Historique

UNDP Global Mission Statement

UNDP is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with national counterparts on their own solutions to global and national development challenges.

UNDP Afghanistan Mission Statement

UNDP supports stabilization, state-building, and governance and development priorities in Afghanistan. UNDP support, in partnership with the Government, the United Nations system, the donor community and other development stakeholders, has contributed to institutional development efforts leading to positive impact on the lives of Afghan citizens. Over the years UNDP support has spanned such milestone efforts as the adoption of the Constitution; Presidential, Parliamentary and Provincial Council elections; institutional development through capacity-building to the legislative, the judicial and executive arms of the state, and key ministries, Government agencies and commissions at the national and subnational levels. UNDP has played a key role in the management of the Law and Order Trust Fund, which supports the Government in developing and maintaining the national police force and in efforts to stabilize the internal security environment. Major demobilization, disarmament and rehabilitation and area-based livelihoods and reconstruction programmes have taken place nationwide. UNDP Programmes in Afghanistan have benefited from the very active support of donors. UNDP Afghanistan is committed to the highest standards of transparency and accountability and works in close coordination with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the UN system as a whole to maximize the impact of its development efforts on the ground.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Objective and scope of the Assignment

The UNDP Afghanistan Country Office (CO) manages one of the largest procurement activities in UNDP and has a delegation of authority of up to US$ 300,000 under the Fast track procedures. The office issued 2,360 contracts/ purchase orders totaling US$ 73 million during the year 2013. In addition, UNDP supports procurement activities of projects under national implementation (NIM) modality.

The procurement activities at the CO are carried out by the Supply Chain Management Unit (SCMU), which has four sub-units corresponding to the procurement business processes, namely: business intelligence, the strategic sourcing centre, logistics and distribution, and contract management. Low value procurement is decentralized.

Given the importance of the procurement function and the volume of the procurement contracts’ value, the Oversight and Compliance Unit (OCU) of the CO intends to undertake spot-checks of procurement actions in the CO and selected projects under national implementation (NIM projects). To this end, OCU intends to hire the services of an individual consultant.

The purpose of the procurement review is to provide recommendations on improvements in procurement processes. This will be done on the basis of an assessment whether procurement of goods, works and services in support of the office’s programme, projects and operations were carried out according to policies and procedures, resulting in transparent procurements with value for money.

In particular, the office would like to validate that efficient and effective internal controls are in place for:

• Competitive procurement with value < US$ 50,000 (contracts above this value are reviewed by CAP/RACP/ACP);
• Direct contracting;
• Procurement under NIM implementation, and that;
• Market research is carried out effectively to ensure value for money.

Duties and Responsibilities

The scope of the spot check shall cover the procurement activities carried out by the Supply Chain Management Unit (SCMU) and decentralized, for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2014. The consultant will be closely working with the SCMU, respective projects, programme and operations units. The spot checks will require market research, visits to some project offices, implementing partners and selected vendors/suppliers. The spot checks will also verify if procurement activities are in line with approved procurement plans. The consultant is required to identify structural weaknesses and areas for improvement, if any, and provide senior management with a report with the findings and recommendations resulting from the spot-checks.

The review should focus, but is not limited to the following areas:

Competitive procurement

• Review the 2014 procurement cases and select cases with value < US$ 50,000 (including Individual Consultants/ICs) to verify that all procurement steps have been fully compliant with applicable policies and procedures of procurement.

In order to provide further assurance on the adequacy of the CO procurement and contract management, attention to the following vulnerable areas and main risks in procurement is required:

• Misuse of confidential information (advance release of bid information, inconsistent disclosure of information to bidders or inside information is disclosed to a potential supplier or existing vendor);
• Weak justification for non-competitive bidding / waivers;
• Splitting of contracts to stay below the threshold for a more extensive procurement review;
• Excluding potential bidders during preliminary examination from detailed technical evaluation based on minor procedural grounds;
• Applying different standards of evaluation to different bidders;
• Manipulation of evaluation criteria or scores to get certain results;
• Potential conflict of interest of evaluation committee members;
• Multiple contract awards to the same company and frequency of contract awards;
• Contract award to other than the lowest qualified bidder;
• Long unexplained delays in contract award or negotiations;
• Winning bid is very close to budget or estimate;
• Collusion between UNDP staff or between project personnel and suppliers (could lead to price increases, often through changes in specifications or cost increases);
• Contract is different from bid/proposal in terms of specification, quantities, delivery schedule, payment terms (e.g. contract specifications were changed after contract awarded);
• Unjustified or questionable contract extension or amendment, and acceptance of cost overruns.

