E N G I N E ER IN G S TA N D A R D I ZA T I O N A N D D ES I G N C E N T R E

Engineering Standardization and Design Centre February 2014

UN Global Service Centre Volume 9
Brindisi, Italy
esdc@un.org © 2014 ESDC

1. Central African Republic Central African Republic - The Peacebuilding Effort

The Peacebuilding Effort
3. The Smart Camps - The 1c Gener- Paola De Mauro/Danilo Convertini
ation
2. Welcome to the New Director
3. A Tribute to the Former Director
4. MINUSMA – A Luta Continua
 In Situ Support
 Back Office Support
 Water Supply
 The 100 person Expeditionary

Camp
6. Project Management
 The Dynamic UPS
 New Electrical MV Reticulation
 UNSB-V is Expanding
 A Breath of Fresh Air for the

CLC
8. Mission Support
 Libya, UNSMIL
 Great Lakes Region, Dublin

 Dakar, UNOWA

10. Technical Clearance

S
Facilitating the Process Cargo loading for Central African Republic at Brindisi Airport
10. What’s New at ESDC ince last year, the Central African Re-
 Welcoming New Staff
public (CAR) has faced a breakdown in (2013), then decided to update the mandate of
 A Farewell
 The Consultants law and order, the absence of rule of law and BINUCA to support
 Prince2
overall instability, all of which have resulted  the implementation of the transition pro-
 UMOJA Train-the-Trainers
in deterioration of the humanitarian situation. cess
13. Training The level of human rights violations, abuses,  conflict prevention and humanitarian
 Euro Mec Water Treatment Sys-
killings, disappearances, arrests and deten- assistance
tems
 Remote Sensing for Thematic tions, torture, sexual violence against women  the stabilization of the security situation
Mapping and children, rape, targeted violence against  promotion and protection of human
 LCC
ethnic and religious groups and increasing rights
 Advanced Global Positioning
tensions between communities have all led to  the coordination of international actors
System
 Field Occupational Safety the declaration of a crisis situation.
 Requisitioner Programme
The African Union Peace and Security Coun-
15. ESDC Products cil (AU-PSC) took a stand on 19 July 2013,
 SharePoint
authorizing the deployment of the African-led
15. Outlook International Support Mission in the Central
 Water Policy
African Republic (MISCA) for an initial peri-
16. Mission in Focus od of six months comprising 3,500 uniformed
 MINUSTAH
personnel and 152 civilians.
17. Systems Contracts Upcoming
Modular Prefabricated Buildings
Following this the Secretary-General (SG)
 Field Water Pumps made recommendations to the Security Coun-
17. New Technologies cil (SC) in a letter dated 16 September 2013
 OMPeco (S/2013/557) to reinforce the United Nations
 Solar Hybrid Solution for Load-
Integrated Peacebuilding office in CAR
shedding
18. New Year Message from the desk
(BINUCA); the SC, by resolution S/RES/2121
of Chief ESDC
Central African Republic

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February 2014
TAM team - Hawaa El-Tayeb, Paola De Mauro
The SG also recommended the establish-
ment of a guard unit for the protection of
UN personnel and assets; the details of
how to effect this proposal were request-
ed by the SC for further deliberation.
Against this backdrop, DPKO/DFS led a
Technical Assessment Mission (TAM) to
CAR from 27 October to 10 November
2013 - Ms. Paola De Mauro from ESDC
represented Engineering. The main ob-
jectives of the TAM were developing
possible options for the support of MIS-
CA and for the eventual transformation
of MISCA into a UN peacekeeping oper-
ation.
ESDC has been and continues to support
BINUCA Engineering. ESDC has pro-
vided detailed information including ma-
terial resource requirements, SDS and
systems contracts availability, cost esti-
mates, drawings and technical specifica-
tions based on the modularized design
for the 200 person camp 1c to be used for
the establishment of the guard unit at
either of two possible locations near BI-
NUCA HQ, Mamica or Badica. Con-
struction works, estimated at 6 months,
are expected to start as soon as the site is
handed over to BINUCA and secured.
A possible site for a Level I plus clinic
was also inspected during the TAM and
the approved, modularized Level II de-
sign was recommended on the basis that
the infrastructure needs are identical.
Level II Hospital - The Modu-
larized Approach
The design of the Level II Clinic forms
part of the modularization exercise cur-
rently under the next stage of develop-
ment for a 1000 person camp. It is im-
portant to underscore the fact that, in
accordance with the modular approach,
the design can be part of a 1000 person
camp or as a stand-alone facility. To de-
fine the design criteria for the Level II
the COE Manual and similar require-
ments defined for MINUSMA were used.
ESDC received approval for the pro-
posed design from DFS/Medical Support
Section in November 2013.
Emphasizing the need for expeditious
support for peacekeeping in line with the
Level I plus Hospital, Bangui CAR
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E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
GFSS strategy, the level II infrastructure
is designed for establishment in a rela-
tively short period. This is possible
through the adoption of prefabricated
buildings, ablutions, generators, water
treatment equipment and a reefer con-
tainer, all of which are available on cur-
rent systems contracts. In addition, a pre-
fabricated medical structure/
accommodation has been recommended
for establishment as a new systems con-
tract.
The scope of requirements for BINUCA
Level I plus was prepared for the bidding
exercise by ESDC reflecting the modu-
larized design; to be implemented as a
turnkey project through complete out-
sourcing with supply of all materials ex-
cluding components available in SDS
and relevant systems contracts.
Further, ESDC has worked with BINU-
CA engineering to modify the designs to
better suit actual field conditions, adopt-
ing a rectangular layout, reducing the
number of trees that would need to be
felled, to better locate the wastewater
facilities, to remove energy supply ele-
ments that would be tapped directly from
the neighboring BINUCA compound, to
reflect dual water supply from the munic-
ipality and a UN well and modified park-
ing facilities to improve security and
access. It has been estimated that con-
struction will take 3 months however,
given the continuing deterioration of the
security situation there is considerable
risk that infrastructure and logistics con-
straints will have a severe impact on the
implementation of this plan.
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February 2014
Smart Camps - The 1c Generation
Abhinav Wakhloo/Andres Gomez-Jimenez/Jacquelyn Amoko
The United Nations Logistics Base at
Brindisi, Italy [...] is playing a key role
in the modularization pillar of the Global
Field Support Strategy, developing ser-
vice modules for missions globally. Such
predefined logistics packages will allow
for faster and more efficient deployment
of missions and more predictable plan-
ning for the acquisition of goods and
services required by missions (A/65/624
para 108).
To date ESDC have progressed the 200
person camp from version 1a through to
1c.
The 200 person 1c Camp
The detailed design exercise for 200 per-
son 1c camp has been completed. The 1c
generation camps or, smart camps, pre-
Welcome to the New
Director
Pamela Treveri
ESDC welcomes the new Director,
Mr. Nicolas Von Ruben, who assumed
duties on 23 December 2013.
Mr. Von Ruben is a qualified Civil Engi-
neer; before 1994, when he started serv-
ing with peacekeeping, he spent
twenty years in the private sector in vari-
ous positions, from Regional Manager of
an engineering firm in South Africa, to a
Contracts Manager for contracts spanning
across south west England.
Prior to this assignment he served as Di-
rector of Mission Support (DMS) for UN-
MISS, the new mission in the Republic of
South Sudan.
In his earlier assignments Mr. Von Ruben
sents improvements through waste reduc-
tion, better sustainability, flexibility, re-
source efficiency and speed of installa-
tion while ensuring quality in each mod-
ule.
Some module-specific improvements:
 Security – MOSS compliant and
designed for safer living conditions
 Water – 40% reduction in fresh wa-
ter requirements through integrated
water supply
 Wastewater – 42% reduction in
wastewater generation and full com-
pliance with internationally accepted
treatment standards
 Waste – guidance for a comprehen-
sive recycling programme allowing
up to 45% waste-to-landfill reduc-
tion
took up the post of Chief Engineer for
peacekeeping at UNHQ in 2003, from
where he deployed to start up the mis-
sions in Liberia (UNMIL) and Ivory
Cost (ONUCI). In 2006 he was assigned
as the Chief Integrated Support Services
to UNMIS, during which time he man-
aged the logistics effort in supporting the
African Union Mission in Darfur
(AMIS). He returned to UNHQ in De-
cember 2007 to act as the Special Assis-
tant to the Under Secretary General for
the Department of Field Support, fol-
lowed by an assignment to Cyprus as
Chief Mission Support for UNFICYP. In
the beginning of his UN career Mr. Von
Ruben served in roles, from Regional
Engineer to Chief Engineer and, in a
number of peacekeeping missions, in-
cluding the United Nations Logistics
Base (UNLB), from where he deployed
to start up the mission in Sierra Leone
(UNAMSIL).
ESDC congratulates Mr. Von Ruben on
his appointment and wishes him all the
best!
A Tribute to the Former
Director
ESDC would like to pay tribute to the
now former Director of UNGSC, Mr.
Kiplin Perkins, on his retirement on 30
November 2013 after almost twenty
years of contribution towards the work
of UN peacekeeping. Prior to this assign-
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E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
Energy – design of the system using

