Procurement Officer, Korea-Vietnam Mine Action Project

As a result of many years of war, the land and people of Vietnam are severely affected by landmines and unexploded ordnance (hereinafter called Explosive Remnants of War or ERW). According to the results of the project named "Vietnam National Explosive Remnants of War Contamination Surveying and Mapping" from 2010-2014, all 63/63 provinces/cities across the country are contaminated with landmines, unexploded ordnance left after the war, with a total of 9,116 out of 11,134 communes (wards or townships) contaminated. According to the Government of Vietnam, the total area of contamination is 6.13 million ha, accounting for 18.82% of the country's area. More than 60,000 people have either been killed or injured by ERW since the end of the war.

In recent years, the Vietnamese Government has paid special attention to perfecting management and coordination system, funding and providing guidelines for the effective implementation of mine action operations. Substantial amounts of funds are spent each year on ERW clearance in order to release and recover land for cultivation, ensure safe livelihood activities, as well as provision of emergency treatment to ERW victims and support to their reintegration into communities and educating these communities about the risk to further reduce accidents and prevent casualties.

In this regard, Quang Binh and Binh Dinh, provinces are considered a priority given the anticipated high-level of contamination and number of victims and limited amount of similar interventions in the past. Large amounts of bombs and other types of munitions were dropped on Binh Dinh and Quang Binh provinces during the war. The two provinces also witnessed fierce engagement of the ground forces of the two sides and massive bombing by the US Air force. According to statistics, from 7th Feb 1965 to 30th April 1968, Quang Binh Province suffered from 37,258 bombing missions with about 29 types of general purpose bombs, 13 types of cluster bombs in addition to tens of types of small arms, artillery shells, and rockets. Some small communes, such as Quang Thuan of Quang Trach District, with an area of about only 2 square kilometers, suffered from about 1,500 bombing missions with over 5,000 bombs of different types. According to statistics of the National ERW Survey, the area of ERW contamination in Quang Binh is 224.934 ha (accounting for 27, 93% land of the province) Binh Dinh is 246.843 (accounting for 40% land of the province). On average, dozens of ERW related accidents happen each year across the two provinces. The majority of victims are the main laborers and children. The statistics shows that Quang Binh has had nearly 6,000 people killed and injured by ERW. As for Binh Dinh Province, about 3,000 people have been killed and injured by ERW.

ERW presence has a negative impact on all aspects of the social life. It slows down progress and increases the cost of construction of technical infrastructure; hinders people from cultivating on the land due to the fear for being harmed by ERW. As a result, in some areas, the land has become more and more deteriorated while containing in itself the potential risks to the safety of the people. It remains a burden to the people's psychology, economy and society in the contaminated areas. The removal of ERW remains the most effective solution as it detects, remove and destroy the roots of the impacts caused by ERW in the local provinces. 

In order to support the ERW removal effort in Vietnam, the Korea-Vietnam Mine Action Project (KV-MAP) was developed and founded on the close collaboration between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.  In 2016, the Prime Minister approved the Project with the Ministry of National Defence as Executing Agency and Vietnam National Mine Action Center as the Project Owner. The main purpose of the Project is to strengthen the capacity of the Vietnam Mine Action Centre (VNMAC) and other responsible parties to remove ERW in Quang Binh and Binh Dinh provinces.

Given UNDP’s global and local technical expertise in mine action in various countries around the world, including in the region (Lao, Cambodia and Turkey), long standing experience in managing large projects in Vietnam, strong governance/administration expertise, and supports towards sustainable development, UNDP Vietnam has been entrusted by KOICA to provide project management and technical support to this important project.

In this context, 1 Procurement Officer will be recruited to support with smooth and efficient management and implementation of the Project’s large profile of procurement. 

The post will be located in Vietnam National Mine Action Center, Thach Hoa, Thach That, Ha Noi with occasional travel to Quang Binh and Binh Dinh provinces.

Under the overall supervision of UNDP Programme Analyst, and day-to-day guidance by UNDP Procurement Analyst, KOICA/UNDP Project Manager, Vietnamese Heads of all 4 project divisions, the Chief Technical Advisor, International Information Management, Planning and Reporting Technical Advisor, the incumbent is responsible to:   

1. support the JPMU in setting up proper system, templates, and tools for procurement work of the Project;
2. guidance and support to the concerned staff at JPMU on routine procurement work, including collection of procurement data to make timely inputs to the preparation and approval of the Project’s work-plans and procurement plans;
3. effective support to the Project to ensure timely procurement of consultants and services providers;
4. regular review project procurement activities and identify bottle necks and recommend alternative approach and options to speed up and smoothen the procurement processes for timely procurement of services;
5. analyze and monitor overall project procurement situation and timely alert KOICA/UNDP Project Manager on shortfalls and slowness of procurement or any exceptions to facilitate timely actions and informed decisions;
6. full compliance of procurement activities with UNDP rules, regulations, and policies; implementation of the effective internal control;

7. preparation of procurement plans and implementation monitoring for the Project;
8. organization of procurement processes for both individual contracting services and professional sub-contracting services. This includes tasks relating to hiring individual contractors such as drafting procurement requests, advertisement, evaluation minutes, participation in interview session for minutes taking, contracts; and tasks relating to sub-contracting professional services such as conducting Request for Quotations (RFQs), Invitations to Bids (ITBs) or request for proposal (RFPs), receipt of quotations, bids or proposals, preparation of  evaluation minutes, contracts  in full compliance with UNDP rules and regulations;
9. preparation of Purchase orders and contracts in and outside Atlas, preparation of Recurring Purchase orders for contracting of services, vendors’ creation in Atlas.  Buyers profile in Atlas;
10. preparation of submissions to the Contract, Asset and Procurement Committee (CAP) and Advisory Committee on Procurement (ACP);
11. implementation of the internal control system which ensures that purchase orders are duly prepared and dispatched. Timely corrective actions on purchase orders with budget check errors and other problems;
12. arrangement for translation services for Project as required;
13. arrangement for clearance of the project shipments conducted by the project
14. development and update of the rosters of suppliers, implementation of supplier selection and evaluation.
15. manage  project contracts to ensure timely contract extension before contract end dates;
16. support the KOICA/UNDP Project Manager in planning, management and implementation of the Project;
17. join spot-checks; HACT audits, and support implementation of audit recommendations;
18. creation of requisitions, Purchase orders in Atlas for the Project

The Procurement Officer will carry out other duties if required by KOICA/UNDP Project Manager for the ultimate successful implementation of the project.

The key results have an impact on the success of UNDP interventions in Mine Action area and the strengthened capacity in administration of Mine Action of the relevant Government Ministries and Agencies

The key expected results include:

• Smooth procurement implementation provided to project counterparts and provinces.

Core Functional Competencies:

Innovation: Ability to make new and useful ideas work

Leadership: Ability to persuade others to follow

People Management: Ability to improve performance and satisfaction

Communication: Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform

Delivery: Ability to get things done

Technical Competency:

Implement & Manage: Exercises skills and knowledge independently, demonstrating ability to manage self and team responsibilities, in area of work

Education: Secondary education with specialized training in procurement. University Degree in Business or Public Administration would be desirable, but it is not a requirement.

Experience:

1. Minimum 2 years of working experience on procurement
2. Knowledge of automated procurement systems, experience in handling of web based management systems;
3. Ability to work with colleagues and collaborators of different national and cultural backgrounds
4. Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web based management systems.
5. Basic understanding of UXO area;
6. Knowledge of UNDP programme practices is an asset

Language Requirements: Fluency in English and national language of the duty station.

Important applicant information

All posts in the SC categories are subject to local recruitment.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

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