Antecedentes

Proposals for tender ref. num. 632/2014 should be submitted to e-mail tenders.by@undp.org no later than July 25, 2014 or by fax +375 17 326 03 40 or to the following address: UNDP Office, Kirau Street 17, 6^th floor, 220050 Minsk, Belarus (ref. num. of the tender (632/2014) should be indicated on the envelope).

Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to the e-mail alexandre.grebenkov@undp.org will respond in writing or by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants.

Background

UNDP Belarus supports the Government of the Republic of Belarus in a wide range of areas. They all fall within the National Sustainable Socio-Economic Development Strategy till 2020, which was approved by the Government on 22 June 2004. UNDP plays an important role as a partner to the Government of Belarus in energy efficiency improvement policy and programs. In particular, UNDP has supported the Government of Belarus through capacity building and expert advice to achieve its GDP energy intensity reduction target through the project “Improving Energy Efficiency in Residential Buildings in the Republic of Belarus” funded by GEF under its Climate Change Focal Area Strategy.

Belarus lacks domestic energy resources, and has thereby to import around 90% of energy consumed in the country. The housing stock consumes over 40% of the total amount of energy used for heating and hot water supply. In the beginning of 2014, the Belarus’ housing stock totals almost 250 million square meters of residential buildings, including about 170 million square meters of old buildings which were constructed before 1994 according to the old Soviet practices and norms when annual specific consumption of heat energy varied from 150 to 200 kWh/m².

Since that time, the housing construction standards changed significantly, and for the time being energy efficiency improvement measures in this sector resulted in reduction of annual heat energy specific consumption by about 100 kWh/m² in newly constructed buildings. The recent national standards stipulate annual specific consumption of energy for heating to be not higher than 60 kWh/m². To facilitate construction of residential buildings in line with the said new standard, Belarus started production of new for the country energy efficient insulating materials, new thermal energy regulators and meters and introduced new types of window design to be used in construction of new buildings. Under this practice 5-6 million square meters of new residential buildings are annually put into service in the country in the past few years.

Nevertheless, as indicated by many experts and acknowledged by the Government of Belarus, the applied measures only partially removed existing barriers and the 60 kWh/m² standard does not reflect the energy saving potential in the housing construction sector, whilst many EU countries are developing new regulatory documents, which envisage transition to construction of buildings with space-heating energy consumption of less than 30 kWh/m² a year with the best achieved engineering solutions leading to about 15 kWh/m² a year. Therefore, the Ministry of Architecture and Construction with support of the State Standardization Committee’s Department for Energy Efficiency have implemented a couple of pilot projects to demonstrate that there is still large energy savings potential while introducing some other state-of-the-art techniques into building construction practice.

According to these projects and best European practices, the energy efficiency improvement solutions can be found in innovative building design principles, such as the optimal constructive-technological and space-and-planning solutions based on integrated energy performance of a building, the combination of heating and ventilating functions with forced ventilation and heat recovery up to 80% from the exhaust air, the heat recovery from drainage waters, the solar water heating and PV-panels, the utilization of ground heat by a heat pump, the automatic regulation of heat and hot water consumption, the use of thorough thermo-vision study to identify actual heat-shielding characteristics of the building envelope, and other applicable energy efficiency improvement technologies and approaches.

Today, the Belarusian Government sets the objective to move towards mass construction of energy efficient buildings in Belarus that is consistent with the new EU standards. Nevertheless, despite the availability of technical means and materials and capacities to apply new technologies, there are still certain technical, legislative, institutional, economic and technological barriers to improving energy efficiency in residential buildings in Belarus.

The aim of the project, planned for 5 years, is to reduce energy consumption during the construction and operation of residential buildings and a corresponding reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The focus of the project will be devoted to develop and ensure effective implementation of new methods of designing of residential buildings and construction standards with related energy efficiency certification schemes.

In particular, the project will help achieve the following objectives:

• Provide support to strengthen the legal and regulatory framework, as well as mechanisms to enforce the legislation for improving the energy efficiency in the building sector;
• Facilitate the development of enhanced capacity of the Belarusian specialists to implement and effectively enforce the new energy efficiency building standards and construction norms;
• Implement pilot projects to demonstrate the energy and cost-saving potential of new energy efficiency measures on the example of three residential buildings;
• Ensure awareness of industry experts and the general public on energy efficiency in the residential sector;
  
• Establish monitoring mechanisms and replication to ensure the reproduction of the results of the project in Belarus and abroad.

Deberes y responsabilidades

This Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) is initiated by UNDP Country Office in Belarus, as the GEF Implementing Agency for this project, in order to assess the overall project progress, make sure the project is on track to deliver the agreed outcomes, produce recommendations on any adjustments needed, as well as to strengthen the adaptive management and monitoring function of the project and suggest strategy and policy options for more effective achievement of the project’s expected results within the project timeframe and their further replication.