conventional generators, PV and effi-
cient batteries to give a 50% reduc-
tion in fuel dependency with an ROI
of less than 8 years
 Ablutions – recommendations for
improved fixtures to reduce water
consumption by an average of 55%
 Laundry – recommendation of pre-
fabricated units that additionally re-
cycle at least 50% of the wastewater
generated
 Medical – proposal of a specialized
prefabricated unit that is also more
hygienic
Major Accomplishments
ESDC is now further enabled to provide
fast, complete and responsive support to
field missions. The overall benefits asso-
ciated with the conclusion of this under-
taking include the following fundamental
outcomes:
ment in Brindisi in 2010, he served as the
Director in the Office of the Under-
Secretary-General in the Department of
Field Support (DFS), leading and over-
seeing special projects including procure-
ment governance and contract manage-
ment as well as
aspects of the
DFS Global
Field Support
Strategy.
In earlier as-
signments, Mr.
Perkins served
in a number of
senior tech-
nical and ad-
ministrative field mission appointments
including DMS of the United Nations
Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), CMS of the
United Nations Assistance Mission in
Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), CMS of the
United Nations Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan (UNAMA), Chief General
Services at the International Criminal
Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) of the
United Nations, in the Netherlands. In
addition Mr. Perkins worked as Chief
Procurement Officer in a number of
peacekeeping missions. Under his leader-
ship and guidance, ESDC was integrated
within UNGSC with an increase in roles,
responsibilities and functions.
ESDC would like to thank Mr. Perkins
for the difference he made and to wish
him the very best.
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February 2014
New systems contracts – a list of

equipment and materials has been
proposed to improve performance
and quality as well as save time in
camp establishment
 Definition of team compositions by
module – this gives meaningful
guidance on the resource needs for
similar, typical installations allowing
for faster, justified planning
 Comprehensive compilation of
equipment and material resource
requirements for the provision of
engineering accommodation and
operational elements of typical field
mission camps
 Release of the integrated camp plan-
ning template version 12 allowing
for more accuracy in initial estimat-
ing for camp establishment
 Supports the aim of reduced staff
footprints and the use of enabling
capacities – the technical specifica-
tions, BoQs, skill definitions and
drawing details can be used by com-
mercial entities, TCC enablers and/
or MSTs to establish the entire
camp, or individual module elements
 Waste is reduced – there is effective
and transparent utilization of engi-
neering resources to set up a camp
for 200 persons
 Risks are significantly reduced by
providing clear definition to the
building and construction elements
The Way Forward
Execution of the 200 person camp, or of
a combination of modules, is possible
right away, in any location – there are
real opportunities in the present, even as
progress continues to be made in line
with the five year strategy. The next
steps should be:
 to test the 1c camp - complete pack-
ages and/or individual modules
 the development of Systems Con-
tracts for preferred technologies
 the evolution of guidance and policy
documents to promulgate sustaina-
bility in field operation
What is included in each module?
 Technical Specifications
 Bills of Quantities
 Team compositions, including skill
requirements and numbers
 Layout drawings and section details
Interested in more information?
Contact ESDC at esdc@un.org
E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
MINUSMA
A Luta Continua
Giovanni Ferraro/Abhinav Wakhloo/
Jacquelyn Amoko
The United Nations Multidimensional
Stabilization Mission in Mali
(MINUSMA) was established in accord-
ance with SC Resolution (S/RES/2100)
taken 25 April 2013; since then ESDC
has been engaged at different levels to
provide engineering support for the mis-
sion. MINUSMA HQ, Bamako
In Situ Support
Mali North-Est)
In June 2013 the DFS/Assistant Secretary
3. SOR for engineering renovation
General, Mr. Anthony Banbury, in re-
works for the Sector HQ in Gao
sponse to challenges in the field, led an
(Project Elevage Mali North-Est)
assessment team to MINUSMA to sup-
4. Condition reports for the following
port the finalization of the camp concepts
premises:
for northern Mali so as to facilitate the
 Hotel Laico Amitie in Bamako
full deployment of their troops. Abhinav
(Current HQ)
Wakhloo and Giovanni Ferraro from
 Hotel Laico El Farouk in Bamako
ESDC represented UNGSC from 5 - 28
(Current HQ extension)
June to provide engineering support for
 Hotel des Askia in Gao (Interim Sec-
the start-up phase of MINUSMA.
tor HQ)
During this period the team delivered:
Back Office Support
1. SOW for 100 person expeditionary
temporary shelter (successfully es- Immediately following the resolution in
April 2013, in collaboration with LSD,
tablished within)
2. Design proposals, area analyses and ESDC developed concept designs for
camps in Gao, Timbouctou, Kidal and
preliminary cost estimates for:
Mission HQ in Bamako Tessalit based on the modularized 1000

person camp designs, applying site-
 Mission Logistics Base in Bamako
Sector HQ in Gao (Project Elevage specific data and constraints provided in

