Background

Project Title

Informal Economy Facility, Project Code 114250

Background

The Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was initially among the regions in the Philippines that was able to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus via stringent quarantine measures. While necessary, such measures restricted physical mobility, inadvertently affecting the lives and livelihoods of 53.5 percent of the population, many of them belonging to the most vulnerable. Furthermore, the informal sector—many of whom are women—were among the hardest hit by the pandemic because of work stoppages. While social amelioration programmes were delivered, data-related issues regarding beneficiary identification and validation slowed down the targeting, implementation, and evaluation activities for such initiatives.

Given these challenges, the Bangsamoro Planning and Development Authority (BPDA) is interested to explore innovations that can support inclusive social protection systems, increase the capacity for digital transformation, and spur economic diversification to drive growth in the region. As economic centers, the cities of Cotabato and Marawi provide the space to understand new ways of promoting inclusive recovery needed to build back better. This can be done by empowering constituents that have been severely affected, such as Internally Displaced People, as well as harness their potential to facilitate the economic participation of people in remote communities and former combatant camps. The region saw a promising 300 percent increase in business registrations in 2021, with PHP 423 million in investments and 10,109 jobs, which sets the foundations for a good entrepreneurial environment. Vital to this is the understanding of and data on informal sector to determine how this environment can be enhanced further. A joint report published by ILO, UNDP, and UNIDO (2021) also highlights the importance of informality in shaping social protection in times of crisis - While the extensive informality of the labour market has hampered delivery of social assistance, this sector also played a major role in facilitating financial borrowing amongst people which increased during the period.

Institutional Arrangement

The IAT OIC Team leader shall provide oversight in the implementation of the project. The Contractor will be under the direct supervision of the UNDP Pintig Lab Project Team through the Project Manager with the guidance of the Data Engineer and the BARMM Coordinator for the monitoring on the progress of outputs.

The Contractor shall report progress, provide updates, and raise issues to the UNDP on a daily or weekly basis. The Contractor is expected to be accessible to UNDP personnel and partners through mobile and digital collaboration tools on an agreed schedule and when required.

Upon the direction of the UNDP focal, the Contractor is expected to directly coordinate with officials, personnel, and consultants of UNDP and Partner BARMM Ministry, specifically, MOLE;

All systems, reports, and video material shall be the sole property of UNDP.

The Consultant is expected to have its own working premises, ICT equipment, internet connectivity, and cloud hosting, among others. This work shall be done on a work from home basis and should be within the COVID-19 quarantine guidelines and protocols. As such, logistical support will not be provided by the UNDP. If needed, UNDP may provide coordination support in terms of introductory meetings with key partners.

Expected Duration of the Contract

• The Consultant will be hired for 100 working days spread over five (5) months beginning 01 December 2021 until 30 April 2022.

Duty Station and Travel

• Considering the COVID-19 pandemic and declaration of State of Public Health Emergency in the Philippines, the Consultant shall be on a work from home arrangement. Travel to BARMM, Cotabato City may be conducted for in-person meetings, training and follow through coaching, and mentoring at a minimum of 8 in-person visit within four months to MOLE Office.

Scope and Price of the Proposal and Schedule of Payment

The Consultant should send the financial proposal based on a lump-sum amount for the delivery of the outputs identified below. The total amount quoted shall be “all inclusive” (professional fees X number of person-days, travel expense, communications, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Consultant should be factored into the final amount submitted in the proposal.

Medical/health insurance must be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense, and upon award of contract, the consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during contract duration.

The contract price will be fixed output-based price. Any deviations from the output and timelines will be agreed upon between the Consultant and the Pintig Lab Project Team.

Payments will be done upon satisfactory completion of the delivery by target due dates. Outputs will be certified by the Pintig Lab Project Manager, prior to release of payments.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work and Outputs

The Consultant is expected to work on the following:

1. Define the current state of social protection processes, related data infrastructure and architecture  and IT capabilities of  the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MOLE) in BARMM through  scoping of existing data management systems available database, and pertinent program documents such manuals, process documents, reports, plans, roadmaps and conduct of interviews of key personnel of the partner Ministry in BARMM;
2. Identify processes that create and use data under the MOLE’s programs on informal sector workers with social protection component.
3. Design, develop and test a database for informal sector workers through its programs with social protection component, including interfaces for data input from current data collection systems and processes.
4. Design, develop and test a dashboard with visualizations and reports to enable data driven design of social protection initiatives in MOLE.
5. Provide training to 30 Planning and ICT staff of  of identified partner BARMM Ministries on the design and maintenance of the database   troubleshooting and sustainability mechanisms aligned with the MOLE IT Roadmap.
6. Conduct a weekly post-training coaching and mentoring sessions to trained staff through in person- or online to ensure application of knowledge and skills and address issues;
7. Create an administrator’s manual for the system including front and back-end operations o the system.
8. Create a user guide for the dashboard with step-by-step instructions for end users.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Competencies

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities skills;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
• Proficiency in the use of office IT applications and internet in conducting research;
• Outstanding communication, project management and organizational skills;
• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills.
• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Positive, constructive attitude to work;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Offers will be evaluated based on the combined scoring method :

• Technical qualifications = 70%
• Financial Proposal = 30%

For the evaluation of the Technical Proposal, the selection of the successful consultant must be based on the following qualifications (with the appropriate obtainable points).

Only offerors who will obtain a minimum of 49 out of 70 obtainable points  will be shortlisted and considered eligible for evaluation of the financial proposal.

Recommended Presentation of Offer

Interested applicants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload of a maximum of one document.

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP
2. Personal CV or P11, indicating all experience from similar projects highlighting the following the qualifications and competencies identified above. Contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate should be indicated.
3. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP. Medical/health insurance must be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense, and upon award of contract, the consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during contract duration.

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Interested applicants to note that personal Medical/health insurance (to be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense) is mandatory for the issuance of contracts. Upon award of the contract, the consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during the contract duration.

The following templates / Annexes and IC General Terms & Conditions can be downloaded from http://gofile.me/6xdJm/bE9TCw8fU:

• General Terms and Conditions for Individual Contract
• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability
• P-11 form

In view of the volume of applications, UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.