UNDP Jobs - 57628- Expression of Interest – Call for proposals

Expression of Interest – Call for proposals - Establishment of a Pre-Approved Consultant Roster to Meet UNDP Health related Procurement and Supply Management (PSM) Needs

Location :

Global

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

21-Jul-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Important! - this section contains the background, procedures for submission of applications in response to the EOI and evaluation, selection criteria and process.

Please read the entire content of this section carefully and follow the instructions for submission of your application.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works with national partners to help people achieve inclusive and sustainable human development. We address regional disparities by strengthening local economies and governance systems able to deliver social and health services in an equitable manner, while helping disadvantageous communities to access justice systems and legal aid. We also work to protect the environment and develop national capacities to respond to disasters and mitigate the risk they pose.

UNDP is an Implementing Agency of the Global Fund[1]. As such, UNDP supports countries worldwide with management of grant proceedings and provides the necessary capacity building support to strengthen national institutions and systems.

Often, UNDP’s work in managing programmes and conducting national capacity development activities require provision of expertise, guidance and support in a number of areas pertaining the Procurement and Supply Management function. Such is the case in connection to multiple interventions conducted by UNDP in the Health sector within or outside the scope of our work with the Global Fund.

In order to strengthen our capacity to effectively support our partners worldwide, UNDP seeks to establish a pre-approved roster of experts and senior experts, who are ready to provide consultancy services for sustainable development in the area of Procurement and Supply Management (PSM), specifically pertaining the health sector. Upon the establishment of this roster, qualified individual consultants based on competencies and value for money principles may be called upon to be contracted and deployed to provide specific technical advice and short term consultancies for periods, normally not to exceed 12 months.

On an if/when required basis, consultants listed in the roster and matching the specific ToRs for each respective assignment, will be engaged by UNDP through the Individual Contract[2] modality and deployed to work in any of UNDP Country Offices, HQ locations, or if/when needed work from their own respective locations through remote support modality. The roster will be maintained for a period of 3 years.

To this effect, UNDP invites eligible and interested PSM experts, with experience and expertise in the health sector, to submit their application in response to this Expression of Interest, to be included in one or several of the specialized PSM roster categories as defined below;

PSM quantification, forecasting and planning experts;
Quality Assurance experts;
Experts in the design of Health PSM strategies and systems;
Experts in the evaluation and risk assessments of health supply chains;
Health commodity related procurement process experts;
Logistics & Logistics Management Information System (LMIS) experts;
Experts in regulatory authorities & IPRs for pharmaceuticals & health commodities;
Pharmaceutical and laboratory supplies experts;
Medical equipment and supplies experts;
Health supply chain infrastructure experts;
PSM capacity development and training experts;
Pharma warehousing, inventory and stock management experts.

Procedures for submission of applications in response to the EOI

Interested individuals must submit the following documents / information to demonstrate their qualifications;

Brief statement explaining the merits of the candidacy (1000 characters or less, to be uploaded directly to the system);
For each of the categories to which the expert submits its application, the candidate shall provide a summary of relevant experience, and AT LEAST 3 references (including name, email and phone number) (See Form 1[3], section c), d) and e));
Financial proposal specifying daily asked rates in USD (See Form 1, Section f)). Consultants shall note that the daily rate specified in their submission will be considered as a ceiling amount / maximum daily fee[4];
CV[5] completed and duly signed;
Form 1 duly completed and uploaded to your application (please follow instruction below to retrieve the form).

IMPORTANT: Please note that only 1 (one) file including all above required information can be uploaded to the UNDP JOBS SYSTEM. Therefore please include all required docs in one file). The template corresponding to FORM 1 to be us used for this can be found in this link: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=23259.

The applications shall contain and include all information & documentation detailed above and shall be submitted before midnight CET on 21st July 2015. Should you require any additional information with regards to this EOI – Call for proposals kindly contact Biljana Djukleska at biljana.djukleska@undp.org.

Evaluation, selection criteria and process

The evaluation of each application will be based on a set of selection criteria as listed in the table below and on the basis of the information submitted by each candidate. Only candidates fulfilling the minimum “expertise, experience and qualifications required” Candidates who score 65 or more points will be considered as technically qualified and eligible to be included in the roster. Candidates scoring 75 points or more will be eligible to be considered as “senior experts” for each of the categories they have applied for, provided their corresponding relevant expertise exceeds the minimum 10 years required.

Applicable Evaluation Criteria

Education & Professional qualification: Up to 14 points

Relevant Experience: Up to 80 points

Language requirements: Up to 6 points

UNDP may conduct an interview round with applicants, prior to issuance of a final recommendation to include the applicant in the roster, for purpose of determining fulfilment of language and competencies related requirements.

A review of the daily fees proposed by technically qualified experts will follow, to determine adherence to maximum allowed UNDP daily fees for experts and senior experts. In cases where daily fees submitted by consultants exceed maximum allowed UNDP daily fees for each band, the consultant will be invited to review his/her quoted daily fee downwards accordingly.

