Job description

Background:

The UNFPA Supply Chain Management Unit (SCMU) provides global supply chain services to UNFPA business units, Country Offices and external partners. Its financial sustainability depends on a transparent and evidence-based approach for determining the cost of delivering these services and for ensuring that direct-cost recovery arrangements remain aligned with operational realities.

In 2024, SCMU completed an Activity-Based Costing (ABC) assessment that established a structured methodology for allocating staff and non-staff costs across activities, client segments and direct-cost categories. The model informed the introduction and automation of selected procurement fees and inventory management and oversight charges, strengthening predictability, transparency and cost recovery.

In 2025, SCMU completed an effort-estimation exercise across all pillars to validate how internal staff time and resources are distributed across service areas. Since the original ABC assessment, SCMU’s service portfolio, workload, staffing, governance requirements and strategic priorities have continued to evolve. The existing model therefore requires a structured refresh and further development.

SCMU now intends to refresh the ABC model, undertake a forward-looking workload driver assessment and strengthen its pricing framework by linking people costs, workload, effort, service complexity and the full cost of doing business to relevant service and procurement categories. This work will support an evidence-based assessment of the implementation, performance and continuing relevance of the current fee structure, including procurement, inventory management and oversight, and Third-Party Procurement (TPP); test the adequacy of cost recovery and operational reserves; and inform pricing arrangements for 2027 and subsequent periodic reviews.

The consultant will report to the Head of Support Services, Pillar 4, SCMU, under the overall guidance of the Chief, SCMU. The assignment will be undertaken in close collaboration with SCMU Finance, Supply Chain Operations and Analytics, Pillar Heads, relevant service owners and other designated UNFPA stakeholders. A technical reference group may be established to facilitate data access, validate assumptions and review key outputs.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead United Nations agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is intended, every childbirth is safe, and every young person's potential is fulfilled. The UNFPA Strategic Plan for 2026-2029 articulates the organization’s response to a complex global environment, providing a roadmap for resilience and renewal. It is designed to accelerate the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. This mandate is pursued through a focus on four interconnected outcomes: ending the unmet need for family planning; ending preventable maternal deaths; ending gender-based violence and harmful practices; and adapting to demographic change through evidence and rights-based policies.

The UNFPA Supply Chain Management Unit (SCMU) is self-funded and was made operational in January 2022. It is tasked with ensuring that UNFPA is able to effectively and efficiently support the delivery of life-saving reproductive health products and other programme supplies to the end user when and where they are needed. To achieve this, it is important to strengthen the capacity of governments and implementing partners to ensure coordination, end-to-end visibility and accountability on all supply chain and logistics management related activities, in particular for programme supplies, across all UNFPA programmes.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff who embody these international norms and standards and will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates who transform, inspire, and deliver high-impact sustained results, ensuring effective external relations, communications, partnership-building and resource mobilization in a rapidly changing development and funding landscape. We need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them, and who commit to delivering excellence in programme results

Job Purpose:

The purpose of the consultancy is to refresh and operationalize SCMU’s existing ABC model, conduct a workload driver assessment and develop an evidence-based pricing framework covering SCMU’s end-to-end supply chain service delivery.. The assignment will estimate SCMU’s full cost of doing business; link internal people costs, workload, staff effort and service complexity to the relevant service and procurement categories; assess the implementation, adequacy and performance of the current fee structure, including procurement, inventory management and oversight, and the TPP operating and pricing model; undertake relevant market and institutional benchmarking; assess the revenue required to sustain operations and maintain an appropriate reserve; and recommend differentiated, evidence-based cost-recovery and pricing arrangements for implementation in 2027.

The assignment will build on the existing ABC model, the completed 2025 effort-estimation exercise and current direct-cost governance arrangements. It is not intended to recreate the costing methodology from the beginning, but to validate, adjust, strengthen and institutionalize it as a practical management and decision-support tool.

