UNDP Jobs - 79956- National Consultant on the PCB Waste Disposal

National Consultant on the PCB Waste Disposal

Location :

Podgorica and Bar, MONTENEGRO

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Aug-2018

Application Deadline :

05-Aug-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 September 2018 -31 January 2019

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

40 consultancy days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The project Comprehensive Environmentally Sound Management of PCBs in Montenegro intends to support the country with the necessary technical and financial assistance to ensure that all the remaining PCBs in the country (estimated in not less than 900 t of PCB contaminated equipment, waste and soil) are identified and disposed of. The project will be implemented side by side with the relevant institutional and industrial stakeholders, i.e. the Ministry for Sustainable Development and Tourism, private and state-owned companies, holders of PCB containing equipment. Although the project expects to solve all remaining PCBs issues in the country, it will also ensure that enough capacity for the sound management of PCBs would have been built for the management of any further such hazardous waste identified in time after project’s closure. The project consists of the following four components:

Component 1. Capacity strengthening on PCB management;
Component 2. PCB Inventory, planning and establishment of public-private partnership;
Component 3. Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) of PCBs, and
Component 4. Monitoring, Learning, Adaptive Feedback and Evaluation

The disposal or decontamination of PCBs in Montenegro presents a number of issues and risks. First of all, the reliability of initial PCB inventory is very low and mostly limited to phased out equipment that needs to be disposed of. In Montenegro where most of information on PCBs from NIP inventory comes from disconnected equipment. This is due to the fact that electrical equipment (transformers, capacitors) when in good operating condition are usually not inspected for PCB content. The reasons are that:

the cost of replacing transformer and capacitor is capital intense (very high), and
the sampling and analysis of in-use equipment is a complex task requiring a significant coordination effort (for instance, coordination with maintenance schedule of electric equipment).

A second feature is that, being not immediately perceived as a hazard by the common public, the issue of PCBs is very often given a low priority from the authorities. Therefore, the existing legislation on PCB is not effectively enforced. As explained in the chapter above, although the Montenegrin legislation is well advanced and generally compliant with the Stockholm Convention and the EU Directive on PCBs Management, and the government updated the inventory of PCB waste, the requirements related to the PCB management plans, and PCB “logbooks” are almost completely disregarded. In the absence of a sound level of enforcement of current legislation, even the industry’s commitment to address the issue of PCBs – given the high costs related to the decontamination or disposal (with subsequent replacement) of contaminated equipment – is low. For this reason, the national PCB management can be effectively addressed only if the government’s commitment and capacity are high.

A third feature is a lack of PCB treatment technologies at local level. This is a common feature in many countries supported by UN/GEF projects in PCBs management. This usually results in industries undertaking substantial investment for shipping PCB contaminated equipment for abroad, typically EU, for disposal. In the case of Montenegro, there are no technologies for treatment of low PCB-contaminated equipment or disposal facilities available for high PCB contaminated equipment or waste, therefore so far only the highly PCB contaminated equipment has been treated by shipping and disposal abroad.

Objective of the assignment

There are around 216.3 tons of PCB containing stockpiles and wastes that are to be disposed by a selected Contractor by December 2018 – January 2019. The PCB containing stockpiles and waste are stored at the temporary storage facility at the UNIPROM KAP (Aluminum Factory) Podgorica located in the city of Podgorica, the company Politropus located in close vicinity of UNIPROM KAP and the company HEMOSAN located in the city of Bar.

Duties and Responsibilities

The National Consultant will provide services within Component 3 of the project, i.e. “Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) of PCBs”, especially Output 3.3 aimed on “Equipment and waste containing or contaminated by PCB disposed or treated in an environmentally sound way”, i.e. to ensure smooth implementation and control the quality of the export/disposal of the PCBs from Montenegro that is to be performed by the Contractor.

