Background Information – UNOPS

UNOPS – an operational arm of the United Nations – supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by successfully implementing its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian, and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve peace and sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management, and human resources.
Working with us
We are proud of our people. With a wealth of knowledge and skills in various disciplines – engineering, finance, human resources, ICT, leadership, project management, procurement, and more – they help tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time. Their work around the world supports progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

At UNOPS, we offer a range of short- and long-term opportunities in various environments and duty stations – from Denmark and Kenya to Mexico, Switzerland, Myanmar, Senegal, Uganda, and many more.

Diversity

With over 5,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,400 personnel recruited on behalf of our partners, spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced and diverse labor force — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs. We continually strive to maintain our gender-balanced workplace. We encourage qualified underrepresented groups as per UNOPS Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy to apply for our vacancies.

Background Information – Afghanistan

Afghanistan

With more than 20 years of experience in the country, UNOPS Afghanistan focuses on providing maximum support to the people of Afghanistan through the delivery of projects and services that improve the lives of people in need. The UNOPS Afghanistan Country Office (AFCO) serves as an organizational mechanism to deliver a range of projects for which UNOPS has been designated as the implementation agency. At present, UNOPS AFCO activities cover a range of sectors including humanitarian, basic human needs, cash for work, infrastructure, development, procurement and HR services.

The functional objective of UNOPS AFCO is to contribute to improving the lives of girls, boys, men and women living in Afghanistan. The aim of UNOPS AFCO is to provide efficient and cost-effective implementation services on behalf of all our partners to support the humanitarian response and development of the country. UNOPS AFCO’s mission is to exceed the expectations of all stakeholders in the delivery of AFCO services, at all times, in all places, in all circumstances, in order to improve the lives of Afghans in need.

Project Information

In November 2023, ADB approved the Verification of Claims and Expenditures Project to conduct a verification of outstanding claims from contractors, consultants, suppliers and project management offices for the works and services completed in Afghanistan under ADB-financed and administered projects prior to 15 August 2021. UNOPS is the executing agency for VCEP.

The main objective of VCEP is to verify claims from contractors, consultants and suppliers for works and services completed prior to 15 August 2021 under different types of contracts, including civil works, supply of goods and consulting services in Afghanistan. VCEP also includes a verification of advances provided to contractors, consultants and suppliers and eligible expenditures incurred by the project management offices prior to 15 August 2021 under ADB-financed and administered projects.

 Background Information – Job-specific

Job-Specific Information

In this project, UNOPS will act as a “verifying agency” with the aim to scrutinize, verify and resolve the pending claims between the relevant De-facto Authority (DFA) employing ministry or agency and contractors, consultants and suppliers, both international and local, for the works and services completed before 15 August 2021 under the relevant externally financed projects in the country. The assignment includes the verification of different types of contracts, including civil works, supply of goods and services by consultancy firms and individual consultants, mainly in the infrastructure sectors across the country.  The verification work will also include verification of certain other project costs incurred before 15 August 2021.

UNOPS will provide the financier of the proposed project with a comprehensive overview of the state of potential unresolved project-related claims, clarify the amount of pending payments with credible supporting documents, and make recommendations for the amounts to be paid to each contractor, consultant, supplier or project-affected person.

Key project stakeholders are the financier of the proposed project, working level staff of Afghanistan De-facto Authority ministries, contractors, consultants, and suppliers (both international and local).

Under the supervision of the Team Lead, the Construction Management Engineer will perform verifications of the quantity of work delivered by contractors through various methods of measurement. Such methods include but are not limited to field visits, desk review of documents and other means such as analysis of satellite images (directly or indirectly through specialized partners). In addition, he/she will work on reporting/monitoring activities. Activities will be planned by the Team Lead will be implementing such planned activities.

The Construction Management Engineer is a member of the Field monitoring and engineering supervision team of the Project. Under the direct supervision of the line supervisor and overall leadership of the Head of the Project, the Construction Management Engineer coordinates the day-to-day construction activities across all projects under the engagement in coordination with relevant team members. The Construction Management Engineer demonstrates to engineering teams best practices and techniques of key technical and construction management work areas, extensive practical experience in performing practical construction activities and supervising works in compliance with quality assurance and quality control requirements, and extensive skills in the mobilization and management labours, occupational health and safety as well as environmental management standards on site. The Construction Management Engineer will be based in Kabul and is expected to travel across all project sites, as required.

