Senior IT Infrastructure Advisor for Ethiopia's National ID Program

Request for Expression of Interest (Consulting Services – Individual Selection) Senior IT Infrastructure Advisor for National ID Program Country: Ethiopia Project: Ethiopia Digital ID for Inclusion and Services Project Project ID: P179040 Assignment Title: Senior IT Infrastructure Advisor for National ID Program Reference No.: ET-NIDP-524672-CS-INDV Duty Station: NIDP Head Office, Addis Ababa The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Ministry of Finance (MoF), has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the Ethiopia Digital ID for Inclusion and Services Project.

National ID Program, the ultimate project implementer intends to apply part of the proceeds for selecting of individual consultants. National ID Program as part of the project implementation program is looking for an Individual Consultant that supports the NIDP.

Experienced individual consultants who have experience, passionate and innovative ideas for the position of Senior IT Infrastructure Advisor are invited to express their interest for the assignment.

The Senior IT Infrastructure Advisor expected to play a crucial role in providing strategic, high-level technical guidance to the National ID Program (NIDP) in strengthening its datacenter and critical infrastructure ecosystem in support of the Fayda digital identification platform.

As NIDP continues to scale nationwide operations, the Advisor will offer expert insight on the design, optimization, and resilience of the datacenter environment—covering facility readiness, power and cooling strategies, network architecture, physical security, high availability mechanisms, and disaster recovery frameworks.

The Senior IT Infrastructure Advisor is responsible to evaluate existing infrastructure, identify gaps, and recommend modern, scalable, and secure datacenter solutions that align with global best practices and national-scale service requirements. This includes advising on datacenter modernization, redundancy planning, infrastructure security controls, capacity management, and overall infrastructure performance.

Operating as a senior technical consultant, the Advisor will work closely with cross-functional teams—including infrastructure engineers, network and security specialists, program officers, and platform development teams—to ensure that NIDP’s datacenter and supporting systems are robust, secure, and capable of sustaining mission-critical digital ID services for Ethiopia.

The Advisor will contribute strategic recommendations that enhance operational continuity, safeguard sensitive data, and ensure long-term infrastructure sustainability.

Specific responsibilities for the Senior IT Infrastructure Advisor will include, but are not limited to, the following core activities: Assess the current datacenter environment , including power, cooling, physical layout, cabling, racks, security controls, and operational readiness, and provide recommendations to enhance reliability and efficiency.

Advise on datacenter modernization initiatives , including power redundancy strategies (UPS, generators, PDUs), advanced cooling systems, airflow optimization, and energy-efficient designs. Evaluate and recommend improvements to NIDP’s network architecture , including core, distribution, and access layers, high availability design, bandwidth optimization, redundancy mechanisms, and network segmentation.

Provide expert technical guidance on high availability (HA) and failover solutions across infrastructure components, ensuring continuous operation of mission-critical systems that support the Fayda digital ID platform. Support the design and enhancement of disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity plans , ensuring resilience across datacenter facilities, systems, and connectivity.

Advise on infrastructure security , including physical access controls, surveillance, environmental monitoring, and compliance with national and global security standards. Analyze infrastructure performance trends, including compute, network, storage, and facility-level metrics, to guide capacity planning and future scalability.

Provide strategic direction on adopting modern infrastructure technologies , including cloud readiness, hybrid models, automation tools, and software-defined infrastructure. Support the program in developing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for datacenter operations, maintenance cycles, incident management, and change control.

Conduct regular infrastructure health assessments , identifying risks and recommending mitigation strategies to avoid service disruptions. Offer guidance to internal technical teams, strengthening their capabilities through knowledge transfer, mentoring, and best-practice recommendations.

Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams—software engineering, network security, facility management, and program leadership—to ensure that infrastructure decisions support overall program objectives. Provide independent advisory support during infrastructure procurement, vendor selection, bid evaluations, and implementation oversight.

Maintain comprehensive documentation of assessments, recommendations, risk logs, design reviews, and architecture guidance to support ongoing capacity building. National ID Program, Digital ID for Inclusion and Services Project now invites eligible Individual Consultants to indicate their interest to provide the Services.

Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the services for a period of one year with possibility of extension for additional period subject to outstanding performance of the consultant and availability of budget.

The shortlisting criteria include the following; Educational Background: Master’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Security, or a related field, and Bachelor’s in Computer Science, IT, Information Systems, or equivalent experience.

Leadership & Management: Proven leadership and managerial experience in overseeing mission-critical IT infrastructure at the national level, supervising multidisciplinary technical teams, and providing strategic guidance for national-level projects. Experience: 14+ years of experience in designing, implementing, consulting, administering, and managing mission-critical IT facilities and infrastructure.

End-to-End Data Center Expertise: Strong understanding and hands-on experience with data center infrastructure, including compute, storage, networking, power, cooling, and high-availability design, ensuring long-term sustainability and operational readiness.

Operational Excellence: Skilled in infrastructure monitoring, operational controls, business continuity, disaster recovery planning, redundancy, failover readiness, and incident resolution across IT, power, cooling, and security domains.

Information Security & Compliance: In-depth knowledge of information security, data protection, and operational compliance in mission-critical environments, aligned with ISO/IEC 27001, SOC operations, NOC operations, and national cybersecurity requirements; familiarity with international frameworks such as GDPR.

PKI & Trust Services: Strong understanding of PKI infrastructure foundations, including Certificate Authorities (Root & Subordinate), secure key storage, and high-availability design for digital identity and national trust services.

Communication & Documentation: Excellent communication, documentation, and advisory skills, with experience producing TORs, RFPs, HLD/LLD documents, FAT/SAT reports, and communicating technical risks and decisions to management and non-technical stakeholders.

Professional Certifications or Trainings: Relevant professional certifications or training in data center operations, cybersecurity, or infrastructure management are highly desirable. Mission-Critical Focus: Recognized for delivering reliable, secure, and resilient IT and data center infrastructure, ensuring the trustworthiness, availability, and sustainability of national-level digital services.

The selection method is based on para 7.36 and 7.37 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulation. The attention of interested individual is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” July 2016 (“Procurement Regulations”) revised November 2017, August 2018, September 2023, setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

An individual will be selected in accordance with the Selection of Individual Consultant (Section V) method set out in the Procurement Regulations. Expressions of interest (CV, cover letter and documentary evidence for fulfilling the qualifications) must be delivered in a written form to the address below by E-mail on or before December 29th, 2025.

Further information can be obtained, by email at the below address during office hours from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM Addis Ababa time: Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, National ID Program (NIDP) Digital ID for Inclusion and Services Project Attn: Project Management Unit (PMU), Address: Welosefer Bole, Ethio-China St, INSA Building, 15th Floor, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tele- +251-911-446582 or +251-912-200295 E-mail: zelalem@id.gov.et or nejmedin@id.et Website: https://id.gov.et/ Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Agency: Prime Minster Office, National ID Program Procurement method: Individual Consultant Selection Notice type: Request for Expression of Interest Status: Published Value: 54000.0 USD