E T Consultant
Job #: req24033
Organization: World Bank
Sector: Procurement
Grade: EC1
Term Duration: 1 year 0 months
Recruitment Type: Local Recruitment
Location: Santo Domingo,Dominican Republic
Required Language(s): English
Preferred Language(s): Closing Date: 9/8/2023 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC
Description
Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity, and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org
Background / General description:
Our institution is organized around global practices (GP) grouped in sectors. The Governance GP helps developing countries build capable, efficient, open, inclusive, and accountable institutions that can support economic growth, reduce poverty, deliver needed services, and earn the confidence of citizens. More information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/governance .
Procurement
The Latin America and Caribbean Region (LAC) Procurement Unit (ELCRU) seeks to recruit a full-time Extended-Term Consultant (ETC). The position is based in the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo, and supports the Bank’s operational portfolio in the Dominican Republic. This position is geared to assisting the World Bank staff and the Governments of the country, , in implementing World Bank-financed and administered programs by providing procurement support, advice, guidance, and oversight.
The Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Region Procurement Unit (ELCRU) is part of the Global Governance Practice of the Bank which itself belongs to the Bank’s Economy, Finance Institutions Practice Group (EFI). ELCRU is under the authority of a Procurement Manager for LAC who directly reports to the EFI Director for the LAC region, although its unit serves all sectors of the Bank in the region.
The mission of the procurement unit in LAC (also called “PROLAC”) is essentially two-fold: (i) supervising all procurement operations carried by Borrowers and their implementing agencies in the 33 client-countries of the region and (ii) help Borrowers in their effort to reform their public procurement systems to achieve better value for money. The unit helps also to the dissemination and promotion of the overall agenda of the Bank, supporting the Bank in its advancement of public goods and its fight against poverty and for a shared prosperity.
The ELCRU unit is highly decentralized with staff in all the 6 Country Management Units (CMUs) of the region. ELCRU staff is also present in Washington DC, with the front office of the Procurement Manager and most of the staff serving the Caribbean. With a total of 35 staff, the ELCRU unit supervises a portfolio of more than ten (10) billions of dollars, ranging from infrastructure projects to vaccines.
The procurement team (i) works closely with clients to support the development of their public procurement systems and (ii) ensures that procurement under Bank-financed projects is conducted in accordance with loan agreements and fiduciary standards and obligations. For that purpose, the procurement team provides services to internal and external Clients and is responsible for procurement-related work concerning project preparation, implementation support and project supervision. The team is also responsible for providing procurement input to Economic and Sector Work (ESW).
The ET Consultant will be a full-member of the ELCRU team and will provide services to the Country Management Unit (CMU) of Central America and the Dominican Republic, with a focus on the portfolio of Dominican Republic, and to the various Global Practices which finance investment, development policy and Program-for-Results operations in that country.
The ET Consultant will directly report to the Practice Manager for the LAC region, who delegates coordination responsibility to the Procurement Specialist based in the Dominican Republic, under the supervision of the Procurement Coordinator for Central America and the Dominican Republic (LC2).
Duties and Accountabilities:
The responsibilities of the ET Consultant include a mix of the following: – Provide support to the procurement team in matters concerning the procurement function.
– Operate and keep updated procurement information tools and systems for reporting purposes. Produce progress and timely reports.
– Participate and assist in designing procurement arrangements for new operations, including completing capacity assessments, risk mitigation plans, and procurement arrangements for relatively non-complex operations.
– Participate and assist in carrying out procurement supervision of projects under implementation, including deliver training and on-demand support on STEP (Systematic Tracking of Exchanges in Procurement) to Implementing Agencies and Bank Staff; carrying out ex post reviews and drafting recommendations for the Implementing Agencies; advising teams on procurement matters.
– Participate in missions in straightforward projects or as a junior team member; to discuss the project objectives and understand the implementation environment.
– Assists the Procurement Specialist by reviewing a broad range of procurement issues and documents in all operations phases.
– Provide support to the Specialists, the Procurement Coordinator for LC2, or Practice Manager on matters related to country-based policy dialogue to further the Bank’s support to the countries.
– Provide operational advice to clients and Bank staff on concepts, policies, and procedures for international and national procurement.
The ET Consultant will provide continued support to the Procurement Specialist or any other member of the team as necessary. The selected candidate will work under the Procurement Specialist of the DR portfolio guidance and will perform other duties as required and assigned by the Procurement Coordinator for LC2, and/or and the Procurement Manager for LAC.
Work implies frequent interaction with Managers and Technical Specialists in the work unit and staff from other agencies, donors, consultants, and borrowers.
Selection Criteria
* Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant field (e.g. accounting, finance, laws or public policy) or Master’s degree desirable.
* Minimum of three (3) years of direct relevant professional experience, in international procurement and contract management.
* Proven experience working on procurement operations financed by International Finance Institutions.
* Excellent oral and written communications skills in Spanish, independently preparing a variety of written outputs and editing technical reports. Skills in English are highly desirable.
* Demonstrated basic understanding of procurement concepts, principles, and practices governing international procurement, with the ability to translate concepts into operational work, including but not limited to Value for Money, sustainable procurement, strategic sourcing, market analysis, contract management, etc.
* Understanding of procurement data and analytics with the ability to translate such data into operational information for procurement related decision making for the procurement team.
* Demonstrated basic experience in reviews designed to ensure compliance with relevant documentation, policies, and procedures.
* Ability to deal sensitively in multi-cultural environments and build effective working relationships with clients, colleagues, and other stakeholders, adapt to changing business needs by continuous learning/training.
* Strong work ethic, meticulous attention to detail, and proven ability to work well under pressure.
* Experience in use of business-related software (e.g., Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint ERP); experience using STEP is highly desirable.
* Recognized ability to exercise good judgment and in handling confidential and sensitive information.
* Excellent administrative, organizational skills and attention to detail.
World Bank Group Core Competencies
We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.
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Note: The selected candidate will be offered a one-year appointment, renewable at the discretion of the World Bank Group, and subject to a lifetime maximum ET appointment of three years. If an ET appointment ends before a full year, it is considered as a full year toward the lifetime maximum. Former and current ET staff who have completed all or any portion of their third-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.