Summary of Key Functions

1. Coordination, delivery and performance
2. Monitoring and reporting
3. Knowledge building and sharing

1. Coordination, delivery and performance

• Assist the line supervisor in managing, planning and coordinating monthly, weekly and daily Claim Verification activities, including monitoring field teams’ construction works quality and quantity verification.
• Participate in inspection activities, liaising closely with engineering and Quality Assurance (QA)  personnel and ensuring Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) measures are implemented during inspections.
• Support the supervisor to ensure the overall and timely delivery of the project activities are within the project schedule.
• Develop and maintain trackers for overall project progress and coordination with project Stakeholders..
• Initiation of Claim verification reports and support Team Leader, Contract Management Specialist, Financial Specialist and Legal Specialist to finalize the reports.
• Develop the templates and tools for Site verification and reporting.
• Review and finalize the Site verification reports and incorporate findings in Claim verification reports with consultation of the Team leader.
• Frequent follow-up with Contractors and Ministries on documentation requests, which will also include updating the trackers and uploading the received documentation information in MIS and Share drive.
• Manage and maintain the field visit plans and coordinate with logistics and security staff for field missions.
• Carry out the quality check of Claim and Site verification reports for final submission. Whenever required provide onsite technical training sessions to Field Engineers to develop capacity and skills in verifying the work done on Site.
• Verify the construction works on site drawings, specifications and IPCs. Calculate the amount verified onsite.
• Identify the quality issues during the Site visits and provide the rectification estimate in the Site visit reports

2. Monitoring and reporting

• Monitor the Field Engineers’ schedule and provide the best technical advice to carry out the Site Works verification.
• Check drawings, specifications, and other construction design documents to ensure the claim is verified as per required standards and measurements.
• Reverify the quantities and amount verified by Field Engineers from Site Visits.
• Measurement and verifications of “works done by the claimant” and related to the Claims mentioned in the above chapters through:
  • contribution to the research of relevant documentation and desk review
  • participate in field missions to directly measure and evaluate the work done
  • alternative methods of verification, including satellite images to be used directly or through specialized partners
• Prepare project progress reports and project briefs.
• Hold ownership of UNOPS’ Assets at the construction site.

3. Knowledge

• Contribute to the dissemination and sharing of best practices and lessons learned for development planning and knowledge building.
• Participate in the relevant Communities of Practice and actively interact with other Engineers and the Engineering community to share case studies, lessons learned and best practices on the Knowledge System.
• Collaborate with technical team members, including but not limited to architects, engineers, project managers, contract managers, legal specialists, and quantity surveyors.
• Conduct training for the technical staff to improve their technical knowledge of verifying the work on site.

Impact of Results

The effective and successful achievement of results by the Construction Management Engineer directly impacts the development and performance of the project. It confirms UNOPS’s role as a key and trusted partner to the ADB and UNOPS’s position as a critical service provider in all challenging work environments. Given the current political and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, this project would support the urgent repositioning of AFCO and strengthen UNOPS’s presence and visibility in Afghanistan, raising the profile of UNOPS  in the global humanitarian context.

Monitoring and progress controls will be in accordance with existing work plans.

 Education/Experience/Language requirements

a.  Education

• A first-level university Degree (Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent) in Engineering or related field is required.

b. Work Experience

• A minimum of 2 years of fieldwork experience in the field of construction.
• Proven experience in project implementation in close collaboration with government authorities and community organizations is an asset.
• At least 1 year of experience performing surveys on quantities and quality of infrastructure projects is required.

DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE

• Working knowledge of cloud-based office software packages (Google Suite), MS Office programs, MS Project, AutoCAD and telecommunications equipment and systems is highly valued.
• Experience in contractor supervision as well as interim payment certificates (IPCs) and claims management
• Experience with satellite image usage
• Knowledge of UNOPS/UN rules and regulations is an advantage.

c.  Languages

• Fluency (oral and written) in English is required.
• Pashto and Dari languages are required.

Please click on the below link for actual vacancy announcement to see the complete details and submission guideline as this is only an attempt for attracting female applicants for gender parity in organization. Please make sure you fill your profile/application properly with all relevant details in order to be considered for the next stage of recruitment/selection.

https://jobs.unops.org/pages/viewvacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=29754

https://jobs.unops.org/pages/viewvacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=29754

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