National Consultant, procurement process review

4 سبتمبر، 2022

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WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

This post is open to Cambodian Nationality only.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF ASSIGNMENT

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. WFP’s mission is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger by 2030 as per the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2. It works to ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

The current WFP Country Strategic Plan (2019-2023) in Cambodia aims to complement and contribute to the Royal Government of Cambodia’s (RGC) efforts to achieve zero hunger through supporting school-based programmes, strengthening resilient local food systems, enhancing government capacities on emergency preparedness and response and enhancing food security, nutrition and social protection governance.

WFP’s school feeding programme (SFP) has been critical in supporting the Royal Government of Cambodia’s (RGC) effort to ensure universal access to primary education and promote increased enrolment, retention, and graduation since 1999. The SFP is widely acknowledged as an effective social assistance tool in promoting access to education, food security, and improved dietary diversity.

Over recent years, WFP has been working with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) towards strengthening institutional structures and capacity to manage programme implementation with the aim of establishing a nationally-owned sustainable school feeding programme and fully transition WFP’s direct implementation of school meals to the government by 2028.

In 2018, the government chose the home-grown model for its national school feeding programme. In 2020, Cambodia launched the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) and today the Government plans, funds, and manages school meals in 290 schools, or 26 percent of the country’s schools with school feeding programmes.

WFP provided support on the design of the NHGSFP, building on its 20 years of experience in implementing school feeding in Cambodia, including 8 years implementing a home-grown modality. In Cambodia, each year schools select a supplier for each commodity group through a competitive bidding process, which takes place at the commune level. The procurement process has been documented in a HGSF Operational Manual (first edition in 2020, revised in 2022), and is communicated each year to relevant stakeholders through trainings.

The current model has allowed to ensure the continuous supply of locally purchased commodities to schools. Nevertheless, some challenges remain, such as procuring locally produced commodities (purchase planning cycles not aligned with production cycles), suppliers regularly complaining about the contracted prices being too low and not flexible to market price fluctuations (in particular in a situation of global food prices increase), the limitation of the food basket to 35 pre-selected commodities, the complexity of the bidding process for suppliers. Other considerations such as the level of the procurement process (school, commune, district, province) or the central procurement of some commodities (rice) can be further explored.

With the transition of the programme from WFP implementation to the government, there is an opportunity to rethink the procurement process holistically and ensure its sustainability under a government-led programme. The procurement process consists of a series of steps, including the call for offers, evaluation and select of the supplier at the beginning of each year to the issuance of monthly purchase orders from the school to the supplier, the delivery and the payment. It is currently informed by a “basic price”, calculated from WFP’s market and food price monitoring system .

The government (MoI, NCDDS) is also implementing a Decentralization and Deconcentration reform (D&D) that will impact the roles and responsibilities between national and sub-national levels. To this end, WFP Cambodia is planning to undertake a study on the involved procurement processes to provide options and recommendations to enhance the national HGSF programme design.

Position Title: National Consultant, procurement process review

Contract Type: WFP Special Services Agreement (Lumpsum – Output based)

Duration: To start ASAP to 18 November 2022

Duty Station: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Supervisor: The consultant will report to the Programme Policy Officer (Lead for School Feeding Operations) and work in collaboration across WFP units in the CO and Field offices to undertake the work.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Develop a methodology for the review, in consultation with WFP, FAO and the government, and building on the methodologies and guidance that have been developed by WFP and FAO. The proposed methodology should include:
1. A desk review of the existing public procurement regulatory framework in Cambodia relevant for school feeding; the current process from the HGSF manual; findings from previous stakeholders’ consultations and assessments identifying challenges (including suppliers, education authorities, schools, etc.); best practices in-country and from other countries (including WFP and FAO methodologies and materials of similar assessments conducted in other countries); research if applicable.
2. Interviews with key institutions involved in school feeding (government including MoEYS, MAFF, public procurement authority and sub-national authorities, WFP, FAO, and other development partners) and with current and potential suppliers to identify key challenges and bottlenecks of the current procurement process, taking into consideration relevant assessment methodologies.
3. A consultation event with relevant stakeholders to validate the findings and recommendations.

Review the current procurement process of the NHGSFP in Cambodia, based on the legislation (public procurement rules), lessons learned from previous consultations with suppliers and farmers, interviews with key stakeholders including FAO and the government, lessons learned from previous pilots conducted and global guidance and best practices.

The holistic review of the procurement process should consider the following aspects:

Cost-effectiveness;
Benefits and downsides of centralizing the procurement of some commodities (rice, oil, salt);
Accountability and compliance (with national rules and regulations);
Sustainability (administrative efficiency and ease of management by national institutions);
Flexibility (to price fluctuations);
Programme objectives (in particular to support the local economy);
Inclusion of persons with disabilities, gender responsiveness;

Propose recommendations for improvement of the NHGSFP procurement process for efficiency in reaching the programme’s multi-sectoral objectives, including in providing affordable nutritious meals while benefitting the local economy.

Draft 2 to 3 different options for an enhanced NHGSFP procurement process, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each and the trade-offs.

WFP and FAO experts at Headquarters will be available to support the consultant/firm throughout the process.

DELIVERABLES

The accomplishment of each objective will be based on the completion of the tasks and successful submittal or completion of the deliverable indicated below:

An inception report and presentation to WFP to discuss methodology, initial findings from literature review and proposed next steps.
A validation workshop to present the findings and recommendations to WFP, FAO and the Government.
A final report that includes the findings from the desk review and stakeholders’ interviews and provides details analysis, findings, and recommendations to enhance the procurement process of the national home-grown school feeding programme.
2 or 3 proposed options for enhancing the NHGSFP procurement.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education:

An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in law, international development, public administration, or similar, including sound knowledge of social assistance programme design and public procurement processes.

Experience:

Has a minimum of 8 years of relevant work experience.

Has previous experience in designing, assessing or evaluating public procurement processes.

Knowledge and skills:

Knowledge of decentralization and deconcentration (D&D) reforms.

Knowledge of and experience in Cambodia is an asset.

A strong commitment to delivering timely and high-quality results (i.e., credible findings and recommendations that are used for improving strategic decisions).

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills to help ensure that the assessment is understood and used.

Commitment and willingness to work independently, with limited regular supervision; s/he must demonstrate adaptability and flexibility, client orientation, proven ethical practice, initiative, and concern for accuracy and quality; and

Ability to concisely and clearly express ideas and concepts in written and oral form and to communicate with various stakeholders.

Strong expertise in equity, gender equality, inclusion of persons with disabilities and expertise in data presentation and visualization.

Languages:

Fluency in both oral and written communication in Khmer and English (C1 level or above).

HOW TO APPLY

Create an account on the WFP Career Website: http://www1.wfp.org/careers/job-openings
Under Filter By “Country”, type “Cambodia” and select the position you want to apply to.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

The vacancy will be closed on Wednesday, 14th September 2022 at 17:00 GMT+7

WFP recognizes the positive potential of flexible working arrangements to enable staff members the opportunity to select and alter their work schedules to better fit personal needs and help balance work, personal, and family responsibilities whenever operationally possible.
WFP is committed to gender equality and parity (50% women and 50% men) and to diversity more generally, among employees across all grades, functions and contract modalities.
WFP offers an attractive salary and other benefits, including health insurance for staff and eligible dependents.
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