the TAM1 and TAM2 reports.
From left: Abhinav Wakhloo, Scott Hastings, Gerard Buckley and UNEP Representative at Bamako Airport
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February 2014
MINUSMA Engineering - Giovanni Ferraro, Idrissa Traore and
Abhinav Wakhloo in GAO
Following this, in July 2013 when Xavier
Devaulx de Chambord (DFS) led a plan-
ning team to Mali, ESDC was called up-
on to prepare the MINUSMA Engineer-
ing Support Concept. The Engineering
Support Concept was developed as a
detailed document covering the compre-
hensive analyses and recommendations
on accommodation and facilities, water
supply, treatment and conservation,
wastewater management, power supply,
infrastructure, environmental protection
and occupational health and safety. All
the proposed designs and related infor-
mation, including observations made
during on ground support by a team from
ESDC, was then compiled in the docu-
ment. This engineering support plan,
prepared by ESDC, was then incorpo-
rated into the final overall Mission Sup-
port Plan for MINUSMA dated 31 July
2013.
As of October, ESDC has been providing
further support to MINUSMA in the de-
velopment of SOWs for horizontal
groundworks for the establishment of
camps in various locations in Mali. A
team of consultants comprising Navin
Tuladhar and Alessandro de Castro, have
been embedded within the ESDC team
and is totally dedicated to meeting
MINUSMA engineering requirements.
To date, in line with the drawings devel-
oped by MINUSMA engineering, the
SOWs, including bill of quantities, tech-
nical evaluation criteria and design de-
tails, for ground preparation (security
fencing, entrance, watchtowers, internal
circulation, drainage, etc.) have been
developed for the bidding exercise for
Timbouctou (2615 persons, 55ha), Kidal
(1987 persons, 65ha), Tessalit (1300 per-
sons, 70ha), Gao (2655 persons, 63ha)
and most recently for Gon in Gao (555
persons, 41ha).
Water Supply
ESDC has been able to share with
MINUSMA, water supply, quality, treat-
ment, conservation and recycling recom-
mendations to be included as part of the
planning and camp establishment pro-
cess. This information, as well as other
relevant information relating to engineer-
ing support, was compiled in the Engi-
neering Support Plan.
The Engineering Support Plan addition-
ally listed recommended mission priori-
ties, of which the deployment of the GIS
team to progress from a proposal that
was initiated by them in May 2013 to
actual field study was priority one.
ESDC saw this as the best option for the
mission to confirm possible water
Well drilling
sources and to collect pertinent technical
information such as where to drill, what
are the most effective drilling equipment
and methods to be used, pump capacities
and sustainable installation depths, which
would then be compiled in the SOW.
By July 2013, GIS had commenced a
detailed desk study (Phase I) and based
on those outputs is presently active in
Mali where, while Phase I continues to
progress to more sites, the survey team
commenced Phase II, the geophysical
survey for Kidal. The Kidal Executive
Summary Report was issued 19 Septem-
ber 2013 and includes recommendations
for Phase III which is the drilling phase.
The proposals include a ranking of po-
tential drilling sites with maximum drill-
ing depths expected.
These findings and recommendations by
GIS, coupled with the well drilling tech-
nical specifications proposed by ESDC
and the collaboration of MINUSMA en-
gineering are a foundation exercise in
furthering of the Global Field Support
Strategy concepts.
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E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
The 100 person Expeditionary
Camp in Mali, MINUSMA
The ESDC team of Mr. Abhinav
Wakhloo and Mr. Giovanni Ferraro de-
signed a modularized 100 person camp
for rapid deployment temporary shelters;
the design was for shelters that would
come equipped with HVAC systems,
generators and electrical connections.
They would also have a folding frame
based on a dual layer-system providing
an inherent insulation and an energy
efficiency advantage through the thermal
barrier created by the enclosed air gap
between the outer cover and the inner
liner.
The detailed technical specification was
prepared for the bidding exercise to se-
lect a vendor capable of both supplying
and installing, if necessary. Within two
months, by the end of August 2013, the
tents for the living accommodation for
100 persons had been set up for Gao
SHQ.
The project, in principle the erection of
25 inflatable tents, was accomplished by
a team comprising a project supervisor,
an electrician, a generator technician and
a work force of 12 from the Ghanaian
engineering component. The vendor,
Losberger Company, deployed two spe-
cialists that worked alongside the team
and technical manuals were shared with
MINUSMA engineering.
MINUSMA is due to provide a technical
review of their performance after a 3-
month period.
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February 2014
Project Management at UNGSC
Francesco Corrado/Suresh Ramadurgakar
Dynamic UPS’s medium voltage cabin
Since 2013 ESDC has been assigned the
role of project manager for all UNGSC
projects whose value exceeds
US$350,000. This engagement kicked
off with the Dynamic Uninterruptable
Power Supply (UPS) System and the
New Electrical Network project – which
is being carried out under two distinct
contracts. Mr. Suresh Ramadurgakar
(project manager) and Mr. Francesco
Corrado (deputy project manager), from
ESDC, are committed to the day-to-day
planning, monitoring, interfacing and
management requirements to see these
two complimentary projects through to
successful completion to meet the target
performance requirements.
Dynamic UPS System
The Dynamic UPS project was conceived
for UNGSC when CITS confirmed the
requirement for Tier III certification of
its Data Center i.e. to achieve redundan-
cies of power supply. This level of certi-
fication essentially
Francesco Corrado relates
in the medium
voltage Cabin
configuration whereby most of the elec-
tronic telecommunication equipment that
requires permanent high quality power
and cooling includes backup units to en-
sure that failure of a unit shall not cause
E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
ic UPS combines the highest possible
reliability with extremely high efficien-
cies and a choice of ride-through energy
store.
Dynamic UPS has the most simple and
reliable method of power generation us-
ing synchronous machines. At the heart
of the Dynamic UPS is the UNIBLOCK
machine combining a motor and a gener-
ator in one three phase synchronous unit.
The windings of both components are
incorporated in a shared stator and are
excited by a common rotor. A damper
winding absorbs current harmonics, irre-
spective of load current and load power
factor. The energy transfer from the mo-
tor to the generator takes place via direct
magnetic coupling without loss and with-
out electromechanical conversion.
The implementation of the project, esti-
mated at €2.4M, commenced 7 June
2013 with Piller Italia srl as contractors.
The completion date was set in the con-
tract as 27 March 2014.
Current Status
 The project is on schedule and esti-
mated at 90% .
 The construction of trenches, within
the existing concrete platform as per
disruption to either. The underlying prin-
the layout of DUPS generator place-
ciple to achieving Tier III certification is
ment positions, was done using in-
that every critical service has to have an
house resources.
alternate so that modules can be switched
off for maintenance and services can be
maintained in the case of failure. Dynam-
to n+1 parallel
From left: Oronzino Lanzillotti, Suresh Ramadurgakar, Francesco Corrado and Abhinav Wakhloo
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February 2014
 A Factory Acceptance Test (FAT)
was made at DUPS Factory in
Bilshausen, Germany from 12 - 14
November. The units were tested as
per standard protocol QW
91.9.179.4535. The FAT team, com-
prising Francesco, Oronzino and
Rocco Cavallo, accepted the two
units and the generators were deliv-
ered to Brindisi during the first week
of December and have been installed
in their positions.
New Electrical MV Reticulation
UNGSC had a requirement to construct a
new medium voltage electrical network
to re-connect all facilities in use by
UNGSC within the logistics area of the
Military Airport “Pierozzi”.
The project was motivated by the grow-
ing need to obtain technical, operational
and economical autonomy from ItAF
(Italian Air Force) to service the increas-
ing demand of GSC/UNLB independent
installations and facilities in the area
without interfering with some of ItAF’s
very sensitive circuits and lines.
The project consists of the construction
of an electrical ring comprising a new
medium tension underground network
about 2km long, connecting all
GSC/UNLB facilities in the logistics area
to two new main transformer cabins and
to three existing secondary ones. Addi-
tional scope of the new electrical reticu-
lation network is to supplement the Dy-
namic UPS system. The ring allows two
independent paths for the medium ten-
sion supply to reach the dual Dynamic
UPS installation and allow either path to
UPS Farm at UNLB Satellite Compound
Francesco Corrado in the medium voltage cabin
be isolated, by described switches, for
maintenance and repair. The contractor
on this project is Gemmo Spa, who
commenced on 19 June 2013 with com-
pletion date set for ‘200 working days
from the date of commencement’. The
works contracted at just under €1M, are
set for completion by 2 April 2014 and
include design and construction of the
new electrical network.
Current Status:
 The project is on schedule and esti-
mated at 59% .
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E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
 All network trenches, cutting, plac-
ing of conduits and cables and
grounding have been executed.
 A FAT for the MV/LV transformer
was completed in November 2013
and the electrical equipment have
now been received in Brindisi.
A Breath of Fresh Air for the
Conference and Learning Centre
Matteo Morelli
The Conference and Learning Centre
(CLC) located in building 94 in UNGSC
Brindisi has a requirement to install a
new centralized HVAC system. This is
an important and iconic building at
UNGSC due to its centralized support
function for training; in many ways it is
UNGSC’s business card to the world of
peacekeeping.
UNGSC Facilities Management Section
requested ESDC to support the develop-
ment of a scope of work of this project.
The new centralized HVAC system will
be of the “Variant Refrigerant
Flow” (VRF) type, state-of-art technolo-
gy, which allows single-ambient adjust-
ment of the temperature and even, in case
of need, to cool a room while others are
heated and vice versa, all without any
need to perform manual adjustments to
suit seasonal variations of the general
operation cycle. For those of you that
have been to the CLC and know the re-
7
February 2014 E SDC Ne w s l e tte r

strooms; these were completely excluded

from any air-conditioning facilities. With
Mission Support
this new installation, however, they will
now finally be air-conditioned by means
of ceiling-mounted HVAC machines and
will thereby become much more comfort-
able to use especially in the cold season.
For these restrooms, as for the cafeteria,
a brand new air-extraction system
through channelled fans and grids was
included to keep these rooms at a lower
pressure level than others and thereby
prevent the backflow of any stale air.
The complete set of technological fea-
tures of the VRF system shall allow a
saving of about 12-15% of electricity
consumption for air conditioning and
heating compared to the present usage,
despite the fact that significant portions
of the building are not currently condi-
tioned.
Moreover, the new system will guarantee
continuous supply of fresh air from the
outside through heat-recovery ventilators
to be installed in the corridors’ false-
ceiling. This is definitely a big step in
moving away from the current situation,
where rooms are air-conditioned with Danilo Convertini and the UNSMIL Engineering team at ECA Compound, Libya