Direct contracting. Review the 2014 procurement cases and undertake spot checks in this area:

• Verify that all direct contracts, including Individual Consultants/ICs, are properly supported with permissible reasons or justifications for direct contracting (ref: UNDP FFR No.121.05), and that there are no other indications of misuse of the direct contract modality.

Sourcing and Market research. Review all the 2014 local procurement, including professional service contracts, and select the samples for spot checks on sourcing and market research:

• Verify that the supply market research is carried out adequately and market prices of competitors (especially for large and/or high risk procurement activities) are duly analyzed and well- documented both at planning and procurement process stages;
• Verify that solicitation information is disseminated through Request for Information (RFI), call for Expression of Interest (EOI), prequalification announcement or open announcement to encourage competition in the market;
• Verify that there is documented evidence that background checks on companies/potential sources or vendors are undertaken, and verify that physical verification at the sites are conducted for the suppliers that have different names but the same phone numbers, addresses, banking information, owners and managers and findings is documented;
• Verify that the interaction with suppliers and potential supplier is documented and conducted in presence of more than one individual.

Management of procurement for NIM projects implemented by national institutions. Review the competitiveness, transparency and effectiveness of a sample of procurement activities conducted by implementing partners and responsible parties for selected NIM projects:

• Verify, as applicable, delegations of authorities, procurement thresholds, call for bids and proposals, evaluation of bids and proposals and approval/signature of contracts and purchase orders;
• Verify that receiving and inspection procedures are applied to determine the conformity of goods and services with the agreed specifications;
• Verify that adequate and proper supporting documents, namely, purchase orders, tender documents, invoices, vouchers, receipts, pay bills, etc. are maintained and linked to project transactions;
• Verify that UNDP staff applies due diligence in establishing that the procurement expenses are based on procurement processes that follow the agreed rules and procedures (usually, national procurement law).

Deliverables

The consultant shall hold an interim briefing on the progress to ensure the timely and satisfactory performance of the services. The consultant shall prepare a report with the findings and any critical issues on procurement operations and internal control systems, and recommendations for improvement and corrective actions to be taken.

Payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance/certification of the deliverables by Head of OCU in accordance with the schedule below:

• Sample definition, timeframe – 10 February 2015, Home-based desk review;
• Workplan, timeframe – 15 February 2015, Payment 20%;
• Draft report, timeframe – 25 March 2015, Payment 60%;
• Final report, timeframe – 10 April 2015, Payment 20%.

Working Arrangements:

Institutional Arrangement

The contractor will work under direct supervision of the Management Oversight Specialist of OCU and will be directly responsible to, reporting to, and seeking approval/acceptance of deliverables from the Head of OCU. At the start of the contract, the contractor will prepare and agree with OCU on a work plan for the assignment. The work plan should include information on sample of procurement contracts selected for spot-check and other activities. The minimum number of contracts for all types of contracts (competitive procurement, direct contracting and NIM contracts) to be selected for spot-check shall be 15-20.

The OCU will ensure that the consultant is provided with office space and internet facility, logistical and other support service including transport and security applicable to UNDP international personnel. The consultant however is expected to bring his/her own laptop and mobile phone and meet local communication cost (CO will provide a local pre-paid SIM card). Costs to arrange meetings, workshops and field visits (if any), etc. shall be covered by UNDP CO Afghanistan, based on the approval of the workplan. All expenses associated to the spot check shall be borne by CO management projects funds.

