Nearly UAH 19 million for December alone: Mykolaiv is purchasing food for kindergartens

Services for three meals a day for children at kindergartens and a special school in Mykolaiv are planned to be procured for the period from December 1 to 31, 2026. The expected cost is 18,943,655 hryvnias, excluding VAT.

According to the documentation in the Prozorro system, the procurement covers 44 educational institutions: 43 kindergartens and the Mykolaiv Special School for Children with Visual Impairments.

The total volume of services is 113,505 child-days. This is not the number of children, but the total number of days they receive meals. For example, if one child eats at a kindergarten for ten days, that adds the same number of child-days to the total.

The documentation divides the volume among the following groups:

• 25,193 child-days for children aged under four;
• 86,240 child-days for older preschoolers;
• 2,072 child-days for children attending the preschool department of the special school for children with visual impairments.

The contractor must purchase food products and prepare meals. In addition, they will be responsible for:

• maintaining proper sanitary conditions in kitchen facilities;
• servicing and repairing kitchen equipment;
• reimbursing the costs of electricity, water, heating, and gas used for cooking;
• paying for fuel for generators if they need to be used due to power outages.

Separate four-week menus must be provided for different age groups and must comply with state nutrition standards. When preparing them, the contractor must take into account the children’s ages, the seasonality of food products, and any special dietary needs.

The daily number of children for whom meals will be prepared will be based on actual attendance at the institutions. As a result, service volumes may be adjusted. The documentation also allows the procurement amount to be reduced depending on actual funding.

Bids may be submitted until November 1, 2026. The winner will be selected based on price.

The procurement is taking place amid a shortage of funds for children’s meals. In May 2026, it became known that Mykolaiv’s budget was nearly 150 million hryvnias short of what was needed to provide meals for children in schools, kindergartens, and vocational education institutions through the end of the year. At the time, the city council’s Department of Education said that funding for kindergartens might last only until June 20.

Later, 60 million hryvnias was allocated for preschoolers’ meals. It was expected to cover needs through October.

Meanwhile, according to subsequent calculations by the Department of Education, the city needed nearly another 150 million hryvnias to cover the costs through the end of the year. The amount was divided as follows:

• over 109 million hryvnias for meals at kindergartens;
• over 33 million hryvnias for co-financing meals at schools;
• about 7 million hryvnias for the special school and vocational education institutions.

The Mykolaiv City Council acknowledged that the budget did not have these funds. The city was therefore preparing an appeal to the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers requesting an additional state grant.