You would be responsible for:

1. Inception, documentation review and data assessment

Review the existing ABC model and final report, the 2025 effort-estimation results, the Direct Cost Governance Framework, current fee schedules and implementation results, budgets, staffing and people-cost information, revenue and reserve data, service descriptions, transaction and workload data, and other relevant operational and strategic documents. Confirm the methodology, service catalogue, data requirements, analytical approach, benchmarking framework and validation arrangements.

2. Refresh the ABC model and estimate the full cost of doing business

Update the cost pools, activities, client segments, service categories, direct-cost types and allocation assumptions using the latest available financial, staffing and operational data. Determine SCMU’s total cost base, including direct service-delivery costs, shared and enabling costs, management and coordination, systems, common services, travel, governance, compliance, audit, data and reporting, strategic or transformation activities, and the funding required to maintain an appropriate operational reserve in line with the Direct Cost Governance Framework. Clearly distinguish direct and indirect, fixed and variable, chargeable and non-chargeable costs and identify where transparent cross-subsidization may be required.

As part of the full cost assessment, review and refine the estimated funding requirement for the TPP contingency revolving fund, taking into account transaction volumes, cash-flow requirements, financial exposure and associated operational risks. 

3. Validate people costs, effort and conduct the workload driver assessment

Use the completed 2025 effort-estimation exercise as the baseline for allocating internal people costs across services and categories. Validate material effort assumptions against current staffing, responsibilities, transaction volumes, workload and service complexity; identify changes since the exercise; and define measurable cost, activity and workload drivers for future model updates. Assess the relationship between workload, complexity, service demand and staffing capacity, including material capacity pressures or workload concentrations. Based on the outcome of the validation, a new full staff-effort survey may be undertaken where required to address material gaps and strengthen the reliability of the analysis. 

4. Conduct category-level costing, assess fee performance and benchmark the current fee structure

Assess current fee arrangements against the services delivered, the underlying cost base, cost-recovery and reserve requirements, workload and service complexity, and relevant market and institutional benchmarks. Identify gaps or misalignment and recommend updates for implementation in 2027. Estimate the cost of delivering the principal SCMU service and procurement categories, including international procurement from fresh production and inventory, headquarters procurement and local procurement support, SAS, inventory management and oversight, freight, quality assurance, advisory and Country Office support, systems and data services, and relevant governance and enabling services. Assess the implementation and performance of the direct-cost arrangements introduced following the 2024 ABC assessment against their intended cost-recovery, predictability, transparency and operational objectives, and identify any unintended effects. Compare category-level costs with current revenue and fees; identify under-recovery, over-recovery, cross-subsidization and other areas of pricing misalignment; and undertake relevant market and institutional benchmarking of comparable procurement, supply-chain, advisory, inventory-management and TPP charging arrangements. The analysis should document the relevance and limitations of available benchmarks and assess whether percentage-based, fixed-fee, time-based, tiered, minimum, capped or hybrid charging arrangements are most appropriate for each category.

5. Conduct a dedicated TPP costing and pricing assessment

Assess the full cost of providing TPP services, including staff effort across SCMU pillars, client engagement, procurement, contracting, quality assurance, freight, finance, reporting, oversight and financial exposure arising from delayed payments, cancellations, refunds, reversals or exceptional requirements. Analyse cost recovery by client group, service type, transaction value and complexity; assess cross-subsidization, test potential revenue-sharing models with Country Offices and recommend a scalable and operationally feasible approach for implementation, including the implications for SCMU cost recovery and financial sustainability; and determine whether the current percentage-based TPP fee remains appropriate. 

6. Develop the 2027 pricing and cost-recovery recommendations

Recommend a coherent and operationally feasible pricing framework for 2027, identifying fees that may remain unchanged, fees requiring adjustment, differentiated rates or new charges, treatment of non-chargeable and strategic services, minimum fees, thresholds, caps, complexity or urgency adjustments, transitional arrangements and the financial implications of alternative scenarios. The analysis should test the impact of each scenario on annual cost recovery, revenue stability and operational reserve adequacy. Recommendations should balance financial sustainability, transparency, affordability, competitiveness and UNFPA’s mandate.

