UNDP Jobs - 70205- International Consultant Finalizing guidebook on i

International Consultant Finalizing guidebook on integrity risk management in public procurement for ASEAN

Location :

Home-based with no travel, THAILAND

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Feb-2017

Application Deadline :

27-Jan-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 month

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

7 days

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

Public procurement is a crucial pillar of service delivery. The money spent by governments on buying goods, services and infrastructures such as roads, hospitals or school books accounts for about 20% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in countries in South East Asia. Public procurement also affects a substantial share of world trade flows, amounting to € 1000 billion per year.In Asia Pacific, over 50% of the preferential trade agreements include measures targeting government procurement.

The extensive volume of business transactions that take place, involving private and public sector bodies, makes procurement particularly vulnerable to corruption. Corruption leads to excess costs and inefficiencies for governments, prevents poor people from accessing basic services as well as undermines the level playing field for suppliers. It can also be bottleneck for regional integration in the context of the newly created ASEAN Economic Community.

In 2014, the Thai government requested the United Nations Development Programme Bangkok Regional Hub (UNDP BRH) to support an integrity risk assessment of public procurement to help the government reform its public procurement system and step up its efforts against corruption. This experience led to a series of reforms in Thailand, including the enactment of the first procurement law in December 2016. The Thai experience was shared with other ASEAN governments in the region during a South to South Dialogue in Thailand in October 2016.

Given the financial amounts at stake, several governments in the region have approached UNDP to support the reform of their procurement systems with the purpose of achieving savings, preventing corruption, improving service delivery and sustaining economic growth. In addition, some governments in the region are interested in reforming their procurement systems in the context of international processes such as accession to WTO’s Agreement on Government Procurement as well as preparation for the Second Review Cycle of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) that will look at compliance with article 9 of the UNCAC.

The Guidebook on Integrity Risk Management in Public Procurement for ASEAN (The Guidebook) is designed to help countries diagnose integrity risks in public procurement at various levels of the public procurement system, as well as indicate proper actions to mitigate integrity risks in the public procurement system and processes. In addition, the Guidebook will help governments in the region upgrade their procurement systems prior to the Second UNCAC Review Cycle. State Parties to the UNCAC will be reviewed with the purpose of determining compliance of their public procurement systems with the UNCAC requirements under Article 9. Accordingly, this Guidebook builds on the lessons learned from the Thai experience and provides a user-friendly point of reference for governments in the region to navigate through existing international standards, good practices, and tools from UNCITRAL, WTO, UNDP, UNODC, WB, OECD and Transparency International.

Duties and Responsibilities

The international consultant will finalize the Guidebook based on the feedback received from various stakeholders.

Under the overall guidance of the Programme Governance Advisor and in cooperation with the Programme Officer on Anti-Corruption, Transparency and Accountability at UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

Review the feedback from relevant stakeholders, in particular from development partners such as UNODC, UNCITRAL, WB and TI as well as government counterparts;
Review the feedback from peer reviewers within UNDP;
Finalize the guidebook incorporating the comments and suggestions received
The consultant will be home based with no required travel.

The consultant will submit the following output:

Guidebook on integrity risk.

The consultant will report directly to the Programme Governance Advisor in UNDP’s Bangkok Regional Hub and shall work under overall supervision of the Regional Team leader on Governance and Peacebuilding. The Programme Governance Advisor will review the progress and quality of assignment upon outputs prior to issuance the payment. Review/approval time required to review/ approve outputs prior to authorizing payments is 7 – 10 days.

Duration: 1 – 28 February 2016

Duration of Assignment: The duration of the contract is expected to be of 7 working days.

Duty Station and expected place of Travel: The consultant will be home based, with no travel required

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Strong sense of integrity is essential;
Excellent communication and organization skills;
Effective interpersonal skills;
Full computer literacy and experience in working with PC-based equipment.

Strong communication and reporting skills and ability to work in a team.

Required Skills and Experience

I. Academic Qualifications:

International only with advanced degree in Economics, Laws, Business Administration, or related fields in social science

II. Years of experience:

At least 10 years of experience in international and national public procurement systems;
A strong track record in advising governments in reforming national public procurement systems;
Knowledge on rules, regulations, policies, procedures, institutional structures, performance measurement, professional and career development, and good practices of national and international public procurement systems;
Expertise and experience in the preparation of handbooks and guidelines in public procurement as well as related indicators is an advantage;
Prior experience and knowledge of the Thai public procurement system is an advantage.

Language:

Fluent in spoken and written English.

Annexes:

Annex 1 – Terms of References (TOR);
Annex 2 – Individual Consultant General Terms and Conditions;
Annex 3 - Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability Template;
Annex 4 - Financial Proposal Template.

All document can be downloaded at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=35173

This contract does not carry any expectation of any future engagement by UNDP.