The role of the National Consultant will be to monitor, supervise and evaluate the performances of the Contractor in every phase of the export/disposal of the PCB containing stockpiles and wastes. Namely, the National Consultant shall perform the tasks specified below:

1. Monitoring of packing/repacking (handling, oil pumping, draining) of the PCB waste

Control the adequacy of the:

Work Plan, Health and Safety Plan, Risk Assessment Plan, Environmental Management Plan and Emergency Response Plan submitted by the Contractor;
delivered packages, i.e. whether the same are UN approved and adequate for the PCB containing waste types subjected for disposal;
labels, i.e. their compliance with the transportation agreements;
safety and emergency equipment, i.e. their compliance with the required quality standards;
handling and pumping equipment;
packing/repacking operations (preparation of the site for the draining, packing and storage activities; handling; oil pumping, i.e. transferring of the PCB oil from the tank containers into the UN approved packaging; collection of the PCB contaminated oil from the collection pit and packing the oil into UN approved packaging; repacking of the already packed PCB-containing capacitors, then PCB-contaminated solid waste, soil and sludge, including the associated PCB contaminated solid waste in UN approved packages; crushing the emptied non UN-approved drums contaminated with PCBs and packing in UN-approved packages; draining of the PCB containing transformers from UNIPROM KAP and Politropus, sealing the empty carcasses, packing of the oil into UN approved packaging, including the associated PCB contaminated solid waste, removing the visible pollution of the outer part of the transformer carcasses);
labeling and weighing of the packages and the drained transformer carcasses;
transportation of the PCB waste from different locations (HEMOSAN and Politropus) to the UNIPROM KAP temporary storage site.

Expected result(s)

Monitoring report with detailed explanation on the packing/repacking activities submitted, evaluating the compliance of the Contractor’s operations with the ToR, then the best working practices, international standards, agreements and conventions and compliance with the submitted Work Plan, Health and Safety Plan, Risk Assessment Plan, Environmental Management Plan and Emergency Response Plan. Moreover, the Report shall provide the inventory logbook with final quantities of the PCB waste that is packed, stored and prepared for transportation.

2. Monitoring of the transportation of the PCB containing waste

Control the adequacy of the:

provided documentation for transboundary movement and the permits;
loading and stowing of the PCB waste on the transport units (trucks, containers);
licenses/approvals of the drivers and the transport units (ADR certificates for the drivers, vehicle approval certificate, CSC approval);
supporting shipment documents (export, transit and import permits, tracking form, instructions for the driver, truck/container loading list, etc.);
labeling of the transport units;
preparatory activities for the transportation (driver briefing, route adherence, vehicle/container inspection);
insurance of the carrier(s);
written approval from the disposal site on the accepted PCB containing waste;

Expected result(s)

Evaluation report describing the compliance of the Contractor’s transportation activities with the Montenegrin and international regulations including customs, EC Directive No. 1013/2006 of the European Council concerning the shipments of waste, the Basel and Stockholm Convention documentations for transboundary movement of the PCB wastes, as well as with the international standards and guidelines on hazardous waste transportation.

3. Verification of the disposal of the PCB containing waste

Control the adequacy of the:

written confirmation from the disposal site on the disposed PCB containing waste

Expected result(s)

Verification report confirming the disposal of the PCB containing waste.

The overall objectives of this consultancy are to provide clear and timely technical advice, guidance and technical backstopping to PCB’s project team within the framework of Stockholm Conventions, country obligations and project outputs and outcomes, build the capacity of the local experts working for the project to successfully implement the project activities, ensuring that they comply with the agreed benchmarks and success indicators of the project as well as international best practices and lessons learnt.

Time duration:

The national consultant will be engaged under the Individual Contract. The contract will be issued for a period of 6 months, starting from 1st September 2018 until 31st January 2019. The expected level of involvement will be up to 40 working days.

4. Technical Specification

Specification of the PCB containing wastes

PCB-containing capacitors: There are 1,047 pieces of PCB-containing capacitors with the total weight of 59.56 tons. Some of the capacitors are damaged, with broken isolators and placed directly on the floor of the temporary storages.

High PCB concentration transformer oil (pyralene): There are 12.1 tons of oil that was drained from transformers filled with pyralene (based on the manufacturer nameplate) and contained in tank containers.