single-split units that continuously re-

circulate the same air. The biggest bene-
fit will be that the training and confer-
ence room facilities shall be more com-
fortable and healthy, as well as environ-
mentally friendly.
With solicitation of the project currently
underway the Deputy Director, Ms. Ca-
mille Curtis, appointed Mr. Suresh
Ramadurgakar as chairman of project
management team and Mr. Francesco
Corrado as project manager for the exe-
cution of the project effective 1 Decem-
ber.
Building 94
*****
Libya, UNSMIL
Danilo Convertini/Bhawana Shrestha
Recent Developments
As of September 2013 the security situa-
tion had deteriorated to such a level that
the Security Council Briefing (dated 16
September 2013) reported, “Tensions
among various political, tribal and
armed groups have also escalated into
confrontations in various parts of the
country resulting in several deaths. As-
sassinations of security figures, mostly in
the east, and more recently of political
activities and journalists, improvised
explosive devises, attacks against mem-
bers of the diplomatic community, threats
against the UN and general criminality
continue in face of weak state security
situations.”
UNSMIL is undertaking the expedient
deployment of a guard unit, estimated at
200 troops to provide additional security
to their staff and personnel. ESDC is
presently adapting the 200 person 1c
camp to suit the topographical survey
received from UNSMIL engineering and
taking into consideration security and
related requirements; options are being
developed for further discussion and ap-
proval.
 please consider the environment before printing this newsletter
Dismantling a Prefab
The political situation in Libya remains
precarious; in April this year the mission
identified a new mission headquarters
that could guarantee a higher level of
security for UN personnel than the com-
pound occupied along Gurgi Road. The
new area, the OEA compound very close
to the Palm City Residences, was intend-
ed to house both offices and accommoda-
tion for UNSMIL staff.
All UN assets, materials and equipment
already in operation at the Gurgi Road
premises needed to be moved to the new
location. The task required the intense
efforts of all mission personnel in a very
short time frame considering the instabil-
ity and the critical conditions in which
they had to operate. Only a six module
prefabricated building remained to be
moved from the ECA compound to hand-
over the premises. UNSMIL requested
the assistance of ESDC to carry out this
urgent task.
On July 29 Mr. Danilo Convertini was
deployed to Tripoli to coordinate the
operations of dismantling, transporting
and packing the prefab. The task was
fraught with challenges and difficulties
given the critical security situation in
8
February 2014
Tripoli with a government unable to
guarantee political stability and then at
the mercy of many armed militias that
share control of the territory. Security
restrictions imposed absolute prohibition
of movement within the city; which was
a severe obstacle to the dismantling and
shifting operations. After almost two
weeks Danilo was finally allowed to
reach ECA in an armoured vehicle to
start the dismantling process with very
limited resources, especially manpower.
The exercise was completed in one week,
with manufacturer recommendations
abided by to perform the task in the best
way possible. Each work phase of the
dismantling/shifting process was carried
out in reverse order to the installation
guide.
In parallel with the dismantling activities,
Danilo performed the inspections of the
new offices and accommodations in or-
der to check/verify their general condi-
tion and compliance with established
standards prior to the OEA village man-
agement hand over to UNSMIL. Moreo-
ver, at the very first stage of the move-
ment into the new compound, he was in
charge of the management of various
services/projects including, among oth-
ers, the premises daily maintenance, the
general cleaning and the supervision of
security blast film installation.
The Move from Palm City
The mandatory deadline for the move-
ment from Palm City Residences to the
new OEA compound was instructed by
the SRSG for the end of August 2013. At
which point Ms. Bhawana Shrestha was
then deployed to support UNSMIL for an
8 weeks period.
Her support was mainly in the areas of
contract management of maintenance
services and preparing several SOWs
including the BOQ, drawings and TEC
for security enhancement, cleaning ser-
Bhawana Shrestha in UNSMIL
vice and the lease of UNSMIL office and
accommodation premises. She supported
the role of facilities management and the
day-to-day supervision for the mainte-
nance of UNSMIL’s 34 office buildings
in the OEA compound. She also support-
ed further inspections and handover of
additional accommodations in the new
OEA compound. The engineering family
in UNSMIL consists of 9 staff; both in-
ternational and national. Despite this
small size, the section provides in-house
services for the maintenance of office
buildings and accommodation for all
international staff in the OEA com-
pound. All other major projects such as
the construction of hardstands for park-
ing, cleaning services for office build-
ings, security installations like blast film
installation in windows, fabrication,
supply and installation of jersey and
boom gate barriers, leasing of office and
accommodation space in different re-
gions, and similar, are in the process of
being outsourced.
Great Lakes Region HQ
Dublin
Francesco Corrado
Dublin Head Quarter
Ms. Mary Robinson, former President of
Ireland (1990-1997) and former UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights
(1997-2002), was appointed by Ban
Ki-moon on 18 March 2013 as UN Spe-
cial Envoy for the Great Lakes Region
(SESG-GL). Although the headquarters
are in Nairobi, there will now be a small
presence in Dublin, Ireland; and
UNGSC’s technical expertise was re-
quested to evaluate potential office ac-
commodations for a one-year period. Mr.
Francesco Corrado was part of the UN
team that visited Dublin from 5 - 8 Au-
gust 2013 to conduct the technical evalu-
ation of eleven possible locations; the
rest of the team comprised Mr. Saïd
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E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
Fonde Condes from the office of SESG-
GL, Mr. Saïd Hadjami from the office of
the Designated Official (DO),
Ms. Sophie Magennis, the Head of the
UNHCR Office in Dublin and
Mr. Robert Harris from CITS UNSB-V.
The aim of the site visit was to select a
viable option, based on suitability for the
intended functions and security, and then
provide:
 an initial overview of any modifica-
tion and refurbishment works to be
done
 new layout plans for the office area
 technical plans for the CCTV system
and technical data for all civil and
electrical works
The team faced three main challenges in
narrowing down the options:
1. The inappropriate location of the
potential office space especially in
relation to neighboring premises,
which raised a number of security
concerns
2. The size and layout of the offices did
not always meet the requirements
3. The lack of appropriate wiring and
network infrastructure.
After the evaluation of all eleven premis-
es, one was identified that was deemed
suitable and the engineering assessment
was submitted in a technical report sent
to PD/NY. The report covered the identi-
fied and recommended civil and electri-
cal works related to the internal modifi-
cations and refurbishment and the works
needed for the CCTV installation. The
technical evaluation is now with PD/NY
for final processing.
Dakar, UNOWA
Andres Gomez-Jimenez
The United Nations Office for West Afri-
ca (UNOWA) is moving to a new four
floor facility located in the Ngor neigh-
borhood in Dakar’s suburbs. The
UNOWA/CNMC HQ
9
February 2014
convenience of the facility (a more solid
structure, better space, and above all bet-
ter security in compliance with MOSS)
had been thoroughly assessed, at the mis-
sion’s request, by ESDC staff member
Mr. Danilo Convertini back in March/
April 2013. Negotiations are being final-
ized between the host government and
the property owner, for UNOWA and
UNESCO to share this structure, with
UNOWA acting as the host. UNOWA is
to occupy the third and fourth floors
while UNESCO will move into the first
and second, the building layout allowing
for sharing without circulation or func-
tional conflicts. It is worth mentioning
the US government for its USAID HQ
Office in Senegal. Responding to UN-
OWA’s second request for support, Mr.
Andres Gomez-Jimenez from ESDC was
selected for deployment to Dakar to as-
sist UNOWA in preparing the building
for occupation. The project included re-
assessing the property; this time to deter-
mine physical intervention requirements,
to discern between landlord and tenant
responsibilities and to devise a proper
plan of action in response to the fact that
Technical Clearance, EPF and Budget Review
Facilitating the Process
Marina Dzunic
In ESDC’s last newsletter we presented
the transfer of functions to ESDC and
the SOP for Technical Clearance for
LPA and Technical Review of EPF cas-
es; to date ESDC has processed 42 Tech-
nical Clearances, 6 EPF cases and 72
budget reviews and performance reports.
The range of technical clearances has
included various projects, from purchas-
ing of goods, refurbishment, construc-
tion of complex buildings, roads and
airstrips and several others. ESDC con-
tinues to engage with missions request-
ing TC to ensure the information com-
municated to external bidders guarantees
the success of both the procurement pro-
cess and the life of the project. A fax
was recently sent out (UNGSC-2013-
2043) describing what ESDC has
achieved so far and it reiterates the pro-
cesses for requesting each of these ser-
vices from UNGSC (as detailed in
UNGSC/SOP/136.01 dated 17 June
2013). Based on all that has been experi-
enced over the year, ESDC takes the
the host government wants UNOWA and
UNESCO to occupy the building shortly
(one month) after the imminent contract
signing. After preparing a master work
plan with recommendations for action at
different levels and specifications for a
variety of different small and medium
size works, Andres returned mid-October
2013 after five weeks of work.
******
What’s New at ESDC
Welcoming New Staff
Abhinav Wakhloo
Since the last issue of the newsletter in
May 2013, ESDC has had the pleasure to
welcome four new members to the team;
building on the civil engineering, electri-
cal and architecture skills and competen-
cies of ESDC.
