Kyiv

ERA BACKGROUND

Ukraine’s efforts to win the future – emerging from Russia’s full-scale war ready to accelerate its development as a sovereign, independent, democratic, and prosperous state – require a dynamic, inclusive economic recovery. Through partnerships with the government and robust private sector engagement, ERA has supported economic growth and resilience in Ukraine since 2018. Following Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and subsequent occupation of the part of Ukraine, ERA shifted from its focus on Eastern Ukraine to cover development priorities across the country that address Ukraine’s urgent needs in export logistics and infrastructural improvements.

AGRI-UKRAINE GRAIN EXPORT LOGISTICS

USAID’s Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) is one of USAID’s core partners implementing the $350 million Agriculture Resilience Initiative – Ukraine (AGRI-Ukraine) that was established in 2022 to bolster Ukrainian agricultural exports and alleviate the global food security crisis exacerbated by the war. Under AGRI-Ukraine, ERA partners with public and private companies to complement and leverage urgently-needed grain transportation and transshipment investments.

INFRASTRUCTURAL IMPROVEMENTS

ERA also directly supports the Government of Ukraine, including the State Agency for Restoration and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine (SARDI), the State Customs Service and Ukrainian Railways, to upgrade 42 of Ukraine’s border crossing points (BCPs). Modern and more efficient border infrastructure and customs procedures will reduce export costs and increase export capacity, enabling Ukraine to scale trade and advance its path to EU integration.

ENERGY AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE (EER) SUPPORT

As one of USAID’s most flexible activities that responds to emerging and/or emergency needs, ERA is expanding its interventions that assist Ukraine businesses, communities or individuals in the fall and winter (September 2024-December 2025). The goal is to minimize the impact on the Ukrainian people and economy given recent power deficits. This is an adaptive component and ERA may also need to respond to other emergency needs in the face of ongoing Russian aggression and attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.

JOB OVERVIEW

Cost Estimating Engineer will be a key member of ERA’s BCP Team, responsible for providing cost estimation review for the project’s biddability and constructability at the design and construction stages. This position is essential to support the BCP team in the successful implementation of activities and timely support of the team both at the stage of preparation of tender proposals based on the Ukrainian Cost Estimate documentation and BoQ as well as on the construction stage commissioning and handing over of infrastructure facilities into operation (KB-2, KB-3, and others national forms).

The Cost Estimate Engineer is needed to review the BoQs and ensure all the items in the plans and specifications are included in the BoQ to reduce the risk of excessive change orders, cost, and time delay for the project completion. This position will also review the bid proposal to ensure the prices of front-loading bids and unbalanced bid items. This position will support all major, medium-lift, and rapid upgrade projects. Due to fluctuating and dynamic market changes in Ukraine and labor shortage, this person will keep a pulse on the market price changes.

Based in Kyiv, the Cost Estimate Engineer will report to the Senior Manager for BCP Infrastructure and the Senior Manager for BCP Upgrades and work closely with the BCP Director to ensure alignment and consistency in reporting and follow-up activities across the BCP team.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Design Review (Design Documentation Review (DDR)) of the Cost Estimation Chapters. Almost all the Design Documentation will be in the Ukrainian language.
• The Cost estimating engineer is expected to provide comprehensive inputs into the design estimate documentation (DED) Chapters (volumes) submitted to DAI by its subcontractors during the design phase of the project, within the following aspects:
  • Review of completeness of cost estimation documentation in terms of its biddability for construction tendering as per Ukrainian legislation;
  • Review of DED (cost estimates parts) – its comprehensiveness and alignment with Ukrainian standards and regulations – for the possibility of passing the state expertise procedure;
  • Review DED (cost estimates parts) in terms of their adequacy and alignment with USAID’s policies and regulations;
  • Review DED (cost estimates parts) in terms of its overall technical adequacy for construction and Ukrainian legislation, norms, bylaws, and governmental guidelines for construction;
  • BoQs review in terms of their adherence to market rates in Ukraine.
  • Check the quantities of work in the BoQ vs. plans and
• Review of construction services tender packages (Cost Estimate Chapters of the DED) in terms of their completeness and adherence to tendering procedures of the project. The cost estimating engineer shall check the composition of works and materials provided for evaluation by tender participants and check for compliance with Cost Estimate documentation developed by A&E design company. The work will be based on an analysis of Cost Estimate documentation developed with the AVK software (АВК – in Ukrainian, national cost estimate software) and on a comparison of the list and composition of works and materials.
• Support the BCP team in engineering and construction administration processes, within cost estimation consultancy. The services needed could include reviewing claims, change orders, and disputes between A&E design company and construction subcontractor to review the cost of additional work and other matters as relevant.
• Checking national forms of construction documentation and reporting, as well as comparing the list of works (with the content of these construction works within DED), the list of materials used and their compliance with the developed DED. CEE shall check the cost estimate documents that will be submitted for verification by subcontractors before their further processing by DAI ERA’s SMT and followingly, their approval process by the USAID Management team.
• Checking national forms of the DED for the intermediate and final reports at the handing over of infrastructure facilities into operation.

QUALIFICATIONS

• MA/BA in Cost Estimating Engineering Construction or a related field.
• Cost Estimating Engineer Certificate is required.
• A minimum of 5 years of experience in cost estimation for construction projects (new construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation of infrastructure projects).
• Mid-level English is required. Verbal English skills will be tested during the interview process.
• Experience with international donor-funded projects is preferred.
• Based in Ukraine and ready for site visits along the western and southern borders of Ukraine as well as potential meetings in Kyiv, Lviv, and Odesa.

JOB EXPECTATIONS:

In this position, you are expected to share the DAI four core values:

• Integrity: commit to civil and ethical behavior, play by the rules, and do the right thing;
• Responsibility: be accountable to clients, partners, grant recipients, beneficiaries, colleagues, and communities where we work. If you fall short, you own up, fix the problem, and get it right the next time;
• Excellence: adhere to the highest technical and professional standards in innovation, learning, and service;
• Global Citizenship: respect the cultural diversity and treat everyone everywhere with professionalism and dignity to make the world a better place.

WE OFFER

Contract length: 12-month employment agreement with a possibility of extension.

Benefits Package:

• 28 calendar days of annual leave
• 10 days of internal well-being paid leave per annum
• Medical Insurance for ERA staff and their families
• Life Insurance for ERA staff
• Coverage of all expenses for the business trips
• Military reservation is possible and granted if you are on a relevant military register

Start date: November 2024

Application process

All applicants must send a cover letter and updated CV (no longer than four pages) in English to ukraine@dai.com

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or status as a protected veteran.

Closing date for applications: October 24, 2024.

For further information about DAI GLOBAL LLC, please consult our website era-ukraine.org.ua.