CAO-06-26-Technical Auditor – Independent Verification of Water Utility Performance

CAO-06-26-Technical Auditor – Independent Verification of Water Utility Performance

We are seeking a Technical Auditor to join a consulting firm’s proposal for an international technical assistance assignment in the urban and peri-urban water supply sector in Lusophone Africa.

The assignment will consist of providing independent performance verification services for operators and technical assistance teams supporting public water utilities. The objective will be to verify baselines, contractual performance indicators, technical and operational data quality, operation and maintenance results, and to issue independent reports that may serve as the basis for assessing contractual compliance and results-based payments.

Position

Technical Auditor – Independent Verification Agent

Main responsibilities

The Technical Auditor will be responsible for the technical review, validation and verification of operational and performance indicators of water utilities. Responsibilities will include:

• Verifying technical indicators related to production, distribution, service continuity, pressure, water quality, water losses, operational efficiency, maintenance and infrastructure condition.
• Participating in the definition and implementation of the performance verification protocol.
• Contributing to the establishment of technical baselines and the validation of operational targets.
• Reviewing technical reports, operational data, production records, measurements, maintenance logs, incident reports, inventories and other available technical documentation.
• Carrying out field checks, infrastructure visits, random verifications and cross-checking documentary evidence against the actual condition and performance of the systems.
• Assessing the reliability, sufficiency and traceability of technical data used to measure compliance with indicators.
• Identifying discrepancies, inconsistencies or limitations in the technical information reported by operators or technical assistance teams.
• Contributing to quarterly reports, annual reports, baseline reports and ad hoc reports.
• Issuing objective and well-documented technical recommendations in accordance with international good practice in engineering and water utility management.
• Coordinating with the Project Manager and with the commercial and financial experts to ensure an integrated verification of performance.

Mandatory minimum requirements

Only candidates who clearly demonstrate compliance with all the following requirements will be considered:

• University degree in civil engineering, hydraulic engineering, sanitary engineering, environmental engineering, water resources engineering or a directly related technical discipline.
• At least 10 years of professional experience in the water supply sector, with relevant involvement in operation, maintenance, supervision, auditing, design, rehabilitation or improvement of water systems.
• Proven experience in similar assignments involving technical auditing, technical supervision, performance verification, assessment of utilities or technical assistance to water operators.
• Specific experience in assessing technical indicators of utilities, including at least several of the following areas: water production, service continuity, pressure, water quality, customer metering, bulk metering, non-revenue water, physical losses, preventive/corrective maintenance, energy efficiency, district metered areas, network operation or asset management.
• Experience reviewing and validating technical data from systems with incomplete information, low metering coverage, weak operational records or limited documentary traceability.
• Practical experience in field visits, inspection of hydraulic infrastructure, cross-checking technical records and physical verification of results.
• Experience in projects in developing countries, preferably in Sub-Saharan Africa or comparable institutional contexts.
• Ability to prepare clear, traceable and defensible technical inputs for institutional reports.
• Experience working within multidisciplinary teams with engineering, commercial management, financial auditing and contractual management components.
• Professional Portuguese, spoken and written, is mandatory.
• Professional English, spoken and written, is mandatory.

Experience considered an asset

The following experience will be considered a strong asset:

• Projects financed by multilateral organisations or international financing institutions.
• Management, operation and maintenance contracts for water services.
• Performance-based contracts or contracts with payments linked to technical indicators.
• Technical auditing or independent verification of water utilities.
• Definition of technical baselines, KPIs, measurement methodologies and validation protocols.
• Assessment of plans for non-revenue water reduction, service continuity improvement, coverage expansion, water quality improvement or strengthening of maintenance practices.
• Work in utilities with limited information systems, partial absence of metering, inconsistent operational data or degraded infrastructure.
• Inspection of intakes, treatment plants, pumping stations, reservoirs, distribution networks, service connections and metering systems.
• Support to technical benchmarking processes and comparative assessment of water operators.
• Participation in institutional strengthening programmes or technical assistance assignments for public water utilities.

Profile sought

We are looking for a senior technical profile with real experience in water supply systems and the ability to audit the operational performance of a utility under imperfect information conditions. This is not a conventional design role, nor exclusively a works supervision role: the selected expert must be able to verify results, challenge data, cross-check evidence and issue independent technical judgements.

Generic applications will be disregarded if they do not demonstrate specific experience in water system operation, technical auditing, indicator verification, performance assessment or technical assistance to utilities.

Location and working arrangements

The assignment will combine home-office activities with periodic field missions in a Lusophone African country. The expected duration of the contract is multi-year.

Application documents

Interested candidates must submit:

·         CV in World Bank format, in English.

·         Brief indication of availability.

·         List of similar projects, indicating country, client, dates, role performed and specific relevance to water utilities, commercial management, commercial auditing, performance verification or operation/service improvement contracts.

CVs that are not submitted in World Bank format or that do not clearly allow verification of the mandatory minimum requirements will not be considered.