After Francesco Corrado obtained his
degree in Civil Engineering, he worked
as a freelance engineer for fifteen years
and was involved in complex construc-
tion projects in Brindisi like the new
opportunity in this newsletter to introduce
the review team;
The Technical Clearence Team
From left: Marina Dzunic, Suresh Rama-
durgakar, Jacquelyn Amoko, Andres
Gomez-Jimenez and Bhawana Shrestha.
Though these functions have been trans-
ferred to ESDC more than 1 year ago,
some requests arte still reaching us via
NY HQ.
How to request our services?
Please send your request via fax to the
UNGSC Director. Upon receipt, one of
our team members will contact you via e-
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E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
wing of Perrino
Hospital (€10M),
various residential
buildings
(€10.5M) and the
new city sewerage
system (€2.5M).
In each of these
projects he was
responsible for the
design, project management and site
safety. Between March 2008 and April
2010 he worked for UNLB as a consult-
ant for Engineering Section. During this
period he was responsible for the con-
struction of Building A for CITS (€1.7M)
and was the works supervisor, project
manager and safety coordinator. From
April 2010 to present, he has been with
UNGSC first with Engineering Section/
Facilities Management Section and since
June 2013 as part of ESDC. He has since
been responsible for several projects, the
main one being the construction of
Building B – Office and Data Centre for
CITS valued at €4.7M. The works were
successfully completed in June 2012 to
both the clients’ and management’s satis-
mail. Depending on the nature of the
case these discussions may also require
additional exchanges by teleconference.
At present all budget submissions are
passed on to ESDC through FBFD and
LSD/ES, however ESDC is certain that
there will be better value addition to the
overall process through earlier and clari-
fied engagement. A review of the budget
submission process is ongoing with the
intention of recommending some im-
provements and providing better defini-
tion of what inputs shall be made by
ESDC.
What can the Missions do?
 Make Engineering SharePoint
(http://esdc.dfs.un.org) your point of
reference – there are currently over
280 field engineers with access
 Involve ESDC from the onset of
your projects
 For budget submissions share all
pertinent and relevant information
We welcome your feedback and sugges-
tions to improve our service delivery.
Please feel free to contact us at
esdc@un.org.
10
February 2014
faction.
Since joining ESDC he has been deputy
project manager for the provision and
installation of the Dynamic UPS and the
new electrical project within the UNGSC
base.
Marina Dzunic is an Ar chitect, wor k-
ing with UN Peacekeeping since 2000.
She headed the
Design and Plan-
ning Unit of Engi-
neering Section in
Sierra Leone
(UNAMSIL) for 5
years. During this
time she was re-
sponsible for the
design and imple-
mentation of vari-
ous projects, such
as establishing the Mission HQ, new
logistics base, transit camps, military
camps, hospitals, refurbishment of the
runway and many other projects through-
out the country. In this capacity she was
also providing technical designs for other
UN agencies like WHO, designing a
shelter for HIV affected women, design-
ing a school for children supported by the
Italian Catholic Church and several oth-
ers. From Sierra Leone, she was assigned
to MONUC in the DRC where she again
led the Design and Planning Unit. She
was responsible for supporting the estab-
lishment of 17 sites in Kinshasa and
throughout the region of DRC. During
her three and a half year assignment she
completed the air terminals in Kinshasa
and Entebbe in support of the UN logis-
tics base, designed and implemented the
Level II Hospital in Kinshasa and de-
signed and implemented offices for ad-
ministration, amongst other projects.
During her assignment in MONUC she
took a TDY assignment to Nepal as Pro-
ject Manager for the establishment of a
new HQ for UNMIN. Since 2009 she has
been working in Brindisi where she was
responsible for the maintenance of Lo-
gistic base, as Head of Facilities Manage-
ment Section. She has now joined ESDC
bringing a combination of broad field
experience and complex project imple-
mentation to support all Field Missions.
Matteo Morelli has a Master s Degr ee
in Electrical Engineering from the Uni-
versity of Pisa in Italy. After working for
an industrial plant design and installation
E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
company for a year, he started his career the UN compound in Afghanistan. He
as a freelance engineering professional in worked briefly with UNOPS in Afghani-
2003 focusing on stan as Engineering Coordinator for the
industrial and SCRTFP Project, working with the Gov-
building plants, ernment of Afghanistan to develop the
particularly for Customs Department infrastructure along
renewable energy the borders of Afghanistan. He returned
supply and distri- to UNAMA in December 2011, as a Re-
bution systems in gional Administrative Officer, till Octo-
both the public ber 2013.
and private sector.
A Farewell
Individually, or as
part of a team, he ESDC would like to wish Annamaria and
Matteo Morelli
designed a number Manuela, two staff members who have
of photovoltaic plants in the South of now left the team, all the best in their
Italy, with the largest being Masseria future endeavours.
Miggianello/Feudo di Scorrano in Scor- Annamaria Zipeto ser ved the United
rano of 15MWp. Others include Hyblaea Nations for 15 years in various areas
in Botrugno and A+F in Casarano (each related to logistics support, in addition to
approximately 1MWp). During his career working with
he has made contributions to various ESDC since late
technical publications like Dal Sole 2010, she worked
L’Energia per Tutti for the Verona Solar with Property
Expo in 2011 and delivered presentations Control and Inven-
at several conferences. tory (PCIU), Re-
ceiving and In-
Rinzin Wangchuk is a Civil Engineer
spection Unit
with a Masters in Construction Manage-
(R&I) and in En-
ment from University of New Bruns-
gineering as the
wick, Canada. He
Galileo Focal
started his profes-
Point. During her tenure she also per-
sional career
formed administrative roles in support of
working with the
the Training Centre, Human Resources
Government of
Section, Projects and Planning Unit in
Bhutan in the hy-
Engineering and finally with ESDC. The
dropower develop-
ESDC team takes this opportunity to bid
ment sector. Over
her farewell, to acknowledge her contri-
an eight year peri-
butions to the team and to express their
od he worked ex-
gratitude.
tensively in the
Manuela Lupoli only joined the ESDC
implementation of hydropower projects
team in January of 2013; nevertheless
and in planning and design of associated
she made a lasting impact, adding value
infrastructure. He worked as Technical
to ESDC’s daily
General Manager for the 115MW,
activities through
Dagachhu Hydroelectric Project Authori-
her commitment
ty, Bhutan, before joining the UN. He
and professional-
joined the United Nations in 2008 as a
ism. She was very
UNV Field Engineer with UNAMA in
instrumental in the
Afghanistan. He established and led the
compilation of
planning and design team for UNAMA
ESDC’s last news-
for three years. With UNAMA, he de-
letter and her well-
signed and implemented the three major
rounded abilities
regional HQ office premises and estab-
have been sorely
lished six provincial offices, in addition
missed this time round. The team thanks
to various infrastructure improvement
her for the enthusiasm she brought to
projects for the UN premises across Af-
ghanistan. He was instrumental in devel- each task and is confident that she will
oping the comprehensive compound se- do well as she meets the next challenges
curity infrastructure and its components of her career.
for protection against complex attacks on
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February 2014
The Consultants
In addition ESDC would like to intro-
duce and welcome three engineering con-
sultants, Navin Tuladhar, Alessandro De
Castro and Giancarlo Vella who are em-
bedded with the team.
Navin Tuladhar has a Bachelors degree
in Architecture from the Institute of En-
gineering, Kathmandu. Prior to joining
the United Nations Stabilization Mission
in Haiti (MINUSTAH) in 2005, he
worked with an engineering consulting
firm in Kathmandu as architect for three
years. This is his second assignment with
ESDC; he was previously instrumental in
the further development of modulariza-
tion as well as the support of SPC to-
wards the identification of similar modu-
lar service packages. He is currently de-
veloping the scope of works for MI-
NUSMA camps.
Alessandro De Castro has a Masters
degree in Civil Engineering, specializing
in Geotechnical Engineering from
Politecnico di Torino in Italy. Since 2003
he has worked as a freelance engineer,
gaining extensive experience in architec-
tural, structural and system design. He is
also a competent topographical surveyor
for the setting out of buildings and for
assessing open areas. He has worked as
safety coordinator for different projects
in both public and private sectors. Ales-
sandro joined ESDC in October 2013 and
is responsible for the horizontal ground-
works detailing of the UN camps for
MINUSMA.
From left: Navin Thuladar and Alessandro De Castro
Giancarlo Vella is a Mechanical Engi-
neer with a Masters degree from Politec-
nico di Bari Italy. Over a career spanning
two decades, he has developed experi-
ence in engineering and site safety man-
agement, designing, leadership and men-
toring and problem-solving. He is an
expert in analyzing complex site safety
management problems in sensitive, high-
risk and constrained workplaces e.g.
power stations and constructions sites in
heavily-trafficked and industrial areas.
Giancarlo joined ESDC in December
2013 as site safety consultant for the dy-
namic UPS and reticulation medium volt-
age projects.
Giancarlo Vella
Jacquelyn Amoko
There is the general, common argument
that PRINCE2 is not practical or suitable
for the way we do business. This is true
up to a point as we do not typically oper-
ate in what can be called a ‘controlled
environment’; PRINCE does after all
stand for ‘Projects in a Controlled Envi-
ronment’. However, there are still a num-
ber of benefits that should be considered
despite the nature of our operations; as-
pects that can relate to PRINCE2 never-
theless. For example the following dis-
cussion on the importance of projects is
quoted from their 2009 Edition (p. 3), “A
