UNICEF has now issued a Request for Proposals in order to select a supplier for the Assessment of the Ukrainian Contributory Insurance System for Increased Fiscal Space for Children Ukraine’s social protection system stands as a cornerstone in the nation’s efforts to combat poverty and mitigate vulnerabilities faced by its citizens, including children. Prior to the onset of the recent conflict, this system was recognized as notably advanced, reflecting a robust commitment to safeguarding the welfare of over 70 per cent of the population. The system’s architecture is multi-faceted, encompassing both contributory and non-contributory schemes, and operates through a combination of social insurance, social assistance, and social services. Social insurance includes programmes like pensions and unemployment benefits, funded through public investments and contributions from employees and employers. Social assistance, on the other hand, comprises means-tested and categorical benefits aimed at supporting children through the important universal childbirth grant, as well as low-income families, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The full-scale invasion in February 2022 has precipitated unprecedented challenges for Ukraine’s social protection framework. Social benefits – especially for children have not been adjusted to inflation. The conflict has not only strained the system’s operational capacities but also severely impacted its financial sustainability. Despite these hurdles, the Government of Ukraine (GoU), bolstered by the support of international donors, has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to maintaining and enhancing its social protection measures. This commitment is aimed at strengthening the system to become more adaptive and shock-responsive, especially in the face of current challenges. In 2023, the Pension Fund of Ukraine has become the management body for the mandatory state social insurance system, covering temporary disability and accident insurance. This change was implemented based on the Law of Ukraine dated September 21, 2022, which amended the laws on mandatory state social insurance and pension insurance. This legislation merged the Social Insurance Fund of Ukraine with the Pension Fund of Ukraine. The Pension Fund of Ukraine is now responsible for forming and maintaining the Register of Insured Persons within the State Register of Mandatory State Social Insurance. This register’s information is used to assign insurance benefits in the social insurance system, utilizing personalized accounting data. The full-scale invasion in February 2022 made the issue of revising the system of payments and pensions even more urgent as large parts of the working-age population were forcibly displaced to outside of Ukraine. As a consequence, the ratio of persons paying contributions to the social insurance system to the number of pension recipients further declined. In Ukraine, this ratio declined 1:1, while the international average is 2:1. Moreover, the birth rate in Ukraine is 0.7, while the recovery rate in the world is 2.2, which indicates that the population will further age which will exacerbate the issue of the limited contribution base versus pension recipients. The system of accrual and payment of special pensions in Ukraine requires special attention, due to the high number of people who apply for this type of pension. According to a OSCE report, Poland has the highest number of persons applying for joint pension in Europe and is 6% of the total number of pensioners. In Ukraine, this indicator reaches 21 per cent, that is, out of 10.5 million pensioners, 2.3 million have the right to a special/preferential pension. Also, this category of people usually retires 15-20 years earlier. This significantly reduces tax revenues to the budgets of all levels and increases the burden on the expenditure part of both the state budget and the Pension Fund budget. Currently about 10 laws regulate the calculation of special pensions. In addition, there are currently about 160 different types: allowances, extensions, programs, statuses and other elements that are added to the general calculation indicators: seniority ratio and earnings ratio. This makes it much more challenging to understand the accrual system, including the amount of pension a person can expect. The problem of recalculation and indexation of pensions is significant. For the total number of persons, the rule of pension recalculation through indexation applies, but for special pensions, the recalculation is based on both indexation and linking the amount to the salary or contribution of the insured person. Based on this, the system of payment of special pensions in Ukraine needs revision. It is necessary to make the system more transparent, understandable and fair, taking into account the needs of the old age population while ensuring long-term sustainability considering the demographic challenges which Ukraine is facing. Reforming the pension system would enable to free the fiscal space which could be used for enhancing child benefits. This tender will be run through the UNICEF e-submissions system. By clicking on the blue ‘Express Interest’ button in the UNGM tender notice, the full UNICEF e-submission system instructions to bidders document (including instructions on how to access the tender documents and submit an Offer) will be automatically emailed to the ‘contact persons’ included in your UNGM registration. Alternatively, the full UNICEF e-submission system instructions to bidders document is publicly available on the UNICEF supply internet pages here: https://www.unicef.org/supply/index_procurement_policies.html . 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