Background

Over the last four decades, Saudi Arabia has achieved and sustained remarkable progress along the socioeconomic development pathway at all fronts, as it spanned all sectors of the economy. As a result of this, the Kingdom has been able to move from an underdeveloped status to a very high human development country with all the means of a promising and sustainable future. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), for instance, increased from SAR 156 billion in 1969 to SAR 942 billion in 2011 and SAR 2,575 billion in 2017, putting the economy among the top 20 global economies in terms of size.   

Saudi Vision 2030, the Kingdom’s long-term development blueprint, is built on three pillars 1) A vibrant society; 2) A thriving economy, and 3) An ambitious nation. Based on these three pillars, Vision 2030 aims to transform the economy of Saudi Arabia into a more diversified and sustainable economy by promoting new sectors. A key goal of Vision 2030 towards this end is to provide quality services to 30 million annual visitors performing Umrah by 2030. The Royal Commission for Makkah City and Holy Sites (RCMC) was established by Royal Order to improve the quality of life for Makkah’s residents and the experience of its pilgrims.

In 2021, the RCMC developed a Makkah Conceptual Masterplan (MCM) that aims to meet the requirements of the future urban, social, economic, and environmental vision for the city. Parallel to the MCM, the RCMC has completed a series of projects that round out the MCM, including, but not limited to, a Structure Plan for the Holy Sites, architectural guidelines for the city, and an Integrated Transport Strategy. The RCMC is currently in the process of reviewing and updating the MCM with a particular focus on the following key areas:

1. Conducting a high-level validation of the MCM to identify and address gaps and potential areas for enhancement
2. Developing an economic model for the MCM that aims to validate and update all assumptions and develop a perspective across each sector
3. Validating and integrating the other relevant projects into the MCM.

The RCMC’s vision for Makkah is a polycentric, liveable, cultural, resilient, and sustainable city for 2040. The strategic aim of the Support to RCMC project is to provide technical support and advisory services to RCMC to manage the formulation of the Makkah Conceptual Masterplan. Through this project, UNDP will provide support to the RCMC to ensure efficient and effective delivery of the Makkah Strategic and Spatial Direction, and to strengthen its capacity, particularly in ensuring the future development of the city is aligned with national and local strategic ambitions and in establishing a clear understanding of the economic and financial impact of the MCM on the Kingdom’s economy.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

1. Strategic Policy Advice on Transport integration to the assigned RCMC project manager
2. Technical soundness of Strategy consultant's deliverables and Quality Assurance for deliverables related to the transport components
3. Any other tasks requested related to MSSD
4. Provide key technical expertise in supporting MSSD under the guidance of the UNDP Urban Development team on Transport and mobility strategies  
5. Ensure, Technical soundness and Quality assurance for transport components of City Frameworks, Urban Policies, Integration and policy coherence of the City Plans, Socio-economic assessments and others   
6. Set priorities among key tasks to ensure successful delivery of the transport component of MSSD
7. Closely collaborate with other contracted professional consultants appointed on the different components to integrate transport priorities, indicators and key programs 
8. Lead the process of Identification, documentation and incorporation of lessons learned from Transport related activities  
9. Review and advise on an implementation plan for the urban transport strategy  
10. Advise on high-level Benchmarking as needed
11. Produce one concept note – if requested
12. Review or propose KPIs for transport
13. Propose ways to mainstream SDG indicators for transport within the MSSD reports  
14. Provide comments and recommendations that bring in a regional or/and international perspective, including case studies and inputs on Sustainable Transport  
15. Negotiate with the consultants on board for better policy coherence and integration of transport in between the dimensions of the MSPSD, taking into consideration approved and finalised transport strategies and studies

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Institutional Arrangement

• The Transport Expert will work under the overall guidance of the RCMC Makkah Concept Master Plan Project, Pillar 1 Programme Analyst and the UNDP Saudi Arabia Country Office and give updates at a weekly meeting to keep track of project activity and developments.
• Specific meetings with the UNDP Saudi Arabia Office Management, Pillar One Programme Analyst and RCMC assigned project lead for MSSD and other key local, regional and national stakeholders in addition to the UNDP project staff and Consultants throughout the process are also required.

