Job Opportunity at USAID, Technical Assistance
GLOBAL HEALTH SUPPLY CHAIN PROGRAM
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
Background.
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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
- Provide technical support in separation and fencing off of areas reserved for single unit picking at the Dar es Salaam zone or a selected pilot zone
- Build capacity of MSD staff (Central and MSD Dodoma) on mitigating expiry of health commodities including technical assistance in isolation of expired ones and general house-keeping for disposal
- Develop a costed roadmap for route optimization for MSD Dodoma zone including estimated cost of implementation i. Develop and implement change management training to MSD staff
- Recommend performance monitoring plan with key process/output indicators which can be implemented to track performance after trainings
- 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
- 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
| Activity | Start Dates | Completion Date Locations | |
| Systems Strengthening activities | Mid Sept 2023 | Mid Mar 2024 | MSD Central and Dodoma zone |
| Warehouse Best Practices | Mid Sept 2023 | Mid Mar 2024 | MSD Central and Dodoma zone |
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 01st 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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