Background

On 1 January 2021, UNDP launched its new Digital, Inclusive, Accessible: Support to Digitalisation of State Services in Ukraine (DIA Support) Project. The project is made possible due to support of the Government of Sweden and is carried out in close collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine (MDT) and other government stakeholders. 

The project builds on extensive UNDP experience in two areas: administrative service reform and reengineering and digitalising public administration processes with broad citizen and expert engagement. The ‘State in a Smartphone’ initiative launched in Ukraine, will only succeed if appealing and accessible civic digital education is developed and widely implemented to help close digital gaps in knowledge and skills, and bridge the digital divide between generations and groups of Ukrainians with different social backgrounds. 

No less important for proper project implementation is ensuring that electronic services designed with UNDP assistance are rooted in properly developed regulations of different calibre: ranging from laws and Cabinet of Ministers Decrees to Ministry-level ordinances, instructions and standard operational procedures. Apart from properly legitimizing the electronic services in question, they ought to be underpinned by the Human Rights Based Approach (HRBA) and, narrower, a gender lens, and be devoid of corruption-related risks.

Under the auspices of the DIA Support Project, UNDP will closely collaborate with MDT to provide legal support for developing drafts of relevant regulations, as well as accompanying the relevant processes until completion. Specifically, there is a need for legal support to amend the existing regulations and develop new ones related to the e-services DIA Support project works on. These are, namely, digital social services to support single parents, low-income households, the retired population etc. As such, UNDP is seeking a highly qualified Legal Consultant with experience in drafting regulations at the level of the Cabinet of Ministers regulations.

The Consultant will also provide assistance in building the legal framework for e-service on child adoption in Ukraine, and he/she will facilitate the development of web accessibility standards complimentary regulations, based on the corresponding National Web Accessibility Standard (DSTU). The DSTU is expected to be adopted by June 2022 with a draft CMU decree developed by MDT and DIA Support Project team in 2021.

Duties and Responsibilities

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The main objective of the assignment is to provide legal support for DIA Support Project activities, primary in drafting decrees and ordinances for the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine as well as other legal documents necessary for proper operationalization of newly designed electronic services. The Consultant will be responsible for drafting at least three packages of legal acts and supplementary documents during the assignment period.

3. DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES / SCOPE OF WORK

The Consultant will work in close cooperation with MDT and DIA Support Project teams and he/she will be tasked with producing the following deliverables:

1. Design (or co-design in close cooperation with the MDT legal department) comprehensive packages of legal documents to support the launch of new or properly regulate existing electronic services that have relevance to the DIA Support Project’s mandate of working with vulnerable groups. Make sure that HRBA, gender and anticorruption screening is properly run on the drafts in question.
2. Peer review draft regulations commissioned by other stakeholders (executive government bodies, Parliamentarians, international technical assistance projects) and provide UNDP with detailed commentary, suggestions, proposed revisions and other relevant works of similar nature that are linked to processing a legal product developed by a third party.
3. Advisory notes, analytical and legal materials, brief legal opinions and memos for UNDP on the issues related to electronic services or platforms that operate such services (for instance, issues pertinent to the Diia.gov.ua portal and namesake mobile application, e-document sharing, Diia.ID service). Provide brief and structured risk analyses and design regulatory risk mitigation roadmaps for UNDP.

4. Measurable outputs of the work assignment/deliverables

Deliverables should be submitted in accordance with the time frame suggested below.

5. Management arrangements

The Consultant will be primarily responsible for achieving the objectives of the assignment. The Consultant will report to the DIA Support Project Manager and will work closely with DIA Support Project Digitalization Policy Specialist and the MDT and other stakeholders, e.g., executive government bodies, parliamentarians, international technical assistance projects’ representatives.

The Consultant will be responsible for all personal administrative expenses associated with the assignment. In case any public events are planned jointly by the Consultant and UNDP as part of the present assignment, the Consultant will not be responsible for logistics of events. UNDP will cover the conference costs (including possible printing, food, accommodation and etc.) on its own.