Silicon oil contaminated with PCB: The pyralene oil was drained from transformers and the same were filled with silicone oil and now this silicone oil is drained from the transformers and contained in tank containers. The weight of the silicone oil is 17 tons.

PCB-containing oil from a collection pit: There are 1.5 tons of transformer oil contaminated with PCBs and contained in a collection pit.

Empty transformer carcassess: Threre are 2 epmtied transformer, initially filled with pyralene, with the weight of the carcass of 8.7 tons. The transformer’s core is made of copper

Transformers filled with PCB-containing oil: There are 20 transformers filled with PCB-containing oil with the total weight of 68.4 tons, where the weight of oil is 18.5 tons and the weight of the transformer carcasses is 49.9 tons. Some of the transformers were initially filled with pyralene and retrofilled with silicone oil. The transformers’ core is made of copper. Moreover, there are 14 transformers filled with PCB-containing oil where the subject for disposal is only the oil with the weight of 18.4 tons, while the transformer carcassess will remain at the location.

Transformer oil contaminated with PCBs: There are 0.8 tons of transformer oil located at UNIPROM KAP, contained in steel drums. The drums are damaged (no lid at the top) and corroded.

PCB contaminated solid waste: There are 4.6 tos of solid waste (sawdust, alumina) contaminated with PCB and packed in steel drums. Majority of the drums are corroded, deformed with missing lid.

Soil contaminated with PCBs: There are 9.1 ton of PCB contaminated soil packed in steel drums. Majority of the drums are corroded, deformed with missing lid

Sludge contaminated with PCBs: There are 2.9 tons of PCB contaminated sludge, previously collected from a collector, and packed in steel drums. Majority of the drums are corroded, deformed with missing lid.
PCB contaminated steel drums and plastic containers There are 13.2 tons of empty steel drums and plastic containers that were previously used for storage of PCB waste.

Associated PCB contaminated solid waste arising from the packing activities: All quantities of PCB contaminated waste generated during the packing (handling, draining,) process (rags, personnel protective equipment, absorbents, eventually contaminated soil due to spillages, etc.). The quantities are to be defined after finishing the packing activities, but it is not expected to be significant.

Interested candidates may ask for the full request for proposal (RFP 19-18) for the selection of the Contractor for transportation and disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) containing wastes and soil at vacancy.me@undp.org .

Competencies

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN/UNDP;
Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Demonstrates ability to manage complexities and work under pressure, as well as conflict resolution skills;
Excellent organizational and time management skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced University degree (MSc, MA or PhD) in Environmental or Electrical engineering, Chemical and Industrial engineering, hazardous waste management and other relevant fields.

Experience:

At least 5 years of professional and practical experience in supervision, monitoring and/or packing of the hazardous waste, including PCB containing waste, and in the TFS (Trans Frontier Shipment) procedure.
At least 5 years of experience in hazardous chemicals/waste management and disposal, chemical laboratory (including PCBs) analysis, contaminated sites assessment and management, etc:

Other:

In-depth knowledge on the Basel Convention and the Stockholm Convention on POPs, EU regulation on shipment of waste, internationally accepted guidelines and protocols on safe handling of the PCB waste.

Criteria for selection:

Combined Scoring method will be used. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the inidividual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: (i) responsive, compliant, acceptable, and (ii) having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical criteria weight - 70% (Background and education 10%; Relevant previous experience 20%; Substantial knowledge/Required competencies 30%; Required language 10%);
Financial criteria weight - 30%.

Only offerors obtaining a minimum 490 points for technical criteria will be considered for the financial evaluation. For more information on procurement methodology for Individual Contractors, please refer to Procurement Notice.

Application procedure:

Interested applicants are requested to submit their applications by July 25, 2018 by using the Apply now button. The application should contain a duly completed Personal History Form (P11) that can be downloaded from http://www.me.undp.org/content/montenegro/en/home/operations/jobs.html. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file.

Only the short-listed applicants will be contacted and requested to submit a letter of interest including a price quotation indicating the lump sum (in EUR) requested for the work envisaged in the section "Description of Responsibilities".