Call for Applications – Position of IEA Bioenergy Secretary

Feb 2021
Publications

The IEA Bioenergy Technology Collaboration Programme (IEA Bioenergy TCP) is seeking applications for the position of Secretary of the IEA Bioenergy TCP. The contract would commence on the 1st January 2022 and the period for the service is three years, with the possibility of extension, subject to satisfactory performance and approval by the Executive Committee.

The Call for Applications document is attached here: Call-For-Applications-Secretary-IEA-Bioenergy-2021-FinalR1

The closing date for submission of applications to pbuckley@odbtbioenergy.com is the 30th March 2021.


CLARIFICATION QUESTIONS

Clarification Question Response
1 Is it correct, that there is no further contract with KPMG for the audits and we could check our own auditor for this job? That is correct. At the second ExCo meeting of each triennium an auditor is approved by ExCo for the three years of that triennium
2 Support staff in category secretarial service:
2a Is this your own staff or do you order external support? This is my own staff
2b If the costs are internal costs – are the costs on another hourly rate? The hourly rate is agreed internally within my company but a budget figure for the year is proposed to ExCo for approval and the actual costs are charged back to ExCo.
3 Secretarial services – postage/copying,…: Is it correct, that these costs are caused by printing and shipping of the reports. There are no personnel costs included? That is correct.
4 Website: Are there any existing contracts (with ETA Florence?) that have to be fulfilled or renewed? No. Any work that ETA Florence does on the website is covered by their Communications Strategy support contract. I use an external company in supporting me in the maintenance of the website but the new Secretary will decide who he/she wishes to have providing this support.
5 Travel: 7.000$ seems quite expensive to me, if this includes just two travels for the secretary to the ExCo Meetings. Are there also other Meetings, where a physical presence is necessary or are there any personnel costs for travelling included.

 

 Travel costs depend on location of the two ExCo meetings in any given year. Both meetings in the same year could involve long distance travel and hotel costs can be high depending on the location. Also it is useful to have some budget for unforeseen costs at the meeting locations. Separately, the Secretary may be asked to attend a meeting at IEA Headquarters in Paris, but this is rare.
6 Annual report, workshop proceedings and newsletter:

 
6a Do you have an external designer for the design works? I expect that we could use our contacts In this field – is this correct?

 

 Yes I have an external designer. You are free to determine how to pursue this.
6b Do you get draft texts for these reports or is it your job to write the texts?

 

 For the Annual Report: The colour feature, e.g. ‘Gasification – a versatile technology’ on page 4 in https://www.ieabioenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IEA-Bioenergy-Annual-Report-2019-Rev-26-May-2020.pdf is provided by a Task. The text for section ‘2 Progress in 2019 in the Tasks’ on page 32 is provided by the Task Leaders, except for Task 41. Task Leaders also provide the text in the Task sections in Appendix 4 and 5. All other sections are prepared by the Secretary, who then arranges the preparation and distribution of the publication with the external designer.

For the Workshop proceedings: The text is provided by the Technical Coordinator and the Secretary then edits as necessary and arranges the preparation and distribution of the publication with the external designer.

For the Newsletter: The Secretary requests input from the ExCo meeting host ExCo Member for the editorial on the front cover, from a Task for the Task Focus and from all Tasks for the Noticeboard. All other text is prepared by the Secretary who then arranges the preparation and distribution of the publication with the external designer.
6c Is paperwork also included into these budget?

 

 Layout design and printing is included in these budgets.
6d Could you give a rough estimation of the distribution of the costs between categories (personnel, external design, printing, shipping)

 

 For the Annual Report: the hours are included in the Secretary’s standard hours. The breakdown between design/print and shipping is roughly 60:40

For the Workshop proceedings: 20% for personnel; 60% for design/printing; 20% for shipping

For the Newsletter: 55% for personnel; 30% for design/printing; 15% for shipping

 
7 News bulletin: in the indicative budget list, the number is 2 per year. Having a look at the webpage it is much more. So the budget seems to me quite low (500$) to identify these bullet points in coordination with the tasks and prepare them for the web page. Furthermore the designer is incorporated in this process. Are some of the costs already calculated in other categories or is there a wrong sum in the indicative budget? – e.g. a missing zero.

 

 There are two News Bulletins each year – one at the end of March and one at the end of September. The Secretary requests input from the Task Leaders and prepares the text. ETA Florence lays out the text and prepares the item for upload to the website by the Secretary.

All other Bulletins are on an “as required” basis and included as part of the Secretary’s standard hours.
8 Reports for IEA HQ/Biomass and Bioenergy Update: both reports are mainly personnel costs – is this correct? Could you provide an example of these reports to me, to have an idea about the extent.

 

 Yes they are mostly personnel costs.

Examples can be provided on requested
9 Can I apply as an individual and then set up a company (to act as the party to the contract) in case the application is successful? Yes
10 Would you accept applications (from a company) with a prospective Secretary sharing parts of the duties with a Senior Advisor? An application can come from an individual within a company. He/she however must be the individual who would be the designated Secretary whom the ExCo would appoint for the execution of the role. He/she could delegate responsibility for some of the work within his/her organisation but must remain the interface with the ExCo/IEA Bioenergy and be fully responsible for all work related to the Secretary’s role for the duration of the appointment.