key challenge for organizations in to-
day’s world is to succeed in balancing
two parallel, competing imperatives:
 to maintain current business opera-
tions – profitability, service quality,
customer relationships, brand loyal-
ty, productivity, market confidence,
etc. What we term ‘business as usu-
al’
 to transform business operations in
order to survive and compete in the
future – looking forward and decid-
ing how business change can be in-
troduced to best effect for the organ-
ization”
Is peacekeeping today facing unprece-
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E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
dented challenges to operate more effi-
ciently? Are we in need of improvements
in the areas of environment management
and sustainability? Are missions being
pressed by funding and resource con-
straints and at the same time contending
with increased mandate requirements
dealing with contracting, security and
reputational risks? No matter where we
are we can answer in the affirmative to
each of these questions and in some cases
to the very extreme.
PRINCE2 provides guidance on how to
deal with projects taking into considera-
tion that they are:
 meant to introduce change e.g.
UMOJA
 temporary – projects should have a
defined start and a defined end
 cross-functional, involving teams
with different skills working together
e.g. for a technical assessment mis-
sion (TAM) every logistics aspect
needs representation; management
engineering, supply, MovCon, envi-
ronment, etc.
 unique – the requirements for a
wastewater installation in Libya will
differ from the same in Ivory Coast;
even within the same camp there will
be unique aspects that will need to
be given consideration
 characterized by uncertainty
Taking this and many more aspects of the
course into consideration, ESDC keeps
an open-mind and adopts relevant princi-
ples to suit specific situations to add val-
ue. ESDC has five qualified PRINCE2
Practitioners to-date; including Mr. An-
dres Gomez (2008), Mr. Abhinav
Wakhloo (2011) and most recently Ms.
Jacquelyn Amoko (June 2013) and Ms.
Marina Dzunic and Mr. Francesco Cor-
rado (November 2013).
UMOJA: Train-the-Trainers
Paola De Mauro
The Training Implementation Pro-
gramme of UMOJA in PKOs was offi-
cially launched last July. Participants
were selected from Finance, Procure-
ment, Logistics and Real Estate
(Engineering). The programme com-
prised a general awareness training ses-
sion for all field mission staff as well as
specialized training sessions based on the
roles staff members are to perform in
UMOJA.
12
February 2014
Participants of UMOJA training at UNGSC
It was preferred that the nominated staff
members for UMOJA real estate trainers
would have had exposure to IPSAS real
estate data collection, DFS real estate
catalogue and the UMOJA real estate
staging database. The Train-the-Trainer
for Real Estate (Cluster 1) was conducted
at UNGSC Conference and Learning
Centre in August; it was held over two
weeks from 5 - 16 August with 24 partic-
ipants from 13 field missions. The pro-
gramme covered two modules: Real Es-
tate Portfolio Management (CS325-
UMOJA) and Lease Administration Pro-
cess (CS324-UMOJA).
Paola De Mauro was nominated by NY
HQ to participate in the training imple-
mentation programme and she success-
fully completed the course – she is now a
certified UMOJA Real Estate Trainer.
*****
Training
Euro Mec Water Treatment
Systems
Jacquelyn Amoko
Euromec is the current vendor under sys-
tems contract PD/C0046/11 for the sup-
ply of field operations modular drinking
water treatment systems. From 20 – 24
May 2013 their technical support team
was in Brindisi to give training on the
use of the modules and equipment availa-
ble under the contract. A number of in-
teresting points were noted during the
training; did you know that:
1. the pumps and membranes in the
Module II BW (brackish water) and
SW (sea water) are completely dif-
ferent? The Module II BW is de-
signed for maximum total dissolved
solids (TDS) of 6,000ppm.
2. when the raw water is limpid and
E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
clear, the Module II can function as training organized by GIS at UNGSC on
a stand alone unit? “Remote Sensing for Thematic Map-
3. water level regulation from the raw ping”. The course was held from 27 to 31
water source is critical for the Mod- May 2013 and facilitated by Planetek
ule I to function in automatic Italia which is a leading multidisciplinary
mode? The same applies for the GIS and Earth Observation consultancy
flow meter, without which the dos- company, with a specific focus on land
ing pumps and UV will not work information management. Remote sens-
automatically. ing refers to the science of detecting and
4. the activated carbon filter requires classifying objects on earth (both on the
replacement annually? And the sand surface and the oceans) by means of
filters after approximately 2 – 3 propagated signals, electromagnetic radi-
years; longer for less turbid waters? ations, emitted from aircraft or satellites
5. the waste/reject water from the through the use of sophisticated sensors.
Module II is highly concentrated in These sensors collect data in the form of
salts which makes it very aggressive images which require specialized capa-
and not an ideal source of water for bilities for manipulating and analyzing.
recycling? The course covered the following main
6. CIP chemical cleaning is required topics:
approximately quarterly and is de-  the basic concepts of remote sensing
termined by water quality failure?  the foundation of satellite images
7. the membrane inlet and concentrate processing
outlet pipes are fabricated in stain-  overview of available data from re-
less steel due to the high operation- cent missions, e.g.WorldView-2,
al pressures?
8. the units have in-built conductivity
and pH meters?
9. the first water produced from the
Module II must be discharged to
waste as the membranes come al-
ready fitted but in a conservation
solution?
10. Module I commissioning takes a
full day due to the need to hydrate
the activated carbon?
11. Where the Module I is used togeth-
er with the Module II, one should
always ensure that the Module I is
working before any work is com-
menced on the commissioning of
the Module II?
12. There are some critical parts for the
O&M of the modules that are not
included in the 1 year spares list
e.g. the PLC, air compressor and
pressure switch for the Module I
and membranes for the Module II?
In addition to the support that the vendor
provides on the systems contract and the
manuals, ESDC can arrange for optional
support for this equipment as well.
Remote Sensing for Thematic
Mapping
Pamela Treveri
Pamela Treveri was invited, in light of
the growing partnership between the two
units intended to optimize the support Visual enhancements: use of specific band combinations for looking
provided to the field missions, to attend a at different features
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February 2014
Cosmo-SkyMED
 solutions for data processing for the
production of cartographic data
 image manipulation through the use
of ERDAS IMAGINE software
The course content highlighted the use of
such instruments in manipulating the
satellite images for extracting infor-
mation, like the presence of water, vege-
tation, roads, etc., which are crucial for
site selection during mission start-up
phases and for providing support to engi-
neering design for new camp construc-
tion.
LCC Training
Bhawana Shrestha/Andres Gomez-
Jimenez
ESDC staff members Ms. Bhawana
Shrestha and Mr. Andres Gomez-
Jimenez were nominated to attend the
basic training on Local Committee on
Contracts (LCC), which was held at
UNGSC Conference and Learning Cen-
tre (CLC) from 5 - 7 June 2013. The
three-day training provided a solid con-
ceptual framework covering in detail
important aspects of procurement and the
technical evaluation process, as they re-
late to the vetting and reviewing role of
the committees on contracts (HCC and
LCC). The procurement overview was
given by UNGSC Procurement Officer
Mr. Sasa Murganic, who interactively
scrutinized the procedures and impacts of
the procurement process, acquisition
planning and the concept of best value
for money. Additionally, subjects such as
the procurement delegation of authority,
vetting and reviewing criteria, commit-
tee’s meeting procedures, committee’s
recommendations, and review of minutes
were part of the concepts examined dur-
ing the course. Equally interesting was
the fact that the most important aspects
of these concepts were further assimilat-
ed through practical role-exercises done
in different groups, each group at the end
presenting and discussing results with all
other groups.
Both Bhawana and Andres were very
satisfied with the training, which in their
opinion was masterfully handled by
Ms. Asiri Mawalagedera, the then GSC
Legal Officer. She demonstrated exten-
sive and real experience in these matters,
acquired after two years of being an ac-
tive member of the Headquarters Com-
mittee on Contracts (HCC) in NY HQ.
E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
Advanced Global Positioning mum efficiency. The ability to
System consider local aspects, such as water and
Carlo Perrucci the nature of the surrounding environ-
ment, allows for the remote consideration
Mr. Carlo Perrucci, Mr. Danilo Converti- of possible adverse impacts and provides
ni and Ms. Paola De Mauro attended the the opportunity to design to prevent fur-
Advanced Global Position System train- ther degradation and harm. The under-
ing, theory and practical sessions from 17 standing and use of the advanced global
- 21 June, held at the CLC in UNGSC positioning system gives further capabili-
Brindisi. The training was about the ap- ties to the ESDC team to better design
plication of new techniques and technol- and develop expansion areas of existing
ogies to the assessment of land character-
sites or new camps in the field missions.
istics in the field.
Field Occupational Safety
Training
Francesco Corrado
From 22 - 26 July 2013 DPKO at NY
HQ and the Field Occupational Safety
Section in UNGSC organized a Field
Occupational Safety Risk Management
training course. The purpose of the train-
ing was to provide UN staff with the
basic knowledge and competence to
function as a Field Occupational Safety
Focal Points (FOSFP) in their respective
missions, logistical bases and centres.
This was achieved through lectures,
demonstrations, working group assign-
ments, discussions and practical exercis-
es and was attended by participants from
