration projects.
For each project, a conclusion was drawn up indicating violations and inconsistencies, if any, as well as recommendations for correcting the design and estimate documents to meet the defined criteria.
2. Project Details
In August 2024, the EUACI has received a request from the Ministry to provide support in monitoring the implementation of the selected projects (Letter № 1/15230-24 dated 23.08.2024). The request includes expert support in coordinating and monitoring of next steps of implementing selected projects, such as technical and technological supervision, monitoring of acceptance of completed works, financial monitoring etc.
Such control involves distance work providing technical and technological expertise based on photos from Ministry of Education and other documentation, including
- construction works documentation (whether it does not deviate from the approved technological solutions);
- construction works;
- specifications of equipment and procurement of equipment;
- all engineering communications;
- installation, mounting of equipment;
- grounds and criteria for the signing of acceptance forms
It is recommended to develop an IT tool that will provide analysis of financing and visualization of the stages of construction of canteens (catering units).
Objective:
To provide expert support to the Ministry for distance work of monitoring of construction projects, including corruption risks assessment and development of dashboards.
Scope of work:
The scope of work of the assignment includes different tasks, including, but not limited to:
The distance construction monitoring
1. Development of a checklist on the progress of project implementation (algorithm for visual analysis) of each project being implemented for compliance with standards and technical requirements (Code of Practice 4:2024 "Guidelines for the design of catering facilities for preschool and general secondary schools, children's health and recreation facilities in accordance with catering models", adopted by order of the state enterprise "Ukrainian Research and Training Center for Standardization, Certification and Quality" dated 25 March 2024 No. 98 (hereinafter - the Code)).
2. To minimize the risks related to the performance of unnecessary works, construction cost overestimation, lack of compliance with construction legislation and other risks during construction and to conduct an analysis of the process of implementing each project in accordance with the following criteria:
- Compliance of the location of production facilities specified in the project documentation with technological solutions;
- Control of the internal dimensions of doorways between all premises of the canteens (catering unit);
- Control of the threshold-free conditions of the respective premises;
- Control over the installation of a water filtration and softening system;
- Control of the arrangement of communications necessary for the correct operation of technological equipment in the places of its future installation (in particular, water supply, drainage, electricity, ventilation);
- Control over the arrangement of drainage ladders in the relevant premises;
- Control of the arrangement of electrical power distribution points (electrical panels with circuit breakers/fuses), as well as compliance with the labeling of the connected equipment;
- Control of compliance of the installed technological equipment with the declared one in the project documentation specification;
- Control of the availability of relevant supporting documentation for the supplied process equipment: Technical Passports, completed Warranty Cards, Operating Instructions, Certificates, etc. (in Ukrainian);
- Control over the arrangement of raw material reception areas (including ramps, if any).
3. Create guidance for Customers on how to provide correct input information, that includes parameters of photofixation.
4. Technological analysis and monitoring of forms of acceptance of work (KB forms) for compliance with current legislation, project decisions, cost of equipment.
5. Create guidelines for advisors to mayors of Integrity Cities to physically monitor and check the reconstruction of canteens in line with integrity issues.
The Financial Assessment (procurement)
1. Develop algorithms for monitoring financial risks of project implementation and displaying information on a dashboard to be developed by the consultant.
2. Develop an automatic system for updating information on the interactive dashboard, that includes;
- weekly update of information on expenditures made at the expense of subvention and local budget funds
- weekly update of information on announced/changes in announced procurements
- information update period from the date of the start of implementation (for budget year 2024).
Visualization of the construction process
Development of an interactive dashboard that will visualize / display general information on the progress of the process of realization of the projects of building (major repair and reconstruction) the canteens (catering units), that includes;
- general information on the progress of the implementation of projects, which will be updated weekly
- detailed information on each of the 175 educational institutions (159 project proposals), including:
i. the amount of subvention funds paid
ii. the amount of co-financing from local budgets
iii. information on the implementation of tender procedures and peculiarities of tenders
iv. risks of implementation of each project
v. information from the checklist on the progress of project implementation
- an interactive map and filter system that will display information on each region/trivial community and each educational institution from the general information on projects.
- visualization on the dashboard of the results of the assessment by EUACI experts of the project documentation of canteens (catering units).
- weekly update of information on the risks of implementing each project
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 agreed. 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
|
# |
Deliverable/Output |
Timeline |
|
1 |
Checklist on the progress of project implementation |
2 weeks after the contract signing |
|
2 |
Checklist for advisers of city mayors about risks on construction process |
2 weeks after the contract signing |
|
3 |
The dashboard with the information of implementation of the projects |
2 month after the contract signing |
|
4 |
Constant update the dashboard with information about the project implementation |
Weekly |
|
5 |
Report of project implementation results |
One in the month |
|
6 |
Reports after analyzing the form of acceptance of every object |
Report after analyzing forms |
|
7 |
Reports on every object based on the result of distance technical monitoring based on photos |
Each 5 weeks |
|
8 |
Final Report (in English) |
25 March 2025 |
The timelines indicated in the table above are indicative. The Expert will reflect on and update the timelines for different activities while project implementation. Other deliverables are agreed upon with the EUACI.
3. Timeline
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 7 months.
4. Estimated budget and level of effort
The maximum budget available for this assignment is 30 000 EUR
During this period, the Consultant will be expected to deliver a maximum of 150 workdays.
Proposals, where the Contract Price offered, exceed the above maximum budget will be rejected.
Payments will be made by parts with an advance payment of 30% of the contract amount and a final payment for the services of 70% of the contract amount.
Payments will require verification of completion of deliverables and approval by the Component Team Leader of the Consultant’s progress report and expense outlay.
Requirements to the Service Provider
Registration as a legal entity, or private entrepreneur or NGO according to Ukrainian legislation
General qualifications:
a) Registration as a legal entity, or private entrepreneur or NGO according to Ukrainian legislation
b) minimum of 5 years experience in the construction industry and design
с) experience in developing IT products
e) fluency in Ukrainian is required.
Adequacy for the assignment:
a) minimum of 5 years of professional experience working with construction projects, including tender and procurement procedures and corruption risks;
b) proven experience in cooperation with stakeholders in the national government, local self-government, development partners, state enterprises, public contracting authorities, and civil society;
c) proven experience working with public finance and with open data.
Monitoring and evaluation:
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 EUAC. The contractor shall de-brief the EUACI prior to finalizing the assignment.
The developed deliverables can be checked (as a quality assurance) and payments will be provided by the quality assurance results.
5. Bidding details
The bidder must submit the following information to be considered:
- CVs of a core project team (no more than 2 pages for each one);
- Portfolio of no less than 3 relevant implemented projects;
- A budget for the services in EUR, inclusive of all taxes or other such charges with a calculation of 150 working days.
The contract budget cannot exceed 30 000 EUR
How to apply
The deadline for submitting the proposals is 26 September 2024, 18:00 Kyiv time.
The proposals shall be submitted within the above deadline to [email protected], indicating the subject line “Construction Expert for Ministry of science and education”.
Bidding language: English
Any clarification questions for the bid request should be addressed to [email protected], no later than 20 September 2024, 18:00 Kyiv time.
Evaluation criteria
Bids will be evaluated under the criteria provided below:
|
# |
Criteria |
Weight |
|
1 |
Relevant experience, skills and competencies of the team |
70% |
|
2 |
Proposed budget |
30% |