Qualified pre-selected consultants will be notified by UNDP of their inclusion in the resulting roster. Requests for engagement and deployment of experts will be channelled through the roster in the following manner;

UNDP Requisitioning Units will develop a set of TORs and will transmit these to Roster Manager based in Copenhagen;
Roster manager will screen the roster to identify a match between one or several consultants and the ToRs for the corresponding assignment;
Matching consultants will be contacted by the Roster Manager, provided the ToRs and asked to confirm interest and availability in the assignment. Matching consultants will also be asked to submit an ad-hoc financial proposal, including proposed daily fee, travel costs, subsistence allowances, etc.;
The daily fees proposed by each consultant shall at all times be lower than or equal to the agreed ceiling daily fee;
The Roster Manager will transmit one or several consultant options to the requisitioning unit;
The requisitioning unit will effect final confirmation and contact the selected consultant for purpose of establishing an IC contract.

Monitoring and reporting arrangements:

The consultant shall be supervised by an assigned BPPS/HHD/GF Programme Team PSM focal point and/or UNDP Business Unit representative and s/he will report progress on a periodical basis for inputs and guidance;
The consultant, upon award of contract, should deliver a detailed work plan for the project, which will govern the reporting and monitoring aspects.

The review and approval of payments will be made by the assigned supervisor(s).

[1] The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria mobilizes and invests nearly US$4 billion a year to support countries and communities most in need.

[2] See UNDP General Conditions of Contract for the services of Individual Contractors (ICs), available through the following link; http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.

[3] Please note that only 1 (one) file including all above required information can be uploaded to the UNDP JOBS SYSTEM. Therefore please include all required docs in one file. The template corresponding to FORM 1 to be us used for this can be found in this link: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=23259

[4] This ceiling amount will be applicable during the first 12 months from the date of notification of inclusion of the expert in the roster. Consultants included in the roster will be asked to quote specific daily fees for concrete assignments, based on profile matching TORs. Offered daily fees shall not exceed the ceiling amount indicated in each corresponding submission in response to this EOI.

[5] Recommended consultants will be further contacted and requested to complete and submit a P11 form. The template for this form is attached as an Annex to this EOI.

Duties and Responsibilities

The selected consultants are expected to provide procurement and supply management support services in a range of levels of responsibilities and functions, as below. However, context-specific Terms of Reference will be issued for each assignment.

Support UNDP Country Offices (COs) and/or national counterparts with annual quantification, forecasting and planning exercises, including development of PSM plans mainly for procurement of pharmaceutical and health related procurement;
Support UNDP COs and/or national partners with development and implementation of Quality Assurance strategies and procedures, for the supply, transportation, storage and distribution of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies;
Support UNDP COs and/or national partners with the design and establishment of suitable PSM strategies and systems in the health sector;
Support UNDP COs and/or national partners with strengthening of national capacities in the area of Health PSM, including the ability to identify and manage supply chain risks, and the optimization of systems and procedures related to the procurement, logistics, storage and distribution of pharmaceuticals and health items to secure delivery of health services;
Develop business cases for rationalization of existing PSM strategies and procedures, including procurement planning, spend analysis, establishment of framework agreements, review of existing solicitation documents, strengthening bid evaluation, etc.;
Support and/or advise in writing Contracts (Civil Works, Professional Services, LTA, etc.) using standard UNDP templates.

Travel:

When travel is required to be undertaken to a UNDP location for a specific assignment, payment of travel costs including tickets (lowest economy class only), lodging and terminal expenses shall be reimbursed by UNDP.

Note:

Consultants who are offered a home-based task or assignment in their home country would be considered as National Consultants.

Competencies

Excellent Analytical skills, including knowledge of Microsoft Office packages;
Demonstrates understanding of client’s perspective;
Continues to seeks new and improved methods and systems for accomplishing the tasks;
Identifies new approaches and strategies that promote the use of tools and mechanisms;
Service minded, self-motivated, proactive, team-oriented, reliable, and ability to work in harmony with teams of different nationalities and professional backgrounds.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and professional qualifications:

Master’s degree in Business Administration, public health, pharmacy, engineering, Supply Chain Management and/or Logistics or Procurement and/or related disciplines;
Specific training, certificate or diploma in supply chain and/or procurement from renowned institutions (e.g., ISM, CIPS, SPSM, etc.) will be positively considered;
Specific training, certificate or diploma in relevant aspects of public health will be positively considered.

Experience:

Minimum of 5 (five) years’ (for Expert band) and 10 (ten) years’ (for Senior Expert band)[1] in one or several of the areas of expertise / categories detailed above under “duties and responsibilities”;
Experience with United Nations/UNDP or international agencies will be positively considered;
Experience in working with the Global Fund will be positively considered;
Experience in working with national and/or sub-national health authorities and institutions will be positively considered;
Experience working in countries in special development circumstances and/or crisis countries will be positively considered.

Language Requirements:

Knowledge of language (oral and written) in English is required;
Knowledge (speak and understand) of other languages such as Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, and Portuguese will be positively assessed[2].

[1] It is envisaged that the roster will consist of two different bands, including experts and senior experts. Consultants will be considered for placement in one or the other band, for each of the categories they have applied for, depending on the amount of experience that they have gained in each of the required areas of expertise / categories that they have applied for.

[2] Depending on the location some assignments will be open to Consultants with the knowledge of a specific language only.