Title: Academic Expert (SME) – HLGSC Procurement TWG (Global Humanitarian Procurement Collaboration and Performance Initiative – Procurement – Technical Working Group) / Procurement KPI Framework
Date: As soon as possible
Concerned Project(s): Global Humanitarian Procurement Collaboration and Performance Initiative
ToR Reference Number: HULO-HQ-PROC-2026-004
This Call for Interest is open to all eligible consultants, in accordance with hulo’s procedures and principles.
Context of the consultancy:
The Humanitarian Logistics Cooperative, also known as “hulo”, is the first humanitarian European Cooperative Society (SCE) created in June 2021. Hulo now regroups 19 organisations: ACTED, Action contre la Faim (ACF), Bioport, Care International, Fleet Forum, the French Red Cross (FRC), Handicap International / Humanity & Inclusion (HI), International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), Intersos, International Rescue Committee (IRC), Médecins du Monde (MDM), Mercy Corps, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Oxfam Intermón, Plan International, Première Urgence International (PUI), Save the Children International, Solidarités International (SI), and Welthungerhilfe (WHH).
Its objective is to increase the impact of humanitarian aid by strengthening links and solidarity between humanitarian logistics actors and improving performance through the pooling of logistics and supply chain resources and expertise.
hulo is co-lead, alongside WFP and NRC, of the Global Humanitarian Procurement Collaboration and Performance Initiative, a 12-month action (1 September 2026 – 31 August 2027) funded by DG ECHO that operationalises the reform priorities identified by the Humanitarian Leadership Group on Supply Chain (HLGSC) and its Procurement Thematic Working Group (TWG). The action establishes a Global Procurement Forum, develops and tests targeted procurement cooperation guidance, strengthens procurement integration into organisational and project-level decision-making, and develops and pilots a board-level procurement KPI framework, engaging around 30 organisations and 60 practitioners across the humanitarian procurement ecosystem.
Overall scope of work expected from the Consultant:
The Academic Expert provides research and academic input to develop and pilot a concise, board-level procurement KPI framework for humanitarian organisations. Academic input is expected to be most structured under this workstream, particularly for the literature review and evidence synthesis, while procurement and data experts lead organisational data gathering and technical design.
In addition, the Academic Expert holds a cross-cutting role, remaining available to contribute expertise to other results as the action progresses, and providing consultation and sharing relevant academic input across workstreams depending on the topic at hand.
The Consultant is expected to:
1. Consolidate existing KPI practice and relevant evidence
- Conduct a literature review and evidence synthesis on strategic, board-level procurement performance measurement in the humanitarian sector and relevant comparable sectors.
- Identify indicators already used for leadership oversight, areas of emerging convergence, and the strengths and limitations of different measurement approaches.
Expected Deliverable: Literature review and evidence synthesis identifying candidate KPI domains and implementation considerations.
2. Support development of the candidate KPI package
- Provide academic and research input to the strategic relevance, clarity and comparability of candidate board-level KPIs developed jointly with procurement and data experts.
- Contribute to documenting known limitations, data-feasibility considerations and evidence gaps for each candidate indicator.
Expected Deliverable: Academic input to the draft candidate KPI package and data-feasibility assessment.
3. Support technical validation and the leadership package
- Support the Procurement TWG’s technical validation of the candidate KPI package with evidence-based input.
- Contribute academic framing and evidence references to the concise, leadership-ready KPI briefing.
Expected Deliverable: Evidence-based contribution to the technically validated KPI package and leadership briefing.
4. Support pilot learning and refinement of the KPI package
- Provide research input to the analysis of findings from the five core pilots and the wider validation and adoption group, covering data availability, definition consistency and comparability.
- Contribute to the final, refined KPI package and its supporting evidence base and implementation roadmap.
Expected Deliverable: Research-informed contribution to the refined, pilot-tested KPI package.
Qualifications and Experience:
Interested Consultants should possess the following qualifications and experience:
- PhD or advanced Master’s degree in supply chain management, logistics, public policy, economics or a related field, with a research or academic background.
- Demonstrated experience conducting literature reviews and evidence synthesis on procurement or supply chain performance.
- Familiarity with humanitarian procurement systems, KPI frameworks or performance measurement is a strong asset.
- Excellent analytical and academic writing skills.
- Languages: English required; French an asset.
Management and Reporting Lines:
The Academic Expert works under the direct line management of the Project Manager, HLGSC Procurement TWG.
The Academic Expert works in close collaboration with the Procurement Expert(s), the Data Specialist, Data Analyst(s) engaged, and the Procurement Thematic Working Group.
Schedule:
This consultancy targets 20% time engagement over the 12-month action period (1 September 2026 – 31 August 2027).
Application & Contracting Process:
The selected consultant will be contracted by hulo for the duration indicated above but is not expected to work full time throughout this period. He/She is expected to outline the main key steps of the process as part of the Expression of Interest (EOI). These tasks can be carried out remotely, with occasional in-person participation in hulo, TWG or Forum events where relevant.
Hulo invites applications for the provision of services described above. Interested candidates must submit their EOI outlining their financial offer (daily rate with clarifications on other cost covering expectations, plus a proposed overall cost), proposal to meet the ToR, scheduling and CV providing information on capacity and experience, showing qualification for the technical skills required by the scope of work.
Selection Criteria:
Applications will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Relevant experience and qualifications.
- Quality and relevance of the technical proposal.
- Financial offer.
- Understanding of humanitarian and collaborative environments.
How to apply
Deadline & Application information:
Interested Consultants should express their interest as soon as possible, by sending an email containing all the above-mentioned documents to procurement@hulo.coop, mentioning HULO-HQ-PROC-2026-004 in the email title.
A shortlist will be established based on the offers received, and the consultation will follow the rules and procedures of hulo for the use of Consultants.
Please note: the interest shown by a Consultant does not imply any obligation on behalf of hulo for inclusion in the shortlist.