E T Consultant

Contract

This is a World Bank Group grade: EC2 contract. More about World Bank Group grade: EC2 contracts.

E T Consultant

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group 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. Visit www.worldbank.org.

Europe and Central Asia Region

The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region comprise 30 diverse countries, with a population of nearly 500 million people. Most of the countries are high and upper-middle-income countries with only three being low-income IDA countries. ECA has an active portfolio of 253 projects with a net commitment of around US$36.9 billion and a strong lending pipeline as well as a large and growing portfolio of Reimbursable Advisory Services. Knowledge is critical to the Bank’s value proposition to client countries in the ECA region in both lending and advisory services. A predominantly middle- and high-income region, the ECA region is at the vanguard of building regional connectivity while having to manage the changing structure of the labor market and the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. To learn more above ECA region visit: https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/ECA

Background

The Governance Global Practice GGP (GGP) comprises a variety of different professional disciplines working on public institutions, including procurement, public sector management, governance and anti-corruption, and financial management.

The GGP interventions range from diagnostics, technical assistance and advisory services, knowledge management and sharing, creating peer learning platforms, lending and reform project implementation, and monitoring and reporting. An important part of its responsibilities is to deliver operational support to other Practices, including through inputs for policy-based operations, hands-on implementation advice and direct fiduciary due diligence of investment financing.

The GGP convenes a leading group of practitioners focused on advancing cutting-edge practices and innovations in the fields of procurement, anti-corruption and open government. In that context, the GGP supports governments and non-governmental actors in institutional strengthening and capacity building, improvement and modernization of procurement and information systems, ensuring efficiency of transactions, in order to ensure improved governance and enhanced development outcomes. The GGP advances these efforts across sectors and across all regions of the world.

Furthermore, the Procurement Team in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region works with client countries on procurement reform and policy and strategy development. Many of these engagements are based on insights from data analytics. Many countries in the region have e-procurement, contract management, and payment systems that provide the data necessary to work on big data analytics applied to procurement. The Kazakhstan portfolio has seven active projects ($3.8 billion) and five new projects in the pipeline in different sectors($1.5billion). in addition, the Government of Kazakhstan is planning to adopt an ambitious procurement reform strategy to improve competition and transparency in the public and quasi-public sectors. In this context, the ECA procurement team seeks to recruit/appoint a highly organized, energized, and experienced professional, capable of operating effectively in Kazakhstan, and if needed in other countries of ECA.

Institutional Arrangement.

The ET Consultant will be working under the oversight and guidance of an Accredited Practice Manager. The duty station for this position is Nursultan, Kazakhstan. The ET Consultant will be mentored and supervised by the Country Procurement Team Leader (PTL) for its daily work located in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Scope of Work

• Supports clients in achieving value for money (VFM) in public procurement to enhance service delivery and development outcomes with integrity.

• Provides technical fiduciary advice on procurement activities and engages in policy dialogue to strengthen procurement systems under the guidance of PTL.

• Works under the guidance of PTL on procurement matters in specific sectors in the performance of the Bank's fiduciary and service functions, seeking guidance on complex projects/issues from senior procurement staff.

• Employs appropriate methodologies for handling simple and complex procurement tasks and/or issues.

• Works across countries/sectors, and is responsible for reviewing and handling the technical, commercial, and legal aspects of procurement (in consultation with PTL as necessary) at all stages of the project cycle, including analysis of systemic and other procurement issues, risk assessment, procurement strategy development, procurement planning, design, implementation and management, and training.

• Provides operational advice to clients and Bank staff on concepts, policies, and procedures for international and local procurement.

• Participates in missions to support the Procurement Specialist of the project; assesses procurement implications of project design, evaluates the institutional capacity of borrowers, updates project risk ratings in Procurement Risk Assessment and Management System (PRAMS), develops suitable action plans, provides input for Implementation Status Results (ISR) Reports and Implementation Completion (ICR) Reports.

• Participates in country procurement assessments, prepares background analysis, collaborates on developing appropriate public procurement legislation and practices, and tailors instruments to meet specific client needs.

• Negotiates and resolves difficult procurement issues with Borrower agencies and handles questions/complaints from government officials and bidders on bidding and contract award issues.

• Designs and conducts workshops of procurement training for the Bank staff and borrower agencies on the Bank's philosophy and approach to procurement, the rationale of its policy framework, relevant procedures, and processes, as well as on specialized procurement topics and Systematic Tracking of Exchanges in Procurement (STEP).

• Prepares a range of procurement-related documents and reports.

• Handles appropriate interaction with country counterparts on the sector, organizational, human resources management, financial, economic, and regulatory practices.

• Provides support to Country Unit on procurement-related subjects.

• Understands relevant procurement markets using analytical tools and approaches to define more effective procurement strategies.

The work implies frequent interaction with the following stakeholders:

• Frequent interaction with the Managers and Technical Specialists in the work unit and in her/his duty station and on some occasions in HQ or other countries, and staff from other agencies, donors, consultants, and borrowers.

• Country Procurement Team Leader, Procurement specialists within the World Bank, and government units.

• Government officials and equivalent contacts in other international organizations, partner entities, etc.

• Counterparts in the Bank across VPUs, Global Practices, and other units involved in meeting the Bank’s business objectives.

• Other external constituencies and expert groups.

Selection Criteria

Basic Requirements:

• High levels of integrity.

• Fluency in spoken and written English and Russian.

• Master’s degree with a major in a relevant discipline (e.g. business administration, engineering, commerce, law, procurement, public policy, etc.).

• Knowledge of the concepts, principles, and practices governing international procurement, with the ability to translate concepts into operational work, including but limited to VFM, sustainable procurement, strategic sourcing, market analysis, contract management, etc.

• Minimum of 5 years of directly relevant experience in carrying out technical duties in procurement inside or outside the World Bank.

• Ability to deal sensitively in a multi-cultural environment and build effective working relations with clients and colleagues.

General Competencies:

• Good communication skills and persuasiveness in presenting, negotiating, and resolving highly complex issues, both orally and in writing.

• Client-driven and a sense of personal responsibility for achieving technical quality and timeliness.

• Ability to solve complex problems involving multiple stakeholders and constraints.

• Analytical skills to recognize patterns, and extract conclusions and strategies out of information coming from multiple sources and in a variety of forms.

• Results-oriented to act as a trusted, strategic advisor, partnering with clients to deliver results.

Specific Specialized Skills, Knowledge, and Competencies:

• Knowledge of institutions and procurement reforms in Borrower’s countries.

• Understanding of the World Bank’s business objectives, products, and project cycle.

• Understanding of political economy, public policy, public systems, and public management.

• Knowledge of procurement systems, practices, and agencies in Kazakhstan.

• Aptitude and exposure to procurement data analytics in the monitoring of public procurement performances, leading to evidence-based modernization of procurement policies and practices.

• Good understanding of risk management.

• Tolerance for peak workloads and tight deadlines and readiness to travel frequently when required.

• Excellent computer skills.

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.

Learn more about working at the World Bank and IFC, including our values and inspiring stories.

Note: The selected candidate will be offered a one-year appointment, renewable for an additional one year, at the discretion of the World Bank Group, and subject to a lifetime maximum ET Appointment of two 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 second-year ET appointment are not eligible for future ET appointments.