Senior Tuberculosis Laboratory and Diagnostic Network Advisor, DOS LEAP Global - Nigeria

Who We Are

ZemiTek, LLC is a Woman-Owned, SBA-certified 8(a) Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) based in the Washington, DC metro area. We have a strong record delivering innovative and high-quality solutions. Since 2007, ZemiTek has provided technical assistance, project management, information technology (IT), knowledge management, monitoring and evaluation, training and learning development, and institutional support services.

Position Description

LEAP Program Description

Global Solutions Ventures (GSV) – a joint-venture partnership between ZemiTek, LLC and Dexis Consulting Group – is implementing the Long-term Exceptional Technical Assistance Project (LEAP Global), a mechanism originally used by USAID to battle against infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases, and pandemic influenza. As of July 1, 2025, LEAP Global transitioned to the U.S. Department of State (DOS). This initiative aims to address the complex human resource challenges faced by national infectious disease programs in the USA-supported countries.

The intervention of this project is to hire and embed technical expert advisors and subject matter experts within government entities. By directly embedding the technical expertise within the national programs, LEAP provides long-term, sustainable lifesaving support to empower host governments to lead and manage key aspects of their infectious disease portfolios and improve coordination between the U.S. Government and the host country.

 

About the Position

The Senior TB Laboratory and Diagnostic Network Advisor will support in carrying out life-saving humanitarian assistance (LHA) in full alignment with the new Presidential Executive Order (EO) directives.  A robust and well-coordinated diagnostic network is foundational to achieving early and accurate tuberculosis (TB) detection, effective drug resistance surveillance, and quality-assured patient management. Nigeria’s National Strategic Plan (NSP) for TB 2021–2025 underscores the urgent need to expand access to WHO-recommended rapid diagnostics (WRDs) such as GeneXpert and Truenat, while strengthening culture, drug susceptibility testing (DST), and line probe assay (LPA) capacity within the reference laboratory network.

Despite major investments in laboratory expansion, fragmented specimen referral systems, underutilization of diagnostic platforms, and weak quality management practices continue to constrain the efficiency of the TB laboratory system. Reference laboratories responsible for advanced diagnostics, including Line Probe Assays (LPA), culture, and Drug Susceptibility Testing (DST) often exhibit suboptimal performance, creating bottlenecks that compromise the quality and turnaround time (TAT) of results critical for managing Drug-Resistant TB (DR-TB). 

To address these gaps, the U.S. Department of State (DOS), in collaboration with partners, seeks to engage a Technical Consultant to provide targeted technical assistance focused on strengthening the TB laboratory and diagnostic network. The consultancy will enhance coordination, improve staff capacity, and support the optimization of laboratory workflows and referral systems across national and subnational levels.

 

Overall Objective of Assignment:

To strengthen the national TB laboratory and diagnostic network by improving functionality, quality assurance, and coordination of molecular, culture, and DST services—ensuring timely, accurate, and quality-assured TB and drug resistance diagnosis across all tiers of the laboratory system.

 

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Responsibilities

Responsibilities

The Advisor will work under the guidance of the NTBLCP’s Laboratory Unit and in collaboration with key partners (Global Fund, and implementing partners) to carry out the following tasks:

Diagnostic Network Assessment and Optimization

• Conduct a comprehensive review of the current TB diagnostic network, mapping existing GeneXpert, Truenat, TB Lamp, culture, LPA, and DST sites, their coverage, utilization rates, HRH availability and referral linkages.
• Identify key gaps in functionality, connectivity, biosafety, and maintenance across the network.
• Evaluate the operational capacity, quality management system (QMS) compliance, staff proficiency, staff adequacy and turnaround times (TAT) for advanced diagnostics (LPA, culture, DST) at key reference laboratories.
• Develop a network optimization plan recommending strategic placement, workload redistribution, and tiered referral linkages between microscopy, WRDs, and reference laboratories.

Strengthening Specimen Referral and Transport Systems

• Review existing specimen referral pathways (from collecti