Background

There has been considerable discussion in recent years of the notion that administrative records can and should be utilized more intensively to generate improved statistical series. Implicit in these references is the notion that administrative records constitute a new and largely untapped statistical resource.

The increased demand on statistics by the researchers, planners and decision makers enforces statistical agencies to improve their vision and enhance their statistical work to produce more accurate and precise statistics in a sustainable manner. This should happen by taking in their considerations and the need to produce more statistical indicators and figures in an organized and more frequent manner, with preserving high statistical data quality, and low cost, which will lead to emphasizing the importance of statistical administrative records as an important source of data.

As indicated in the “Implementation of the Fundamental Principles of the Official Statistics” report by the United Nations; principle 5 “Sources of official statistics” summarizes the importance of administrative records as follows:

“Data for statistical purposes may be drawn from all types of sources, be they statistical surveys or administrative records. Statistical agencies are to choose the source with regard to quality, timeliness, costs and the burden on respondents.”

To this end, the Government of Jordan (GoJ) through the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MoPIC) and the Department of Statistics (DoS) agreed that the statistical office should be cost-effective, making the best choice of concepts, sources (including administrative records) and methods by balancing quality, timeliness, costs and the reporting load of respondents. DoS should, therefore, have policies to minimize the reporting burden and should implement quality management programmes to achieve the quality and timeliness required by users of their statistics through using statistical administrative records in addition to surveys and censuses.

The aim of this mission is to assess the statistical administrative records sources, methodologies, standards and usages. This task should explore the ability of the statistical administrative records in building comprehensive databases, using statistical administrative records instead of several surveys (or part of surveys), and extract statistical tables and indicators as part of the official statistics.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives and Activities

The objectives of this consultancy mission are to assess the current statistical administrative records; this will include an assessment of the legal and regulatory environment, the current cooperation between DoS and any other related government entity in using the statistical administrative records for producing specific statistical indicators and figures, the current qualified human resources that use the statistical administrative records, common classifications and concepts, any available electronic links between DoS and the government entities that produce statistical administrative records and amongst each other and finally any rules to measure and control the data quality.

Delivery of this technical support will be divided into five phases:

Review of any available documents or statistics that are used or produced by using statistical administrative records.

• This will require that the consultant should have a sequence of meetings with MoPIC and DoS related staff and current statistical records division to explore their work and what are the current benefits and linkages of the statistical administrative records.

Meetings with the related government entities:

• The consultant is requested to meet with government entities that produce statistical administrative records, in specific the social sector which includes Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Labor, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Interior, National Aid Fund, Social Security Corporation, Civil Service Bureau, and the Higher Population Council;

Meetings with other UN agencies:

•  The consultant is requested to meet with other UN agencies such as UNFPA, UNICEF, ILO and any other UN agencies that UNDP deems necessary to meet with.

Drafting the first draft of the assessment report:

•  Based upon the review of existing documentation and reports, meetings with related government entities and other UN agencies, the consultant should produce the first draft of the assessment report of the statistical administrative records. This includes the literature review, an analysis of the current situation, cooperation between and amongst governmental entities, quality control methods of the statistical administrative records, concept trends and differences, approaches, capacity of the human resources, gaps to be filled, electronic links, and specific recommendations to fully enhance and improve the statistical administrative records systems and usages;

Validation:

• The draft of the statistical administrative records report will be shared with related governmental and international organizations for final validation and their final feedbacks.

Finalization of Statistical administrative records assessment report:

• Comments received from key stakeholders will be integrated, and the report will be finalized.

It is important to mention that this report will cover only the social sector which means the social statistical administrative records and this report will be the cornerstone for the development of a project document to tackle the statistical administrative records sources, methodologies, usages and standards.

Methodology:

UNDP will be responsible for the recruitment of the consultant and management of the assignment. Once these Terms of Reference are signed, they are considered binding and will be annexed to the Individual Contract Agreement signed by the consultant. UNDP and the consultant may agree to amend the Terms of Reference, in which case the amended version will be signed accordingly. The consultant will report to the UNDP Programme Manager, UNDP socio-economic portfolio analyst and under the guidance of Support to poverty analysis and monitoring project advisor.

Deliverables:

The consultancy’s duration is 2 months upon signing the contract, with a total of 25 working days allocated for completion of all deliverables. This includes, at least, one in-county mission for two weeks.

Based on the above objectives and activities, below is a table with key deliverables and the respective timelines:

Deliverable and timelines and number of working days:  

• Desk review, withing 5 days of signing contract, it needs one working day;
• In-country mission, this includes meetings with governments entities and UN agencies, to be finalized within 20 days of signing contract, it needs 15 working days;
• First draft of the assessment report, to be submitted within 45 days of signing contract, and it needs 22 days;
  
• Final draft of assessment report after validation, to be submitted within 60 days of signing contract, and it needs 25 working days.                                       
  

Competencies

• Knowledge in statistical administrative records sources, methodologies, and usages;
• Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior members of national institutions;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Excellent written communication skills, advocacy and  analytic capacity and ability to synthesize relevant collected data and findings;
• Excellent coordination skills and result oriented collaboration with colleagues – especially for this case the national level consultants;
• Strong background and knowledge of the country will be an asset.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master's Degree in statistics, social science, or development studies or any other related field.

Experience:       

• Specialized academic or policy experience in social statistical administrative records, strategies and policies formulation, and report writing;
• Minimum 7 years of experience in statistical administrative records analysis and management.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in both written and spoken English;
• Arabic will be an asset.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Technical Proposal:

• Explaining why you are the most suitable for the work Provide a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work and a personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight; 70%.

Financial Criteria weight; 30%.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 60 points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical scoring:

• Specialized academic related to the statistical administrative records and report writing- 30%;
• Minimum 7 years of experience in statistical administrative records; achievements and outstanding deliverables- 30%;
• Worked with International organizations and in the middle east and middle income countries- 10%

Financial scoring- 30%.

UNDP will be responsible for the recruitment of the consultant and management of the assignment. Once these Terms of Reference are signed, they are considered binding and will be annexed to the Individual Contract Agreement signed by the consultant. UNDP and the consultant may agree to amend the Terms of Reference, in which case the amended version will be signed accordingly. The consultant will report to the UNDP Programme Manager, UNDP socio-economic portfolio analyst and under the guidance of Support to poverty analysis and monitoring project advisor.