Failed to provide evidence of experience: auditors uncovered irregularities at a civil society organisation that was due to receive ₴4 million for child support services in Mykolaiv

Andrii Skorokhod, Chair of the NGO ‘Ukrainian Foundation for Care and Health’, and Oleksandr Sienkevych, Mayor of Mykolaiv. Photo: Andrii Skorokhod’s Facebook page

The State Audit Service has identified irregularities in a procurement process carried out by the Department of Social Protection of the Mykolaiv City Council concerning child assistant services during inclusive education. Officials entered into a contract with a non-governmental organisation established as recently as June, which, contrary to procurement requirements, withheld information regarding the staff’s educational qualifications and failed to provide evidence of their work experience. The procurement procedure has been re-launched.

This is evidenced by data in the Prozorro public procurement system.

It should be recalled that the Department of Labour and Social Protection of the Mykolaiv City Council had signed a contract worth 4.1 million hryvnias for social support services during inclusive education. The contract was signed with the non-governmental organisation «Ukrainian Foundation for Care and Health», which was only registered in June. The State Audit Service has launched an investigation into this procurement.

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The conclusion of the Southern Office of the State Audit Service states that the tenderer was required to provide evidence of the qualifications, education and experience of the staff who would be working with children.

The non-governmental organisation «Ukrainian Foundation for Care and Health» submitted a certificate of qualifications, stating that it had 45 staff members. However, copies of educational documents for 20 employees were not provided, and for two employees, the educational documents were in Russian without a translation into Ukrainian. Copies of training certificates for 17 employees were also not provided.

The State Audit Service noted that, in accordance with the law, the Department of Social Protection was required to publish a notice regarding the rectification of non-conformities in the tender proposal. The deadline for this was no less than two working days before the expiry of the period for consideration of proposals.

«However, in breach of the requirements of paragraph 43 of the Specific Provisions, the contracting authority failed to post a notice in the electronic procurement system requiring the rectification of the aforementioned non-conformities and declared this tenderer the winner of the tender,» states the State Audit Service’s conclusion.

Furthermore, the civil society organisation classified information confirming the qualifications of its staff, educational documents and training certificates as confidential, citing the protection of employees’ personal data and the organisation’s model articles of association. However, as the auditors noted, this information cannot be classified as confidential in this procurement process.

Another violation identified was that the civil society organisation failed to provide a copy of a similar contract intended to confirm its work experience. The Department of Social Protection explained this by stating that the organisation was new.

«As this organisation is a newly established legal entity, it objectively had no practical means of providing contracts from previous periods,» «however, it did provide a «certificate of capacity to provide the social service «Support during inclusive education»», a certificate confirming the existence of a licence authorising it to carry out the relevant type of activity, and a copy of an extract from the Register of Social Service Providers», according to the explanation from the Department of Social Protection.

As the «Ukrainian Foundation for Care and Health» had not provided evidence of its work experience, the contracting authority, as explained by the State Audit Service, should have rejected the proposal. Instead, however, the department entered into a contract.

Explanation from the Department of Social Protection regarding the absence of a similar contract held by the NGO. Screenshot from the auditors’ report

The State Audit Service also noted that, following a review of the procurement process, the department issued a statement explaining that, as the NGO was unable to provide a contract for similar work, a joint decision had been taken to terminate the contractual relationship and cancel the agreement.

Due to the identified breaches, the State Audit Service required the department to undergo additional training and improve its professional qualifications.

It should be noted that the contract’s status in the Prozorro system is currently listed as «concluded»: it is likely that it has not been updated.

The contract status is still listed as ‘concluded’. Screenshot from Prozorro

The contract status is still listed as ‘concluded’. Screenshot from Prozorro

At the same time, the Department of Social Protection has announced a new tender for support services during inclusive education. The estimated value of the contract has been reduced from 4.1 million hryvnias to 3.7 million hryvnias, with a reduction in the number of services being procured.

The Department of Social Protection and contracts with the Red Cross

It should be noted that Andrii Skorokhod is the head of the NGO «Ukrainian Foundation for Care and Health». He is also the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Organisation of the Red Cross Society and a number of district organisations. Andrii Skorokhod also headed the Ukrainian Red Cross Hospital.

Andrii Skorokhod, head of the NGO with which the department entered into and subsequently terminated a contract. Photo: Mykolaiv Regional State Administration

The Department of Social Protection has on several occasions entered into contracts with the Ukrainian Red Cross Hospital, which is an enterprise of the Mykolaiv Regional Organisation of the Red Cross Society.

In March 2025, the Department of Social Protection held a similar tender for child care assistant services and entered into a direct agreement with the Ukrainian Red Cross Hospital for 1.7 million hryvnias. This was justified on the grounds that no bidders had submitted tenders for the previous tender.

In September 2025, a direct contract worth 2 million hryvnias was again concluded with the same contractor, citing the same justification.

In December, a similar tender was announced once more. The tender was also cancelled for the same reason as the previous ones. On 2 January, a direct contract worth 11.8 million hryvnias was signed with the Ukrainian Red Cross Hospital.

On 15 and 29 July 2026, amendments were made to the contract, reducing the procurement volumes. According to the specifications, the company was to receive 5.7 million hryvnias under the contract.

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 .