Antecedentes

The unicameral National Assembly of Lao PDR was established in 1991 and has 6 portfolio committees in addition to the Standing Committee: Committees on Law, Economics/Planning/Finance, Social and Cultural Affairs, Ethnic Affairs, National Defense and Security, and Foreign Affairs. At the last NA election in April 2011, the new 7th Legislature was established with 68% of the parliamentarians newly elected.

The NA has an ambitious legislation programme for 2011-2015 and is facing challenges in realizing its legislative duties as the overall majority of draft laws originate from the executive. Similarly, the NA is facing insufficient data and background information for relevant issues, a shortage of specialized staff as well as lack of effective systems for assessing and monitoring the results of budget allocations and spending, which calls for further improvement of the NA’s institutional capacity. The NA also needs to strengthen and implement its critical mandate to represent the people, advocate for improvement in the quality of life, and articulate the needs of the people.

Project Context

Given the past support by UNDP to the National Assembly in Lao PDR, this new project (National Assembly Strategic Support Project or NASSP) is newly launched in June 2014 with the objective to improve the capacity of the NA to be able to effectively review and deliberate draft laws, conduct oversight, and represent constituents as an important aspect of the parliaments’ contribution to democracy and development in Lao PDR. To address the challenges and needs highlighted above, the Project will assist the NA in creating a conducive environment for more inclusive, accountable and participatory political processes.

Scope of work

This is a full-time post based in Vientiane, Lao PDR for the first 12 months of the Project started in July 2014 (a total of 250 working days excluding UN holidays and weekends). The consultant is expected to work closely with the management team established at the National Assembly, NA members and staff, relevant ministries including the Ministry of Justice, UNDP, and other development partners during the assignment.

In the absence of a technical advisor in the first 12 months of the Project, this consult serves as a senior technical specialist who covers all technical aspects of the Project, provides technical advice to the NA, project management team, UNDP, and other relevant stakeholders, and effectively coordinates with development partners under the Governance Sector Working Group and other mechanisms. Main duties and responsibilities are described in more detail below.

Also, UNDP recently launched a new project to support implementation of the Legal Sector Master Plan (SPLSMP) to help the country move closer to establishing a state based on rule of law by 2020 (the Master Plan’s ultimate goal). The SPLSMP assists the Government of Lao PDR in areas quite similar to some aspects of the NASSP. Thus, the consultant is expected to work closely also with the SPLSMP team in order to ensure optimal coordination and synergy.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Month 1:

• Inception report and workshop to discuss and finalize the 12-month work plan (including results-based indicators and targets);
• Finalization of the first quarterly work plan;
• Preparation of capacity baseline assessment for the NA members and staff .
  

Months 2-3: 

•  Development of a plan/framework to support the NA Secretariat Support Unit through the AIPA preparation;
• Recommendation paper on how to coordinate with other law drafting bodies and Development Partners;
• Development of a concept note on how to further increase the understanding about the roles and functions of local Non-Profit Associations;
• Development of an outreach strategy for NA members and staff to disseminate about their work;
• Preparation of easy-to-understand promotional materials on the work of NA committees.

Month 4:

• Finalization of a quarterly work plan (by 10th of Month 4);
• Finalization of the previous quarter’s progress report and logs;
• Concept note on drafting techniques and implementation of a workshop;
• Recommendation paper on the current NA hotline and public petitions mechanism.
  

Months 5-6:

• Framework on draft law review;
• Quick reference briefs for current and new parliamentarians on certain topics such as gender & social inclusion and regulatory impact assessment;
• Presentation of a capacity baseline assessment (including the report on findings and recommendations)
• Development of a parliamentary research strategy;
• TORs to define the roles and responsibilities of the NA Library and ICT website teams (including the training to be provided to them);
• Technical assistance in better organizing the NA Ordinary Sessions (including design of concise summaries of the legislation to be tabled before the bills are presented at the NA Ordinary Session as well as compilation of the bills tabled after the Sessions) ;
•  Concept note on how to build and effectively manage a parliamentary learning center;
• Dissemination strategy on draft legislation relevant to the lives of constituents (including guidelines on public consultations for draft legislation);
• Preparation of needs assessment at pilot NA Constituency Offices (including well-designed questionnaire);
•  Preparation for a public perception survey on the work of the NA and information received from it;
• Assessment of the existing NA public engagement tools (including the report on findings and recommendations) .
  

Month 7: 

•  Finalization of a quarterly work plan (by 10th of Month 7) ;
•  Finalization of the previous quarter’s progress report and logs;
• Organization of a mid-term review meeting;
• Development of a capacity development plan based on the capacity baseline assessment conducted earlier;
• Organization of parliamentary partnership forums for the NA and international diplomatic community after NA Ordinary Sessions.

• Design of training sessions on gender/marginalized groups-sensitive legislative drafting, regulatory impact assessment, and other relevant topics;
• Technical assistance in improving the capacity of the NA Training Center (including development of a monitoring guideline, training modules on administrative work, management, technical skills for NA staff, etc.);
• Implementation of needs assessment at pilot NA Constituency Offices and development of a report on findings and recommendations;
• Design of a mechanism to better document and incorporate citizens’ viewpoints;
• Implementation of the public perception survey and development of a report on findings and recommendations;
• Development of a data collection tool to gather information from the NA hotline and public petitions;
• Design of a roundtable discussion with the media to brief them on the NA’s work .
  