Duration of the Work

The anticipated duration of the assignment is 4 Months (with possible extension depending on performance, continued need and budget availability)

Duty Station

The assignment will be based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Country Office.

• If unforeseen travel outside the consultant’s home-based city is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP 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 and relevant authorities will be required to facilitate the consultant's travel to any locations than stated on this TOR on official missions where necessary.

Working Arrangements:

• All mission travels must be approved in advance and in writing by the Supervisor.
• United Nations Development of Safe and Security – BSAFE course must be successfully completed prior to the commencement of travel.
• The Consultant is responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director.
• The consultant is also required to comply with the UN security directives.
• The consultant is responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP.
• The consultant will be responsible for submitting his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies.
• The consultant is responsible for required health and life insurance related to work or travel.
• The consultant is expected to have his/her own Laptop/Computer.

Competencies

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications

• A Master’s in Transport related fields such as transport planning, Civil engineering, Urban Mobility or a relevant discipline is mandatory.

Years of experience

• At least 10 years of work experience in Transport planning with proven competence in Transport Planning
• Minimum 10 years of experience in the various scales of Spatial Frameworks for City-Scale
• Minimum 10 years of large, multi-disciplinary comprehensive transport programs focusing on the natural, cultural, economic, and built environment
• Minimum 7 years of experience in local governance, institutions, sectoral policies, and spatial planning of transport 

Skills and competencies

Required skills and competencies:

• Strong analytical and writing skills and a track record in producing relevant reports and other materials are required
• High level of communication and interpersonal skills and experience in working effectively in a multicultural environment is required
• Creates confidence among stakeholders by delivering authoritative positions, compelling analysis, and contextual acumen

Desired skills and competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s specific values and ethical standards and acts in accordance with the Standards of Conduct for international civil servants while advocating for UNDP mission and vision
• Ability to negotiate for solutions through participatory methods with various stakeholders at different levels – local, regional, and national.
•  Leads integral work of teams utilizing expertise, vision, problem-solving capability, and collaborative energy in professional areas of expertise.

Required Language(s) (at working level)

• Proficiency in the English language is required.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

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, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the Proposal.

Payments shall be made to the individual contractor upon successful completion and certification by UNDP that services have been satisfactorily performed, based upon the actual number of working days and accomplishments of each deliverable.

Payment shall be made as a deliverables-based lump upon the receipt of the deliverables and certification of satisfactory performance by UNDP.

The Expert will share a Certificate of Payment (CoP) where he/he needs to indicate achieved outputs. Then the certificate of payment must be verified by the UNDP Team and certified by UNDP top management. The Expert is advised to keep a detailed timesheet of the days worked and tasks performed throughout the consultancy assignment. A bi-weekly update of the timesheet will be requested, and such documentation will support the payment process as deemed needful.

B.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 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. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per the template provided. Suppose 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 a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA). In that case, the Offeror must indicate at this point and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial Proposal submitted to UNDP. 

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Applicants are shortlisted based on the required skills and experience stated in the TOR.

Selection of the best offer from the shortlisted candidates will be based on a Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted to a max. of 70% and combined with the price offer, which will be weighted to a max of 30%.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Step I: Screening and Desk Review

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 evaluation stage, i.e., financial evaluation.

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

Technical Evaluation (70 Points, 70% weight)

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

Instructions for online submissions

Step 1:  Please prepare all required documents electronically.

Step 2: Combine all documents in ONE SINGLE FILE (preferably in PDF however, Word format can also be accepted) and upload to the UNDP Jobs links

Step 3: After that, you will receive an auto-reply from the UNDP jobs if your offer is received successfully.

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 you to upload a maximum of 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 huda.alsaud@undp.org the Procurement Unit would endeavor 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 updates 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.

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=97377 for more detailed information about terms of references, instructions for the Offeror, and to download the documents to be submitted in the offer online.

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.

Annexes to the TOR

N/A

Approval

This ToR is certified by:

Signature:                                                                                                                             

Name:                                                                                                                                   

Designation:                                                                                                                        

Date of Signing:                                                                                                                   

This ToR is approved by:

Signature:                                                                                                                             

Name:                                                                                                                                   

Designation:                                                                                                                        

Date of Signing: