The Social Protection Department in Mykolaiv has signed a contract for child assistant services for the third time, despite the auditors’ observations

The Department of Social Protection has signed a contract for child assistant services despite auditors’ comments. Illustrative photo: i-visti.com

The Department of Labour and Social Protection of the Mykolaiv City Council has signed a contract for social support during inclusive education, despite the State Audit Service’s comments. This is already the third contract concluded with the same contractor — the NGO «Ukrainian Foundation for Care and Health». The previous two contracts were terminated. However, the department considers the auditors’ observations regarding the termination of the third contract to be unfounded.

This is stated in information from the Prozorro public procurement system, as well as in the department’s response to a request from NikVesti.

What is known about the two previous procurements

This concerns a tender for the services of a child’s assistant during inclusive education. In all three tenders, there was a single participant — the non-governmental organisation «Ukrainian Foundation for Care and Health», registered in June 2026.

For the first procurement, the Department of Social Protection signed a contract with the non-governmental organisation for 4.1 million hryvnias on 3 August. The Southern Office of the State Audit Service of Ukraine began monitoring the tender. The auditors’ report stated that the tenderer had failed to provide evidence of experience with a similar contract, had not submitted documents confirming the qualifications, education and experience of its staff, and had classified information regarding qualifications as confidential. Following this, the contract was terminated.

Subsequently, the Department of Social Protection announced a second tender for support services. On 25 August, a contract was signed with the same NGO, the «Ukrainian Foundation for Care and Health», for 3.68 million hryvnias.

On 31 August, the auditors resumed their monitoring. They identified a risk in that the department had not rejected the winning tenderer’s bid, as the requirements regarding the publication of documents had not been met.

The second contract with the non-governmental organisation was terminated following the auditors’ observations. Screenshot from Prozorro

According to the auditors’ findings, the successful tenderer failed to provide a certificate confirming the absence of corruption offences, a criminal record or any restrictions under the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine regarding the head of the NGO. The participant had four days to submit the documents. As the certificate was not provided, the Department of Social Protection should have rejected the bid, but instead entered into a contract. The auditors asked for an explanation as to why the bidder’s proposal had not been rejected. Following this, the contract was terminated. The auditors therefore consider the breach to have been rectified.

Third contract

On 2 September, the Department of Social Protection announced a third tender. Once again, there was only one participant — the NGO «Ukrainian Foundation for Care and Health».

On 22 September, the NGO was declared the winner, and on 29 September, the department entered into a contract with the NGO for 3.68 million hryvnias, valid until 31 December 2026.

However, on 28 September, the State Audit Service resumed its monitoring. The report was published on 9 October. It states that the NGO submitted copies of employees’ educational documents and training certificates, as well as copies of medical records, as confidential information. These breaches had also been noted in previous tenders.

The NGO once again classified information regarding its employees’ education as confidential. Screenshot from Prozorro

The auditors noted that the department, as the contracting authority, had itself requested the submission of documents containing employees’ personal data. However, when the tenderer classified this information as confidential, the department did not reject its bid.

According to the auditors’ conclusion, the contract should have been terminated or the department should have provided justification as to why the breaches could not be rectified.

«In view of the established breach of legislation in the field of public procurement… the Southern Office of the State Audit Service in Mykolaiv region orders measures to be taken to rectify the identified breach by terminating theunder the service contract №164 dated 29 September 2026, concluded with the NGO «Ukrainian Foundation for Care and Health», in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Code of Ukraine’, the auditors’ report states.

The concluding section of the auditors’ report. Screenshot from Prozorro

On 14 October, the Department of Social Protection submitted its objections to the auditors’ report. The department considers the procurement to be transparent and the auditors’ demands to be unfounded. It sees no grounds for terminating the contract.

The department’s response states that the experts verified the information regarding the employees’ qualifications, and that the civil society organisation does not hold the personal data—in particular, regarding medical examinations and the employees’ education—and therefore cannot publish it publicly without their consent.

«Designating such data (personal data, — note) as «confidential» is the only mechanism for protecting employees» rights provided by the e-procurement system. Uploading documents containing personal data to a restricted (confidential) access section does not prevent the department from verifying whether a participant meets the qualification criteria,» the department’s response states.

The department also noted that if it was able to verify the participant’s qualifications and only the personal data was confidential, then rejecting the participant’s bid «constitutes excessive formalism and a breach of the principle of maximum economy and efficiency».

Officials pointed out that the contract had been concluded and the services were already being provided.

«The State Audit Service of Ukraine’s demand to terminate the contract (or its conclusion regarding a breach) on the grounds of the formal classification of files as confidential is a disproportionate measure,» the department replied.

The department’s rebuttal of the auditors’ findings. Screenshot from Prozorro

In response to an enquiry from NikVesti, the Department of Social Protection stated that the previous contracts had been terminated in order to address the identified shortcomings.

The third contract was not terminated. The department noted that the audit service’s conclusion does not mean that the contract is automatically deemed invalid.

«The conclusion of the State Audit Service of Ukraine following the monitoring of the procurement does not in itself mean that the contract is automatically deemed invalid. At the same time, the contracting authority is obliged to duly consider and comply with the requirements of the relevant conclusion in accordance with the procedure established by law. The department is taking into account the observations set out in the relevant conclusion of the State Audit Service of Ukraine,» the department’s response states.

The department did not state whether it plans to terminate the third contract and launch a new procurement procedure.

«The department’s next steps will be determined taking into account the content of the opinion of the State Audit Service of Ukraine, the requirements of public procurement legislation and the actual circumstances surrounding the performance of the contract. Any decision to terminate the contractual obligations and conduct a new procurement must be taken in accordance with the procedure established by law and taking into account the need to ensure the continuity of social services for children with special educational needs,» the department stated.

Response from the Department of Social Protection to a query from NikVesti

Response from the Department of Social Protection to a request from NikVesti

Response from the Department of Social Protection to a request from NikVesti

Agreement with a newly established civil society organisation

According to YouControl, the NGO «Ukrainian Foundation for Care and Health» was registered in Mykolaiv one and a half months before the first tender for child assistant services was announced — on 19 June 2026. Tetiana Nikolina is currently listed as the organisation’s authorised representative. No information on the number of employees is available on the platform.

Prior to Tetiana Nikolina, Andrii Skorokhod was the head of the organisation. He also headed the Mykolaiv Regional Organisation of the Red Cross Society and a number of district organisations. On 15 September, the organisation announced that Andrii Skorokhod had stepped down. Anton Dubovyk was elected head of the Red Cross Society in the Mykolaiv region.

It should be noted that the Department of Social Protection reported that 42 children in Mykolaiv are receiving child assistant services. Over the first four months of 2026, 1.8 million hryvnias were paid for these services.