Background

The Client Services Support Team (CSS) within BMS Directorate provides overall corporate support to the delivery of services in human resources, finance and operations to the UN Resident Coordinators System (UNRCS) in 116 RC offices and 3 Regional offices.

In line with the afore-stated, the CSS and DCO teams have jointly prepared a detailed checklist that contains specific actions as well as respective deadlines, to guide and support UNDP COs and RCOs with regards to the discontinuation of LMR services by UNDP on 31 December 2022.

The Consultant, under the direct supervision and guidance of the CSS Finance Specialist and in close coordination and collaboration with the CSS Finance team, CSS project team, BMS/OFM, GSSU, RBx and UNDCO, will be responsible for coordinating and supporting UNDP COs and UN RCOs in closing the LMR projects (currently 148 projects) on or before 31 December 2022 in accordance with the LMR Discontinuation Checklist jointly prepared by the CSS and DCO teams.

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ANALYTICAL WORK

Reporting to the CSS Finance Specialist, the consultant will be responsible for facilitating the successful LMR project closure. The specific responsibilities will include:

• Undertakes an in-depth analysis and prepares a consolidated spreadsheet/report of all LMR outstanding balances in UNDP CO’s.
• Monitors and Coordinates the LMR Checklist to ensure compliance and closure of activities.
• Provides technical guidance and advice to UNDP CO’s to operationally and financially close LMR projects in Atlas.
• Prepares a final report and recommendations of lessons learnt and best practices in LMR project closure.

  Expected outputs and deliverables:	Estimated duration to Completion	Payment Terms
  Output No.1 Conducts an in-depth analysis of all outstanding LMR balances for all 148 LMR Projects in 90 UNDP CO’s. Drafts correspondence and contacts all UNDP CO’s with LMR outstanding balances for review and confirmation. Engages with UNDP CO’s to review the implementation of the Country specific LMR discontinuation checklists and follows-up with UNDP COs on pending items. Provides advice, guidance, and support to UNDP COs in LMR projects closure (operationally and financially) in accordance with relevant UNDP rules and regulations. Provide weekly updates to CSS management on progress of the LMR projects closure.	Apr - Dec 2022	50%
  Output No. 2: Coordinates all activities across all business units and acts as the main liaison and focal person for UNDP COs, UNDP HQ, GSSU and UN RCOs on LMR projects closure. Reaches out to GSSU to facilitate the review of legacy LMR agreements and Schedule of Payments for installment payments in 2022 and provides guidance to UNDP COs. Supports DCO Finance on LMR related tasks as may be assigned by DCO via the CSS team.	Apr - Dec 2022	30%
  Output No. 3: Consolidates all documentation and supporting documents for audit purposes. Prepares proper hand-over and documentation related to financial management support and LMR projects closure. Provides advice UNDP CO’s on the preparation of Financial Reports leading up to the refund to donor. Prepares a final report on LMR project closure, including lessons learnt, best practices, recommendations and actions required on any pending issues.	Apr - Dec 2022	20%
  	Total	100%

Competencies

• Demonstrates excellent oral and written communication skills in English
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Strong communication skills, and excellent oral and written skills in English.
• Demonstrates Professional competence and mastery of subject matter
• Plans coordinate and organizes workload while remaining aware of changing priorities and competing deadlines.
• Proficiency and proven experience in the use of Microsoft Office suite (e.g. Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

Minimum University degree in Accounting, Finance, Business Administration, Banking, Public Administration, or related business studies  is required. 

Professional Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in finance, accounting or auditing. Experience in working with a UN Organization is an asset and desirable.
• Proven experience in financial projects closure and related activities is required.
• Auditing and/or strong understanding of internal control as applied to financial activities is desirable.
• Fluency in English. Excellent written, presentation and oral communication skills in English is required; Working knowledge of another UN language is an advantage, particularly French or Spanish.
• Experience with ERP systems (preferably PeopleSoft) is desirable. Experience in the usage of Microsoft Office packages (Excel, Word,Power Point) is required.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spokenis required.
• Working knowledge of another UN language would be an asset.

Application Procedure

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• A cover letter with a brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment.
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references.

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

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around the specific and measurable deliverables of the TOR. Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR, and deliverables accepted and certified by the technical manager.
• The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; (excluding mission travel); living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.
•  This consultancy is a home-based assignment, therefore, there is no envisaged travel cost to join duty station/repatriation travel.
• In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.
• If the 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 a 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.

The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below.  Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring.  When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Being responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation where technical criteria weigh 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (70 points):

• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in finance, accounting or auditing. Relevant experience in working with a UN Organization. 10 points.
• Auditing and/or strong understanding of internal control as applied to financial activities 15 points
• Relevant experience in financial projects closure and related activities – Max 10 points
• Specific relevant Experience in Financial Project Closure – Max 10 points
• Experience with ERP systems (preferably PeopleSoft) is desirable. Experience in the usage of Microsoft Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) 5 points

Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top three (3) shortlisted candidates for interview. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

• Interview – Max 20 points

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

• p = y (µ/z), where
• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Institutional arrangement

The consultant will work under the guidance and direct supervision of the CSS Project/BMS and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above.

Payment modality

•  Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified above and deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.