Empleos en el PNUD - 50151- A National Consultant to Draft the Terms and Cond

A National Consultant to Draft the Terms and Conditions of Service for the Sierra Leone Civil Service - (This Position is only open to Sierra Leonean Nationals)

Localidad :

Freetown, Sierra Leona

Tipo de contrato :

Individual Contract

Fecha de comienzo del contrato :

Fecha límite de postulación :

06-Oct-14 (Medianoche Nueva York, Estados Unidos)

Nivel de puesto :

National Consultant

Duración del contrato inicial :

6 weeks

Idiomas requeridos :

Inglés

Duración esperada del puesto :

6 weeks

El PNUD está comprometido con lograr la diversidad de su personal en términos de género, nacionalidad y cultura. Se alienta por igual a las personas que pertenecen a grupos minoritarios, a pueblos indígenas o que tienen alguna discapacidad a presentar su candidatura. Todas las solicitudes se tratarán con la mayor confidencialidad. UNDP no tolera la explotación y el abuso sexual, ningún tipo de acoso, incluido el acoso sexual, ni la discriminación. Por lo tanto, todos los candidatos seleccionados serán sometidos a una rigurosa verificación de referencias y antecedentes.

Antecedentes

The Civil Service for post-conflict Sierra Leone is expected to play a crucial role in the realization of our national development aspirations as articulated in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers II & III, i.e. Agenda for Change and Agenda for Prosperity, respectively. The Civil Service and by extension the Public Service of Sierra Leone has historically suffered progressive depletion of its skilled human resources to the extent that the middle level cadre of professional, technical and scientific staff dwindled to less than 10% of the total workforce. Chronically low and deteriorating remunerations and poor working conditions, including poor operating environments, out-modeled systems, structures, and business processes have been identified as major impediments to the ability of the Civil Service to attract and retain critical staffs. Many of the problems associated with poor performance, low morale, weak professionalism and technical capacity, moonlighting and rent seeking in the civil Service are in part attributed to low compensation levels and inequity in the pay and reward system across Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

To address these capacity gaps, GoSL has adopted a number of ad hoc measures, key among which are the recruitment of Local Technical Assistants on special remuneration and conditions of service, payment of top-up allowances to some Civil Servants in Policy and Growth MDA’s, and engagement of others on contract terms with high remuneration above the regular serving officers. These approaches have proved to be unsustainable and to say the least unpopular, as they undermine efforts geared toward a harmonized, comprehensive, fair and transparent system of remuneration and pay determination. These have consequently led to distortions and fragmentations in the pay structure within the entire public sector.

To address the above, GOSL launched a new Multi-Donor Public Sector Reform (PSRP) in 2009 within the framework of the second generation PRSP, incorporating a Civil Service Reform framework as a way of improving public sector governance in a coherent manner. As a first step to full rationalization, an interim pay-setting arrangement based on objective criteria, including those of affordability, social acceptability and attractiveness, was seen as a compelling proposition. Hence, to improve working conditions for the Civil Service as a whole and to attract high quality staff, a Multi-Year Pay Reform Strategy was approved by Cabinet in 2011 with the aim of bringing compensation of public servants to more competitive levels. This strategy aims at:

Realigning the pay and grading system to correct the existing distortions and decompressing the pay structure;
Rationalization of staffing in the public sector by the elimination of redundant posts , retrenchment of redundant staff and filling critical skills gaps; and
Gradually raising pay and compensation to competitive levels.

Implementation of this Pay Reform Strategy started in October, 2011 by an initial adjustment in salaries involving the consolidation of all allowances and basic salary into a composite pay. In view of the identified challenges and outstanding issues, GoSL in collaboration with the World Bank designed a Medium Term Reform Framework for the period 2012-2015 called the Pay and Performance Project (P&PP). The main objectives of the programme are to improve competitiveness in pay, performance management and increasing staffing levels of middle and senior staff in the Civil Service. The Pay Reform Sub-component of the P&PP will involve Job Evaluation and Labour Market Survey in order to ensure the fair and equitable assessment and determination of job worth in the Civil service. Hence, consultancy in crafting comprehensive Terms and Conditions of Service for Civil servants will tie up with the on-going pay reform

Rationale/Justification

The Sierra Leone Civil Service does not have a comprehensive document that articulates its Conditions of Service in a holistic manner. Frequently asked questions by Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Departments, Civil Servants, development partners and the public are:

What fringe benefits, apart from salaries, are Civil Servants entitled to at a particular level?
Are Civil Servants entitled to overtime and other forms of allowances like risk, remote area, family separation allowances, etc?
Are Civil Servants not occupying Government Quarters entitled to Housing Allowances?
Are senior Civil Servants not entitled to Children’s Education Allowance?
Why are other public servants entitled to pension and gratuity with 5-10 years of service whilst Civil Servants are excluded from this benefit?
Should utility bills for certain levels of staff be paid for by government or monetized as a percentage of monthly composite salary?
Do loaning facilities for purchasing a car and other basic household commodities like a refrigerator exist in the service?
At what level are Civil Servants entitled to domestic staff or travel on business class while on official duties?

It has been difficult to provide answers to these and many other questions that relate to the entitlement of Civil Servants to some facilities.

