Purpose

To support and to provide analytics and data to the Development Agency of Serbia (DAS) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Unit in the process of expanding policy documents related to tourism development incentives policy.

Objective

To support the DAS and FDI Unit in facilitation of current and identification of new investment projects in Serbia related to sector of hospitality/tourism, while leveraging know-how, investor network and proven strategies for attracting domestic and foreign investments.

Background

Improving investment climate plays a central role in growth and poverty reduction. To improve the institutional infrastructure for supporting the development of business environment in Serbia, the Serbian Development Agency (DAS) was established in 2015. In the previous period, through “Improving the Investment Climate in Serbia” project, DAS was capacitated in terms of some structures, capacity building and procedures to effectively attract new investments and manage the existing projects. The structures developed through previous project were well placed and had good coordination role, helping both the DAS and investors to make promising progress in attracting more direct investments. However, there is a need for further strengthening the DAS capacities and coordination role of the FDI Unit.

The Development Services Agreement between Government of Serbia and UNDP is envisaged to provide a framework for services requested by the Government, for ongoing initiatives of the Government, for which it bears full accountability. Most development services envisaged under the Agreement relate to support to policy making through research, advocacy or policy alternatives, aimed at fulfilling priorities as articulated in the Government plans, presented before Parliament, and in line with progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The overall objective of the continuation of FDI Unit is to support effective coordination of all institutions in the Republic of Serbia, relevant for improvement of the investment climate, which in turn directly affects the country’s sustainable growth and development. This particularly will be needed in the next post-pandemic period and as an answer to economic impact of Covid-19. In that sense, UNDP will engage assistance for supporting policy work enabling investment projects, facilitating, and attracting individual FDIs and for continuation of the capacity building of the Development Agency of Serbia.

Scope of work

Government of the Republic of Serbia recognized the great potential of spa&wellness and ecotourism within Serbia both from the aspect of the utilization of the vast availability of the natural resources as well as from the aspect of attracting domestic and foreign tourists to Serbia, as demand for these tourism products is increasing. Additionally, national and local authorities recognized great importance of tourism development in the less developed and devastated areas, where tourism development has been identified as one of the key sectors, with high potential for economic growth, creation of new added value and new employment.

For the purpose of supporting direct investments in this sector and enhancing investments in less developed regions, the Government of Serbia introduced new Regulation on determining the criteria for granting incentives to attract direct investments in the hotel accommodation services sector. The Regulation proved to be very successful, and Development Agency of Serbia is currently considering alterations to the Regulation in terms of expanding the list of areas covered with the Regulation and including the new set of incentives for potential foreign and domestic investors.

Data and Policy Expert shall provide analysis of the locations with highest potential for the tourism development, which are not covered by the Regulation. The analysis will be conducted as part of the research activities preceding the policy changes. The analysis shall be developed according to the Strategy for Tourism Development 2016 – 2025, Regulation on determining criteria for granting the incentives with the aim to attract investments in travel accommodation services and all drafted/adopted Strategic Marketing Plans. Additional strategic and financial documents shall be provided by FDI unit and Development Agency of Serbia.

Specific responsibilities include:

• Report on identified geographical regions and LSGs to be covered by the incentives policy

The consultant shall analyse the following five geographical regions under the jurisdiction of different local self – governments: Petrovaradin, Kragujevacka Raca, Tara, Radan-planina, Vlasina Lake. The analysis will entail the following elements: 1. level of development of the region/in line with Development Agency of Serbia’s List of Municipalities by the level of Economic Development/, 2. The territory of selected regions and if it includes protected areas like nature reserves, nature parks or landscapes of outstanding features, 3. Thermal springs and spas located in the selected region providing basis for the development of new spas and investments in present ones.

• Report on comprehensive destination analysis for selected locations.

The analysis shall include: 1. In-depth overview and statistics related to accommodation offer, gastronomic offer, superstructure’s level of development, 2. Analysis of tourism product which could be offered in the location with emphasis on sustainable tourism and  health, spa and wellness tourism products, 3. Local tourism market size and current market revenue, including projections of potential revenue deriving from additional investments, 4. Analysis of emitting markets for identified locations, including the emitting markets’ data and tourism trends, 5. Overview of current investment incentives provided to companies investing in the selected region and the proposal of new incentives with the rationale behind each proposed measure.  

The analysis shall be developed in close cooperation with Development Agency of Serbia and FDI unit.

Duties, responsibilities and key milestones

The consultant is responsible for the following deliverables:

* The timelines may be slightly adjusted once the contract is signed with the consultant in order to align with actual project implementation.