all missions.
of
hardware, software and
to the satellite
r manage
and of Training participants at UNGSC
for
and
The objectives of the training included
management problems.
understanding the DPKO/DFS and De-
Using advanced equipment and GIS tech-
partment of Political Affairs (DPA) Field
nologies enables engineers to produce
Occupational Safety Risk Management
more accurate maps and drawings in a
(FOSRM) Policy, SOP’s and related
pictorial format as well as layered maps.
guidelines on occupational safety risk
can, for instance, measure the
management. Participants were required
distance two p o i n t s or
to display competency and ability to
the areas of various
identify and determine the most obvious
on the screen.
and apparent occupational safety hazards
also
and subsequent risks in typical work-
planning and
places and then further be able to provide
important
recommendations on control measures to
as s
eliminate prevent or mitigate occupation-
and with max
al safety hazards and risks. There were
 please consider the environment before printing this newsletter 14
February 2014
18 participants from 13 missions who in
turn will support the delivery of basic
briefings and orientations on FOSRM for
mission staff. As focal points they are
also required to highlight senior man-
ager’s commitment and responsibilities
to health and safety.
Requisitioner Training
Programme
Paola De Mauro
Paola De Mauro from ESDC is partici-
pating in the UN Requisitioner Training
Programme organized by UNGSC; and
delivered by Chartered Institute of Pur-
chasing and Supply, CIPS (UK).
The UN Requisitioner Training Pro-
gramme is meant for all UN staff that are
involved in the development of state-
ments of requirements, scope of works
and bid technical evaluation criteria and
in the conduction of bid technical evalua-
tions and vendor performance evalua-
tions. In essence, the training has been
tailoured to all UN requisitioners and
contract management staff.
The programme engages requisitioners in
a "blended" training that consists of dis-
tance learning, manual self-study, prac-
tice exercises, review tests and assign-
ments, on-line webinars and face-to-face
training workshop. This is the first requi-
sitioner training session being conducted,
as a pilot course, for which the Focal
Point is Carlo Scalera at UNGSC; future
workshops may be delivered at UNHQ
and/or at the Entebbe Regional Service
Centre. Depending on mission require-
ments the same programme could be
arranged at other UN locations.
The programme includes off-the-shelf
commercial training modules integrated
with references to UN Procurement
standards, financial rules and regulations
and UN case scenarios. The programme
challenges UN requisitioners in a de-
manding and comprehensive training and
E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
ESDC PRODUCT
Sharepoint
Pamela Treveri
A scientific report produced by FOI, the
Swedish Defense Research Agency, in
2010 included a survey of challenges
and practices in base camp water man-
agement across the US and EU troops.
As part of the study interviews were
carried out with field officers and one
challenge highlighted was the lack of
procedures to collect and transfer the sion it may also be helpful to find a rele-
experiences learned in the field. One EU vant data to increase the chances of a
Environmental Officer is quoted, “there case being approved and processed with
is a lot of reinventing the wheel in the expedience. As outlined in the previous
field at the moment”. ESDC, through newsletter, the new 2010 release presents
SharePoint, is spearheading meaningful new features like the “blog” section, im-
change to prevent this cycle and further plemented to facilitate the interaction and
encouraging field mission engineers to information exchange related to a partic-
use these resources to support their re- ular topic, area of interest in the form of
sponsibilities and enhance operations text, images, links and videos. ESDC
and outputs. Moreover, in order to re- encourages the manipulation of these
duce the turnaround time for processing tools to raise topics for discussion, to
technical clearances, the Engineering suggest improvements, to address short-
online database has also become a repos- age of data in specific fields, and to im-
itory for cleared projects, which consti- prove these services.
tute useful reference/guidance prior to Please address all requests for access via
starting a project. In the preparation of email, to esdc@un.org or to tre-
LPA cases and mission budget submis- veri@un.org
offers useful job-oriented learning and from UNGSC (from logistics, base sup-
practice opportunities. port and CITS), 2 UNAMID staff, one
Distance learning includes the following requisitioner and one contract manager, 2
three modules: MINUSTAH requisitioners, 1 UNSOA
 MODULE 1: Development of state- contract manager, 1 UNMISS requisition-
ment of requirements (SORs), er and 1 UNIFIL requisitioner.
statement of work (SOWs), terms
of references (TORs)
 MODULE 2: Development of tech- *****
nical evaluation criteria and tech-
nical evaluation of bidders’ tech-
nical proposals Outlook
 MODULE 3: Contract monitoring/ Water Policy
management and technical evalua- Jacquelyn Amoko
tion of vendors’ performance
In line with its oversight functions LSD/
The Programme lasts a total of 9 months
DFS is taking the lead in the development
and consists of five phases: pre-
of the first water policy for field missions.
assessment, 6-month distance learning, a
There have been guidelines and an SOP
five-day face-to-face training workshop,
on the same, however there is a real drive
an examination and then delegates will
to establish the policy to achieve the fol-
have four weeks to complete a written
lowing objectives;
assignment that covers the three Pro-
 define DPKO/DFS mandates on wa-
gramme modules. The successful course
ter supply in field missions
participants will be awarded a Pro-
 set forth goals, objectives and targets
gramme Certificate of completion ac-
for water resources management in
credited by CIPS (UK).
field missions
Twelve staff are participating in the pilot
 provide the platform to management
session of this training: 5 requisitioners
 please consider the environment before printing this newsletter 15
February 2014
at all levels to implement the man-
dates contained herein relating to
water supply, while taking into ac-
count the need to tailor the guidance
in line with mission-specific circum-
stances
 mandate management at all levels
with responsibility for environmen-
tal protection practices relate to wa-
ter supply
 provide practical guidance and in-
structions to address water supply
challenges in the field; with focus on
the how and why
 define roles and responsibilities
 promote the application of collabora-
tive approaches in water supply
management
The core working group is composed of
subject matter experts (SMEs) in water,
sanitation and the environment from
across peacekeeping – Mr. Olatunji Aye-
ni (DFS/LSD), Mr. Ayman Abdelwahab
and Mr. Lokuwattage Perera (UNIFIL),
Mr. Andrew Ddembe (UNMIL), Mr.
Yustinian Mulaki and Mr. Richard Oyoo
(UNAMID) and Ms. Jacquelyn Amoko
(ESDC/UNGSC). There is also a re-
source group that will be called upon to
support mission-specific technical ele-
ments of the policy; the members are Mr.
Bhupender Singh (UNSOA), Mr. Archi-
bald Roderick (MINUSTAH),
Mission in Focus
MINUSTAH
Suresh Ramadurgakar
This column was introduced in our last
newsletter to cover Engineering Sections
of different missions in turn; their
achievements, challenges, lessons learnt,
best practice, or any other discussion of
their choice. In this issue we focus on
MINUSTAH.
Chief Engineer: Mr. Prakash Neupane
started his engineering career with a pri-
vate consulting engineering firm in Nepal,
first as a civil engineer and later as a
structural engineer.
E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
Mr. Auguste
Zeboua and Mr.
Kona Mesmin
(ONUCI), Mr.
Battsetseg Toi-
son and Mr. Tom
Sengalama
(MONUSCO).
Drafting of the
policy com-
menced with a
kick-off meeting
held at NY HQ
from the 10 – 14
September 2013.
The terms of
reference were
reviewed by the
team and the
format of the Water Policy working group with members of LSD/ES in New York
policy document
was discussed. The team went further to uled for 15 May 2014. It is anticipated
set milestone dates for the review of the that the draft shall then be shared with
main topics that were agreed in principle the larger resource group, all Chief Engi-
for inclusion in the policy. The mid-term neers and other agreed partners by mid-
review has been planned for 10 - 14 June 2014. If the task is completed as
March 2014. It was proposed that this planned, the handover presentation for
meeting takes place in a field mission the completed Water Policy document
with specific suggestions being UNA- shall take place towards the end of June
MID/MINUSMA/UNGSC; appropriate 2014, at the same place where it all be-
discussions are underway to realize this gan, for further review at corporate level
proposal. Review of the complete Water and subsequent promulgation.
Policy draft document via VTC is sched-
Prior to joining MINUSTAH, he worked to close to 95% as of April 2013. Further
as a Regional Engineer for eight and a Engineering Section took the initiative to
half years in the eastern region of the establish a wastewater laboratory facility
United Nations Mission in Democratic to monitor the quality of all wastewater
Republic of Congo (MONUSCO). He effluents. The laboratory is headed by a
joined MINUSTAH as Deputy Chief UNV and operated by trained national
Engineer in June 2010 after the devastat- staff practicing standard safety in the
ing earthquake when Engineering Sec- microbiology laboratory and employing
tion had myriads of urgent mission prior- Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) practices.
ity projects with stringent deadlines. De- In support of the Environment Policy the
spite the lack of basic of resources in the section has also implemented a program
Mission, he supported the required pro- to segregate waste at source at all MI-
jects and services by rigorous planning, NUSTAH facilities so as to improve re-
organizing and resource optimization. cycle rates.
He is now the Chief Engineer.
Waste Management Efforts: F ollowing
the cholera outbreak in Haiti in October
2010 Engineering developed and imple-
mented a comprehensive wastewater
management action plan from November
2011 and subsequently installed 28
wastewater treatment plants and addi-
