CONTEXT/BACKGROUND:

The increased use of technology over the past decades has driven new means of transformation in many economic produce and services to be influenced, partially or fully, by digital inputs and outputs. This has created a digital economy that is interconnected to many sectors and activities within the Saudi economy. To fully understand the extent of this economy and measure its contribution in the GDP of the Kingdom, GASTAT has established a digital economy department that is leading this measurement along with other surveys that focus on the access and usage of ICT. The main focus of this project is provide GASTAT with the required expertise in ICT statistics, with a special focus on the measurement of the Kingdom digital economy. This project aims to build the whole statistical cycle of a digital economy survey and data pipeline, from the scope to the management of the statistical methodology, and cover all the technical aspects required to measure the digital economy contribution in the Saudi gross domestic product (GDP).

1. SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES

Objective within the Framework of the UNDP Project

The digital economy statistics expert will provide technical expertise and assistance in the fields of information and communication technology statistics and indicators that lies under the digital economy definition (currently based on the OECD definition of digital economy). He/She will work in the digital economy department, under the supervision of the department director, and will oversee 3 statistical survey; two of them are existing and one is new. The digital economy expert will also implement capacity strengthening activities, including training and mentoring,  for the digital economy statistics team. The technical support and capacity strengthening expected from the expert under this assignment include the following:

Technical  support

1. Review the status quo of ICT data in the Kingdom through the study of the available and required indicators to measure the digital economy, and the latest updates globally on the methodology for measuring this economy, and identify the ICT data owned by different entities in the Kingdom and could be of use to produce ICT indicators.
2. Identify indicators related to the digital economy that cannot be provided through admin data, and to develop a methodology for producing such data either through existing surveys, such as structural business survey or ICT business survey, and/or through the independent digital economy survey.
3. Design a digital economy survey questionnare to cover the narrow and broad levels.
4. Develop a mechanism for integrating data related to the digital economy, which is likely to gathered through admin data and several surveys, a mechanism to calculate the contribution of the digital economy to the GDP, and develop the current access and usage ICT surveys (households and businesses) questionnaire and assist with their yearly statistical cycle.
5. Identify the most important indicators related to the digital economy that need to be disseminated, prepare charts, graphs, and other outputs for reporting and presentation of various data, and respond to internal/external requests on questions related to digital economy statistics and the operations.

Capacity Development

Assist with the development of a digital economy framework, which is most likely would be based on e-commerce businesses.

Provide expertise on principle and best practices methodologies  (including households and businesses samples) and frameworks, provide statistical and ICT trainings to the digital economy statistics teams and provide coaching and on-the-job-training for team

Duration of Assignment:

 Total contract duration is 12 calendar months. With a possibility for extension based on the need, performance and funds availability.

Duty Station and Expected Places of Travel, if any:

The assignment will be based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at Head Office, The General Authority of Statistics

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

Working Arrangements:

1. The duty station for the Digital Economy Statistics Expert is Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He/She will be embedded within the Digital Economy Statistics Department within the Economic Statistics General Department at GASTAT
2. Reporting and follow-up Mechanism: The Expert will report on a monthly basis to his/her supervisor and to the Chief Technical Advisor. The Specialist will submit monthly reports to his/her supervisor including activities, outputs, performance indicators, challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations.
3. All mission travels must be approved in advance and in writing by the Supervisor ;
4. The Consultant is responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling
5. to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
6. The consultant is also required to comply with the UN security directives;
7. The consultant is responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
8. The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies;
9. The consultant is responsible for required health and life insurances related to work or travel;
10. The consultant is expected to have his/her own Laptop/Computer.

Desired additional skills and 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, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Professional Certificates             

• Workshops related to the field of ICT.
• Proof of experience

Languages:

• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills in English and Arabic language.