All reports shall be in Serbian language.

All deliverables shall be quality reviewed and accepted by the UNDP Technical Advisor for Investment Climate in consultation with UNDP Portfolio Manager.

• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills (English and Serbian);
• Ability to work in teams and share ideas and knowledge;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Demonstrates integrity by modelling ethical standards;
• Full computer literacy in the use of MS Office package, especially Word;
• Excellent written communication skills and analytic capacity and ability to synthesize relevant collected data and findings for the preparation of quality analysis.

Education:

• Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Sciences in Economic, Business Administration, Tourism and Hospitality or other related field.

Work Experience:

• Minimum 10 years in tourism management services;
• At least 5 years of experience in conducting analysis and formulating strategies;
• Good understanding of the investment and tourism policies in Serbia and EU;

Languages and other competences:

• Fluency in Serbian and English.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.

Application Procedure:

Qualified and interested candidates are asked to submit their applications via UNDP Web site: UNDP in Serbia under section “Jobs” no later than 28th May 2023.

Application should include: 

• CV in English language containing date of birth, contact information (home address, phone number, e-mail) and timeline of work experience (including description of duties).  

• Offeror’s Letter confirming Interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) Assignment. Can be downloaded from the following link https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2022-07/confirmation.docx. The Offeror’s Letter shall include financial proposal specifying a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this announcement with a breakdown of costs (Offeror’s Letter, including Annex 2, Table A: Breakdown of costs & Table B: Breakdown of costs by deliverables).

In order to apply please merge above listed documents into a single PDF file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.

The shortlisted candidates may be asked to provide copies of diplomas and any other certificates providing evidence of their education and experience in relevant fields.

Any request for clarification must be sent by standard electronic communication to the e-mail vacancy.rs@undp.org. The procuring UNDP entity will respond by standard electronic mail and will send response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants.

Financial Proposal

• Lump sum contracts

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount in USD currency, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon approval of each deliverable.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel in Serbia, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

Travel 

This is home-based engagement therefore no travel envisaged under this Terms of Reference.

Evaluation

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable in terms of relevant experience and academic background, and

b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight; 70%

* Financial Criteria weight; 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

Additional Information:

• Individual Contract (IC) will be applicable for individual consultants applying in their own capacity.  If the applicant is employed by any legal entity, IC would be issued upon submission of Consent letter from the employer acknowledging the engagement with UNDP. Template of General Conditions on IC could be found on: Template of General Conditions on IC could be found on: https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2022-07/General_Conditions_for_Individual_Contracts.pdf 
• Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) will be applicable for applicants employed by any legal entity. Template of RLA with General Terms and Conditions could be found on: https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2022-07/PSU_Individual%20Contract_Model%20Reimbursable%20Loan%20Agreement.docx

In the case of engagement of Civil servants under IC contract modality a no-objection letter should be provided by the Government entity. The ‘no-objection’ letter must also state that the employer formally certifies that their employees are allowed to receive short-term consultancy assignment from another entity without being on “leave-without-pay” status (if applicable), and include any conditions and restrictions on granting such permission, if any. If the previous is not applicable ‘leave-without-pay’ confirmation should be submitted.

Engagement of Government Officials and Employees

• Government Officials or Employees are civil servants of UN Member States.  As such, if they will be engaged by UNDP under an IC which they will be signing in their individual capacity (i.e., engagement is not done through RLA signed by their government employer), the following conditions must be met prior to the award of contract:

(i)       A “No-objection” letter in respect of the individual is received from the Government employing him/her, and;

(ii)     The individual must provide an official documentation from his/her employer formally certifying his or her status as being on “official leave without pay” for the duration of the IC.

• The above requirements are also applicable to Government-owned and controlled enterprises and well as other semi/partially or fully owned Government entities, whether or not the Government ownership is of majority or minority status.   
• UNDP recognizes the possibility that there are situations when the Government entity employing the individual that UNDP wishes to engage is one that allows its employees to receive external short-term consultancy assignments (including but not limited to research institutions, state-owned colleges/universities, etc.), whereby a status of “on-leave-without-pay” is not required.  Under such circumstance, the individual entering into an IC with UNDP must still provide a “No-objection” letter from the Government employing him/her.  The “no objection” letter required under (i) above must also state that the employer formally certifies that their employees are allowed to receive short-term consultancy assignment from another entity without being on “leave-without-pay” status and include any conditions and restrictions on granting such permission, if any.  The said document may be obtained by, and put on record of, UNDP, in lieu of the document (ii) listed above.