Curriculum Vitae
Robert Sundberg

QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY

Over 26 years experience as a lawyer and consultant specializing in public administration and administrative processes; procurement and fiscal law; public ethics; and anticorruption activities. Six continuous years residence and work in international settings with overall work experience in the United States, the Pacific, and Northeast and Southeast Asia, Europe and the Mideast. Experienced with various international public administration systems/processes; public ethics laws, regulations and systems; fiscal law and public financial processes at national and local levels; as well as international relations and international treaty obligations affecting public administration, procurement, and anticorruption initiatives. Specialized experience in U.S., EU and UN-based procurement laws and process. Experienced also in legal reform consultation and adult training in ‘best practices’ public administration processes; evaluation of foreign procurement systems, public administration and ethics systems; corruption indicators surveys and analysis; and designing technical assistance for public administration reform interventions. A seasoned legal advocate and former advisor to senior US officials with an excellent working relationship with donor representatives, program staff and foreign officials.

EDUCATION

Juris Doctor/Law, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa/USA, 1980

Bachelor of Arts/History, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa/USA, 1976

LANGUAGES

English – native speaker; German – fair; Serbian – basic

COUNTRIES OF PROFESSIONAL WORK

Bosnia-Herzegovina, East Timor, Germany, Italy, Moldova, Republic of Korea, Serbia, USA

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

June 2006 – present. Executive Consultant and Special Projects Development Officer/ Partner, Development Consulting Group, Belgrade, Serbia. Lends organizational and business advice, participates in management, maintains team-oriented business operations and develops new business initiatives in a growing Serbian consulting company. Supports company projects in Serbia and elsewhere involving local economic development, public procurement and public administration reform, ethics and anticorruption work, strategic planning training and assistance, establishing business incubator districts, creating citizen assistance centers, government-owned utilities technical and business development, and project monitoring and evaluation. Currently coordinating translation/publication of the World Bank Institute book, “Corrupt Cities,” into the Serbian, Albanian and Macedonian languages.

March 2003 – February 2004. Supervisor, Public Procurement Team, Serbia Local Government Reform Program, Belgrade, Serbia. Designed, prepared and presented technical assistance regarding effective, transparent public procurement processes to Serbian municipal officials and political leaders. Created professional municipal public procurement offices in numerous Serbian municipalities. Technical assistance dealt with public budgeting and its relationship with procurement planning; general planning skills development; insuring transparency and regularity in tendering processes and tender documents, specifications and contract provisions; tender handling and evaluation processes; award and contract administration; and tender protest processing and responses. Technical assistance increased professionalism, efficiency, transparency and resistance to corrupt influences and practices in local government.

June 2001 – December 2002. Head of Staff, Banja Luka regional legal office, Office of the High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Monitored and reported on legal attitudes and developments in the Bosnian Serb entity and participated in legal reform initiatives sponsored by the High Representative. Areas of intervention activity included reforms of the judiciary, governmental agencies and processes and constitutions; business, economic regulation and police and criminal justice reform. Activities required frequent contact with local political and legal officials, coordination with international officials, agencies, NGOs and local citizens. Interventions led to police restructuring, tax reform and economic restructuring, among other changes.

February – September 2000. Deputy Head, Department for Reconstruction and Economic Development, Office of the High Representative/North, Brcko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Reorganized local government departments and offices, vetted local government staff, introduced merit-based employment practices, harmonized conflicting laws and legal systems. Oversaw local economic development and reforms, including river port and rail businesses, coordinated international donor programs in support of economic development and reform, investigated and dealt with allegations of corruption within the District government and participated in business, banking and other economic activity legal reforms. Coordinated international donor-funded project planning, programming and implementation, including public infrastructure projects and health care reform.

US GOVERNMENT

February 2004 - May 2005. Supervisory Attorney, US Army Corps of Engineers, Baghdad, Iraq. Supervised US and local national legal staff dealing with contractual, financial and legal issues associated with a US government Iraq infrastructure recovery/restoration program valued at several billion dollars. Advised engineering and contracting professionals and senior U.S. military and civilian leaders regarding programs to restore Iraq’s oil production/distribution system, electrical generation/distribution system, water and waste water projects, reconstruction of roads, bridges, railways and airports, schools, public security facilities and buildings and other public facilities. Monitored allegedly corrupt practices aimed against on-going US government programs, and advised the government how to best protect its interests. Activities centered about public procurement, fiscal law, public ethics, international legal and treaty agreements, labor and employment law and public access to government information.

October 1987 – June 2001. Supervisory and non-supervisory legal positions in an architect/engineering and construction works management government agency operating in Hawaii-USA and throughout the Pacific region. Provided legal advice, representation and litigation involving: procurement of services, supplies and construction works; acquisition planning; public administrative processes; government information and privacy practices; public ethics; investigations and remedies in response to civil and criminal fraud against the U.S. Government; fiscal and financial law; environmental law; labor and employment law; international state-to-state agreements; and government operations in response to natural disasters. Work activity in Hawaii-USA, Japan, Palau, Thailand, Republic of the Marshall Islands and South Korea.

US MILITARY

January 1981 – present. Over 26 years supervisory and non-supervisory experience in military legal organizations. Currently, supervisory attorney within the senior US military reserve organization in Germany. Previously, held supervisory and other positions in military organizations in Germany (1981-1985), the USA (1986-2001), with short and long term assignments in Northeast Asia, East Timor, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Italy. Experience and training in strategic and general planning, international military humanitarian operations; international relations and agreements; US and foreign criminal law; international taxation; refugee and internally displaced persons operations; responses to complex humanitarian crises; working and negotiating with foreign officials; public ethics; environmental law; foreign public procurement; negotiation of facilities and basing agreements; and fiscal/administrative law.

CONSULTANCIES

January 2003 – Evaluated and assessed public procurement training needs of Serbian municipal officials and planned a technical assistance program for a USAID-funded public procurement training program in Serbia.

February 2003 – Investigative consultant, Serbia. Investigated and reported on alleged misconduct/mismanagement within a USAID-funded program in Serbia.

July 2006 – Public procurement consultant, Serbia. Surveyed enduring impacts of USAID-funded public procurement reform and training on Serbian municipal government public procurement regimes and practices.

August 2006 – Anticorruption consultant, Moldova. Assessed for USAID the status of public procurement reforms and vulnerabilities to corruption of future MCC programs in Moldova.

September 2006 – Capacity building consultant, Serbia. Designed, prepared and presented public procurement training to procurement officials within the City of Belgrade, Serbia.

December 2006 to present – Economic development consultant, Serbia. Develop and implement SME and agriculture projects in a USAID-funded program in Western Serbia. Designs agriculture and business related interventions based on LED strategies and international goals. Plan and coordinate program close out activities.

PERSONAL

U.S. citizen. No dependents.

CONTACT INFORMATION

US: c/o James Sankot, P.O. Box 188, Jefferson, Iowa 50129

Europe: Krunska 47a, # 26, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

Mobile Phone: +381 (0) 63 712 3054

E-mail: ;

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