Consultant for Assessment and Development of Three Bilateral Public Health SOP Packages

About the role

IOM Lao PDR, through its Migration Health Unit, is seeking a consultant for a 24-month project (starting 1 October 2026) that strengthens pandemic preparedness and cross-border health security in Lao PDR. The consultant will assess and develop three bilateral Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) packages covering the Lao PDR-Thailand, Lao PDR-Vietnam and Lao PDR-China corridors, in coordination with the Ministry of Health and border, immigration and counterpart-country authorities.

Key responsibilities

• Review existing public health surveillance, event notification, verification, risk assessment, response coordination, referral and information-sharing arrangements for the three corridors.
• Recommend one Lao-side priority Point of Entry (PoE) for each corridor, with a rationale, and identify operational gaps, roles, triggers, communication channels, timelines, safeguards, escalation and follow-up.
• Develop three bilateral SOP packages aligned with national procedures, IHR (2005) provisions (Articles 19, 21 and 22 and Annex 1, Part B) and WHO guidance on PoE core capacities and public health emergency contingency planning.
• Support technical validation, document feedback and handover guidance for the Lao project team.

Deliverables and payments

• Inception report within 1 month (30% payment): methodology, document review, consultation plan, assessment framework, workplan, recommended PoEs and common SOP outline.
• Consolidated assessment and draft SOP packages by month 4 (60% payment): process maps, roles, gaps, recommendations and three draft SOPs with editable files and PDFs.
• Final validated SOP packages and handover by month 6 (10% payment): validated SOPs, forms, job aids, contact list, response-to-comments matrix, unresolved decisions and implementation plan.

The assignment covers only SOP-related procedures and is not a nationwide or full IHR capacity assessment; formal government endorsement is not guaranteed and is not a condition of payment.