Elements of what can be described as conditions of service are anchored in some sections of the current Code, Regulations and Rules governing the Civil Service. For e.g., Civil Servants now benefit from Leave Allowance by receiving one month’s gross salary when they proceed on annual vacation leave. However, these conditions are scattered in various parts of the Civil Service Code, in Circular Memoranda that are issued by the Ministry of Finance from time to time, and in some Cabinet Conclusions that are either often difficult to lay hands on or have become obsolete. This situation therefore justifies the need to have a comprehensive document that consolidates all these various benefits and conditions of service for the Civil Service.

Also, considering the current pay reform being pursued under the P&PP, a consultancy service to craft conditions of service for Civil Servants is considered very timely in order to tie and complement our efforts in attracting and retaining competent staff in the service as is the case in other African Civil Service.

It is also important to note that the real and bulk of the earnings of Civil Servants are not quantified in monetary terms and therefore not captured in the national budget under Personnel Emoluments category. Some fringe benefits like fuel, top-up cards, etc, are recorded under Recurrent Expenditures as operational costs, hence the Wage Bill could be far higher than actually captured if these expenditures were under personnel emoluments. Hence, the crafting of Conditions of Service taking cognizance of these expenditures will put these benefits in the right perspective.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Objective/Scope of Work

The main objective of this consultancy work is to develop a comprehensive set of Conditions of Service for the Sierra Leone Civil Service that will cover basic wages and other entitlements in order to attract and retain competent staff in the middle and upper levels of the Service. The specific objectives are as follows:

To propose or review packages that will cover other entitlements (other than basic/composite pay) including loaning facilities, allowances, utilities, housing, etc;
To consolidate the conditions of service that are anchored in various parts of the Civil Service Code, Regulation and Rules; Circular Memoranda issued by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, and in Cabinet Conclusions;
To attract and retain the much needed technical and administrative skills in the Civil Service;
To harmonize the Civil Service Conditions of Service with other public sector institutions in order to minimize the existing inequalities.

Scope of Work/Description of the Assignment

The consultant is required to develop a comprehensive Conditions of Service for the Sierra Leone Civil Service by:

Reviewing and harmonizing the various elements of the Civil service Code, Regulations and Rules, Circular Memoranda issued by MOFED and Cabinet Conclusions into a comprehensive Conditions of Service document;
Developing a list of facilities or amenities that Civil Servants are entitled to depending on their level, performance and length of service;
Recommending payment of overtime allowances for certain types of duties;
Recommending retirement/severance packages for the different categories of Civil Servants;
Reviewing existing conditions of service for other public sector institutions to ensure their alignment with the Civil service;
Determining the financial implications of introducing these conditions of service for 20,000 Civil servants

Specific Tasks/Deliverables

Development of a set of Conditions of Service for the Sierra Leone Civil Service that provides for equitable and competitive allowances and other incentives;
A schedule of facilities or fringe benefits Civil Servants are entitled to depending on the position or responsibility they hold;
Identification and monetization of some recurrent expenditures as personnel emolument, and
Determination of the financial implications of introducing the new set of Conditions of service.

Competencias

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior members of national and international institutions, government and non-government;
Strong analytical skills;
Results driven, ability to work under pressure and to meet strict deadlines;
Outstanding communication skills oral and written communication skills.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

An advanced degree in Public Administration/Public Policy/Human Resource Management/Economics.

Experience:

Must have at least 10 years of experience in Public Administration or Human Resource Management including not less than 4 years at management level in the public service;
Experience in dealing with public sector compensation and benefits administration relating to conditions of service;
Computer literacy in standard office applications
Ability to communicate and network with all MDAs to secure commitment to and understanding of the process involved in achieving the objectives of the TOR of the consultancy

Language and other requirements:

Fluency in written and spoken English.

Payment Modalities:

Payment to the consultant will be made in three installments 30-40-60 based on agreed fees and upon written certification of satisfactory performance from UNDP and the HRMO.

Reporting Modalities:

During the assignment, the consultant will work closely with the Office of the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, HRMO, PSC, PSRU, UNDP, and the Civil Service Steering Committee. However, the consultant will report to the Director-General, HRMO as the lead agency or contact during the period of the consultancy.

Duration of the Assignment:

The consultancy for the drafting of Conditions of Service for the Sierra Leone Civil Service will be for a minimum of 6 weeks and a maximum of 8 weeks, by the end of which the consultant should present the first draft to the Civil Service Steering Committee. Details of these terms will be fleshed out in the contract document.

Evaluation of Criteria and Weighting:

The consultant will be evaluated against a combination of technical and financial criteria. Maximum score is 100% out of a total score for technical criteria equals 70% and 30% for financial criteria. The technical evaluation will include the following:

Background and minimum educational qualification as defined above-10%;
Practical previous experience relevant to the TOR-30%;
Substantial professional knowledge and experience in dealing with public sector compensation and benefits administration relating to conditions of service -50%;
English language fluency in both oral and written, proficiency in IT and evidence of good communication and writing skills-10%.

Application Procedure:

Qualified and interested candidates are hereby requested to apply. The application should contain the following:

Brief proposal addressing the requirement (Methodology);
Filled P11 form;
Detailed achievement based CV;
Financial proposal.