Financial Expert/Public Procurement and Administration

Deadline for Applications 24 March 2017

ESPON EGTC
“EUROPEAN NODE FOR TERRITORIAL EVIDENCE”
LUXEMBOURG

VACANCY
Financial Expert/Public Procurement and Administration

The ESPON EGTC based in Luxembourg is recruiting a financial expert to replace a permanent staff member for a period of one year. The new staff member will be offered a one-year fixed-term contract and is supposed to take up the position as early as possible to support the implementation of the Single Operation financed by ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme.

What is the ESPON EGTC?

The ESPON EGTC is a European Grouping on Territorial Cooperation. As part of a renewal of ESPON it has been established according to European law to deliver the content envisaged by the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme. The ESPON EGTC is established with an Assembly including members of the 3 Belgian regions and Luxembourg, the latter hosting the ESPON EGTC.

What is the ESPON 2020 Cooperation programme?

The ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme is related to EU Cohesion Policy and shall play the specific role supporting policy development, institutional capacity, effective policymaking and efficient public administration with European territorial evidence and in doing so pursue the following overarching mission:

• ESPON 2020 shall continue the consolidation of a European Territorial Observatory Network and grow the provision and policy use of pan-European, comparable, systematic and reliable territorial evidence.

The ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme has a budget of almost EUR 50m for the period 2014-2020 which is financed mainly by the European Commission, as well as by the 28 EU Member States and 4 Partner States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Luxembourg is the Managing Authority.

What is the task of the EGTC?

The ESPON EGTC is the Single Beneficiary of the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme established to implement:

• Applied research projects on themes defined by policy demand where the European process needs better information and evidence.
• Targeted analyses in cooperation with stakeholders from national, regional and local authorities as well as other programmes under European Structural Investment Funds and European Macro-regions.
• Observation and monitoring of territorial trends and dynamics within Europe as basis for policy consideration covering the entire European territory, its regions and cities as well as European Macro-regions.
• Development and maintenance of a “toolbox” relevant for information and use of the territorial evidence base including data and indicators in the ESPON Database as well as tools for territorial analyses, urban benchmarking, mapping, etc.
• Outreach activities at European level as well in the transnational and national context in order to promote the European perspective of territorial development and cohesion.

As an important element in the renewal of ESPON, the ESPON EGTC has been equipped to serve ongoing policy processes more direct upon demand to deliver rapid analytical responses such as short papers, policy briefs, etc. based on the ESPON evidence base. At the same time, the ESPON EGTC will as legal entity have to ensure an impeccable management and procedural implementation of its activities.

The job as Financial Expert/Public Procurement and Administration

• In the post as Financial Expert/Public Procurement and Administration your main tasks will cover public procurement procedure implementation and contract management for projects conducted under the ESPON EGTC activities. To ensure high quality projects implementation, you will be working in tandem with a Project Expert in a number of projects for the content of the activities and with a Lawyer for the EU and national (LU) regulations. In this context, you shall ensure that EU and Luxembourg regulations requirements are respected.
• In the frame of the public procurement procedures of external contracts, you will be asked among other to (1) draft relevant parts of terms of reference, to publish calls on the “Portail des Marchés Publics” of Luxembourg, (2) participate in opening sessions, (3) assess management and financial capabilities of tenderers, (4) ensure the secretary role of opening and assessment committees, (5) start contracting procedures and (6) ensure the proper implementation of the contract in financial and administrative terms.
• Related to day-to-day work, you will also be responsible together with colleagues for ensuring a sound financial and budgetary management of the ESPON EGTC, respecting the Operation Implementation Guidelines given for the Single Operation. You will among other be involved in monitoring the EGTC Budget, in the continuous internal quality control of payments and accounting and in elaborating the bi-annual Financial Progress Reports to be submitted by the ESPON EGTC to the ESPON MA.
• The legal and regulatory context for your work as Financial Expert are based on the relevant rules for public procurement and financial management of the European Commission as part of the European Structural Investment Funds 2014-2020 as well as Luxembourg legislation.
• The post as Financial Expert/Public Procurement and Administration will in organisational terms be assigned to the Unit on Administration and Management.

Qualifications required

• You carry an advanced University degree (Master’s or equivalent) in Business Administration, Management, Economy, Law or other relevant field of study.
• You have preferably 3-5 years of relevant work experience, with financial and/or legal issues related to international programmes, public procurement and project managements. Candidates with less work experience may also be considered if sufficiently convincing skills and competences are present.
• A lower level of education in those fields can be accepted on a condition of at least 10 years of relevant work experience in financial activities.
• You have insight in European regulations related to ESIF and Cohesion Policy 2014-2020 and you are well acquainted with Luxembourg law relevant for public procurement and contract management.
• You possess analytical and numeracy skills, you are minded for collaboration and team work. You are well organised with good time management, problem-solution orientation and administrative flair, particularly in the fields of public procurement, project management and contract administration. In this context experience in relation to concrete implementation of calls for tender and service contract management will be considered an advantage.
• Good communication skills in English and French are important in order to cover the requested tasks as Luxembourg public procurement legislation is mainly communicated in French. Good computer skills and confidence in working in Excel is considered a pre-condition for the post.

Applying for the posts

Your application shall include a brief letter expressing your motivation and expectations as well as your qualifications and experience in relation to the post. In addition, you shall submit your Curriculum Vitae including the main details concerning your professional experience and educational back ground of relevance for the post as well as the personal and language skills you may bring.
In case you are selected for the post you will be asked to present certified copies of your degree/diplomas as part of the contracting.

If you want to apply for the vacant post please send your application including your CV by e-mail to recruitment@espon.eu indicating Financial Expert/Public Procurement and Administration in the subject line of the email.

Deadline for submitting an application is 24 March 2017 at 16.00.

Selection procedure

The ESPON EGTC establishes a Selection Board, which will invite the best qualified candidates for an interview. All interviews will take place in Luxembourg.

In the selection process the ESPON EGTC applies a policy of equal gender.

Conditions

You will be offered a full time (40 hours/week) fixed-term employment contract (contract à durée determinée) of 1 year, with a possibility to extend if necessary and respecting the provisions of relevant national legislation. A competitive salary will be paid with regard to your experience.

The ESPON EGTC is serving a pan-European programme which is mirrored in the composition of staff. You will at the ESPON EGTC have a diversity of colleagues from different countries in Europe and be part of a multi-cultural working environment which favours cooperation and team work.

Information

You can get further information about the vacant post and the ESPON EGTC as well as on living conditions in Luxembourg by using the email address recruitment@espon.eu or by calling Mrs. Caroline Clause on 00352-20 600 280.
More information on the ESPON 2020 Cooperation Programme and the ESPON EGTC can be accessed on http://www.dat.public.lu/index.html and www.espon.eu.