7. Institutionalization, governance and knowledge transfer

Define the methodology, data sources, ownership, validation controls, review cycle and approval arrangements required to maintain the ABC, workload-driver and pricing framework. Prepare an implementation roadmap, user guidance and management presentation; facilitate technical validation and management review sessions; and transfer all models, calculations, assumptions and working files to UNFPA.

Key outputs

  1. Inception report and validated workplan, methodology and data requirements.
  2. Diagnostic assessment, service catalogue, cost-driver framework and data-gap analysis.
  3. Updated and documented ABC model and full cost-of-doing-business analysis.
  4. Workload driver assessment, including validated measurable drivers and implications for resource and capacity planning.
  5. Dedicated TPP cost, workload, cost-recovery and pricing assessment.
  6. Category-by-category assessment of the current fee structure, including a clear gap and misalignment analysis, implementation performance, market and institutional benchmarking, reserve impact analysis, and recommended fee updates and pricing arrangements for 2027.
  7. Final consolidated report, implementation roadmap, governance methodology, user guide and knowledge-transfer package.

     

Duration and working schedule:

Up to 60 working days over approximately 12 weeks, commencing upon contract signature and the assignment is expected to commence in 2026, with the final completion date determined based on the contract start date and agreed workplan.

Phase 1: Inception & Data Review — Week 3

Inception report, methodology, workplan and data-gap assessment.

Phase 2: ABC Refresh — Week 6

Updated ABC model and full cost-base analysis.

Phase 3: Workload Driver Assessment — Week 8

Workload, capacity and resource analysis.

Phase 4: Pricing & Benchmarking — Week 10

Cost-recovery assessment, benchmarking and draft pricing recommendations.

Phase 5: Finalization & Handover — Week 12

Final report, 2027 pricing framework, implementation roadmap and handover.

Place where services are to be delivered:

Home-based, with virtual consultations and remote access to documentation and data. In-person consultations at SCMU in Copenhagen may be required, subject to prior written authorization.

Qualifications and Experience: 

Education:  

  • Advanced university degree in finance, accounting, economics, business administration, supply-chain management, data analytics or another relevant field.
  • A recognized professional accounting or management-accounting qualification Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), or Certified Management Accountant (CMA),  is an asset.

Knowledge and Experience: 

  • At least ten years of progressively responsible experience in management accounting, financial modelling, costing, pricing, cost recovery or related advisory work.
  • Demonstrated experience developing, refreshing or operationalizing Activity-Based Costing models in complex service-delivery organizations.
  • Strong experience in workload, effort, productivity or capacity analysis and in translating operational drivers into cost and pricing models.
  • Demonstrated experience reviewing fee structures, undertaking relevant market or institutional benchmarking, and designing percentage-based, fixed-fee, time-based, tiered or hybrid pricing arrangements.
  • Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheet and financial modelling; experience with Power BI or comparable analytical and visualization tools is desirable.
  • Experience with international organizations, the United Nations, public-sector institutions, humanitarian operations or global supply chains is desirable.

Languages: 

  • Fluency in written and spoken English is required.

Required Competencies: 

  • Strong strategic, analytical and professional judgement, with rigorous attention to data quality, assumptions and internal consistency.
  • Ability to translate complex financial and operational analysis into concise, practical and decision-oriented recommendations for senior management.
  • Strong stakeholder consultation, facilitation and communication skills and the ability to work effectively across functional and technical teams.

UNFPA Work Environment:

UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click here to learn more.

Disclaimer:

Selection and appointment may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance, visa issuance and other administrative requirements. 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts. 

Applicants for positions in the international Professional and higher categories, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.

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