REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (REOI) - LAND ADMINISTRATION SPECIALIST

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (REOI)

Individual Selection of Consultant

Country: Government of Vanuatu
Name of the Project: Vanuatu Affordable and Resilient Settlements Project (VARS)
Consulting Service: Land Administration Specialist
Individual/Firm: Individual Consultant (CS-INDV)
Date of Publication : 08 th May 2026
Deadline for submission: 22 nd May 2026
Reference Number: VU-MLNR-539667-CS-INDV

1). BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT

The Government of Vanuatu, through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (MLNR), is implementing a comprehensive program of land sector reform guided by the Ministry’s Reform Masterplan and Corporate Plan. These frameworks set out a structured pathway toward strengthening institutional performance, improving service delivery, modernizing land administration systems, and enhancing governance of land resources.

Vanuatu’s land administration operates within a dual system, characterized by:

• The predominance of customary land ownership, and
• A formal system focused on the administration of leasehold land, particularly in urban and peri- urban areas.

This duality introduces complexity in land administration processes, particularly in relation to:

• Customary consent requirements and dispute risks
• Lease allocation, transfer, and subdivision processes
• Institutional coordination between traditional and formal systems

Under the Vanuatu Affordable and Resilient Settlements (VARS) Project, supported by the World Bank, substantial progress has been made in strengthening land administration systems and improving the delivery of serviced land. This includes the development of a Land Management Information System (LMIS) and improvements in planning, subdivision design, and land servicing.

However, key operational and institutional challenges remain, including:

• Significant backlogs in lease registration, transfers, and subdivision approvals
• A hybrid records environment, comprising paper-based files, scanned archives, and partially digitized LMIS records.
• Data quality and integrity issues, affecting the reliability of land records.
• Inefficient and inconsistent business processes, leading to long transaction times.
• Weak integration between systems, processes, and institutional roles
• Constraints in lease billing and revenue collection systems

These challenges reflect a need to move beyond system development toward practical operationalization, ensuring that systems, processes, and institutional capacity are aligned and functioning effectively.

In this context, the Government seeks to engage a Land Administration Specialist to provide targeted support in strengthening core land administration processes, improving data and records management, and supporting the operational use of LMIS.

The assignment will be implemented in close coordination with other technical specialists currently engaged under the VARS Project, including a Land Management Information System (LMIS) Specialist and a Revenue Management Specialist. These specialists are providing dedicated support in their respective domains and will actively contribute to, and support, the work of the Land Administration Specialist throughout the duration of the assignment. This arrangement is intended to ensure complementarity of expertise, avoid duplication of effort, and enable an integrated approach to strengthening land administration systems, processes, and revenue functions across MLNR.

The assignment will also provide strategic advisory input on the future development of the VARS Project, including identifying opportunities to advance beyond current objectives and informing the potential design of a second phase (VARS Phase 2).