Background
South Sudan is emerging from an era of armed conflict. The Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) signed in September 2018 and the formation of the Revitalised Transitional government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) in February 2020, provides opportunities to strengthen governance systems, management of public funds, optimise service delivery, and stabilise the economy.
The Support to Public Financial Management (PFM) project has been implemented since 2015 by UNDP in partnership with South Sudanese government counterparts, the Government of Japan and African Development Bank. Recent funding obtained by UNDP and UNICEF from the Joint SDG Fund is adding to UNDP’s efforts in the PFM domain in South Sudan. The project aims at strengthening the overall governance and public financial management systems at the state level.
The Public Financial Management project built on UNDP’s past achievements in providing technical assistance to national and state governments. This support centered on budgetary planning, public finance management, and harmonized tax management system through the provision of Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure, capacity building, tax management system, dissemination of knowledge products such as manuals, and improved public finance governance at the state levels.
More specifically, the project supported states in addressing PFM challenges related to weak non-oil revenue generation and fiduciary and management systems, and legislative oversight. The emphasis was placed on the establishment of transparent and accountable non-oil revenue-generating systems in these states, and in strengthening the institutional and human resource capacities of national institutions related to revenue collection and undertaking of expenditures on behalf of the Government of South Sudan towards efficient oversight expenditure for safeguarding the public welfare. The training is the most important component of the UNDP project on strengthening Public Financial Management systems in the Country.
The proposed study will assist the Government of South Sudan to explore policy options and operational procedures for restoring and sustaining macroeconomic balance and promoting fiscal actions (taxation and expenditure) and debt management policies that create the fiscal space needed to investment and support the accelerated achievement of the SDGs. Critical to the study is the review of the government budgets in relation to its size, components, trends and allocative efficiency in order to understand the fiscal space available to government and the gap so desired to scale-up expenditure to attaining the SDGs without creating any fiscal distortions.
Specificifically, the study is to:
- Understand the key dimensions of government revenues and expenditures and how these relate to SDG-related activities;
- Assess the impact of positive and negative macroeconomic developments on SDG-related government expenditures;
- Assess the quality and content of SDG expenditure;
- Explore the opportunities to mobilise additional domestic resources through tax policy reform and administration; expenditure allocation and efficiency; Aid and non-tax revenues; and active debt management; reform of budgetary system; and improved revenue collection and management;
- Assess pro-poor public investment looking at spatial distribution of public expenditures
- Highlight potential areas for improved expenditure allocations and efficient debt management; and
Make policy recommendations for increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of SDG-related expenditures.
Duties and Responsibilities
Purpose and scope of work
The study will focus on the various means by which the Government of South Sudan can accelerate the achievement of the SDGs so as to ensure the goals for 2030 can reasonably be met. While attention will be given to the expansion of SDG-related expenditures, the study should also consider the broader circumstances – macroeconomic stability, sustainable debt management, appropriate fiscal and monetary policies, equitable State allocations of recurrent and capital expenditure, improved efficiency of resource mobilization and expenditure allocation; and enhanced effectiveness in project and program implementation – that will enable the Government of South Sudan to ensure that improvements in economic performance and movements towards the SDGs can be sustained.
Key issues to be explored include:
- The study would be at the national level but including 3 (Western and Central Equatoria States, and Northern Bahr el Ghazal State) target State chapters
- The allocation of the budget, the rate of monetary and debt expansion, the levels of debt service (public and private), and the trends in the rates of inflation and depreciation of the South Sudan Pounds (SSP).
- The opportunities created for future sustained economic development by the programs and policies introduced in the 2021/22 Budget.
The special challenges involved in the implementation of SDG-related programs to reduce poverty and hunger, expand education and health, promote gender equality, reduce child mortality and maternal health, combat disease, and foster a global partnership for development.
