USAID Trade Facilitation Program

SCOPE OF WORK

Training / Knowledge sharing Consultant
on Customs Risk Management

Proposed Personnel:          Local Short-term Technical Assistance (STTA)

                                           Risk Management Training Consultant

Period of Performance:       o/a March 2021 – May 2021

Origin/Destination:             [tbc] Hanoi and some of the selected provinces of the Program in Vietnam

Travel Dates:                       o/a March 2021 – May 2021

Activity No.                          Activity 3.1. Training on Risk Management

• Sub-activity 3.1.1. In-depth training on key analysis and targeted identification of goods analysis and targeting of sea cargo; and
• Sub-activity 3.1.2. Intensive training for customs officers on collection and processing of information on export-import cargo via road transport

(Risk Management Department, General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) 

MEL indicator(s):                IR2.1-1 IR3.1-1 IR3.1-2 CBLD-9

Project Background

The USAID Trade Facilitation Program (“the Program”) is a five-year project that aims to support the adoption and implementation of a risk–based approach to customs and specialized inspection institutions in Vietnam. The Program will work with the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) to strengthen the National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) of Vietnam and its Working Groups; streamline border clearance procedures (including specialized inspection implemented by other line ministries and agencies); harmonize the implementation of risk-based approaches between  national and provincial levels; train national and provincial customs officers and staff from other ministries on risk management; and facilitate dialogue between customs and business and between stakeholders in Hanoi and in the provinces.

At the moment, the leadership officials of GDVC are aiming towards the following key objectives:

• SMART Customs model – strategy to the year 2030 with a vision to 2045;
• Re-structuring Customs procedure module (currently VNACCS/VCIS have been out of date) to have a separate module owned by Vietnam Customs with experience learned from UK, US, EU customs.

Activity Description

Background: Within the approved Year 3 Work Plan (Y3WP) for Fiscal Year 2021 (FY2021), the Program, based on the discussion and agreement with the Risk Management Department (RMD) under GDVC, will implement Activity 3.1 Capacity Assessment and training on Risk Management, in which there are two Sub-activities coded as 3.1.1 and 3.1.2, among others.

3.1	Capacity assessment and training on risk management
3.1.1	Training and in-depth training on analysis and targeting of sea cargo, including some contents such as: General knowledge about targeting; process of analysis, targeting (method of collecting information, analyzing risks ...); How to select risky containers for inspection by container scanners; trace a container, a ship; experience in analyzing E-manifest information; Introduce information systems, tools and software for targeting purposes; Case studies; exercise.	Duration: 5 days training course; Tentative time: April 2021 Target audience: 50 customs officers working on risk targeting	STTA experts (1 national & 1 international)
3.1.2	Intensive training for customs officers on collection and processing of information on export-import cargo via road transport: How to select containers and shipments carried on land vehicles for inspection by scanners; How to track container movement, vehicle movement on land; Introduce systems and software for collecting information and analyzing land route cargoes, passengers and transport means of US Customs and some countries with land border conditions similar to those of Vietnam; Experience in handling common situations.

 

The Activity and Sub-activities are developed based on the actual need of RMD.

With the current revolution of the global Covid pandemics and the subsequent development of e-commerce, there has been a significant increase in the volume of goods/cargoes exported and imported cross-border by all channels of transport, from road and sea to air.

As the focal point of risk management at the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC), the Risk Management Department (RMD) has been assigned by the Director General with a number of tasks related to collecting and processing information, developing and managing the application of risk criteria, managing, evaluating compliance, categorizing risks within the customs risk management expertise, etc. Among a number of risk management procedures and regulations, targeting of exported and imported cargoes/goods plays an important role in the decision-making process. Customs targeting work is built on legal foundation of the Government’s relevant Circular 18/TT-BTC dated 2019 by the Minister of Finance Vietnam and Decisions 2281/QD-TCHQ and 1371/QD-TCHQ dated 2020 by GDVC Director General and has certain principles and operation organization flow at central level and departmental level, rules in inspection and selection using scanners, and target identification in exportation and importation.

Risk evaluation on goods related to targeting work has been implemented strongly in 2020, which is also a request from GDVC to the risk management team of the entire sector. However, due to the typical rotation feature of Vietnam Customs, capacity building and development remain a constant needs.

Objectives:

• The training / knowledge sharing aims at providing the necessary information and knowledge theory of targeting work from the perspective and experience of a local expert;
• Training content will be built and broken into sessions following an agenda developed in close cooperation with the USAID Trade Facilitation Program and GDVC’s RMD.

Given the current global Covid-19 situation, a renovation in training delivery modality also needs to be identified. In-class training may not be currently recommended, while e-learning through video-conference and blended training can be an alternative. 

Tasks & Responsibilities

1.       To develop content materials of the training/knowledge sharing sessions, share and discuss with RMD and the Program and finalize. The content should cover the following but not limited to currently RM capacity development in Vietnam Customs on:

• Vietnam customs context, roles, impacts and challenges to highlight the global trends and its impacts on the role of Vietnam customs and how the RM policies of Vietnam Customs meet the requirements of this context; knowledge of RM as defined by the revised Kyoto Convention and WCO, dimension of risk, RM principles, benefits of RM to customs and stakeholders, legal provisions and organizational requirements, standards for RM officers, SWOT analysis;
• RM process, decision making in RM, RM concept, how the border controls applied to cargo, role of border controls, level of border controls risk-based audit;
• Risk assessment for cargo, including risk assessment, profiling, targeting (risk indicators for cargo, curious shipments, pax and for conveyances); risk assessment for pax, air cargo, sea cargo, and vessels. etc.;

2.       To produce training materials in the forms of PowerPoint, Words, Excel and others following the agreed training content;

3.       To deliver capacity development sessions to the audience who are risk management targeting staff of Vietnam Customs at both central (RMD, GDVC) and local (provincial customs departments) levels;

(Detailed agenda shall be proposed and approved by the RMD before implementation.)

Deliverables	Tentative timeline
1.       The training content agreed by RMD and the Program;	2-3 weeks before the training
2.       Training materials in the form of PowerPoint presentations, handouts, worksheets, etc. agreed by RMD and the Program;	1 week before the training
3.       Training session attendance at the time, date and venue as agreed among stakeholders (tentatively end of April/early May 2021).	Training course duration: 5 days at the end of April/early May 2021

Qualifications

Ideally, the Risk Management Training Consultant should have:

• Master's degree or higher in trade policy, international trade, Customs law or administration, economics, business administration, or similar field;
• Minimum 15 years of experience in policy making and practical working in customs training, particularly risk management;
• Proven solid knowledge and long-time experience of the whole structure and process information collection, analysis and targeting on import and export goods, passengers and vehicles entering and exiting by air and by sea;
• Deep understanding and experience of the WCO and international regulations and application on customs procedures in general and RM in particular;
• Good written, oral, and presentation skills in Vietnamese and English; and
• Ability to travel to and within Vietnam.

Application

Proposals should include:

• CVs;
• Cost proposal

and sent to [email protected] no later than March 14, 2021.

SCOPE OF WORK (Vietnamese)

 

 

Organization: Nathan
Location:
Application deadline: 2021-03-14
Send application to: [email protected]