Job Opportunity at USAID, Technical Assistance August 2023

Job Opportunity at USAID, Technical Assistance August 2023, GLOBAL HEALTH SUPPLY CHAIN PROGRAM Conduct progress meetings/presentations to GHSC-TA-TZ and MSD EMT. Identify and capacitate 20 MSD staff as pool of trainers for future trainings in other zones

• TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE – TANZANIA
• Purpose : Building Capacity of MSD staff on warehouse management best practices   Provider(s) : TBD
• Period of Performance : Mid-September 2023 to mid-March 2024)
• Place of Performance : Tanzania

USAID, Technical Assistance

The USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program Technical Assistance – Tanzania (GHSC-TA-TZ) has been working closed with Medical Stores Department (MSD) in the area of system strengthening in line with project goal of supporting the development of agile, robust, and sustainable health supply chains that will contribute to improving medicines availability, and ultimately the health status of  Tanzanians. MSD, as the parastatal agency responsible for production, procurement, storage and distribution to all public sector  facilities; is a key player in improving health commodities availability and ultimately the health status of Tanzanians.

MSD delivers medicines, medical supplies and laboratory reagents directly to over 7,000 public health facilities in Tanzania. Recently, MSD has  embarked on reformation processes aimed at improving its operational performance with focus areas to include service and  operational excellence, timely availability of quality health commodities with affordable price through local production, as well as  promoting good governance. In August 2022, GHSC-TA-TZ in collaboration with MSD conducted a rapid assessment of the current  warehouse management operations at MSD warehouses of Dar es Salaam and Central to establish what has changed in relation to the  findings and recommendations included in an assessment report done in 2018.

(The implementation of the recommendations contained in the 2018 report were halted due to the emergency of COVID-19 pandemic). By early 2023, recommendations from the rapid assessment were made available with proposed three (3) key activities: 1) system strengthening activities; 2) storage capacity addition initiatives; and 3) ERP system replacement activity. GHSC-TA-TZ is collaborating with MSD to support part of the identified system-strengthening activities outlined in the rapid assessment report.

Objectives 

The objectives of this Short-Term Technical Assistance (STTA) scope of work are: 

1. To support the Medical Stores Department (MSD) in addressing inventory management challenges and issues identified in the  rapid assessment report with specific focus at the central warehouse and Dodoma zone to improve efficiency. 2. To build capacity to MSD staff aiming at improving warehouse operations including change management at central MSD and  Dodoma zone.  
2. To develop a phased costed roadmap for route optimization implementation at MSD Dodoma zone.  

Activities 

Total days allocated – 150 days Conduct meetings with MSD management and other staff to identify and develop a detailed implementation plan for the execution of the objectives/activities listed including the project plan.Assist MSD in the evaluation of the bid to identify the competent expert/company to undertake evaluation, adjudication, and testing of the ERP for MSD, ensuring that the criteria set for the system meet goals as per best practice. These include FEFO-based picking, traceability, cycle counting, MRP, and barcode processing capability. 

1. Develop customized training materials on best practice inventory management, and warehouse operations including change  management training of MSD staff in selected zones to improve warehouse practices. The training materials should include but  not limited to Material Resource Planning (FEFO picking practices, cycle counts, separation of bin locations into Bulk & Active  locations and the related replenishment, etc; Material Resource Planning (MRP) at the zonal level for Transfer Order suggestion  and at Central level for Procurement suggestions and Gravity Flow Rack, separation and fencing off of areas reserved for single  unit picking at Central level, mitigating expiry of health commodities including isolation of expired ones and general  house-keeping for disposal and change management.  
2. Train MSD staff (Central and MSD Dodoma) on inventory management best practices, warehouse operations, change  management including FEFO picking practices, cycle counts, separation of bin locations into Bulk & Active locations and the  related replenishment, etc 
3. Training to re-introduce Material Resource Planning (MRP) at zonal level for Transfer Order suggestion and at Central level for  Procurement suggestions and Gravity Flow Rack for the MSD Dodoma zone  

Deliverables with timelines 

Trip report completed within 5 working days after the consultancy Training package for MSD staff on warehouse management best practices Training package for MSD staff on change management Number of TOTs capacitated (10 from MSD central and 10 from Dodoma MSD zone) Technical report outlining activities accomplished and further recommendations/plans made with MSD staff A costed route optimization roadmap that encompasses inputs driven cost inputs such as modern software required to facilitate  execution of the plan,

Activity Schedule 

Qualifications and Attributes required 

The applicant for this consultancy should possess the following minimum qualifications and can provide documentation supporting  capabilities and past experience: 

Demonstrated Technical Capabilities

• Be a qualified professional with a demonstrated track record in developing supply chain best practices.
• Experience in developing warehouse management systems and have knowledge of delivering transitional organization support.
• Experience in building capacity in warehousing best practice in pharmaceutical supply chain environments
• Experience in ERP/WMS systems and their applications in pharmaceutical distribution chains
• Experience in change management with international experience in designing pharmaceutical supply chain infrastructure, particularly pharmaceutical warehousing projects.
• Proven 15+ (years) of pharmaceutical supply chain experience in Sub-Sahara Africa.
• Experience in designing and supervising the development/construction of pharmaceutical warehousing infrastructures.
• Extensive experience working to remodel the supply chain of health commodities.
• Extensive experience working in Tanzania will be an added advantage.
• Experience working with the Tanzania Medical Stores Department (MSD) will be an added advantage.

Demonstrated Project Management and Communications capabilities. 

Demonstrated experience leading and supporting similar projects. Strong experience managing projects of this scope and size, including meeting deadlines and managing risks. Experience in planning and executing communications efforts in support of projects of this scope and size Be able to participate and lead in-person workshop(s) to review prototype materials, as needed Excellent verbal and written English and Swahili Proven experience in the kitting of pharmaceutical warehouses Mentoring and hands-on experience in process improvement Proven experience in Project Management Familiarity with MSD operation will be an added advantage An B.Sc. Degree in Logistics or Engineering discipline will be an added advantage

Proposal Submission and Timelines 

*All submissions have to be sent to peace.nyankojo@tz-ghsc.com with cc to michael.kishiwa@tz-ghsc.com and james.bagoka@tz-ghsc.com 

Bid submissions have to be submitted by 1st September 2023.  All quotes have to be valid for a period of 150 calendar days.  All cost proposals should be broken down by the number of position descriptions/types, hours, hourly rates, and deliverables. The work is expected to start once the contract is signed by the contractor.  

The duration of the contract is expected to be 150 workdays. All work should be completed within the contract duration. Work is expected to commence in Mid Sept 2023.  All proposals should be priced/quoted according to days and deliverables.  All proposals should include references and contacts of which the bidder performed a similar work Examples of past work are required and should be shown when needed. 

Selection Criteria 

Past experience proven 15+ (years) in the pharmaceutical supply chain in Sub-Sahara Africa.  Extensive experience working in Tanzania Experience working with MSD ERP/WMS systems and their applications in Pharmaceutical Distribution Chains References checks Quality of proposal Pricing. 

Background Documents 

Please contact Peace Nyankojo peace.nyankojo@tz-ghsc.com for further clarifications and to obtain materials.  

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