Consultant For An Internal Audit On The Management Of Construction Projects At Médecins Sans Frontières en Suisse

We are looking for passionate consultants ready to contribute to our humanitarian mission.

Below, you will find the details and the qualifications we are looking for.

Inclusivity and Diversity at MSF

Do your qualifications and experience not exactly match all requirements of the job?

At MSF OCG, we are committed to an inclusive culture that supports and amplifies the diverse voices of our staff members. We strive to create workplaces where teams of people with diverse backgrounds, characteristics, perspectives, ideas and experiences work together to advance MSF’s social mission and create better outcomes for our patients and the communities we work with.

We understand that some people may hesitate to apply for employment if they don’t meet all listed job requirements. Research shows that this is especially true for women. If you believe your profile is a good match for this position, we invite you to apply even if you don’t fulfil every listed qualification.

We encourage applications from individuals of all genders, ages, sexual orientations, ethnicities, background, religions, beliefs, ability status, and all other diversity characteristics.

MSF does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of discrimination or harassment, including sexual harassment. All selected candidates will undergo reference checks.

Sector of activity: construction of medical facilities.

Type of contract: short term consultancy contract.

Duration: 3 to 5 weeks between November 2024 and February 2025

Location: Geneva (with the possibility to conduct part of the work remotely)

Deadline for applications: 24th of November 2024

CONTEXT

Médecins Sans Frontières is an independent, international medical and humanitarian organisation that provides care to people in need, people affected by natural or man-made disasters, and victims of armed conflict, without discrimination and without regard to race, religion, creed or political affiliation (MSF Charter).

Internal audit

The Internal Audit function of MSF Geneva Operational Center (OCG) is positioned under the functional management of the Board represented by the Finance Commission, and the hierarchical management of the Deputy General Director for Internal Affairs.

The purpose of the function is to provide independent, objective assurance and consulting services designed to add value and improve MSF’s operations. The internal audit activity helps MSF accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of governance, risk management, and control processes.

Construction activities

As part of its operations, MSF OCG manages several construction projects, mainly relating to medical facilities and including the extension, rehabilitation or maintenance of an existing structure, or the construction of a new structure.

For 2024, the total budget for construction work was estimated around 7.5M CHF.

Roles and responsibilities for the management of construction work vary depending on the size and complexity of the projects, but it is a transversal process requiring the coordination of various departments, including Operations, Logistics, Medical and Finance. More specifically, for major or complex projects, the project needs to be supervised by a construction specialist at field level, and the Construction and Shelter team (within the Logistics Technical Support unit) provides technical support to Operations. This team is composed of four persons: the Construction and Shelter Technical Referent, two A.M.O (“Assistant à Maitrise d’Ouvrage”/“Planning and Design Officer”) and one Flying Construction Manager. For medical facilities, the Advisor for Hospital Management is also consulted.

Regarding the actual implementation of projects (i.e. building work), two main scenarios can be distinguished:

• Internal implementation: the construction work is carried out by MSF staff and daily workers, and construction materials are procured by MSF supply teams.
• External implementation: the implementation of the project is outsourced to a construction company.

For some projects, a mixed approach is adopted, and the project implementation is carried out with both internal and external resources.

Internal audit on the management of construction work

As per the agreed 2024- 2025 audit plan, OCG Internal Audit team is planning to conduct an internal audit on the management of construction work between the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. To support the implementation of this audit on technical aspects, the team is looking for a consultant specialised in the management of construction projects for medical facilities in the humanitarian sector.

AUDIT OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE

Specific objectives

This audit will aim to:

1. Review OCG existing framework for the management of construction work and assess whether it is adequate in order to mitigate and monitor the risks identified (see below) whilst enabling the achievement of operational ambitions.
2. Review practices at field level, assess compliance with the existing process, and in case of non-compliance identify the cause and impact.
3. Provide recommendations to support operational and technical teams improving the existing framework and practices.

