Background

Pacific Islands countries (PICs) boast “big ocean” economies, with young and mobile populations and highly resilient and adaptative societies. Past and recent investments have however fallen short of developing diverse economies offering inclusive services and opportunities, resilient to external shocks and the increasing pace of climate disasters. While the scale of Pacific economies does not allow them to respond to all these challenges alone, public investment and revenues would gain from empowered officials accountable to keep basic service delivery and development priorities in mind while driving fiscal decisions.

For this reason, the “Accountable Public Finances to serve Pacific people – Vaka Pasifika” project (hereafter Vaka Pasifika project) builds on the results of the “Strengthening Public Finance Management and Governance in the Pacific” (PFM) project implemented between 2018 and 2022. The proposed overarching goal of this project is to strengthen the governance mechanisms enabling Pacific countries to deliver public services that are better calibrated to meet specific needs of the people. Its specific focus will be to ensure scarce Pacific resources are better managed and the resource base available for achieving national development goals will be increased. To achieve this goal, PIC economies require stable and reliable institutions implementing the right mix of creativity and rigor informed by ground reality. The Project will contribute to this vision by (a) supporting oversight institutions and decision makers to define and implement their priorities through leadership and institutional capacity strengthening and (b) enhancing responsiveness of service delivery and public finance management by developing institutional mechanisms for engagement and openness and strengthening civil society capacity.

One of the major assets of the Vaka Pasifika project are its baseline which are produced annually on a range of PEFA and OBS indicators focusing on oversight and accountability of Public Finance. While the name might be misleading - the baseline is currently a self-assessment survey, it has been a powerful tool to reach out to national partners yearly and adapt workplans for the project. The information produced could be useful to a wider range of actors but until now has been kept internal. One of the objective of the assignment is to refine the methodology so its adapted to the new phase of the project and can produce more value and knowledge for partners – especially on the non-sensitive information.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

Reporting to the UNDP Vaka Pasifika PFM Project Manager, the Baseline consultant will be in charge of refining the methodology, conducting it every year and facilitating the learning and dissemination activities linked to the ouput . Specific responsibilities will include:

 

  • Refine the methodology: the methodology has several weaknesses identified by the project team and consultant having conducted them for the past three years. This includes for instance complexity of the questions based on PEFA indicators and not easily understandable to national partners, the limitation of self-assessment survey and ability to cross-check trends, the limited reporting back and benefit to national and regional partners of the project. The project also includes new focuses for instance on recommendation follow-up by SAI and PACs which are currently not captured by the baseline.
  • Conduct survey every year and produce report. This requires about 10days of work between October and November on an annual basis. The timing of the baseline might be modified based on partners request and methodology review, the deadline will be amended accordingly.
  • Conduct dissemination activities on an annual basis. The exercise is expected to identify partnerships (expected with PIFS and potentially regional think tank) to organise a regional workshop on an annual basis and discuss PFM trends in the region.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Deliverables

Indicative No. of days / due date

1

 Refine the methodology based on consultation with project team and partners. The methodology review should take into account 1) recommendations and learning from initial baseline exercise; 2) needs of the new Vaka Pasifika project; 3) design workshop/individual consultations with partners (expected are PIFS, IMF/PFTAC, WB, EU and potentially additional global/regional/national actors such IBP). The methodology should include collection of data at the national level, regional analysis and case studies per country. Most of the existing methodology is expected to remain relevant.

10days by September 2022

2

Report on and dissemination of survey finding 2022. The report should follow the agreed methodology and comport two parts: one executive summary for wider dissemination and one detailed report. Dissemination activities are expected to include on an annual basis: a) one regional webinar where the consultant should identify speakers to analyse the identified trends and allow the Vaka Pasifika project community to share their perspective – the event is expected to have partners and the consultant will coordinate conceptual and logistical details; b) one internal learning meeting to ensure the recommendations and analysis from the report are integrated into the project workplan and clearly understood by the project team.