6. monitoring requirements / Terms of payment

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision of the DIA Support Project Manager and will work closely with DIA Support Digitalization Specialist. The Consultant will interact with UNDP and MDT to receive any clarifications and guidance that may be needed. The Consultant will duly inform UNDP of any problems, issues or delays arising in the course of implementation of the assignment and take necessary steps to address them.

UNDP will be the final authority to control the quality and evaluate the work. The satisfactory completion of each of the deliverables shall be subject to the endorsement of the Project Manager. Each deliverable will be delivered in a draft for comments and feedback before finalisation. No reports or documents should be published or distributed to third parties without the approval of UNDP.

All reports and results are to be submitted to the UNDP in electronic form (*.docx, *.xlsx, *.pptx, and *.pdf or other formats accepted by UNDP). The language of the materials and reports is Ukrainian.

UNDP will provide payment upon provision of each deliverable duly certified by UNDP in accordance with the schedule below:

Deliverable 1.             20%

Deliverable 2.             30%

Deliverable 3.             20%

Deliverable 4.             30%

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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 favouritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Required Skills and Experience

8. EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS

• Masters’ / Specialist degree in Law. A degree in public administration or technical sciences with at least 3 years’ worth of experience working first-hand with regulations may be taken as a substitute;
• At least 5 years of practical experience with drafting legal acts of the Cabinet of Ministers or other related central-level public authorities. Experience with drafting regulations on digital transformation, e-services development, or electronic governance is considered an asset;
• Experience of cooperation with international technical assistance projects is considered an asset;
• Native-level knowledge of Ukrainian is required. At least working-level knowledge of English;

9. DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSAL

Applicants shall submit the following documents:

10. FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

 Lump sum contract

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (please, refer to Section 4 Measurable outputs of the work assignment/deliverables). 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 Cost by Components.

Travel

All travel arrangements will be handled by UNDP if such travel is deemed necessary. Consultations regarding travel options will be held with the Consultant prior to planning of the trips and relevant logistics.

11. EVALUATION CRITERIA

• Educational background – 8 pts max

• 8 pts – PhD in Law. A degree in public administration or technical sciences with at least 7 years’ worth of experience working first-hand with regulations may be taken as a substitute;
• 6 pts – Masters’ / Specialist degree in Law. A degree in public administration or technical sciences with at least 3 years’ worth of experience working first-hand with regulations may be taken as a substitute;

• Practical experience with drafting legal acts of Cabinet of Ministers or other related central-level public authorities – 25 pts max

• 25 pts – 10+ years of practical experience;
• 22 pts – between 6 and 9 years of practical experience;
• 18 pts – at least 5 years of practical experience;

• Experience with drafting regulations on digital transformation, e-services development, or electronic governance – 3 pts max

• 3 pts - experience with drafting regulations on digital transformation, e-services development, or electronic governance;
• 0 pts – no experience.

• Proven legal drafting capacity, as embodied in the drafts of legal acts (Ukrainian) –
  29 pts max

• 29 pts – the writing sample is extremely well written and structured, related documents are fully compliant with requirements of the CMU Rules of Procedure;
• 26 pts – the writing sample is written with appropriate level of skill and is, in general, compliant with requirements of the CMU Rules of Procedure;
• 22 pts – the writing sample would require further polishing and refinement but could be considered as meeting the minimum requirements of the CMU Rules of Procedure;

• Documented experience of cooperation with international technical assistance projects –
  2 pts max

• 2 pts – provided examples and detailed information on cooperation with international technical assistance projects;
• 0 pts – no experience with international technical assistance projects.

• Language Skills – 3 pts max
• 3 pts – Native-level knowledge of Ukrainian. At least working level knowledge of English;

Maximum available technical score – 70 points

Evaluation method:

 Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

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

* Technical Criteria weight: 70%

* Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will be equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.