National Consultant Engineer – Civil Works (Home Based with extensive travel to the relevant location) - Local post for nationals of Sri Lanka

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system’s efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts towards building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Through a previous UN Women project, 13 State-owned buildings – including Women and Children’s Units at Divisional Secretariats, women’s safe houses, women’s production and sale centers – were refurbished. This includes the Maruthankerny Safe House (Jaffna District), which is experiencing a roof leakage issue; UN Women has committed to ensuring the repair of this leakage so that the services offered to women and girls is continued without further delay. To this end, the UN Women office is seeking the services of a National Consultant Engineer to support the contracting of a reputed contractor and oversee the repairs are conducted on a timely basis whilst ensuring high quality standards.

The consultant will be reporting to UN Women Head of Office – Sri Lanka, and will be supported by the UN Women Programme Analyst, who will be the point of contact on the contract and payment issues.

Duties and Responsibilities

Deliverables

Under the supervision and guidance of the UN Women Head of Office – Sri Lanka, the National Consultant Engineer will undertake the following tasks. The consultant will remain accountable for the timely submission of the deliverables as per the timeline given below:

1. Prepare and submit a Terms of Reference denoting duties and responsibilities of UN Women, Women’s Bureau, Jaffna District Secretariat – District Engineer’s Office, Divisional Secretariat.
    
2. Prepare and submit bidding documents including:
   a) Invitation for Bids
   b) Instructions to bidders
   c) Bid evaluation criteria for selection of the Contractor
   d) Standard forms (Contract)
   e) Conditions of Contract
   f) Form of bid and qualification information
   g) Schedule
   h) Specifications
   i) Drawings
   j) BOQ
   k) Standard forms (Bid) – as required
    
3. Coordination:
   a) Coordination with UN Women, Women’s Bureau/Ministry of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment, District Secretariat, District Engineer’s Office and Divisional Secretariat during planning and bidding process towards successful completion of selection of the contractor.
   
   b) Coordination with UN Women, Women’s Bureau/Ministry of Women, Child Affairs and Social Empowerment, District Secretariat, District Engineer’s Office, Divisional Secretariat and the Contractor during the construction period towards successful completion of civil works.
   
   c) Conduct the bidders’ site visit and pre-bid meeting (if required).
    
4. Monitoring:

Conduct weekly site inspections, and inspect for compliance with Conditions of Contract, drawings and specification as stipulated in the Contract, attending to issues affecting the progress and quality of construction, provide necessary instructions to the Contractor, liaise with relevant stakeholders/officials where necessary and follow-up until resolution. The consultant will also submit visit reports with comments and recommendations to UN Women and relevant stakeholders.

       5. Payments to Contractor:

 Review progress and issue payment certificates (interim and final) to UN Women for Contractor’s payments upon satisfactory completion of works by the Contractor.

      6. Handover/Closure:

          a) Facilitating and coordinating the handing over of the project site at the completion of works
          b) Submission of the Project Closure Report to UN Women

*Dates of the visits may change depending on the progress of work and will be utilized only if required

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy. As part of this assignment, there will be weekly site visits to the project location in Jaffna district. The cost of the most economic and direct travel on mission must be pre-approved by the Head of Office – UN Women Sri Lanka. Payment for travel will be made based on UN Women’s Travel Guidelines (Duty Travel Policy).

Competencies

Core Values: 

• Respect for Diversity 
• Integrity 
• Professionalism 

Core Competencies: 

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues 
• Accountability 
• Creative Problem Solving 
• Effective Communication 
• Inclusive Collaboration 
• Stakeholder Engagement 
• Leading by Example 

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies:  

Functional Competencies: 

• Technical expertise and credibility in civil engineering and oversight/monitoring of construction   
• Adaptability to fast-changing circumstances 
• Ability to monitor the work of vendors, deliver on best value for money
• Risk management
• Analytical and reporting skills (reporting to clients and stakeholders)
• Ability to work independently
• Strong drive for results

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Certification:

• Master’s degree in civil engineering with minimum of 2 years of experience in Construction Supervision, Contract Administration for Construction Contracts.
• A first-level university degree in structural and civil engineering with two additional years of qualifying experience in Construction Supervision, Contract Administration for Construction may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum of 1 year of experience working on UN-contracted construction or refurbishment for the Government, with a focus on gender-responsive construction, is required.
• Similar experience working with government sector, remodeling and refurbishing existing buildings is required.
• Prior experience in coordinating and liaising with government officers at district and divisional secretariats is required.
• Experience in developing bids, identifying technically and financially sound vendors. 
• Experience in overseeing contractors, coordinating field visits, and working/liaising with stakeholders of the project.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and a local language (Sinhala/Tamil) is required. (Samples of previous work in English will be required.)

How to Apply 

Interest candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to  and  on or before 25 April 2024.

Submission package includes:

• Personal CV or P11 (P11 can be downloaded from:  )
• A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page)
• 3 samples of previous reports/work in English will be required.
• 2 reference checks from clients of previous similar projects

Payments 

Payments for this consultancy will be based on the achievement of each deliverable and certification that each has been satisfactorily completed. Payments will be made upon submission of deliverables with an approval of the Head of Office at UN Women Sri Lanka.

 

Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated based on technical qualifications (100 points). Only applicants who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points will be evaluated and considered as technically-qualified candidates who may be contacted for a validation interview.  The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

Diversity and Inclusion Statement 

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)