10days / Report due by Mid December 2022, dissemination in January 2023

3

Report on and dissemination of survey finding 2023. The report should follow the agreed methodology and comport two parts: one executive summary for wider dissemination and one detailed report. Dissemination activities are expected to include on an annual basis: a) one regional webinar where the consultant should identify speakers to analyse the identified trends and allow the Vaka Pasifika project community to share their perspective – the event is expected to have partners and the consultant will coordinate conceptual and logistical details; b) one internal learning meeting to ensure the recommendations and analysis from the report are integrated into the project workplan and clearly understood by the project team.

The report should include recommendations on the need to review adjust the baselines for the evaluation team.

10days / Report due by Mid December 2023, dissemination in January 2024

4

Report on and dissemination of survey finding 2024. The report should follow the agreed methodology, with possible modifications in agreement with findings from evaluation, and comport two parts: one executive summary for wider dissemination and one detailed report. Dissemination activities are expected to include on an annual basis: a) one regional webinar where the consultant should identify speakers to analyse the identified trends and allow the Vaka Pasifika project community to share their perspective – the event is expected to have partners and the consultant will coordinate conceptual and logistical details; b) one internal learning meeting to ensure the recommendations and analysis from the report are integrated into the project workplan and clearly understood by the project team.

10days / Report due by Mid December 2024, dissemination in January 2025

Institutional Arrangement

The Consultant will report to the UNDP Vaka Pasifika PFM Project Manager.

The Consultant to provide their own IT equipment and access (computer and internet connection).  

Duration of the Work

The consultant will be required to work for a period of up to 40 days between August 2022 and August 2025.

Duty Station

This assignment is home based. Travel might occur if absolutely necessary as per research methodology but is not anticipated.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

  • 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:

  • Demonstrated ability to work harmoniously in a multi-cultural environment;
  • Ability to work on own initiative as well as a member of a team and to work under pressure;
  • Excellent relationship management;
  • Excellent communication, facilitation, presentation and reporting skills;

Required Skills and Experience

Education

  • Masters Degree in Social Sciences, Political Sciences, Development or related field. PhD in similar field an advantage.

Experience

  • 10 years of professional experience in field related to economics, public finance, institutional support either as a public servant, consultant, regional or international development organization;
  • Evidence of understanding of at least one, ideally more of the following: PEFA standards, OBS, transparency and accountability global rankings and standards;
  • Evidence of research experience and publications in English, preferably with an international/multilateral/regional organization in the Pacific, academic institutions and/or think tank;

 

Language requirements

  • Fluency of English language is required;
  • Fluency in vernacular language of home country is a strong advantage.

 

 

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

  • Upon receipt of Deliverable 1: 25% of the total value of the contract
  • Upon receipt of Deliverable 2: 25% of the total value of the contract
  • Upon receipt of Deliverable 3: 25% of the total value of the contract
  • Upon reception and final clearance of deliverable 4: 25% of total value of the contract

 

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

 

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

 

Criteria 1. Relevance of education (political, social science, development)

5points

Criteria 2. Relevance of experience in public finance

20 points

Criteria 3. Understanding of technical standards

25 points

Criteria 4. Experience with reserach and publications in English

20 points

 

UNDP may interview the technically qualified candidates as a means to validate the technical evaluation.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

 

Documentation required

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications  to the link provided .

  • Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability for the duration of the assignment using the template provided in Annex II.
  • CV indicating all experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
  • Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II (in USD)
  • Proposal on approach and methodology (2-pages max).

Note: Successful individual will be required to provide proof of medical insurance coverage before commencement of contract for the duration of the assignment.

 

Incomplete, joint proposals and proposals sent to the wrong mailing address will not be accepted and only candidates for whom there is further interest will be contacted.

Individuals interested in this consultancy should apply and will be reviewed based on their own individual capacity. The successful individual may sign an Individual Contract with UNDP or request his/her employer to sign a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) on their behalf by indicating this in the Offerors letter to Confirming Interest and Availability using Annex II.

 

Annexes

 

Women applicants are encouraged to apply