Water and Sanitation Program South Asia is looking for a technical consultant

OBJECTIVE
WSP wishes to engage the services of a technical consultant for facilitating the development of an online performance benchmarking system The overarching role of the consultant will be to act as a technical liaison between the WSP Rural Sanitation team and the firm that will be engaged by WSP for the development of this online benchmarking system. The consultant is expected to work in the capacity of the key technical resource person from the WSP’s team for: leading discussions during the evaluation of proposals received from various competing firms, facilitating the selection process, collaborating with the WSP team for establishing technical requirements for software development and post-procurement, managing the outputs and activities of the firm for development of a robust benchmarking system and ensuring that O&M support is provided by the firm in a timely and appropriate fashion.
 
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
The key responsibilities of the STC will fall into two broad areas: technical supervision/oversight and overall program management. A brief write up on these two areas is provided below:

Technical Supervision/Oversight

• Collaborate with the Rural Sanitation team for establishing the requirements of the benchmarking system. This will include finalizing
  • the ideal user interface
  • types of comparative outputs the system would be required to generate ( type of charts/graphs to be used etc.)
  • the data storage and printing capabilities of the system
• Based on the system requirements, develop technical guidelines to be adopted for the actual software development. This guidance document should include recommendations on technical aspects such as: technology platform to be used, coding language to be employed, expected server requirements, proposed system configuration, user interface etc.
• Provide technical inputs for evaluating various proposals received through the competitive procurement process and facilitate the actual selection process.
• Provide technical oversight to the firm during the software development process.
• Review the deliverables and ensure tight quality control on the firm’s outputs at every stage in the software development process. For example, if the firm’s deliverable is a mock design of the proposed system, then review the code, evaluate the system performance and provide constructive feedback on how to optimize and improve system functioning.

Program Management

• Share relevant background information/documents on the existing performance benchmarking system with the firm and support the firm in gathering base input data for the system from multiple sources. 
• Manage the activities of the firm and maintain project schedule and deadlines for all deliverables.
• Maintain an open line of communication with the firm and provide on-going technical and managerial supervision.
• Collate feedback from all the team members on the firm’s deliverables and provide detailed response to the firm through an efficient and effective feedback cycle.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS
The following outputs are expected from this position:

• Facilitate the procurement of a suitably qualified agency for development of an online benchmarking system
• Technical guidance document developed on the basis of finalized system requirements.
• Detailed feedback on the firm’s deliverables as listed below :

KEY COMPETENCIES

• At least 5 years of experience in software development with specific experience in development of online data monitoring systems
• Managerial experience in leading, mentoring/training software development teams is an asset
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English
• Ability to work independently as well as a part of a team

DURATION
The duration of the contract will be period of 35 days until 31 March 2010. In one financial year (July-June), the total number of days of hiring will be restricted to 150 days. The consultant will be paid, upon presentation of invoices and contingent upon timely submission of agreed deliverables which are commensurate with Bank quality standards.

REPORTING
The consultant will report to Task Team Leader, Mr. Ajith Kumar, at WSP-Delhi. In addition, the consultant shall work in close coordination with other members of the team, based on requirement.

ANNEX I

Background information on WSP’s Performance Benchmarking System
WSP’s present benchmarking system compares sanitation performance of different districts in a state based on 8 pre-defined indicators which have been developed to enable balanced performance measurement across inputs, outputs, processes and outcomes. Performance benchmarking is based on data from the TSC and NGP online monitoring systems, wherein TSC data is updated on a monthly basis and NGP data on an annual basis. The benchmarking exercise is a five step process which is briefly explained below.

Step 1: Select indicators and collect data from TSC/NGP

While for most states these indicators are standard, there are a few states for which some indicators are different, since these indicators have been developed in consultation with various client states. Therefore, based on the state, a list of indicators to be used is selected and accordingly the base data is collected from TSC and NGP online systems along with primary data provided directly by the state ( in some cases).  

Step 2: Assign scores to each indicator

Based on pre-defined weighted scores for each of the 8 indicators, the performance of every district is scored on each of these indicators within the specified minimum and maximum range of marks for that particular indicator.

Step 3: Sum up Scores

In this benchmarking system, the total score across all the 8 indicators has been capped at 100. Therefore, for the purpose of ranking performance amongst various districts, individual scores on each of the indicators are added to arrive at a cumulative or Grand Score out of 100.

Step 4: Benchmark districts based on scores achieved

Districts are ranked in descending order on the basis of Grand Score achieved. Thereafter, the scores are divided into 4 pre-defined color coded performance bands based on the scores received. The scores are presented as a graph and a color coded map showing district performance relative to each other. In a similar fashion, performance of all districts is ranked for each of the indicators and presented graphically.

Step 5: Disseminate Results at Periodic Intervals

Based on the benchmarking results, performance benchmarking reports which include detailed explanation of the findings are generated by WSP and circulated on a monthly basis to the client states. In addition to monthly reports, quarterly, semi-annual and annual reports are prepared for measuring progress over time. 

The deadline for applications is 7 December

Contact Details:

wspsa@worldbank.org
Phone: (011) 2469-0488