The evaluation has the following complementary purposes:

• To promote accountability and transparency, and to assess and disclose levels of project accomplishments and assess their sustainability;
• To synthesize lessons learned that may help improve the selection, design and implementation of future UNDP/GEF energy-efficiency projects
• To provide feedback on issues that are recurrent and need attention, and on improvements regarding previously identified issues;
• Provide appraisal on the validity/relevance of the outcome for UNDP supported interventions, and the extent to which the set objectives and outcomes have been achieved;
• Identify gaps/weaknesses in the current Project design and provide recommendations as to their improvements in similar projects;
• Identify lessons learnt from previous and ongoing interventions in this area;
• assess the role of the Project in building local leadership capacities at the local levels;
• Review and assess the Project’s partnership with the government bodies, civil society and private sector, international organizations in Project implementation and comment on its sustainability;
• Review and assess the efficiency of implementation and management arrangements of the Project;
• Support UNDP in identifying the future interventions of Socio-Economic Development and Community-based Projects, aligning it with the national priorities, UNDP’s mandate and expertise.

Respective activity is included in the Project Detailed Work Plan for 2014, Outcome 4: Documented, disseminated and institutionalized project results providing a basis for further replication, and poses the following activities:

• Conduct a Mid-Term Project Evaluation Study by means of collecting and analyzing actual data of Project's results and comparing them with the objectives, targets, baseline scope and requirements stipulated in the Project Document;
• Compile and present a Mid-Term Evaluation Report describing the progress of the Project and proving necessary recommendations for adjustment of the Project's implementation strategy.

This assignment has an objective to provide consultation and advice to the PIU, UNDP Belarus Country Office, Energy Efficiency Department of the State Standardization Committee (National Implementing Agency), members of the Project Steering Committee, project partners, district authorities and other relevant stakeholders as follows:

• To assess overall performance against the project objective and outcomes as set out in the Project Document, project's Logical Framework, and other related documents;
• To assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the project;
• To analyze critically the implementation and management arrangements of the project;
• To assess the progress to date towards achievement of the outcomes;
• To review planned strategies and plans for achieving the overall objective of the project within the timeframe;
• To assess the sustainability of the project's interventions;
• To list and document initial lessons concerning project design, implementation and management;
• To assess project relevance to national priorities;
• To provide guidance for the future project activities and, if necessary, for the implementation and management arrangements;
• To provide lessons learned for the future.

This assignment must provide a comprehensive and systematic evaluation of project performance by assessing project design, process of implementation, achievements vis-à-vis project objectives endorsed by the GEF including any agreed changes in the objectives/activities during project inception stage or previous project evaluations.

Scope of work, responsibilities and description of the proposed analytical work

The evaluation shall cover the following project aspects:

• project Concept and Design: the Consultant will review the problem addressed by the project and the project strategy, encompassing an assessment of the appropriateness of the objectives, planned outputs, activities and inputs as compared to cost-effective alternatives. The executing modality and managerial arrangements should also be judged. The Consultant will assess the achievement of indicators and review the work plan, planned duration and budget of the project;
• project implementation: the evaluation will assess the implementation of the project in terms of quality and timeliness of inputs and efficiency and effectiveness of activities carried out. Also, the effectiveness of management as well as the quality and timeliness of monitoring and backstopping by all parties to the project should be evaluated. In particular, the evaluation is to assess the Project team’s use of adaptive management in project implementation. 

Competencias

Functional competencies:

• Strong report writing skills;
  
• Familiarity with regulations in EU and CIS region in the field of energy efficiency is preferred;
• Familiarity with relevant Belarusian regulations and standards is an asset.

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.
  

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

• Advanced university degree (at least the Master level) in any of the following fields: engineering, economics or business.

• At least 3 years of practical implementation of policies and practices in the field of efficient energy consumption in residential and public buildings, energy performance certification and standards, preferably in residential buildings;
• Practical experience (within last five years) in mid-term or final performance evaluation of at least one international and/or regional projects funded by multilateral agencies;
• Experience in performance evaluation of such projects in CEE or/and FSU countries is preferred;
• Extended knowledge of UNDP and GEF monitoring and evaluation policy demonstrated by performance evaluation of at least one other UNDP project;
• Experience in writing and presenting reports to a high professional level (which includes graphs, pictures, diagrams, figures and other illustrative tools to enhance the reporting quality);
• Solid knowledge, demonstrated by at least 3 relevant publications and/or evidences in professional experience records (e.g., certifications, awards, inventions, membership of professional associations and ad-hoc panels, lecturing, training, participation in exhibitions and professional events, presentations, etc.), about principles, best international policy, best investment practice, project cycle and monitoring / auditing, applicable to energy efficiency improvement of residential buildings is preferred.

Language requirements:

• Excellent written and spoken English is a must;
• Working knowledge of written and spoken Belarusian or Russian is an advantage.