Background:
Public procurement is one of the key areas of state activity and it’s one of the most important processes of public finance management. It is also an instrument that can be used to help achieve other policy goals, such as good governance, anti-corruption, and economic development including successful recovery from the present crisis. The Government of Albanian has taken important steps to build a modern system to improve the overall effectiveness of public procurement, especially regarding the legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks, as well as with the development and functioning of an e-procurement system. Procurement officials’ educational level and qualifications are a key source influencing administrative capacity to carry out public procurement procedures, ultimately impacting institutions' overall performance and management. The OSCE Presence in Albania’s Extra-budgetary Project “Enhancing policies and strengthening the capacities, transparency and accountability of the Public Procurement System in Albania”, aims to support the public procurement authorities to address the lack of continuous, certified training on public procurement for public procurement officials. The development of the new curriculum aims to increase the capacities of public procurement officials and eventually improve efficiency, planning and monitoring of public procurement procedures in contracting authorities and public procurement agency.
Objective of Assignment:
The project will support the design of the new curriculum on public procurement for public officials including specific syllabi and the development of a new Training of Trainers (ToT) program. The ToT participants will be tested and evaluated on the knowledge gained through the ToT program and their teaching skills developed through the delivery of five pilot procurement training targeting about 100 officials. Finally, ASPA, PPA and DoPA would take all the necessary institutional and legal procedures to certify the new continuous public procurement curriculum as per the legal framework in place. Lastly, at a second stage ASPA will engage through its human resources to adapt the new curriculum and training materials into a user-friendly format for the E-learning platform of ASPA. This would help the training providers to roll out the new curriculum in class and online.
Duration of Assignment:
Earliest starting date:01 August 2022 until 15 March 2023.
Tasks and Responsibilities:
Before the inception phase, the Presence will establish a working group for the coordination and implementation of this activity, including the representatives of the key beneficiaries such as the ASPA, PPA and DoPA, the advisor and other hired. The Presence will initiate and maintain the communication flow between the Advisor, institutions involved and beneficiaries (ASPA, PPA and DoPA), and the training participants.
Under the supervision of the Presence and close in collaboration with the ASPA and PPA, the Advisor will perform the following main tasks:
Task 1. Prepare an Inception Report that details the proposed methodology, the timeline and work plan framework for:
drafting a new Public Procurement Curriculum drafting and delivering the ToT program providing guidance for the delivery of five pilot trainings to public procurement officials.
The methodology should include the approach and instruments that the advisor proposes in order to implement the foreseen tasks. The work plan should provide a realistic plan for each of the tasks to be provided through this assignment, instruments to be uses such as desk research, consultations (interview /focus groups), the timing, key deliverables, and the areas where additional expertise is required and the respective tasks and deliverables to be responsible for. The Presence may consider hiring of additional short-term experts to cover specific areas of expertise, as needed for the design and implementation for specific modules of the public procurement curriculum and ToT program.
Task 2. Design the new curriculum on public procurement
Based on the inception report, secondary data collected from the Presence and beneficiary institutions, as well as key stakeholders consultations, the Advisor will draft the new curriculum on public procurement. The Advisor will consult with independent experts, practitioners, and other key stakeholders when designing the curriculum framework to inclusively address the current needs and priorities of the sector. The new curriculum should contain three comprehensive syllabi and several training modules to respond to different skills and knowledge of procurement officials at basic, intermediate and advanced levels.
Task 2.1 Draft the new curriculum syllabi and training material
The Advisor will be responsible to draft the new curriculum on public procurement consisting of the three, level-specific syllabi and their respective modules, training materials and participants training metrics. As indicated above, the Presence may consider hiring of additional short-term experts to cover specific areas of expertise, as needed for the design of the public procurement training material, which should be indicated during the inception phase.
The following list of the training modules per required certification levels is given for orientation, and more guidelines will be discussed and shared at the beginning of the consultancy.
Knowledge of Regulatory Framework Implementation of basic and standard tasks of procurement procedures Preparation of tender documents Functioning of the electronic procurement system Integrity and Conflict of Interest Principles Planning, evaluation, and monitoring EU Public Procurement Directives and Tools Conducting corruption risk assessment, risk management on high value public procurement procedures Socially responsible Public ProcurementThe Advisor will cooperate with the PPA in the drafting of the curriculum training material to coordinate the presentation of some technical curricula topics, such as the new regulatory framework, processes, etc. The PPA will engage as in kind contribution its core staff in providing contextualised information and practical examples and case studies.
Task 2.2 Revise and Finalize the new curriculum and training material
The Advisor will revise the new curriculum upon validation with key stakeholders, such as public procurement practitioners, independent experts. The Advisor will reflect ASPA, PPA and DoPA comments and suggestions delivered jointly through the Presence. The final revised curriculum will be subject to approval by the Presence.
Task 3. Design the Training of Trainers course
Based on the new curriculum on public procurement, the Advisor will design a Training of Trainers course syllabus (deriving from Task 2 outcome). The ToT should include all technical subject areas, but focus on both theoretical and practical aspects from a teaching perspective. The additional subjects of the ToT modules, such as market analysis, teaching and coaching techniques are given for orientation and more guidelines will be discussed and shared at the beginning of the consultancy. The designed ToT course needs to emphasize and interlink teaching and coaching techniques throughout the program to ensure that the ToT participants are not only trained on the content/subject area, but their teaching capacities are developed to deliver it to their future trainees.
Task 3.1 Draft the Training of Trainers course syllabus and training materials
This vacancy is archived.