TERMS OF REFERENCE

Background of Sudokkho

Sudokkho is a £20.9 million, 5-year programme that is funded by DFID and SDC. The programme is implemented by Palladium International, in consortium with Swisscontact and the British Council. Sudokkho supports private-sector led training for the poor, and in particular training that effectively supports women and disadvantaged populations into decent employment. The programme seeks to test and scale-up market driven, quality skills training models within the Ready-Made Garments (RMG) and Construction sectors that will stimulate further investment in training by trainees, private training providers and employers.

Within the programme period, Sudokkho supports up to 70 different training initiatives that will train at least 110,000 men and women of whom 65% will increase their income for a total cumulated value of three times the programme costs, i.e. approx. £65 million. Sudokkho supports and builds upon the TVET reform agenda of Bangladesh in coordination with the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) of the Ministry of Education. The programme is structured around three components:

1. Supporting private training providers to offer affordable quality training that enhances employability.
2. Supporting private sector industries to develop and operate industry-led training facilities in RMG and Constructions sectors.
3. Supporting the policy environment and the development of skills training packages that meet the occupational standards of the industry and can be used by above mentioned training systems.

Rationale for the position

The Sudokkho project will issue national, international contracts to independent consultancy firms and individuals, to support private industry in developing a market based approach to skills development in the construction and readymade garments industry. The Contracts Officer will be responsible for the day to day management of the recruitment of consultants and subcontracts which are funded through the programme. S/he will manage the advertisement, selection evaluation, contracting and monitoring of implementation of the selected contracts.

As one of F&O team members, s/he will support in ensuring the full application of Palladium’s financial, procurement, HR, grants and contracts, and other operational policies, and procedures throughout his/her day to day functions, and report any irregularities. Also, s/he will be reviewing vendor’s invoices and ensuring proper and adequate supporting documents is a common task of all F&O staff members. Most importantly, s/he will maintain up to date records and documents in organized manner, and upload them to Palladium SharePoint system regular basis.

Responsibilities, duties and tasks

The Contracts Officer is responsible for execution of contracts management in coordination with the concerned technical interventions of Sudokkho, and under the guidance and support of the Finance and Operations Lead. Specific duties and tasks include the following:

• Execute and manage the procurement process for the selection of all sub/contractors and short-term and long-term consultants
• Liaise with the concerned Palladium HQ staff to ensure that all documentation is complete before a consultant is engaged, including documented procurement process, due diligence documents
• Draft nomination letters for submission to DFID in accordance with the standard format
• Prepare consultancy contracts, with input from the programme team, for sign off by the Team Leader.
• Maintain an up to date register/contracts tracker of all consultancy and subcontract agreements issued by the programme
• Support programme staff in the preparation of Work Orders (WO) for call down contracts
• Work closely with Private Training Providers and RMG and Construction interventions to support in all contractual and financial matters
• Maintain a tracking spreadsheet for each consultant which shows the number of days worked and the balance remaining in against each contract
• Ensure that consultant timesheets and invoices are submitted on a timely basis and Check and review sub/contractors, consultants’ invoices, ensure adequacy of supporting documents, arrange approvals for payment processing
• Support the finance team in the preparation of monthly and annual forecasts by providing an accurate estimate of expenditure and reasons for any variance against forecast
• Perform desk reviews of contractual deliverables, reports and executes regular reconciliations with contracts budget
• Conduct regular monitoring visits in consultation with the assigned Project Officer to intervention sites to perform donor compliance oversight 
• Manage and support the process of putting in place a robust filing structure for all contracts financial transactions
• Ensure compliance to tools that help eliminate inefficiencies in utilization of contracts by the interventions
• Work closely with the Grants staff to ensure coordination of any support to grantees

Other

• Provide regular updates to the Finance and Operations Lead on the fund utilisation and expected spend and escalate any issues immediately as necessary
• Participate in the preparation of monthly fund requests, forecasts as well as annual work planning and budgeting process, supporting the programme team in costing the inputs of consultants
• Contribute to quarterly and annual reporting through providing a Value for Money analysis of funds used
• As part of the Operations team, the Contracts Officer may be required to undertake other reasonable tasks, from time to time, as assigned by the Finance and Operations Lead

Duration

The Contracts Officer is a full-time position throughout the implementation phase of the programme, planned until 31 March 2019.

Profile of the Contracts Officer

The Contracts Officer will meet all of the following qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s degree in business, accounting, finance, or related field
• At least 5 years of experience in contracting and procurement, experience with DFID is preferable
• Track record supporting organizations to deliver contracts according to international best practice
• Experience in budgeting, auditing, financial management and reporting of contracts and services
• Familiarity in conducting compliance checks; Experience in monitoring systems sub-contracts
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office functions particularly MS Word, MS Excel, and MS PowerPoint
• Fluency in spoken and written English and Bangla, and excellent attention to detail
• Strong analytical, management and organisational skill

Deadline for submission of Application

Please email your CV along with a cover letter to info@sudokkho.org addressing to Finance and Operations Lead. Application must reach by March 24, 2018.