Background
In 2012 the Government of Tajikistan initiated a wide range of Civil Registration system reform with the transition from local governments to governance under MoJ. In 2014 a comprehensive reform programme has been adopted with the aim to introduce new modern technologies, legal reforms, business process optimization, raise the capacity of CR staff and awareness raising of the population. In light of the reforms, in 2015 the MoJ started piloting the Civil Registration Offices Information System (CROIS) developed on the open-source platform DHIS (www.dhis2.org). in 2016, under the support of UNDP, the platform has been upgraded to the version DHIS2 and in 2017 the system CROIS2 and its architecture and components passed laboratory examination and 7 certificates of compliance with information security requirement were issued by the state agency.
Starting from 2019, the Civil Registration Offices Information System, version 2 (CROIS2) has been introduced and officially is in use in all 70 Civil Registration Offices across the country.
The system was developed using the open-source platform DHIS2 (www.dhis2.org). it shall be noted that since the system was re-designed, and additional modules developed, it’s become a kind of fork, not linked to core DHIS2 and no longer receives updates. However, the whole system – server architecture, servers, etc. passed the national laboratory examination and received certificates of compliance with information security requirements issued by the Main Department for Protection of State Secrets under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan (www.hsd.tj, Gossecret) in 2017. Certificates are valid until November 2022 and required re-certification.
CROIS2 is the monolithic system is custom-made based on DHIS2 and does not cover all aspects of civil registration processes (for example applications from citizens, different forms, multiple search modes, etc.), and considering the need to renew the state security certification the requirement is to decide on the future of the e-system either upgrade the current system or replace with new software. In either selected scenario the major question is to ensure interoperability and integration of CROIS2 with other state electronic/information systems (statistics, health, pensions, identity management, etc.).
In 2021 to assess and verify the functionality of the information system under stress load conditions, UNDP has initiated a Load and Stress testing of CROIS2. As a result, the major recommendations were referred to increase the bandwidth of the channel and to use cashing server for the user session data, user groups. It was concluded that execution of the recommendations will reduce costs for system support and further system operation and increase the page loading speed and possible number of users (now it allows 2000-4000 users) to simultaneously work in the system performing various scenarios. The results of testing showed that the system is so far capable of functioning under the set load and stress conditions.
Bearing in mind the above requirements, it is planned to conduct a diagnostic and assessment of the reliability of the Civil Registration Offices Information System (CROIS2).
Duties and Responsibilities
The main objective of the assignment is to conduct a diagnostic and assessment of the reliability of the Civil Registration Information system/database to obtain an expert conclusion and recommendations for upgrade or potential replacement of the current system.
Regardless of what decision is made the interoperability and integration of the system with other state information systems (statistics, health, pensions, identity management) shall be also assessed and concluded.
The following tasks / activities must be completed in order to achieve the goal:
- Develop a methodology and time plan for the assignment
- Collect and study project documents and materials, and other relevant and available materials in English;
- Mapping the current business process of the Civil Registration including the actions affiliated with the use of the information system CROIS2
- Conduct consultative meetings and focus group discussions if required in selected Civil Registration Offices
- Review and diagnose CROIS2 code, assess modules and components against set quality criteria
- Develop a draft version of the report with the preliminary results of analysis, gaps and issues, recommendations, ranking against each criteria/characteristic, overall expert opinion on the system (upgrade, replacement etc.), recommendations on the integration of CROIS2 with other state information systems (statistics, health, pensions, identity management)
- Based on assessment propose solutions on the use of language and software of new platform (e.g. open-source or commercial, commercial off-the-shelf software (COTS) or custom software (bespoke software), hybrid system etc.)
- Present preliminary findings during the validation workshop to stakeholders, submit a final detailed report and executive report (executive summary) based on the comments and feedback that have arisen by UNDP and the Ministry of Justice.
Competencies
Corporate Competencies
- Demonstrates integrity by modeling 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 favoritism;
- Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
Functional Competencies
- Good report writing skills, advanced computer literacy and the ability to effectively communicate and work with high-level government officials;
- Strong analytical skills
- Strong organization skills
- Advanced ICT/digital skills
- Ability to make recommendations focused on results and impact, with a strong understanding of value for money concepts;
- Knowledge of CIS context, preferably Central Asia region; Experience in Tajikistan is desirable;
- Knowledge of UNDP procedures and programme implementation strategies will be desirable.
Required Skills and Experience
Academic Qualifications:
- Master’s degree in computer science, software engineering, ICT, or any other relevant university degree.
Professional experience.
- International Expert should have not less than 10 years of professional experience in the area of software engineering and software development (preferably Java programming), computer science and ICT; experience in programming in Java language is an asset.
- He/She should have more than 10 years of expertise in designing and conducting functional and quality assessments of software, particularly corporate/enterprise-level software, conducting IT audits, information security audits, software testing etc.;
- Knowledge of software development lifecycle, functional assessments, quality assessments tools and techniques, business process analysis.
Knowledge of languages:
- Fluency in English, knowledge of Russian is an asset.
Application Procedure:
Please follow the link to download Individual Consultant Procurement Notice and follow the application procedures indicated in the downloaded ICPN:
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.
DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:
Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP.
Personal CV and/or resume.
Brief description of approach to work/technical proposal of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a proposed methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment; (max 1 page)
Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price and all other travel related costs (such as flight ticket, per diem, etc.), supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template attached to the Letter of Confirmation of Interest template. If an applicant 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 applicant must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.
All application materials should be submitted by email at the following address ONLY: (ic.tj@undp.org) by (2 September 2022). Incomplete applications will be excluded from further consideration.