UNDP Jobs - 50700- National Information Technology (IT) Expert

National Information Technology (IT) Expert

Location :

Tirana, ALBANIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

03-Nov-2014

Application Deadline :

26-Oct-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

6 months (10 days per month)

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

Albania’s territorial and administrative reform is one of the main priorities of the current Government of Albania’s mandate, aiming at modernizing relations between the executive and local government, democratizing and strengthening the governance in the territory and encouraging economic efficiency through the creation of premises for an integrated planning in a more consolidated administrative space. The government’s simultaneous engagement in two reform streams; the administrative consolidation and the revision of the fiscal system and local government functions, is expected to provide the local governments with several key benefits.

The Government of Albania has put forward during 2014 an intensive and comprehensive reform process, which produced a new administrative map for the country by end of July, legislated by the Parliament in early September. However, the real consolidation of local administrations through a professional, transparent and participatory amalgamation process with well-defined role-plays of various relevant actors is the next challenge of moving the reform forward and making it happen. The approaching of the new local elections of mid-2015, which are expected to be based on the new administrative division, only make the challenge bigger and call for acting at the same time swiftly and wisely, along a well-designed plan of action covering the pre- and post-elections activities and measures.

To support this major government reform, the donor community has established a multi-donor fund under the UNDP’s Support to Territorial and Administrative Reform – STAR project. STAR project was designed with the intention to mobilize the expertise and capacities required for developing the reform as well as provide operational & logistical support to the reform process. As such, the project accompanies and supports the advancement of the reform and responds to Government plans and its identified needs and activities in real time.

As the reform process is embarking on a transition stage, necessary to prepare the ground, the model and the guidelines for the amalgamation of current LGUs into new fewer and larger ones, needs are emerging for additional local expertise that will be necessary to define the concrete steps to be taken, the specializations required, the organization of working team(s) and the approach and the deployment in the field, i.e. the development of the implementation of the reform.

STAR project has already developed a general roadmap of this implementation stage, which includes, inter-alia, the following main actions:

Assessment and situational analysis / due diligence / audit of the financial and human resources, assets and liabilities of the 373 actual LGUs;
Development of the set of procedures, modalities and guidelines of amalgamation;
Initiate, coordinate and monitor the amalgamation process in time;
Coaching and capacity building to amalgamation stakeholders and beneficiaries, etc.

The MLI and its Technical Secretariat are envisaging to embark on this roadmap through piloting the design and development of amalgamation modalities in a couple of selected and representative groups of LGUs, namely in Pogradec and Ura Vajgurore. As the initial assessment and auditing exercise require a certain degree of specialization the activity will be realised through subcontracting a professional audit company, which will work under the direction and monitoring of the Amalgamation Team, the latter ensuring the quality assurance role during the process and to the interim and final products.

In this context, UNDP Albania, upon consultation and request from the Minister of Local Issues, is soliciting the submission of individual applications to fill in the position of IT expert, to understand the situation and identify development opportunity areas in software and hardware to achieve the bet level of functionality of the new LG entities.

Duties and Responsibilities

As part of the Amalgamation Team, the Legal Expert will work under the general guidance of the Amalgamation Team Leader to facilitate and contribute to the design of the amalgamation pilots as well as monitoring and critically assessing the approach, performance, progress and quality of deliverables of the audit company from legal and administrative perspectives. The Expert is required to liaise and cooperate with the UNDP’s STAR project management and provide regular progress reports, besides his/her direct work relationship with the Team Leader. As per the context described earlier, the Expert’s duties and responsibilities will include the following key tasks:

Monitor the assessment process of piloting LGUs from the perspectives of existing and improvements in IT infrastructure, the financial management and records/information management systems
Accompany, understand, and provide feedback on the developed methodology of the amalgamation process resulting from the pilot phase;
Contribute his/her own in reviewing of and advising on the IT infrastructure, the likely existing redundancies and ways of consolidation and optimization;
Review best practices in information management systems developed over the years by the public sector or through donor programmes (such as USAID programmes on fiscal decentralization) to the benefit of local governments
Provide recommendations of how to make use of the above best practices and findings and link/ensure compliance with the relevant national IT & information policies, standards and requirements;
Identify and point out to the contracted company the likely problem areas or concerns during the piloting phase;
Ensure that issues emerging at different levels are addressed on time through team troubleshooting and dialogue or otherwise escalated;
Design and organize training/capacity building sessions of the amalgamation groups at local level;

Provide or receive feedback on possible consultations and solutions so that the Expert becomes fully involved in the development of the pilot model and later its replication;

Provide technical support in writing the final report covering the IT aspects.

Deliverables:

Monthly progress reports on his/her own activities as part of the Amalgamation Team as well as on assessment of progress and quality of the Audit Company work to be submitted to STAR project management

Competencies

Core competencies and values:

Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards;
Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
Display cultural, gender, nationality, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional competencies

Ability to work on tight deadlines;
Ability to network with key stakeholders;
Demonstrated excellent interpersonal skills;
Experience in project and team management;
Good training and organisational abilities
Be very good in report writing.

Required Skills and Experience

The preferred educational background and minimum required qualifications for the interested candidates are listed below.

Education/Academic Qualification:

University degree in information technology or other relevant discipline;

Work Experience:

At least 7 years of working experience in IT and working in the implementations of at least one large-scale ERP system
Good knowledge of ERP systems (be it open source or with proprietary code)
Experience in drafting, design, management, implementation, integration of ERP systems
Familiarity with the existing information systems and mandatory formats for LGUs financial reporting is an advantage
Familiarity with latest technologies, systems and network clouds servers and infrastructure

Language requirements:

Full working knowledge of English, including very good report writing skill in English.

Evaluation of applicants

Applicants will be screened against qualifications and the competencies specified above. UNDP applies the ‘Best value for money’ approach - the final selection will be based on the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) Responsive, and

b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Individual consultant will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.

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

Criteria A: Compliant educational background– max points: 20

Criteria B: Professional experience in the required area - max points: 30

Criteria C: Knowledge of IT records systems and information management systems of LGs: 20

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

Application procedures:

Qualified and interested candidates are requested to apply no later than 24 October 2014

Please submit the following to demonstrate your interest and qualifications by explaining why you are the most suitable for the work:

Cover letter stating your interest in and qualifications for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
Filled UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs); form (blank form can be downloaded from http://www.al.undp.org/content/albania/en/home/operations/jobs/; please upload the P11 instead of your CV.
Financial Proposal - specifying a total fee per day amount for the tasks specified in this announcement.

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

Qualified women and members of social minorities are encouraged to apply.

How to Submit the Application

To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

Download and complete the UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs);
Merge your UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs), Financial Proposal and cover letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
Click “Apply Now” button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click “Submit Application;”
Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);

You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.