UNDP Jobs - 71304- Romania Official Development Assistance (ODA) Lega

Romania Official Development Assistance (ODA) Legal Consultant

Location :

Home-based with 6 missions to Bucharest, ROMANIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

10-Apr-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

estimated April 2017 – December 2017

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

approximately 30 working 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

In 2007, following its accession to the European Union (EU), Romania has become donor of official development assistance (ODA), offering financial support to developing countries and contributing in this way to the global efforts to eradicate extreme poverty world-wide. Since then, Romania has strived to position itself on the international development arena as an innovative donor, with the main comparative advantage of being able to share its direct experience and knowledge in the democratic transition and Euro-Atlantic integration processes. Romania’s strategic objective in development cooperation is to contribute to poverty reduction by promoting security and economic welfare, state of law, sustainable economic development, climate change mitigation and investments in education, complementing international efforts in the field.

In view of increasing its capacity as donor of development assistance, the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), in its capacity of national ODA coordinator, has partnered with the UNDP under The New ODA Cooperation Partnership with Romania project. The ultimate objective of this project is that, by end of 2017, the Government creates an ODA Agency (RoAid) fully capable and equipped with the appropriate capacity to manage all parts of ODA project management cycle by itself, including planning and design, monitoring, evaluation and communications. In this context, the development of a new legal and institutional framework is of crucial importance.

Location: Mostly home-based with 6 missions in Bucharest, Romania (2 working days per mission).

Duties and Responsibilities

With the support of and close coordination with MFA and UNDP, the main responsibility of the legal expert is to provide legal consultancy services to the MFA and UNDP with regard to the new ODA legal framework under preparation. The expert’s main task will be to provide legal consultancy and advise to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the development, stakeholders consultation proces and fine-tuning of the legal documents.

The project team will provide the expert with all additional information and documents necessary to perform the specific tasks listed below.
The expert will provide request-based support to the MFA in its stakeholders’ consultation processes, as needed. He/she will also provide legal expertise to the MFA in responding to the line ministries/other stakeholders’ feedback on the legal documents under development. Based on such inputs, the expert will fine-tune the Governmental Decisions in preparation for their final clearance and approval.
The consultancy will consist of approximately 30 working days, out of which:

12 working days field based for conducting the field missions to Bucharest (2 working days per mission)
18 working days home – based

Completion date: estimated April – December 2017

Outputs
With the support of and close coordination with MFA and UNDP, the legal expert is expected to deliver the following outputs:

Support in drafting ODA secondary legislation:

One set of recommendations regarding the ODA Agency internal organizational and functioning guidelines – (RoAID ROF)
One set of recommendations regarding the Consultative Council’s internal organizational and functioning guidelines (Consultative Council ROF)

Legal support to the MFA in the consultation process with stakeholders and fine-tuning of the legal following documents:

RoAID ROF
Consultative Council ROF
Government Decision (GD) regarding the general framework and specific procedures for financing and implementing development cooperation and humanitarian assistance activities
GD creating the Consultative Council in the field of international development cooperation and humanitarian assistance)

The consultancy will consist of approximately 30 working days (out of which 12 days allotted to working missions to Bucharest and 18 working days home – based) during the estimated period April 2017 – December 2017, and the following deliverables will be finalized:

Legal support provided to the MFA in the consultation process with stakeholders and in fine-tuning of the Government Decision (GD) regarding the general framework and specific procedures for financing and implementing development cooperation and humanitarian assistance activities for which a 2-days mission to Bucharest is to be conducted - estimated May 2017 (10% of the total fee);
One set of recommendations regarding the ODA Agency internal organizational and functioning guidelines – (RoAID ROF) provided for which a 2-day mission to Bucharest is to be conducted; estimated June - July 2017 - (25% of the total fee);
Legal support provided to the MFA in the consultation process with stakeholders and in fine-tuning of the RoAID ROF for which a 2-days mission to Bucharest is to be conducted; estimated July - August 2017 - (20% of the total fee);
Legal support provided to the MFA in the consultation process with stakeholders and in fine-tuning of the GD creating the Consultative Council in the field of international development cooperation and humanitarian assistance for which a 2-days mission to Bucharest is to be conducted; estimated July-August 2017 - (10% of the total fee);
One set of recommendations regarding the Consultative Council’s internal organizational and functioning guidelines (Consultative Council ROF) provided for which a 2-day mission to Bucharest is to be conducted; estimated September 2017 - (25% of the total fee);
Legal support provided to the MFA in the consultation process with stakeholders and in fine-tuning of the Consultative Council ROF for which a 2-days mission to Bucharest is to be conducted; estimated October - November 2017 - (10% of the total fee).

Management Arrangement:
The expert will report to the UNDP ODA Project Manager and will work in close coordination with the project team and the MFA partners.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Creativity and innovative thinking in responding to challenges and formulating solutions;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional competencies:

Good communication and time management skills, ability to work in a team;
Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
Excellent analytical skills and ability to interpret rules and guidelines;
Excellent drafting skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Minimum Bachelor’s degree in Law, International Law; ;
Post-graduate degree (MA) in Law, International Law, Public Finance, International Development, Public Administration would be a plus;

Experience:

At least 5 years of professional experience in Romanian law and public finance out of wich at least 1 year of experience in drafting ODA legal documents is required;
Previous collaboration with international organizations/international institutions is a plus;
Project management experience is a plus.

Language skills:

Romanian native speaker and fluency in English language.

Evaluation of Applicants:
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.
The award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

responsive, and
having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria: 70% of total evaluation – max. 70 points:

Post-graduate degree (MA) in Law, International Law, Public Finance, International Development, Public Administration would be a plus - max. 10 points;
At least 5 years of professional experience in Romanian law and public finance out of which at least 1 year of experience in drafting ODA legal documents is required - max. 30 points;
Previous collaboration with international organizations/international institutions is a plus – max. 10 points;
Project management experience is a plus - max. 10 points;
Language skills - max. 10 points.

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 30 points.

Application procedures:
Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
Filled P11 form including experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc ); please upload the P11 instead of your CV.
Financial Proposal* in USD - specifying a) total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this announcement b) travel costs for 6 missions in Bucharest, Romania, 2 days per mission (including i) travel costs and ii) per diem).

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into / account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination, personal security needs and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services...). All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal.
Candidates are requested to apply price for an economy class ticket on the most direct routes and per diems not exceeding maximum UN daily allowance rates (http://icsc.un.org/rootindex.asp).
In one of our vacancies we also added this sentence: “Consultants are encouraged to bid lower amounts to make their offers more competitive.

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org
General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.