Background
The Black Sea is one of the most vulnerable regional seas in the world given its limited exchange of water with the open oceans and the large area of continental Europe from which it receives the drainage. The four strongly interlinked priority trans-boundary problems of the Black Sea are eutrophication - nutrient enrichment, changes in marine living resources, chemical pollution (including oil), and biodiversity/habitat changes, including alien species introduction - as well as the underlying root causes like industrial activities, agriculture, domestic wastewater, sea transport (oil spills, ballast water), and coastal zone degradation (urbanisation, tourism). The Convention on the Protection of the Black Sea against Pollution (Bucharest Convention) addresses these problems through enhanced cooperation among its signatories. The development/improvement of a monitoring network and data collection to provide for ecosystem-based and knowledge-based decision-making is considered to be a management target of high priority. Further coordination in policies and legislation between the Black Sea countries is of common interest in the region.The overall objective of this EU/UNDP project is to set up initiatives that will help improve the protection of the Black Sea environment. The project is addressing the overall need for support in protection and restoring the environmental quality and sustainability of the Black Sea. The specific objectives are as follows: i) Improve availability and quality of data on the chemical and biological status of the Black Sea, in line with expected EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and Black Sea Strategic Action Plan needs; ii) Improve partner countries' ability to perform marine environmental monitoring along MSFD principles, taking into account Black Sea Diagnostic Report.
The following project activities will be carried out: i) Review of the national monitoring systems and tools for assessing data obtained from monitoring activities; ii) Support to implementation of countries obligations under the Bucharest and other related Conventions and Agreements; iii) Development of cost-effective and harmonised biological and chemical monitoring programmes in accordance with reporting obligations under multilateral environmental agreements, the WFD (EU Water Framework Directive) and the MSFD; iv) Assessment of needs regarding laboratory infrastructure, equipment, and training, promotion of the recommendations; v) Elaboration and implementation of the comprehensive training programme on monitoring methods and quality assurance aiming at adhering to ISO 17025 standard, promotion; vi) Prepare methodology for Joint Black Sea Surveys; vii) Development of the web-based Black Sea Water Quality Database prototype.
The project will strengthen capacities of the respective national authorities for biological and chemical monitoring of the Black Sea (BS), taking into consideration the requirements of EU water related legislation (EU WFD and MSFD). Significant effort will be put into training and other capacity building activities. In order to promote ownership, engagement of local experts and organisations is foreseen.
Duties and Responsibilities
The consultant will be an Expert for Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) in Monitoring, Data Quality Control (DQC) in Ukraine and will provide input to the implementation of the project and technical support to the Project Manager. Under the overall supervision of the UNDP Project Manager and the International Technical Advisor of the project, the Consultant will be participating in the activities listed above and in particular in activities as follows:Elaboration and implementation of a first training programme on monitoring methods and quality assurance adhering to ISO 17025 standard
- Preparation of training materials, revision/elaboration of Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs), QA/QC and DQC guidelines – the consultant will contribute to the further development of the Set of SOPs, QA/QC and DQC guidelines, which can be used in the BS region and to the development of new SOPs, QA/QC and DQC Guidelines or adaptation of the existing ones and will contribute to the further development of the Training Programme
- Further development of Black Sea Information System (BSIS) components and functionalities as web services – the consultant will participate in the development of the regional Water Quality (WQ) database (under the leadership of project partner organization UkrSCES), in particular: i) in further needs analysis for the WQ database development based on stakeholders feedback, finalizaton of the Concept on the proposed developments; ii) support the development of the WQ prototype (expert consultations); iii) testing the prototype of the web-based WQ database;
- Investigating the possibilities for interaction between the central Black Sea Water Quality Database and other Black Sea regional data management infrastructures (e.g. created under project EmodNET, SeaDataNet, MONINFO), as well as the interoperability with the information system WISE-Marine (EEA) and SEIS and maintenance of the BSIS – the consultant will provide comments on the Concept on long term maintenance of BSIS and interaction of the WQ database with other BS regional data management infrastructures, as well as the interoperability with Wise-Marine (EEA) and SEIS.
The consultant is expected to work closely with UNDP Regional Service Center water team, responsible for the project implementation. The consultant will cooperate with the other national experts and project partners / institutions involved in the project implementation as well as with the National Focal Point of Ukraine. He/She will also contribute to deliverables prepared by other experts where necessary and participate in other activities arising during the project implementation as needed. The consultant will prepare several deliverables, within the following time frame and payment schedule:
Payment of 20 % of the lump sum will be will be processed by May 2014, based on this deliverable:
- Contribution to the draft Training Programme;
- Contribution to the Final concept on the WQ database.
- WQ database prototype, manual (in cooperation with UkrSCES and other experts of MHI, including software presentation) (estimated by November 2014);
- Set of BS regional SOPs, QA/QC and DQC guidelines (in cooperation with other experts from partner organizations UkrSCES, MHI, etc.) (estimated by October 2014).
- Overview of the results of the testing of the new components of BSIS (Water Quality), recommendations on improvements (in cooperation with other experts of MHI) (estimated by November 2014);
- Comments on the concept on the long term maintenance of BSIS and interaction of the WQ database with other BS regional data management infrastructures, as well as the interoperability with the Wise-Marine (EEA) and SEIS (estimated by December 2014).
Location:
Home-based with travels in the Black Sea region as needed (approximately 3 missions with duration 2-3 days). The project will be implemented in Georgia, Russian Federation and Ukraine.
Competencies
Functional competencies:- Excellent research and analytical skills;
- Ability to work in a team and deliver high quality results under time pressure.
- 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;
- Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:- Masters degree in biochemistry, environmental chemistry, chemical oceanography, hydro-biology, environmental/natural sciences or environmental engineering (or equivalent)
- At least 5 years of demonstrable experience and a proven track record in biological and chemical data management and modeling, marine chemistry and oceanography;
- Regional/national experience in working with international projects, in the areas of integrated water resources management, water quality, monitoring programmes, Data Quality Control, data collection on water quality and data management;
- Practical experience with monitoring and assessment of the Black Sea, knowledge of key stakeholders in the field of environmental monitoring in the region;
- Experience in international consultancy in the field of environment and specifically Black Sea-related research.
- Sufficient writing and communication skills in English;
- Working knowledge of Russian is an asset.
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.
The award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
- Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
- Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 70 points:
- Criteria A – academic qualification / education – max points: 10;
- Criteria B – specific professional experience in the areas of project (water quality monitoring – chemical & biological, biological and chemical data management and modeling, marine chemistry and oceanography, particularly in the Black Sea region – max points: 20;
- Criteria C – specific professional experience from similar projects – max points: 20;
- Criteria D – language, writing skills max points: 20.
Application procedures
Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:
- Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application;
- Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees(blank form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc ); please upload the P11 instead of your CV;
- Financial Proposal* - specifying a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this announcement. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (e.g. number of anticipated working days, and any other possible costs), except of travel expenses;
- Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.
Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.
Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org.
General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://europeandcis.undp.org/jobs.
Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.
Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.