Background

East African Community (EAC) countries have made bold steps in managing their economic future by pursuing regional integration. This process began in 1967 with the establishment of the first EAC, which collapsed after a decade. In 1999, the EAC was revived through a Treaty signed by three partner states (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). Customs Union was established in 2005 and a Common Market in 2010. Burundi and Rwanda joined in 2007. South Sudan Acceded   to the regional economic bloc in October 2016.

 South Sudan is landlocked and geographically close to EAC. It has large trade links with the regional partner’s states, with significant export potential. EAC is particularly important as a transit route for South Sudan. All its imports and non-oil exports nearly transit through EAC. South Sudan has committed to implement a Customs Union, Common Market and Monetary Union in line Article 126 (2)(b) of the EAC Treaty which provides that “Partner States shall through their appropriate national institutions take all necessary steps to harmonize all their national laws appertaining to the Community”.

 Harmonization of national laws with the EAC Treaty is one of the critical steps required to facilitate regional integration. It aims to create consistency of laws, regulations, standards and practices, so that the same rules will apply to businesses that operate in the EAC. It will also reduce compliance and regulatory burdens for businesses operating nationally or trans-nationally. Harmonisation of legislation is also useful for consumers since it guarantees quality and safety of products through consumer and environment protection.

The implementation of measures to facilitate full Accession to EAC has been guided by the EAC roadmap since October 2016. South Sudan was given a three-year transition period in order to implement required legal, regulatory and institutional changes. The implementation deadline has not been met due internal conflict over the past years, that has delayed possible legislative reforms to facilitate the harmonization process. The reconstitution of the Transitional Legislative Assembly (TLA) and the Council of States in May 2021 in line with R-ARCISS, provides a strong impetuous to advance full implementation of the peace agreement. The TLA is expected to support the formulation and implementation of trade related policy and institutional reforms to enhance goods governance to facilitate the development of trade in South Sudan. It is in this regard that this assignment seeks to assess the status of South Sudan implementation of EAC Customs Union and Common market to inform the progress, challenges/gaps, a new roadmap towards implementation of EAC CU and Common market to ensure full compliance with EAC Obligations.

This consultancy comes under the “South Sudan Tier 1 trade capacity development project, funded by Enhanced Integrated Framework(EIF) Facility through UNDP. The EIF is a multi-donor programme which supports Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to be more active players in the global trading system. As part of the project, UNDP, as the Main Implementing Entity, is seeking the services of a qualified short term EAC Trade Policy Expert with experience in EAC Integration process, EAC customs Union and EAC common Market to provide technical support towards assessing the status of South Sudan implementation of EAC CU and Common Market(CM)

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose and Objective of the Consultancy
The primary objective of the assignment is to review the status of South Sudan implementation of EAC CU and CM to inform the progress, challenges/gaps and recommend a new roadmap towards the implementation of both EAC CU and CM in order to ensure compliance with the EAC Obligations

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant is required to undertake the following specific key tasks to achieve the assignment objective

Evaluate the status of South Sudan implementation of the Customs Union, including an analysis of the following elements:

  • Internal liberalisation – extent of liberalisation at the tariff level;
  • Implementation of common external tariff – extent of implementation at the product level;
  • Implementation of the Customs Management Act and Rules of Origin (RoOs)
  • Status and Progress on removing non-tariff barriers
  • Exemptions and sensitive sectors
  • Harmonisation of standards, competition policy and trade law
  • Degree of information exchange between the CU executing agencies and general public awareness of the CU provisions.

Evaluate the implementation status of the Common Market in relation to the implementation of the commitments defined in the different annexes of the protocol: Free movement of goods; free movement of persons and right of residence; free movement of labours; right of establishment; free movement of services; and, free movement of capital.

Review legislations relevant to implementation of Customs Union and Common Market and assess the status of harmonisation and approximation of the respective domestic regulations with the EAC Treaty

Identify main challenges to EAC CU and Common market implementation, propose measures required to facilitate full implementation of the EAC CU and Common market protocols;

Identify respective Institutional and legislative gaps and prepare recommendations that details legislative changes required, and identify where policy change is needed to ensure compliance with EAC CU and Common market protocols.