Deliverables
Sn Activity Deliverable Days Allocated
1. {Inception report desk/document review, including and indepth methodology} {Draft inception report, revised training manual} {5 days}
2. {Inception meeting to present and discuss the inception report} {Draft inception report, revised training manual}
3. {Information and data collection and consultations} {Draft report} {48 days}
4. {Draft report} {Draft report}
5. {Validation meeting of draft report } {Validation meeting} {2 days}
6. {Final report and acceptance } {Final Report} {5 days}
Total number of working days {60 days
Competencies
Competencies
Corporate Competencies:
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Demonstrates diplomacy and tact in dealing with sensitive and complex situations;
- Strong communication, team building, interpersonal, analysis, and planning skills.
Professionalism:
- Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter;
- Demonstrates experience with violations mapping exercises;
- Demonstrated ability to negotiate and apply good judgment;
- Shows pride in work and in achievements;
- Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.
Planning & Organizing:
- Organizes and accurately completes multiple tasks by establishing priorities while taking into consideration special assignments, frequent interruptions, deadlines, available resources and multiple reporting relationships;
- Plans coordinate and organizes workload while remaining aware of changing priorities and competing deadlines;
- Establishes, builds and maintains effective working relationships with staff and partners to achieve the planned results.
Contracts will be output-based, and payment issued only upon delivery of satisfactory outputs.
Functional Competencies:
- In-depth knowledge of conflict issues and South Sudan context;
- Ability to communicate sensitively across different focal points;
- Demonstrates excellent oral and written communication skills;
Knowledge and understanding of UN system and familiarity with inter-governmental processes.
Required Skills and Experience
Qualifications of the Successful International Consultant
- A minimuch Master's degree in relevant Social Science (preferably related to qualified macroeconomists and fiscal oriented economists, public financial management PFM, or Economics);
- Practical experience of not less than 10 years working in macroeconomic reform, and fiscal, monetary and debt management in developing countries;
- Fully familiar with the programs and procedures of the major donor agencies, especially the IMF, World Bank and United Nations, and how these relate to the pursuit and achievement of the SDGs;
- In-depth knowledge of policies, strategies, government fiscal accountability and transparency;
- Commitment to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment;
- Fluency in spoken and written English, with strong oral communications skills;
- In-depth knowledge of the South Sudanese political system;
- Knowledge and experience from working with the UN system;
Institutional arrangements
The study will be overseen and jointly undertaken by both naitonal and internationally qualified macroeconomists and fiscal oriented economists. They will work with members of the PFM Technical Specialist and team members of the Strategy, Policy and Capacities of Economic Management Unit of UNDP South Sudan to help boost the capacity of that Unit. They will engage with the Government of South Sudan officials, primarily at Ministry of Finance and Planning, the Bank of South Sudan, as well as Governments of the 3 targeted states to assemble the data relevant to the analysis, gain a deeper appreciation of the short and longer-term implementation issues, and understand more fully the programs and projects that are currently underway (or planned) to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs.
How to apply
Interested applicants are required to submit the following:
I. Technical proposal comprising of the following:
- Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP.
- Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and three (3) professional references.
- Brief description (max. 1 page) of why you consider yourself as the most suitable for the assignment.
- The proposal containing the methodology (max. 1 page) for how you will approach and complete the assignment;
II. Financial Proposal: Candiates who obtain total of 70% in the technical evaluation shall be requested to submit financial proposal
Evaluation Criteria:
Offers received will be evaluated using a Combined Scoring method, where the qualifications and proposed methodology will be weighted 70%, and combined with the price offer, which will be weighted 30%. Below is the breakdown of the technical proposal on 100% which will be brought to 70%:
No. Evaluation Criteria Weight Mx.Point
1. Educational qualification 10% 10
2. Experience in conducting macroeconomic reform 30% 30
3. Study methodology 30% 30
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the Technical Evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
Financial evaluation (total 30 points):
All technically qualified proposals will be scored out of 70 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals receive points according to the following formula:
p = y (µ/z)
where:
- p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
- y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
- µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated.