Background

Over the past years the overall number of civil works and rehabilitation assignments completed by UNDP Somalia has increased dramatically, not only in volume and scope, but also into more complex site areas in Somalia. On this background the UNDP Somalia Country Office is enhancing in-house capacity to deal with the projected civil works and rehabilitation requirements in 2010 in support of projected Works activities planned by the UNDP Somalia, especially relating to the ROLS and Governance Programmes. The Engineering Specialist will be responsible for managing and training a team of National Engineers and ensuring the implementation of timely and high quality civil works and rehabilitation projects in all regions of Somalia.

The Engineering Specialist will be supervised by the Procurement Specialist, who maintains overall responsibility for the Procurement & Contracting Unit. The Engineering Specialist leads and guides the team of regional engineers in Somalia and fosters collaboration within the team and with other partner Agencies consistent with rules and a client-oriented approach. The Engineering Specialist works in close collaboration with programme and project teams in the CO, other client UN Agencies and Government officials to successfully deliver Engineering services. The Engineering Specialist will work in close relations with the technical officers in charge monitor and supervise the contract management processes in the Sub offices and advise management on best practices to take corrective measures when needed.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Management of the UNDP Somalia engineer team and the building of capacity of the local engineer/technical staff
• Implementation of all activities related to procurement of civil works and rehabilitation, while ensuring the highest levels of value-for-money
• Quality assurance as it pertains to evaluation, design, implementation, monitoring and reporting on all engineering project activities
• Capacity building of Government counterparts
• Monitoring and analysis of the operating environment for civil works

1. Ensures effective management of the UNDP Somalia engineer team and the building of capacity of the local engineers/technical staff:

• Maintains oversight of Engineer team performance through effective application of the UNDP performance appraisals systems and staff learning plans.
• Establishes oversight mechanism to ensure quality performance of all engineer staff.
• Assess engineering skill gaps and training needs of UNDP National Engineers, design overall training programs, and carry out training on the site.
• Coach and mentor the team of engineers/technical staff through all UNDP Somalia and train them on the designing, BoQ preparation and supervise/monitor the implementation ensuring quality control and application of international standards.
• Train the local engineers to standardize the designs, the technical specifications and the forms used for the BoQ and the reporting formats.

2. Provides oversight and technical support to the sub-office on all Procurement activities:

• Responsible for oversight and provision of technical support to the sub-office procurement function in terms of procurement of all Civil works, Services and Goods.
• Responsible for oversight of effective contract management of all sub-office operations contracts handled by the sub-office operations unit.
• Provide technical support to Programmes on contract management for Institutional and Professional Service Contracts.
• Chair the Procurement Review Committee at the sub-office.
• Provide technical support to the Head of Sub-office on all procurement and contract related matters.

3. Supports capacity building of Government counterparts:

• Assist the government counterparts in establishing institutional engineering capacity in support of public works, in conjunction with efforts of other UN agencies.
• Assess engineering skill gaps and training needs of counterparts, design overall training programs, and carry out training as required.

4. Ensures effective implementation of all activities related to procurement of civil works, while ensuring the highest levels of value-for-money:

• Overall responsible for effective contract management of all UNDP Somalia Civil Works contracts both in Somaliland, Puntland, South & Central Somalia and Nairobi/Kenya.
• Develop or review the designs and the BoQs of all projects and ensure that they comply with the technical standards and the local market prices.
• Arrange and conduct pre-tender site visits when required
• Assist the procurement and contracting department in the preparation of the tender documents.
• Oversee the bid evaluation and assure ensure transparency and application of UNDP rules & procedures.
• Provide technical advice before the awarding of Works contracts.
• Responsible for all additional works (volume, design and cost) before signing off on them.
• Initiate the necessary amendments of the contracts and provide revised design and BoQs.
• Responsible for planning supervision and monitoring of all projects under implementation by UNDP.

5. Responsible for quality assurance as it pertains to evaluation, design, implementation, monitoring and reporting on all engineering project activities: 

• Ensure effective site supervision and quality control of all UNDP Somalia works projects.
• Monitor the progress of projects at all phases of their implementation and handover and report on anomalies to the concerned departments.
• Facilitate site handover before and after works and report to the concerned departments on any anomalies.
• Issue certification of payment according to the various contractual milestones.
• Monitor the progress of all works projects and make random visits to the sites to check the progress against delay and quality of the work in support of daily site supervision conducted by site engineers.

6. Constant monitoring and analysis of the operating environment for civil works:

• Responsible for developing and maintaining comprehensive risk management logs for all civil work projects above 100,000 USD or projects in high risk areas.
• Maintains a comprehensive price index for key construction materials for all regions of Somalia for precise cost estimation.
• Responsible for conducting routine market surveys and pre-qualification of Contractors to ensure updated supplier databases for all regions.
• Ensures design and scoring of contractor performance records for all conducted civil works and maintains scores in centralized database.

• The key results have an impact on the overall performance of the Procurement & Contracting Unit in ensuring:
• Compliance with UNDP procurement rules and regulations for Civil Works
• Quality assurance of Civil Works projects
• Timeliness of project implementation
• Risk management
• Public Procurement and technical capacity building of national staff and Government counterparts.

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism

• Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example

• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
• Leads teams effectively and shows mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure

Required Skills and Experience

Education:                

• Master’s degree in Civil Engineering or Architecture coupled with a project management background.

Experience:  

• 7 years of relevant work experience in the area of infrastructure project development/design and management in a multi-cultural setting, preferably 2 years in complex UN emergency settings;
• Experience in quality control and certification of civil works is an asset
• Experience in procurement and infrastructure contract management
• IT competencies in Word, Excel, Power Point and internet. Experience with Atlas ad CAD software will be an asset

Language requirements:             

• Strong written and spoken English skills required.