Terms of Reference for Individual Contractor

A.        Project Title

Policy Expert – Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency (two positions)

B.        Project Description 

Organizational Setting:

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. The West Asia Office delivers advisory services and capacity building support to countries to achieve environment and sustainable development objectives. This consultancy is established at the West Asia Office within the framework of the Strategic Cooperation Agreement between UNEP and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Expert will report to the Project Manager for the Saudi Environment Sustainability Programme at UNEP West Asia Office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A.        Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager in UNEP West Asia Office and in coordination with the respective department in the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) in Saudi Arabia, the expert will carry-out, inter alia, the following duties and responsibilities:

1. Provide high quality policy advice on circular economy and resource efficiency to MEWA.
2. Collect and analyze information on circularity and resource efficiency policy development, especially innovative policy and programme initiatives and environmental issues, and provide substantive inputs to country profile.
3. Provide coordination support for creation of partnership with global entities by defining priorities of cooperation, identifying suitable partners, cooperation modality, drafting Memorandum of Understanding, etc.
4. Provision of policy and technical advice on formulating country priorities transforming environment priorities into local interventions including Saudi Green Initiative and Middle East Green Initiative.
5. Provide technical support for proposals from MEWA and its partners.
6. Technical backup for projects and activities with key partners in MEWA and identification of areas for support or cooperation on circular economy and resource efficiency.

D.    Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The consultant will be expected to deliver the following outputs:

1. Briefing note on important environment policy development in Saudi Arabia on regular basis
2. Country profile for circular economy and resource efficiency.
3. Policy advice on Saudi Green Initiative and Middle East Green Initiative

E.     Institutional Arrangement

The expert will be supervised by the Project Manager in UNEP West Asia Office in close collaboration with the relevant department in the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture of Saudi Arabia.

F.    Duration of the Work

The contract duration will be for an initial period of three months, with a possibility of extension subject to continuation of mandate, availability of funding and satisfactory performance.

G.    Duty Station

This assignment will be based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Travel:

• UNDP/UNEP will cover the cost of travel of the individual to the duty station, as well as their return to their home upon completion of their services. Travel costs are covered only in the event that the function will be undertaken physically in the duty station and exclude working from home arrangements.
• Include any official travel expected to be associated with performing the functions.
• Any change to the preliminary travel plan/schedule above, in such cases, UNDP/UNEP will cover travel costs in accordance with corporate regulations and rules.
• If unforeseen travel outside the assigned duty station is requested by UNDP/UNEP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP/UNEP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the consultant shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).
• Note: A written approval from UNDP/UNEP and relevant authorities will be required to facilitate the consultant's travel to other locations than Riyadh on official missions where necessary.

1. Qualifications of the Successful Individual Contractor

Education Qualification:

• Master’s degree in environmental governance, public policy, climate change, environmental science, natural sciences, or related fields. PhD is an asset

Work Experience

• Minimum of 10 years of professional technical experience in the field of environmental policy and governance is required.

Required skills and competencies:

• Previous practical experience in policy advice on circular economy and resource efficiency is required.

Desired additional skills and competencies:

• Knowledge of environmental policy in Saudi Arabia is an asset
• Experience working in West Asia is desirable.

Required language(s) (at working level)

• Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic is required.

I.        Recommended Presentation of Offer

For purposes of generating Offers whose contents are uniformly presented and to facilitate their comparative analysis, it is best to recommend the preferred contents and presentation of the Offer to be submitted, as well as the format/sequencing of their presentation. The following documents may be requested:

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP.
2. Personal CV or P11, 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.
3. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. The term “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.

K.      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.

Technical Criteria (CV review and Desk Review/Interview optional) – maximum 70 points. Only candidates who obtained at least 70% of points from the CV desk review (who will score at least 49 points) will be considered for the next stage of evaluation, i.e. financial evaluation.

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

• Master’s degree in environmental governance, public policy, climate change, environmental science, natural sciences, or related fields. PhD is an asset
• Minimum of 10 years of professional technical experience in the field of environmental policy and governance is required.
• Previous practical experience in policy advice on circular economy and resource efficiency is required.
• Knowledge of environmental policy in Saudi Arabia is an asset
• Experience working in West Asia is desirable.

• Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic is required.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate the 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

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 send to email mohammed.abbas@undp.org with a copy to 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

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.

In view of the volume of applications UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.

Please follow the below link to access the supporting documents 

UNDP | Procurement Notices - 95824 - International Consultant - Polic