MESPT-001-ICT-2024 Technical Assistant to support the ICT Department

TECHNICALASSISTANT TO SUPPORT THE ICT DEPARTMENT

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

MEPST was established in 2002 by the Government of Kenya and European Union. EU later relinquished their position to the Royal Danish Embassy in Kenya, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (DANIDA) through a Trust Deed of 2013. The Trust is a development organization with a purpose to grow small holder farmers and Agri SMEs to increase productivity, income and enhance competitiveness for job creation especially for youth and women. This is achieved through capacity building which includes skills development, technical support, business advisory, financial and market linkages. Our focus is to facilitate support and provision of integrated financial and business development services for small holder farmers and Agri SMEs in Kenya.

PURPOSE

The ICT department provides business continuity, cyber security, Data protection, Business process automation, Internal and External User support. The department currently only has one staff, this is a challenge because of the workload involved which may lead to delays in meeting the above ICT objectives, over reliance on vendors, IT risks etc. Discussions are going on to get additional staff, as we wait for this to be finalized, the department will advertise for a technical Assistant to support the ICT team.

OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY

The overall objective of this assignment is to provide the necessary support to the ICT team in carrying out the ICT Strategies.

SCOPE OF WORK AND METHODOLOGY

The TA will be based at the MESPT Head office and will assist the ICT team in meeting the ICT Objectives.

Reporting to the ICT Manager the TA will:

1. Achieve and maintain a thorough knowledge and adherence to MESPT policies and procedures regarding ICT systems.
2. Administer, maintain, monitor, and ensure accessibility of all information systems including but not limited to; Servers (physical and virtual), Microsoft 365, SQL databases, financial systems, Administration systems, staff portal, cloud applications and other IT systems that support MESPT Operations
3. Administer systems access control, audit, and accountability as per internal IT policies, procedures, and security framework controls.
4. Maintain the security and the integrity of the network systems, which includes communication systems, user endpoints, patch management, vulnerability scanning, anti-virus system and the entire information system.
5. Compliance management; enforces the adoption of the ISO 27001 security framework controls and other legal information systems requirements like Data Protection Act.
6. Ensuring business continuity by conducting and maintaining Data backups, backup testing and data restore per the disaster recovery policy and procedures.
7. Administer and manage user accounts including remote and mobile device users.
8. Resolve system administration and support requests raised on the helpdesk.
9. Participate in research and development to continuously improve and keep up with the IT business needs of the organization.
10. Collaborating and supporting various programmes in their digitization projects.
11. Travelling to remote locations for systems and staff support.
12. Working with other IT team members on various tasks and projects.
13. Training end users on various systems and preparing end user training materials in form of videos or standard operating procedures.
14. Maintain a high level of internal and external customer satisfaction and product quality.
15. Perform disaster and backup recovery tests as per the schedule, prepare necessary reports, follow up and resolve identified failures or errors.
16. Build and run cloud infrastructure and services primarily in a hybrid on-premises/Azure cloud environment.
17. Manage problems and resolve support issues with a focus on root cause analysis to reduce recurring issues.
18. Provide solutions to technical issues or requests which could involve developing a work-around, working with business to propose new and alternative operating procedures, producing additional documentation, or escalating requests to vendors.
19. Coordinates and perform decommissioning of legacy systems; create system growth plans and monitoring resource utilization.
20. Create and assign appropriate system roles and system access permissions as defined and signed-off by the business.
21. Coordinate, execute and document systems change requests.
22. Perform preventive maintenances for server infrastructure as per the schedule.
23. Knowledge in software development languages and software design is a plus.
24. Administer and manage all IT assets (including licensing).
25. Perform system installations, systems upgrades, systems migration and rollout of new software patches and updates.
26. Administration of IP Telephony /Phone system administration and printers
27. Administration of secure access control and related security systems (CCTV, Biometric Access)
28. Any other tasks as assigned by the ICT Manager

KEY DELIVERABLES

Successful performance of this assignment will be based on the following Key Performance Indicators:

1. Turnaround time on closure of helpdesk tickets.
2. Percentage of closed tickets in a quarter/year.
3. % of remediated vulnerabilities
4. System Guides, documenting ICT processes and procedures
5. Preventive maintenance reports of the server room, air conditioner, UPS
6. Resolved Network and internet issues noted in the field offices.
7. % uptime of systems
8. Signed off Disaster Recovery test reports.
9. % of implementation of audit recommendations
10. Reduced audit exceptions and recurring audit exceptions
11. Upgrade of systems
12. CCTV upgrade

REQUIRED SKILLS, EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

The consultant will have the following minimum qualifications:

• At least four years’ experience as systems administrator in a busy IT environment or a similar role

Education and Certifications

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or any IT related field.
• Office 365 Administration or related Microsoft Certifications.
• LAN/WAN Certifications like CCNA
• VMWARE Certified professional.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong knowledge in domain management and Active directory services.
• Strong knowledge in Microsoft 365 administration.
• Strong knowledge and skills in Windows server setup and administration.
• Strong knowledge and working experience with administration of database systems, especially MS SQL Server.
• Strong knowledge in VMWare – virtualization technology.
• Thorough knowledge of Microsoft licensing requirements.
• Strong Knowledge in networking (LAN, Wireless LAN, VPNs etc), (Firewalls, Routers and switches)
• Knowledge of TCP/IP Architecture and OSI Model.
• Knowledge of using and managing IT Helpdesk systems.
• Troubleshooting and problems solving skills in a Windows based environment.
• Good problem-solving skills and willingness to constantly renew required knowledge.
• Excellent communication and reporting skills

DURATION OF ASSIGMENT

The assignment will commence from the date of contract signing and will go on for 12 months. There will be a monthly review of progress and the technical assistant is expected to work on all working days every month from the contract signing date. The duty station will be MESPT Head offices, you will be expected to work from 8am to 5pm Mondays to Fridays and once in a while over the weekend.

PAYMENT PLAN

The Technical Assistant(s) will be paid by the end of every month upon submission and approval of a monthly report that has been reviewed and approved by the ICT Manager. Appropriate tax withholding of 5% payable to KRA will apply.

Note: MEPT will interview the top candidates after reviewing the applications to settle on the best candidate.