Competencies:

Core Competencies

Achieve Results:             Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact

Think Innovatively:         Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems

Learn Continuously:       Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences

Adapt with Agility:         Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands

Act with Determination: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results

Engage and Partner:      Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration

People Management:     Address conflict in a timely manner, not allow conflicts in teams linger.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Education:  

Advanced degree in statistics or economics with an emphasis on ICT sector.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of relevant professional experience preferably with national statistics or economic offices, international organisation, or government in applying statistical and economic theories and techniques.
• Ability to provide statistical technical advice on different sectors/theme.
•  Ability to work on own initiative as well as a member of a team and to work under pressure.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to establish strong cooperative relationships with senior government officials.
• Ability to work on any of the statistical packages to analyze data.
• Good understanding and practice of capacity development.

1. PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS (Standard text - do not change)

The contractor shall submit a price proposal as below:

Daily Fee – The contractor shall propose a daily fee, which should be inclusive of his/her professional fee, local communication cost and insurance (inclusive of medical health insurance and evacuation).

Travel and Visa – The contractor shall propose an estimated lump-sum for Home-Riyadh-home travel (economy most direct route) and Saudi Arabia visa expenses.

The total professional fee shall be converted into a lump-sum contract and payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance of deliverables under the contract in accordance with the schedule of payment linked with deliverables

All proposals must be expressed in a lump sum amount. This amount must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal.

The contractor will be paid an all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based lump sum amounts over the assignment period, subject to the submission of Certification of Payment (CoP) duly certified and confirmation of satisfactory performance of achieved work (deliverables/outputs) in line with the schedule of payments table hereunder:

** The National Project Coordinator - The General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information (GASGI) shall certify and authorize all payment instalments and accompanying payment invoices prior to payment.

**For each payment a certification of payment shall be signed and approved by The National Project Coordinator - The General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information (GASGI) attached to it explaining the accomplishment of the deliverables corresponding to the respective quarterly progress report.

Reimbursement costs/ travel costs will be paid on the basis of actual expenditure and should not exceed the approved amount in the contract calculation sheet.

1. RECOMMENDED PRESENTATION OF OFFER

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Candidates that fail to submit the required information will not be considered.

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
2. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
3. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, including references to how she/he will approach and complete the assignment.
4. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided.  The terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. 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. 

All necessary information including: Complete Procurement Notice, The Selection Criteria, and Annexes are found on the following link under Procurement http://procurement-notices.undp.org/

1. EVALUATION

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Step I: Screening and desk review:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Applications will be first screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

• Advanced degree in statistics or economics with an emphasis on ICT sector.
• Minimum of 7 years’ experience in Network and information security systems.

Shortlisted Candidates will be then assessed and scored against the following evaluation criteria.

Step 2: Technical Criteria – Maximum 70 points

Qualification and Experience (40 points) [evaluation of CV]:

• General Qualification;

• Advanced degree in statistics or economics with an emphasis on ICT sector.
• Minimum of 7 years’ experience in Network and information security systems.
• Strong quantitative and statistical skills

• Demonstrated ability to proficiently and effectively guide and manage interdisciplinary teams comprised of staff with diverse backgrounds and varied skill sets

Interview (30 points);

The panel may select 3-5 candidates for interview, whom obtained high score depending on the number of applicants.

* Technical Criteria: weight 70% and Financial Criteria weight 30%

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

Financial proposal – Maximum 30 points

?

1. Interested applicants are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described. 

   
   Given the volume of applications that UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.

   UNDP reserves the right to reject any incomplete applications.

   Please be informed that we don’t accept applications submitted via email.

   Interested Offerors are required to submit an application via UNDP Jobsite system as the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP Jobsite system. Please note that UNDP Jobsite system allows only one uploading of application documents, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your online application submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an email acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application if necessary. Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload a maximum one document.

   Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or sent to email mohammed.abbas@undp.org with a copy to Nora Al-Zahid nora.alzahid@undp.org  While the Procurement Unit would endeavour to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 3 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. The UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain update related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice

   Interested applicants are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described. 

    

   The interested offeror must read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at 

   https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=95078          

   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.

   UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.