tional conventional wastewater treatment
systems to comply with DPKO/DFS
guideline from a fairly low compliance
Wastewater laboratory team MINUSTAH
 please consider the environment before printing this newsletter 16
February 2014
System Contracts
Upcoming
Modular Prefabs
Suresh Ramadurgakar
LSD/ES is establishing the new systems
contract for modular prefabs to replace
the one with CORIMEC that expired in
November 2013. During May ESDC
participated in the technical evaluation of
the requisition for the new systems con-
tract; the TE team comprised of members
from LSD/ES, ESDC and UNAMID. The
solicitation process has been completed
and the contract is currently being final-
ized by PD.
The specification for the bidding exercise
was prepared by LSD/ES with the re-
quirement that the vendor designs, fabri-
cates, delivers, installs and commissions
four types of modular prefabs; a single
module (28m2), a three module (84 m2),
a six module (168m2) and a half module
(14m2), including features for the vari-
ous service systems and accessories
needed to make them habitable. Alt-
hough the first three types are common to
the previous systems contract, the half-
module is an addition based on the need
to provide smaller space requirements at
field missions, for example to be used
for sensitive CITS equipment placement.
The specifications covered typical re-
quirements for the nature of mission op-
erations such as, ease of assembly and
erection, reduced assembly time within
limited resources, modular design, health
& safety, stability, structural soundness,
building frame resistance to wind and
other loads, durability, ease of mainte-
nance mobility and robustness of ele-
ments for repeated dismantling and re-
erection.
To ensure that the prefabs will be energy
efficient and environmentally friendly,
the specification laid emphasis on the
need for overall efficiency of the struc-
ture to be included in the design. Perfor-
Technical Evaluation Team in New York
E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
mance requirements had to give consid- tool to assist the user/designer to select
eration to different regional climatic con- the most appropriate pump for each re-
ditions and to the utilization of alternate quirement.
power resources to lower overall green- The solar pumping systems and the die-
house gas emissions of the buildings sel pumps on the contract are manufac-
once installed. A balance had to be struck tured by Euro Mec. The team were host-
between the climates and environment ed at their facilities in Orzinuovi, Brescia
conditions for tropical moist climates and (Italy), for this part of the inspection. The
dry climates. The design had to reflect solar pumping systems and the different
what the indoor environment and thermal solar panel solutions, in accordance with
comfort would be depending on these the latest technology, were analysed.
different conditions for temperature, air
velocity, humidity, thermal insulation,
natural lighting as well as provide op-
tions for rain water harvesting, use of
solar water heaters and energy conserva-
tion.
Field Water Pumps
Giovanni Ferraro
From 17 - 19 September 2013 a proto-
type inspection team comprising Mr.
Olatunji Ayeni (LSD/ES), Ms. Sharon
Cornelius (UNGSC/Procurement) and
Mr. Giovanni Ferraro (UNGSC/ESDC)
conducted the technical inspection of Giovanni Ferraro at Euro Mec Factory
field water and wastewater pumps that
are now available on systems contract *****
PC/C0178/13. The vendor is Euro Mec,
who chose Grundfos as sub-contractors,
so the inspection took place in Italy, in New Technologies
different workshops in Mantova, Orzin- OMPeco
uovo and Milano. The systems contract Jacquelyn Amoko
includes a wide range of pumps to meet
ESDC received an invitation from World
UN requirements for the abstraction,
Food Programme to a presentation on a
transfer and distribution of raw and pota-
waste converter, OMPeco. It has been
ble water as well as for the processing of
designed to provide an ecological solu-
the wastewater.
tion for on-site waste treatment and re-
The range of pumps includes electric
duction. It is called a converter because it
surface water pumps (horizontal or verti-
cal), automatic booster sets, solar-
powered surface water pumps (horizontal
or vertical), diesel operated pumps, elec-
trical and solar-powered submersible
deep well pumps and submersible sew-
age pumps. The bidding exercise focused
on requirements for the automatic opera-
tion of the pumps, in order to minimize
manpower requirements during operation
and considering the possibility that
pumps can be located in remote, insecure
areas. The inspection team specifically
checked the electrical surface, submersi-
ble and booster set pumps, selecting one
or two capacities per category and carry-
ing out real-time simulations.
The inclusion of Grundfos’ selection and
sizing software was of particular interest
during the inspection exercise. This is a
 please consider the environment before printing this newsletter 17
February 2014
transforms/processes waste into reusable
material that is unrecognizable from the
source waste, dry, lighter by 40%, re-
duced in volume by 70%, odourless and
can then be treated as sterile municipal
waste or refuse derived fuel (RDF) with a
calorific value of 7000kCal/kg.
The process takes place in seven steps:
waste loading, crushing, evaporation,
overheating, sterilization, cooling and
unloading. Different models and sizes are
available; the H series only handles med-
ical waste while the MO series can addi-
tionally treat other waste streams. The
MO1000 can handle 350 – 450kg/h of
municipal waste (assuming a density of
300kg/m3 and 40% humidity) and fits in
a 40’ ISO container. Assuming a worst
case scenario of 1.5kg of waste generated
daily per person, in a UN camp or set-
ting, this equipment operating 10 hours a
day could ideally serve 2000 persons.
ESDC is in the process of carrying out an
indicative cost benefit analysis consider-
ing that, the following operational ad-
vantages are put forward by the manufac-
turer:
 Economical - one operator can
control more than one machine
 Safety - no pressure is used, it meets
European Commission compliance, it is a
completely closed structure which
prevents powder/odour release,
sterilization available even in case of
malfunctioning, noise is under the legal
limit (65÷80 dB) – no protections are
needed, protection against vibrations,
shock, fire and unauthorized access to the
machine
 Convenience - fully automatic cycle,
the entire cycle is controlled by PLC and
remote control is possible
 Clean – no emissions, water
consumption can be lowered to zero
For additional resources:
www.ompeco.com/english
Solar Hybrid Solution for Load-
shedding
Pamela Treveri
ESDC was invited in May 2013 by
World Food Programme to attend a
presentation on new solar-system tech-
nologies for providing uninterrupted
power supply especially in countries
where load-shedding (also known as roll-
ing blackout) is the only solution for en-
ergy shortage problems. The technology
is based on the adoption of an Energy
Management System (EMS) together
with options for energy conservation.
EMS is a software-driven advanced ener-
gy management system and optimizer
which allows the user to tailor-fit the
parameters of the system, based on the
location and the individual customer re-
quirements for a specific load. EMS al-
lows the user to control its power inputs
and does not need to depend on smart
controller options which are limited and
preprogrammed.
Unlike the conventional way of charging
batteries by way of measuring the volt-
age level, EMS uses sophisticated tech-
nology to balance the power of the bat-
teries, which saves time and money by
not wasting time needed for battery
charging and by not over charging or
under charging the batteries thus enhanc-
ing battery life. During the daytime hours
the electrical demand/load is powered
directly from the solar panels, with the
result that the batteries are not used
which in turn prolongs their life and
saves a lot of money in terms of electrici-
ty consumption.
EMS can manage different sources of
electricity and different loads. Its purpose
is to give uninterrupted power, using all
the different sources of energy connected
to the system. This is done automatically
by the system, which works to optimize
the system efficiency and to minimize
the energy cost.
Many different solutions of EMS systems
are available with different target fea-
tures and with the possibility to manage
different external resources including
grids, photovoltaic panels, batteries, UPS
loads, diesel generators and inverters,
among others.
For more information: www.sira.net
 please consider the environment before printing this newsletter
E SDC Ne w s l e tte r
New Year Message from the
Desk of Chief ESDC
Abhinav Wakhloo
As part of ESDC's wrap-up of 2013, we
discussed our accomplishments in sup-
port to the field missions and HQ. We
were proud to look at the impressive tally
which included, additional new roles in
project management; 45 TCs; SOWs for
MINUSMA, UNLB, UNSB-V; comple-
tion of the 200 person 1c modular camp;
TAMs in CAR & Dublin; 7 TDY assign-
ments; a successful energy feasibility
study; HCC approval for the establish-
ment of the Modified Sea-Container sys-
tems contract, IPSAS Real Estate and
SPC Catalogue support, among many
others. Details of a number of these have
been shared in this issue of our newslet-
ter.
The ESDC team also had a round-table
discussion in which the reason for these
successes was jointly shared - with each
member of the team expressing their ap-
preciation for both the leadership and the
individual contributions to these success-
es. I take this opportunity to reiterate my
congratulations to the team and to thank
them for their dedicated and consistent
support.
For the year ahead ESDC is committing
to providing enhanced support to field
missions, proceeding with the 1000 per-
son camp detailed design, fronting a wid-
er range of suitable technologies and
solutions, especially in waste manage-
ment, and continuing to grow in the func-
tions transferred to UNGSC to bring val-
ue to global support operations.
With MINUSMA further along in its
establishment and BINUCA increasing
its AoR, ESDC looks forward to working
alongside the field mission engineering
teams, facing the challenges necessary to
realise safer and more efficient working
environments.
We continue to invite comments, sugges-
tions, requests for support and the shar-
ing of your successes and accomplish-
ments; write us at esdc@un.org .
4 Dec 2013, ESDC Christmas lunch
18