• Title: local consultant on public procurement and business models
• Length of Assignment: Short-Term
• Reports to: Team Leader for JOBS Business Enabling Environment Objective

BACKGROUND

The USAID/Tunisia Jobs, Opportunities & Business Success (JOBS) project, managed by Chemonics International, seeks to create 70,000 jobs over the five-year life of the project. The three-year project (with an additional two-year option period) will work through multiple pathways to reach this ambitious goal, including i) increasing the competitiveness of client firms; ii) matching labor market demand with skills that meet the needs; iii) improving the business enabling environment; and iv) improving youths’ attitudes towards private sector employment.

Under Component 3, JOBS will help forge a more competitive business enabling environment by working with businesses to identify policy and regulatory constraints to their ability to grow, then working with the government of Tunisia, and private sector organizations to address these constraints. Included in this component is the policy area related to public procurement, specifically supporting the generalization of Tunisia on-line procurement system TUNEPS at the national and regional level, which will lead to the improvement of public procurement efficiency and transparency,
Bidding on-line through the TUNEPS portal became mandatory for the Ministries and Got agencies in September 2018 and it will become mandatory for municipalities in September 2019.
As part of its Year One work plan, JOBS has agreed with the Government to provide technical assistance for training SMEs on the use of TUNEPS and support the establishment of help desks in specific regions. A local consultant will be teamed for this assignment.

OBJECTIVES

The local consultant will work closely with TUNEPS Unit to design and animate training workshops for SMEs and women-owned companies on the use of TUNEPS as well as to design a business model for the establishment of private regional TUNEPS help desks.

The key objectives of this assignment are to ensure that (1) JOBS activities implemented under public procurement policy area are contextually appropriate to the Government’s vision and (2) to facilitate capacity transfer to regional TUNEPS help desks.

DETAILED RESPONSIBILITIES

The detailed responsibilities are outlined below:

• Provide an assessment of the central help desk and concrete recommendations to improve its efficiency;
• Propose a business model and an action plan for the establishment of regional TUNEPS help desks that will be validated by TUNEPS Unit;
• Animate training workshops for SMEs, mainly for women-owned companies on the use of TUNEPS;
• Introduce additional SME’s to the TUNEPS to streamline the registration process.

DELIVERABLES:

All written deliverables will be prepared using standard USAID/Tunisia JOBS templates and appropriate branding and marking.
Specific deliverables are described below:

• Business model including a simulation of impacts on TUNEPS efficiency and transparency;
• Action plan for the setup of specific help desks;
• Evaluation report of the trainings.

REPORTING:

• The consultants will report to USAID/JOBS Business Enabling Environment team leader.

WORKING CONDITIONS/SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

The local consultant is expected to work six days per week for the duration of the assignment. The assignment will take place in Tunis with potential travel outside of Tunis to relevant regions. The travel outside of Tunis will be determined during the assignment in discussions and the JOBS team.

LEVEL OF EFFORT AND PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

This position is a short-term assignment with up to 24 days of LOE.