Ministry of Provincial Government: Provincial Procurement Specialists

Consultancy Title: Provincial Procurement Specialists (1 position)

Programme area: Provincial Government Treasury Divisions

Duty Station: Choiseul Provinces

Duration of the Contract: 5 years’ initial consultancy

Number of consultants: One Individual Consultants

Commence Date: 1st June 2024 – 31st May 2029.

 

1. Objective

The objective of this assignment is for the consultant to provide technical support to the provincial Technical Evaluation Committee, the Provincial Tender Board, the Planning and works divisions in facilitating procurement of goods and services from the provincial funds to improve delivery of provincial infrastructure and service delivery.

 

2. Background

The provincial governments have had procurement systems for the past 10 years and they have been procuring goods and services for their capital development budget as well as from their recurrent budget based on prescribed procedures.

With the recent increase in provincial capacity development funds and other funding streams, there becomes a need for specialized officers in procurement systems to provide support to speed up the procurement process.

The position of specialist procurement officers become necessary because of the number of projects being planned and delivered by individual provinces.

The performance indicators demanding professional handling of procurement requires a dedicated person to support procurement processes and procedures.

 

3.  Scope of Work of Provincial Procurement Specialists

Work closely with the planning and works divisions to ensure all documentations related to new projects are ready for procurement processes to commence.

Confirm with the project engineer if all the designs and drawings are completed for the projects to be procured.

Re-confirm the accuracy of all Bills of Quantities for the respective projects.

The procurement specialist shall coordinate with the project engineer and the works divisions to ensure the bill of quantities are completed and made available before tender documents are prepared.

Prepare invitation to tender and submit it to the Provincial Tender Board for approval before they are issued.

Prepare bid datasheets to define the content of the tender detailing the work to be carried out.

Prepare detailed instructions to bidders for them to be fully informed of how to prepare and submit their bids.

Coordinate with the project engineer to confirm if the climate change and risk resilience has been taken into consideration for provincial infrastructure projects.

Confirm that the climate change adaptation additional costs are incorporated into the bill of quantities by the project engineer.

Prepare guidelines to contractors and accompany the project engineer to projects sites when requested by potential bidders in the pre-bid in accordance with the procurement procedures prescribed in the procurement manual.

Organize and coordinate pre-bid conferences for all potential bidders to explain everything about the bid and issues relating to the contracts and secure feedbacks from potential bidders.

Obtain from respective divisions a clear-terms of reference for all consultancies that are required and paid for by the province. Prepare procurement documentation for advertisement and award of provincial based consultancies.

Ensure all contracts follow proper procurement procedures as detailed in the provincial procurement manual and the revised PG Financial Instructions and the Financial Management Ordinance.

Organize procurement trainings for province-based contractors for them to become fully aware of the provincial procurement systems and procedures and bid form completion.

Ensure procurement trainings are provided to all members of the Ward Development Committee and Community Monitoring Groups at the community level.

Provide all tender documentations to the chairman of the Provincial Tender Board for approval, at least one week before the Provincial Technical Evaluation Committee meets.

Ensure all bidders follow the same instruction and no bidder introduces his/her own terms into the contract.

Serve as a member of the provincial Technical Evaluation Committee and take minutes of the meetings. Provide minutes of the committee decisions to the Provincial Tender Board within 24 hours of the end of the TEC meetings.

Coordinate the outsourcing of technical or skills people to serve in the TEC when required by the PTB.

Prepare and maintain annual procurement plan (APP) and monitor the implementation the procurement plan.

Inform all bidders of the outcome of the bidding process and publish the winning bidders on the notice board and on the PG website apart of transparency.

 

4.  Supervision/Reporting

The consultant shall report to the Provincial Secretary of the respective provinces of Isabel and Temotu for all his/her outputs. He or she shall, on daily basis, work closely with officers in the works division/planning division and other sectors within the province.

 

5. Requirements for qualification and experience

The consultant shall have a proven academic background with Masters’ degree in the field of economics, accounting, commerce or social sciences from a recognized university with more than five years’ post graduate experience.

A minimum of Bachelors’ degree with 10 years of professional experience in the field of development and including procurement.

Good communication skills and experience in report writing is desirable.

6.  Documentation requirement

An updated current CV, contact details of at least two referees and a cover letter setting out how the applicant meets the selection criteria, and a proposed approach and methodology. One of the referees must be current or previous employer.

7.  Financial Proposal

There is no need for submission of financial proposal as the Ministry shall determine the remuneration and negotiate with the successful bidders.

 

8.  Daily consultancy Rate

 A daily consultancy rate is not required. The payments shall be made on output basis as the consultancy contract is performance based.

 

9. Taxation Implication

Income earned in Solomon Islands is liable to professional fees (withholding taxation) of 20%. Bidders are therefore informed that withholding taxation shall be applied at the point of payments by the provincial authorities.

10.  Deliverables/Milestones with Targeted Dates

 

Items	Milestone Description	Targeted Dates
1	The selected candidate shall be paid based on outputs delivered as a consultant and submitted to the Provincial Secretary of the respective province. Being a performance-based consultancy contract, output report is required to trigger the payment as it may be agreed in the contract.	25th of each month

11.  Evaluation Criteria

Being a specialist position, consultants shall be required to undergo three hours of written test to determine the technical competence of the bidder to be followed by desk review by TEC.

The written test shall constitute 70% of the total score whilst the desk review shall be 30%.

The award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as

a) Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical criteria specific to the solicitation
c) Technical Criteria weighting of 70%
d) Desk review weighting of 30%

 

Technical Evaluation Criteria

 

Item No.	Descriptions	% Weighting
1	The consultant shall have a proven academic background with Masters’ degree in the field of economics, accounting, commerce or social sciences etc. from a recognized university with more than five years’ experience. A minimum of Bachelors’ degree with 10 years of professional experience in the field of development and including procurement in lieu of a masters’ degree.	15
2	A good track record in procurement and procurement administration would be an advantage. Experience in provincial procurement systems could be an added advantage.	15
	Total	30

12.  Proposal Submission

Deadline for the submission of this application is on Tuesday 16th April 2024 at 4.30pm local time (GMT + 11 hours).

Candidates would be required to sit to three-hour test as part of the evaluation process.

All tenders should be addressed to the Chairman of MPGISMTB.

The sealed envelope should be dropped at the MPGIS reception.

The bidder must obtain softcopy of tender documentation and complete it properly.

The envelope should be marked:

       ‘’ Provincial Procurement Specialists – Choiseul provinces’’,

Chairman MTB of Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening

2nd Floor, City Centre Building, Point Cruz, Honiara, Solomon Islands

Those who wish to apply through electronic means should email the documentation to the Administration Officers: PAkwai@mpgis.gov.sb chrisiale@mpgis.gov.sb GVakolevae@gov.sb . Only those candidates who meet the technical qualification criteria will be contacted by the Ministry Technical Evaluation Committee.

For further information on the description of the terms of reference, you may contact Momodou Lamin Sawaneh at sawanehl@gmail.com or 7724894

For collection of the documentation from MPGIS, call 42111/42115/7357111/7189345.

Incomplete application will not be considered and only candidates for whom there is further interest will be contacted.

This Opportunity is open to male and female candidates.

Applications from qualified female candidates are encouraged. Interested candidate must collect detail terms of reference and tender documentation from the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening from officials described above.