Develop and submit a EAC CU and common market implementation roadmap, with Legislative Review action plan/matrix to inform harmonisation and approximation of relevant domestic regulations with the EAC Customs Union and Common Market protocols

Conduct consultations with relevant stakeholders at different stages to discuss the various aspects of expected project outputs.


Deliverables

The consultant is required to produce the following outputs:

South Sudan EAC CU and Common Market Implementation Status Report in relation to EAC CU and Common market protocols as per the Terms of Reference. The status report must include;

  • Implementation Progress in relation to EAC Common Market, EAC CU and, challenges and proposed recommendations;
  • Institutional and legislative gaps in relation to compliance with EAC CU and Common market protocols, with proposed   recommendations;
  • Legislative Reform Action Plan to facilitate Harmonisation and approximation of the respective domestic regulations with the EAC.

EAC CU and common market implementation roadmap, with associated Capacity needs, Legislative Review action plan/matrix to inform harmonisation and approximation of relevant domestic regulations with the EAC Customs Union and Common Market protocols;

 

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates professional competence and expertise on the subject matter
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
  • Able to work in team environment
  • Treats all people fairly without favouritism

Functional Competencies:

  • Excellent critical reasoning and problem-solving skills
  • Excellent skills in the use of computer software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.)

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

  • Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills
  • Builds strong relationships with stakeholders, clients, and external actors
  • Remains calm, in control and good humoured even under pressure
  • High degree of self-motivation and initiative
  • Willingness to learn and apply new analytical approaches

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications

  • Master degree in Economics, law, or any other field relevant to the assignment with professional qualification in Trade policy and trade law.

Specific professional experience

  • ? Minimum 7 years’ experience in trade policy review, EAC Customs Union, EAC Common market and EAC Integration process;
  • ? Demonstrated experience in EAC Treaty, EAC Customs Union and Common market
  • ? Demonstrated experience in conducting situation analysis and needs assessments related to Trade Policy reform and implementation
  • ? Demonstrated understanding of South Sudan political and socio-economic context in relation to the assignment  

Language requirements

  • Fluency in written and spoken English language is required.

Institutional arrangements

  • The Consultant will work with the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Ministry of EAC Affairs Office in Juba and UNDP’s STARR Unit. He/she should visit various stakeholders in the course of undertaking the assignment.
  • Ministry of Trade and Industry will provide access to office space, organise meetings and provide administrative support where needed;
  • The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.
  • The consultant will report to the Senior Program Advisor in UNDP and Under Secretary Ministry of EAC Affairs, who will review and approve delivery of outputs.

Payment Schedule

  • 1st  Draft South Sudan EAC CU and Common Market Implementation Status Report 20%
  • 2nd Draft  South Sudan EAC CU and Common Market Implementation Status Report 20%
  • Final Draft South Sudan EAC CU and Common Market Implementation Status Report 40%
  • EAC CU and common market implementation roadmap, 20%

The available starting date and fees of the assignment which is subject to negotiation should be clearly stated in the Letter of Interest. Applications should be received no later than 30/11/2021

Technical proposal comprising of the following:

  • Articulation of technical approach to the assignment/tasks, including the methodology and indicative workplan/timeline
  • Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP
  • Personal CV or P11, indicating all prior experience with 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, and a methodology (max. 1 page) for how you will approach and complete the assignment

Financial proposal:

  • Indicating the all-inclusive, fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs.

Consultancy Evaluation Criteria

Offers received will be evaluated using a Combined Scoring method, where the qualifications and Required Skills and Experience will be weighted 70%, and combined with the price offer, which will be weighted 30%.

 

Technical evaluation criteria

Criteria to be used for rating the qualifications and Required Skills and Experience is outlined below:

  • Master degree in Economics, law, or any other field relevant to the assignment with professional qualification in Trade policy and trade law   10%
  • Minimum 7 years’ experience in trade policy review, EAC Customs Union, EAC Common market and EAC Integration process   25%
  • Demonstrated understanding of South Sudan political and socio-economic context in relation to the assignment         15
  • Demonstrated experience in conducting situation analysis and needs assessments related to Trade Policy reform and implementation 20

NOTE: 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 up to 30 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 (/z)

Where:

  • p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
  • x = Price of the lowest priced proposal
  • y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal 
  • z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.