Procurement Senior Analyst, Multiple positions

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.

Diversity

With over 5,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

West Africa Multi-Country Office (WAMCO)

The WAMCO  spans across West Africa, covering Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone,Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Togo and Senegal, supporting partners in achieving their development objectives through three main service lines: infrastructure, procurement, and project management.

The Multi Country Office’s Head Office in Senegal provides strategic direction, operational support, delivery oversight and assurance of the excellence of business processes and quality standards across all the entire Multi Country Office locations. It is also responsible for developing, delivering, and managing the portfolio of engagements in the country of the MCO location itself.

UNOPS in Nigeria 

The UNOPS office in Nigeria has been supporting partners and the government of Nigeria to implement several development projects through its expertise to ensure sustainable project management. 

UNOPS Nigeria is in the process of expanding its area of engagement in cooperation with its development partners, focusing mainly on a portfolio of projects and programs in the infrastructure, environment, climate change, and governance sectors.

Background information about the Projects

NEWMAP

The Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) aims to reduce vulnerability to soil erosion in targeted sub-watersheds. The project has been operational in Nigeria since 2013 with funding from The World Bank that ended in June 2022. 

The “Nigeria Climate Adaptation – Erosion & Watershed project” represents a scale-up phase of the World Bank-financed NEWMAP, under a loan from the European Development Bank (EIB). The project consists of financing sub-investments (schemes) of sites affected by land degradation in Nigeria, including both gully erosion and degradation of drylands. The project involves two components – 1) Infrastructure, and 2) Technical Assistance. 

The scheme selection is based on a multi-criterion ranking system, coupled with assessments on the level of readiness of the schemes and the capacity of the implementing state/s. All 23 states wish to participate in the project and are intended recipients of assistance from the project.

The project is implemented by a Federal Project Management Unit (FPMU), located within the Federal Ministry of Environment (FME), in coordination with the SPIUs that are established in each participating state.  

Under a Financing Agreement with the Government of Nigeria, UNOPS has been requested by EIB to provide implementation and oversight support to the projects in the following areas:

• Screening and verification of schemes - assist EIB in screening the longlist against the set multi criteria and advise on final approval of shortlists to be financed under EIB loan. 

• Procurement - assist EIB in ensuring alignment with EIB’s minimum requirements through prior and post reviews.

• Environmental and social risk management of proposed schemes – ensure E&S safeguard compliance through clearance of ESMPs and monitoring their implementation.

• Implementation Monitoring - oversight of the implementation of schemes and risk mitigating measures in coordination with the FPMU, SPIUs, the EIB, and relevant stakeholders through half-yearly monitoring missions, and Reporting on the implementation of schemes and the overall program performance.

• Technical Assistance - provision of technical assistance to the FPMUs/ SPIUs on above areas of intervention, as necessary.

RAAMP

The Nigeria Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP-1 and RAAMP-2) is an initiative that has been financed by the World Bank and the French Development Agency (AFD), along with some contribution from the Government of Nigeria (GoN). The EIB’s “Nigeria Access to Agri-Markets Framework Loan” consists of a framework loan to finance sub-investments proposed under the existing RAAMP. The purpose of the project is to strengthen the infrastructure related to the agriculture sector by (i) improving and expanding the rural roads network connecting farms to markets, whilst (ii) enhancing infrastructure to transform products and support local farmers to increase productivity. 

The EIB loan may possibly target the six states and will involve the rehabilitation and upgrading of rural roads and agro-logistics centers. RAAMP is implemented by a Federal Project Management Unit (FPMU), located within the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), in coordination with the SPIUs that are established in each participating state.  

Under a Financing Agreement with the Government of Nigeria, UNOPS has been requested by EIB to provide implementation and oversight support to both the projects in the following areas:

• Screening and verification of schemes - assist EIB in screening the longlist against the set multi criteria and advise on final approval of shortlists to be financed under EIB loan. 

• Procurement - assist EIB in ensuring alignment with EIB’s minimum requirements through prior and post reviews.

