The World Bank is looking for Procurement Short-Term Consultant (STC) to Support World Bank Moldova Portfolio

The Governance Global Practice (GGP) at the World Bank is seeking expressions of interest from qualified individuals for a Short-Term Consultant (STC) position to provide procurement support for World Bank Moldova Portfolio.

The GGP focuses on public institutions, including procurement, public sector management, governance, anti-corruption, and financial management. The GGP interventions include diagnostics, technical assistance, advisory services, knowledge management, and operational support.

The Moldova Portfolio currently includes 15 active projects with a net commitment of US$ 0.79 billion. To enhance procurement support for this portfolio, a seasoned STC is required.

Institutional Arrangement:

The STC will be working under the supervision of Procurement Team Leader (PTL) based in Kyiv, who reports to Procurement Accredited Practice Manager (APM), based in Washington DC. For the day-to-day activities, the STC will work closely with the Procurement Specialist based in Chisinau, Moldova.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead and advise on complex procurement tasks and issues.
• Participate in missions as a technical expert.
• Enhance Bank procurement practices and generate innovative solutions.
• Support drafting and reviewing procurement documents.
• Identify and address procurement bottlenecks.
• Carry out Procurement Risk Assessments, Post-Reviews.
• Provide troubleshooting and support to Implementing Agencies in the use of the Systematic Tracking of Exchanges in Procurement.

Assignment Details:

• Input required: approximately 150 person-days.
• Duration: Until June 30, 2025, from the date of contract commencement.

Selection Criteria & Competencies:

• Master’s degree in a relevant discipline (e.g., Engineering, Law, Procurement, Finance, Business) with 8 years of direct relevant work experience as Procurement Specialist or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• In-depth knowledge of international procurement principles, regulations.
• Ability to provide high-quality, pragmatic advice on World Bank procurement policies and procedures.
• Extensive understanding of public procurement processes, including complex procurement issues and contract management.
• Specialized command of Bank procurement policies and practices across various Bank lending operations.
• Knowledge of public procurement systems, legal frameworks, and institutions.
• Strong collaboration skills within teams and across boundaries.
• Proficiency in English and Romanian is mandatory.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates are invited to submit their expressions of interest, including a detailed resume, cover letter, and references, to Diana Calugher at dcalugher@worldbank.org by September 30, 2024.

The World Bank is committed to diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all qualified individuals, regardless of gender, nationality, disability, or any other dimension of identity.

For further details, please see the Terms of Reference: 

Terms of Reference

for

Procurement Short-Term Consultant (STC) to support World Bank Moldova Portfolio

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.

Procurement Team in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region provided implementation support to the Bank portfolio and works with client countries on procurement reform and policy and strategy development.

At present, the Moldova Portfolio comprises of 15 active projects with a net commitment of US$ 0.79 bn. To augment the procurement support to the Moldova World Bank portfolio a seasoned STC is required.

Institutional Arrangement

The STC will be working under the supervision of Procurement Team Leader (PTL) based in Kyiv, who reports to Procurement Accredited Practice Manager (APM), based in Washington DC. For the day-to-day activities, the STC will work closely with the Procurement Specialist based in Chisinau, Moldova.

Duties and Accountabilities:

• Plays a leadership and advisory role to clients and colleagues in handling complex procurement tasks and issues, which frequently cut across sectors or work units.

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

• Participates in missions and contributes as technical expert; interacts with clients at the policy level.

• Plays a substantive role in improving Bank procurement practices and approaches; generates "concept notes" and best practices papers and develops innovative solutions as appropriate.

• Provides procurement support to Moldova Procurement team and to project implementation agencies. This shall include guidance to the implementing agencies in drafting bidding documents, RFPs, procurement plans, other relevant procurement documents and reports, and preparation of procurement strategies for new projects.

• Reviews procurement documents (prior and post), including procurement parts of project documents; preparation of procurement strategies for new projects; draft procurement plans; draft bidding documents and draft RFPs; evaluation reports; draft negotiated contracts, etc.

• Conducts project reviews with a view to identifying bottlenecks in procurement processes and to recommending actions to remove these bottlenecks.

• Supports the Procurement Specialist in preparing Procurement Risk Assessment and Management Systems (PRAMS) reports and Procurement Post-Review Reports (PPRs) for the assigned projects.

• Provides troubleshooting and support to implementing agencies in the use of STEP and any technical issues encountered by them with the system.

• Develops and executes training modules on procurement topics.

STC’s Input

The assignment is expected to require about 150 person-days.

Duration of the Assignment

The duration of the assignment is from the commencement date until June 30, 2025.

Selection Criteria & Competencies:

• A master’s degree with a major in a relevant discipline (e.g. Engineering, Law, Procurement, Finance, Business or Commerce) with 8 years of direct relevant work experience as Procurement Specialist or equivalent combination of education and experience.

• Procurement Principles - Has in-depth knowledge of public procurement principles, regulations, systems, and approaches to international procurement with proven ability to independently provide well researched analyses of complex procurement issues and problems.

• Bank Procurement Policies - Has the ability to provide high quality, pragmatic advice on the application of Bank procurement policies and procedures as related to the design and implementation of projects.

• Procurement Transactions - Has in-depth understanding of procurement process and planning, including experience with resolving complex procurement issues, bidding documents, evaluation reports and contracts.

• Procurement Under Bank Financed Operations - Has seasoned knowledge and specialized command of all facets of Bank procurement policies and practices as applied across a range of Bank lending operations during the project cycle, and ability to address broader issues at sector/country level.

• Public Procurement Systems & Reform - Has knowledge of public procurement systems, including legal framework and institutions. 

• Collaborate Within Teams and Across Boundaries - Initiates collaboration across boundaries and broadly across World Bank Group, and brings differing ideas into the forefront.

• Language Requirement (Essential): English and Romanian