Consultancy Services for Transportation and Movement Specialists

The Department of Operational Support (DOS) of the United Nations (UN) arranges a large number of passenger airlift, cargo airlift and cargo sealift in support of the UN Peacekeeping Missions. Sea movement of peacekeepers cargo tends to be complicated operations with a large volume of cargo being moved, and usually originating from one or more location inside Troop Contributing Countries (TCC) and/or Police Contributing Countries (PCC) and frequently requiring a multimodal movement. Inland transportation within a UN Peacekeeping Mission is also required to deliver the cargo to the TCC/PCC Contingent’s final destination. A significant expenditure is related to start up of new UN Peacekeeping Missions or drawdown of existing UN Peacekeeping Missions, where a large amount of equipment and supplies must be transported to the Mission area in a relatively short period of time. The equipment and supplies comprises both United Nations Owned Equipment (UNOE) and Contingent Owned Equipment (COE) belonging to TCC/PCCs. The movement of COE generally falls into two categories: (a) strategic movement and (b) tactical or in-theatre movement. Within a given UN Peacekeeping Mission, the UN has a number of logistics/movement control specialists who look after the in-theatre movement via all applicable modes of transport. The UN also employs a small number of movement control specialists at its headquarters in New York who plan, arrange, execute and monitor all strategic movement. For major deployments of COE from TCC/PCCs, it is often necessary to dispatch a transportation and movements specialist to these countries to oversee operations. There are not always sufficient movement control specialists staffed within the UN to meet surge requirements. In view of above, the UN Procurement Division plans to issue a solicitation for the provision of consultancy services for transportation and movement specialits. The primary purpose of the resulting contract is to obtain a qualified and certified logistics/movement control specialist(s) who will act as the UN’s agent with TCCs/PCCs during major movements. Additional specialists may be required at trans-shipment points en-route to or within a UN Peacekeeping Mission area. A secondary requirement may include assistance to Movement Control Section Staff on an as-required basis to support surge requirements at UNHQ in New York or in UN Peacekeeping Missions. Essentially the Movements/Transport Specialist will be the UNHQ’s “eyes and ears” on the ground where the transport originates. The duties and responsibilities include liaising with the military and other governmental authorities within the TCC/PCC, providing guidance and assistance to the TCC/PCC, liaising with the UN contractors, providing feedback and information to the UNHQ and UN Peacekeeping Missions, etc, related to the cargo movement. The UN expects the contractor to have at least several years of international experience for provision of consultancy services for transportation and movements. The UN also expects the contractor to have no vested interests or long term associations with any UN contractors providing COE movements. In addition, the UN expects the contractor to provide, at any given time, several specialists with relevant qualifications / certifications. Vendors must have the organization and capacity to carry out their duties and responsibilities in a professional manner and must have the capability of fielding two (2) teams of up to four (4) members each, simultaneously. Vendors interested in participating in the upcoming solicitation must submit a response to this Request for Expression of Interest. The detailed scope of requirements, including the technical specifications, will be provided in the upcoming Request for Proposal (RFP), which will be sent out to all vendors responding to this REOI. No further details will be made available prior to the issuance of the RFP. This REOI does not constitute a solicitation. The UN reserves the right to change or cancel the requirement at any time during the REOI and/or solicitation process.