• Environmental and social risk management of proposed schemes – ensure E&S safeguard compliance through clearance of ESMPs and monitoring their implementation.

• Implementation Monitoring - oversight of the implementation of schemes and risk mitigating measures in coordination with the FPMU, SPIUs, the EIB, and relevant stakeholders through half-yearly monitoring missions, and Reporting on the implementation of schemes and the overall program performance.

• Technical Assistance - provision of technical assistance to the FPMUs/ SPIUs on above areas of intervention, as necessary.

UNOPS will ensure the effective implementation of the projects by performing the function of oversight and pre-clearance of processes and documents on behalf of EIB that will in turn enable the government in complying to the EIB’s requirements in the implementation of the schemes. 

UNOPS would be acting as an intermediary between the Federal Project Management Units (FPMU) and the EIB. Based on the assessment of needs, UNOPS’ role would entail a range of  activities under the respective areas of support, such as- Verification of Schemes, Environment & Social (E&S) Risk Management, Procurement, and Monitoring and Reporting. By performing these functions, UNOPS will ensure that:

● RAAMP procurement practices are aligned with the minimum requirements of the EIB’s Guide to Procurement 

●  Environmental and social impacts of proposed schemes are reviewed and cleared in alignment with EIB’s E&S standards 

●  Proposed schemes submitted by the FPMU are screened and verified against multi selection criteria agreed between RAAMP and EIB before final approval by EIB 

●  Monitoring and oversight functions are undertaken on behalf of the EIB. In some instances, joint monitoring & oversight missions will be conducted by UNOPS and EIB 

Position Information 

The Procurement Senior Analyst analyzes and interprets the respective rules and regulations and provides solutions to a wide spectrum of complex issues related to procurement. She/He will focus on transactional procurement including all steps of the procurement process. 

Maintaining the highest degree of personal and professional ethics, the Procurement Senior Analyst promotes a collaborative, client-focused, quality and results-oriented approach in the Business Unit. 

The Procurement Senior Analyst works in close collaboration with the Support Services, Programme and project teams in the relevant geographical area or business unit, UNOPS HQs colleagues and Government officials, to successfully deliver procurement services.

• Review of Procurement Plan as per the investment proposals and plans submitted and approved, and recommend EIB on issuance of no objections (as applicable) to proceed with the procurement activities upon commencement of site-specific activities.

• Review and quality assurance of the procurement documents and associated tasks including, but not limited to – procurement notice, tender documents, bid evaluation reports, contract awards, contract modifications, handling of contract disputes, contract termination, etc. For bids/tenders not subject to international procurement procedure, conduct ex-post review on an aleatory basis. 

• Monitoring and supervision: participate in bi-annual field visits to monitor the implementation of contracts awarded under the schemes to check compliance and standards and satisfaction of stakeholders and capture lessons.  

• Technical Advisory: Where required, support the FPMU/ SPMUs by providing advisory support, including support the training for conducting the procurement related activities, as provided by the Advisors. 

The expected result is that the procurement practices under the project align with the minimum requirements of EIB´s Guide to Procurement which involves mandatory prior and ex-post reviews of procurement processes as per defined thresholds.

2. Analysis report.  Responsible for generating analysis reports of the processes, concluding on the non-discrimination of tenderers, fairness and transparency of the process, and selection of the economically most advantageous offer.  

3. Management of the clearance process.  Support the project management in the development, deployment and management of a clearance system, as applicable (e.g. equivalent to  The World Bank’s STEP). Consideration can be given to deploy a document workflow management system that may encompass other areas of approvals as well, like - verification of schemes. 

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• UNOPS evaluates all applications based on the skills, qualifications and experience requirements outlined in the vacancy announcement. We are committed to considering all candidates in a fair and transparent manner, and we value diverse perspectives and experiences, including those of women, indigenous and racialized communities, individuals with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.



• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few mandatory courses ( they take around 4 hours to complete)  in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. Refreshers or new mandatory courses may be required during your contract. Please note that you will not receive any compensation for taking courses and refreshers. For more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.