Month 10: 

•  Finalization of the last quarterly work plan (by 10th of Month 10);
• Finalization of the previous quarter’s progress report and logs ;
•  Preparation for the annual review meeting ;
•  Finalization of resource mobilization strategy (including a concept note for the next phase).

Months 11-12:

• Preparation and finalization of the next 12-month work plan;
• Preparation and finalization of the current quarter’s progress report and logs;
• Preparation and finalization of the results-based 12-month progress report and logs;
• Organization of the annual review meeting;
• Development of a quick reference brief for parliamentarians on roles and functions of mass organizations and stakeholders (including CSOs);
• Assistance to the project evaluation (if required) .
  

Competencias

Functional competencies:

• Shares knowledge and experience;
• Plan and prioritizes work activities to meet organizational goals;
• Builds and sustains relationships with key constituents (international/external/bilateral/ multilateral/public/private/civil society);
• Conceptualizes and analyzes problems to identify key issues, underlying problems, and how they relate.
• Demonstrates excellent and effective written and oral communication skills;
• Demonstrate respect to knowledge and culture and religion in a multidisciplinary working environment.
• Applies the required depth and breadth of knowledge and expertise to meet job demands;
• Uses information technology effectively as a tools and resource;
• Demonstrated flexibility and adaptability in taking on this type of consultancy.
  

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• 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;
• Extensive knowledge of project cycle management ;
•  Familiarity with organizations that play a role in parliamentary development on the global, regional and national levels;
• Knowledge of gender and practical experience of gender mainstreaming in the activities of elected bodies;
• Demonstrated flexibility, adaptability and understanding in taking on consultancy for development projects;
•  Initiative and ability to organize his/her work independently, but also to work as part of a team;
• Proven ability to deliver quality output working under tight deadlines.
  

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Academic Qualifications:

• At least a Master’s degree in Law (especially Public Law), Political Science, Public Administration, or related relevant fields.

Years of experience: 

•  At least 7 years of international practical working experience in coordination and facilitation of substantive parliamentary work and parliamentary development issues;
• At least 5 years of providing technical advice to senior officials at the parliamentary setting in the development context .

Language:

• Excellent command of written and spoken English.
  

Requirements for submission of proposals:

All interested and qualified candidates should apply on-line using the following links:

• UNDP Lao PDR Country Office website at http://www.la.undp.org/content/lao_pdr/en/home/operations/jobs/ or
• UNDP Jobs at http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm.
• In order to make submission please read the attached relevant documents which are also avalable on our web-site at http://www.la.undp.org/content/lao_pdr/en/home/operations/jobs/:
• TOR (Annex I);
• ndividual Contract & General Terms and Conditions (Annex II);
• Offeror’s Letter to UNDP (Annex III);
• Reimbursable Loan Agreement (for a consultant assigned by a firm) & General Conditions (Annex IV).

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Technical Proposal as per Annex III “Offeror’s Letter to UNDP”

• Explaining why you are the most suitable for the work;
• Providing a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work including the work schedule for the
• delivery of outputs/deliverable;
• CV including past experience in similar project and contact reference of at least 3 references for whom you have rendered preferably the similar service.
  

Financial proposal:

Detailed financial proposal: Lump sum offer with clear cost breakdown against each deliverable.

Note:

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days). All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. UNDP accept travel costs not exceeding of an economy class air ticket.

Instructions for on-line submissions: 

• Step 1: Please prepare all required documents electronically;
• Step 2: Combine all documents in ONE SINGLE FILE (preferably in PDF however Word format can be also accepted) and upload to the UNDP Jobs using the links above;
• Step 3: After that you will receive an auto reply from the UNDP jobs if your offer is received successfully.

Incomplete proposals or proposals received after the deadline will be rejected.

Please kindly refer to the Terms of Reference Annex I for detailed information on:

• Project’s background;
• Scope of work and Responsibilities;
• Timeframe for the work;
• Deliverables;
• Requirements for Experience and Qualifications.
  

Evaluation of Proposals:

Cumulative analysis: The award of the contract will be made to a consultant who 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: Technical Criteria weight; [0.7] ; Financial Criteria weight; [0.3].

Only a consultant obtaining a minimum of 50 points in the technical rating would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Note:

Any request for clarification must be sent in writing to the following e-mail: kazuo.fukuda@undp.org .

UNDP Lao PDR will respond in writing 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.

The copies of the response will be also placed on our web-site at: http://www.la.undp.org/content/lao_pdr/en/home/operations/jobs/and linked to the current Procurement Notice.

All interested candidates are encouraged to visit the above web-site for updates.

Please note that only short-listed candidates will be notified.

Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

For more detailed information about UNDP Lao PDR please visit our website at http://www.la.undp.org/lao_pdr/en/home.html.