Duration of the Work

The performance under the contract shall take place over total contract duration of 7 weeks (or 42 working days), excluding joining and repatriation travel days. The expected starting date of this assignment is 10 February 2015.

Duty Station

The duty station for the contractor is Kabul, Afghanistan, except the 1st week of the assignment for preparatory work or home-based desk review of the sampling on the basis of Atlas.

The Contractor will be required to be present at the CO and visit the selected projects during the working hours. The contractor will follow the working hours and weekends as applicable to CO staff. Contractor’s movement for spot-checks, meetings and consultations shall be coordinated by OCU. The contractor is at all times required to observe UNDP security rules and regulations.

Access to information:  The consultant will have full access to all relevant records and documents (both the on-line and papers) on procurement operations, including legal agreements, minutes of committee meetings, procurement audit reports, contracts etc. and have access to procurement staff and other concerned staff.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payment

The contractor shall submit a price proposal as below:

• Daily Fee – The contractor shall propose a daily fee which should be inclusive of his professional fee, local communication cost and insurances (inclusive health & medical evacuation).The number of working days for which the daily fee shall be payable under the contract is 42;
• DSA – The contractor shall propose a DSA at the Kabul applicable rate of USD 181 per day for his stay at the duty station. The number of days for which the DSA shall be payable under the contract is 35. The contractor is not allowed to stay in a place of his choice other than the UNDSS approved places;
• Travel, Visa & any other miscellaneous costs – The contractor shall propose an estimated lumpsum for home-Kabul-home travel and Afghanistan visa and any other miscellaneous expenses.

The total contract price, inclusive of the above elements, shall be converted into a lumpsum contract and payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance of deliverables under the contract in accordance with the schedule of payment.

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall 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 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria 70 points:

Technical Proposal (30 marks)

• Technical Approach & Methodology (20 marks) – This explains the understanding of the objectives of the assignment, approach to the services, methodology for carrying out the activities and obtaining the expected output, and the degree of detail of such output. The Applicant should also explain the methodologies proposed to adopt and highlight the compatibility of those methodologies with the proposed approach;
• Work Plan (10 marks) – The Applicant should propose the main activities of the assignment, their content and duration, phasing and interrelations, milestones (including interim approvals by the Client), and delivery dates. The proposed work plan should be consistent with the technical approach and methodology, showing understanding of the TOR and ability to translate them into a feasible working plan.

Qualification and Experience (40 marks) [evaluation of CV]

• General Qualification (10 marks);
• Experience relevant to the assignment (20 marks);
• Experience of working with UN/UNDP procurement (10 marks).

Documents to be included when submitting Proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (Annex);
• Personal CV or UNDP P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references (Annex).

Technical proposal:

• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• A methodology and work plan, on how they will approach and complete the assignment.

Financial proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (Annex II) and the instructions in this TOR.

Annex (to be downloaded from UNDP Afghanistan Website, procurement notices section http://www.af.undp.org/content/afghanistan/en/home/operations/procurement.html

Compétences

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards (human rights, peace, understanding between peoples and nations, tolerance, integrity, respect, results orientation (UNDP core ethics) impartiality;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback.

Functional Competencies:

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills with proven ability in report writing;
• Ability to work both independently and in a team and ability to deliver high quality work on time;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting from a risk management perspective;
• Comfortable in working in dynamic environments that change frequently;
• Able to perform in a high-stress and difficult security environment, with basic accommodation choices;
• Ability to manage relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders and incorporate diverse points of view.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• Master’s degree in Business Administration, Supply Chain Management, Finance or other related fields;
• UNDP Procurement Certification (CIPS) is an asset.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years of progressive work experience and at professional level in Procurement Management, Administrative Service Management, Operations Management or relevant field;
• Previous work experience in a complex operations environment;
• Work experience with UNDP or UN system will be highly advantageous;
• Knowledge of ATLAS, ERP highly desirable;
• Experience in data analysis/oversight.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is essential;
• Knowledge of Dari/Pashto is an asset.