Key risks considered

The following theoretical risks will be considered while performing this audit:

• Non-response to operational needs: the initial objectives and requirements for a construction project may not be clearly and adequately set, and/or they may not be achieved; as a result, operational needs may not be met.
• Delay: a construction project may not be implemented within the deadlines agreed by Operations.
• Increased budget: a construction project may not be implemented within the budget agreed by Operations.
• Inadequate human resources and/or suppliers: staff working on or coordinating a construction project may not have the required skills, construction companies selected to implement a project may not do quality work, there may not be sufficient staff allocated to the project, the monitoring of the project may be insufficient and/or the teams’ turnover may be high.
• Corruption: resources allocated to a construction project may be diverted or used for other purposes than intended, construction material procured may be delivered in lower quantity and/or quality, and/or suppliers may be selected in a biased way.
• Safety risks:
  • A construction project may not be implemented in a safe way, which could have an impact on the safety of staff working on the construction site.
  • The structural and functional quality of the building might be insufficient to guarantee the safety of final users.
• Legal risks:
  • Construction permits and/or approval from lands or facilities’ owners required prior to a construction project may not be obtained and documented.
  • A construction project may not be implemented according to local regulations.

Activities reviewed

From a transversal perspective, the audit will review the overall framework of the process including:

• Existing policy, procedures, tools and guidance
• Roles and responsibilities, decision-making mechanisms and collaboration between the different departments and actors involved.
• Monitoring mechanisms (for both the global portfolio and individual projects).
• Documentation of key steps and decisions, and archiving.

More specifically, the different phases of a construction projects will be considered:

1. Expression of needs.
2. Assessment, including defining the medical and operational needs and the projects objectives in terms of timeframe, budget and quality.
3. Concept design, including designing layout options, construction methods, and resources estimation.
4. Technical design, including obtaining owner authorisation and local approvals, and developing technical documents to implement the concept design.
5. Procurement, including finding and contracting the right implementer(s) within the requested time, cost and quality.
6. Construction work, including implementing, and controlling the work within the specified time, cost and quality.
7. Handover and maintenance, including commissioning, and closing the construction contract.

METHODOLOGY

This audit will be conducted jointly between the construction consultant and OCG internal audit team in two stages as described below:

Part 1 – Review of the overall framework provided by HQ to field missions for the management of construction work.

Part 2 – Based on a sample of recent construction projects (i.e. 10 projects have been pre-selected for this purpose), review of field missions’ practices regarding the management of construction projects.

More specifically, different types of activities will be carried out:

• Interviews with headquarters staff (from different units and departments) and with field staff (for 10 construction projects within seven field missions).
• Review of the construction project cycle, and comparison with other project cycles available from similar organisations doing construction and rehabilitation under similar circumstances.
• Review of other framework documents, including the Construction and Rehabilitation policy, the Project Handbook, the Initiation Form and any other relevant tools and templates.
• Data analysis.
• For the 10 construction projects sampled: review of key documents for each phase (e.g. initiation form, project brief, concept design, budget, work schedule, building permit, tender, CBA, contract) and assessment of indicators to identify deviations with initial plans (e.g. duration, cost, human resources).

Note: The allocation of work between the construction consultant and OCG internal audit team will be discussed and agreed at the beginning of the audit.

The overall coordination and oversight of the audit will be done by the Head of Internal Audit.

DELIVERABLES

For this audit, the consultant is expected to:

• Hold regular progress update meetings (at least bi-weekly) with the internal audit team.
• Participate in debriefings with the audit recipients (including a general debriefing and seven specific debriefings for each field mission) and present technical audit observations.
• Provide an audit file including a summary of the audit methodology followed and of the work performed (e.g. list of interviews carried out, tests completed), as well as background information required to understand and justify each audit point (e.g. synthesis of interviews, reference to tests results).
• Contribute to the elaboration of the audit report by writing technical audit findings, with associated risks and recommendations (the template for this report will be provided by the internal audit team).

CONSULTANT PROFILE

Qualification

Essential:

• Post-graduate diploma in architecture, civil engineering or related fields.

Experience

Essential:

· Experience in the management of construction projects for medical facilities in the humanitarian sector and in the private and/or public sector.

· Field experience with an INGO.

Desirable:

• MSF experience.
• Previous experience in conducting audits, evaluations or strategic reviews.

Competencies

Essential:

· Very good understanding of humanitarian operations and contexts.

· Management of construction projects for medical facilities.

· Meticulous, structured and organised.

· Curious, analytical and active listener.

· Very good oral and written communication skills.

· Fluent in English.

· Strong cultural awareness.

· Committed to MSF values.

Desirable:

· French.

· Risks analysis.