Public Financial Management Experts: Public Procurement at Adam Smith International

Adam Smith International are an award-winning professional services business that delivers real impact, value and lasting change through projects supporting economic growth and government reform internationally. Our reputation as a global leader has been built on the positive results our projects have achieved in many of the world's most challenging environments. Adam Smith International has a strong corporate presence globally, with 146 current projects across 49 countries and over 1,000 staff and associates. Headquartered in London, our regional headquarters are based in Africa (Nairobi, Abuja, and Pretoria), Asia Pacific (Sydney) and South Asia (Delhi), with numerous registered offices across Africa and Asia.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Public Financial Management Experts: Public Procurement

Tracking Code: 754-112
Location: Abuja, Sokoto, Bauchi
Department: Revenue Reform
Position Type: Full-Time/Regular

Job Description

• We are actively seeking international and regional/Nigerian experts on a long-term basis to work within one of the targeted Federal States of Nigeria.
• In brief, the experts working in this area will be expected to undertake activities and tasks related to the following:
  • Procurement Reform: A major weakness in Nigeria’s governance is corruption in the procurement process, which significantly reduces the resources budgeted for a sector that are actually spent on delivering services in that sector.
  • The contractor shall work with the selected state governments to improve transparency and reduce corruption in procurement processes.
  • The contractor shall also support target states to update their Fiscal Responsibility and Public Procurement legislation and put into place policies for the effective implementation of these laws.

The Project

• The purpose of the State-to-State (State2State) contract is to increase the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of selected state and local governments (LGAs) in Nigeria.
• This will be achieved by strengthening systems to improve the delivery of services in key sectors (basic education, primary health care, and water, sanitation and hygiene - WASH); increasing the efficiency of key governance operations (with a focus on public financial management [PFM] and procurement, as well as monitoring and evaluation); increasing government’s responsiveness to citizen needs and priorities; and improving government and civil society capacity to manage conflict.
• State2State will work together with partner state governments to reform these sectors, and will learn and replicate best practice examples from other states.  State2State will support, scale-up, accelerate and institutionalize new and existing initiatives.
• State2State is a governance programme. Better governance is a means towards the ultimate end of poverty reduction by measurably improving primary health care, basic education and WASH services.
• Conflict mitigation is a core theme of the USAID/Nigeria Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS).
• The Mission expects that improved governance and public services coupled with a Do No Harm approach, conflict mitigation strategies and tools will contribute to reducing violent conflict in the targeted areas.

Required Skills
Key competencies and experience:

• Experts should have the ability to deliver Technical Assistance of an international standard to Nigeria’s Federal States, and to work effectively in politically sensitive and challenging environment. You should relish working in a team, should be innovative, energetic, positive, and genuinely committed to achieving lasting change in your work.

The position requires the following skills and experience:

• A post-graduate degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics (or related degree) and/or 10+ years of relevant experience.
• Hands-on experience in delivering public procurement reform within a sub-national government level including, the drafting and implementation of relevant policies and procedures in line with respective legislation.
• Demonstrable knowledge in developing procurement plans, schedules and reports in line with legislation; developing procurement documentation; and support of the procurement process through all of its stages.
• Experience working on the development of procurement management systems, as well as the development of approved supplier and consultant databases.
• Competent in identifying legislative gaps and recommending relevant amendments/new pieces of legislation.
• Ability to deliver technical advice and effectively work with government counterparts in a politically aware manner.
• Strong experience in designing and delivering technical training to counterparts, as well as mentoring.
• Ability to demonstrate experience and knowledge of using initiative and being client-orientated.
• Excellent communication, inter-personal, and team-working skills.
• Ability to develop and manage relationships with key stakeholders within both government and the wider environment.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online