Background

A.        Project Title

00137889 - Umbrella Programme for Socio-Economic Development

B.        Project Description 

For the last four decades, Saudi Arabia has realized and sustained remarkable progress along the socioeconomic development path. As a result of this, the Kingdom has been able to move to a high-income country.

The Saudi Vision 2030 represents an ambitious resolve with long-term goals and expectations founded on the strengths and capabilities of the Kingdom. It covers the three themes of a vibrant society, a thriving economy, and an ambitious nation. A thorough review of the three themes and their underlying issues of national concern would reveal a holistic approach to development that encompasses the three dimensions of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): the social, the economic and the environmental.

The Umbrella Program for Socio-Economic Development is a partnership between the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) and UNDP that aims at mainstreaming social and economic development national policies and sectoral and regional plans.

It focuses on mobilizing technical assistance and capacity development to MEP to facilitate economic and social transformation, including economic diversification and inclusive and accelerated economic growth. Specifically, the program framework covers the following:

Main areas:

• SDGs monitoring and reporting.
• Policymaking, policy analysis and regional development planning.
• Producing the National Human Development Report.

Duties and Responsibilities

A.        Scope of Work

• Performs oral interpretation
• Performs written translations upon request
• Assists and supports the project personnel to liaise with Government counterparts on substantive issues
• Translate drafts and documents from Arabic into English and vice versa
• Translate reports from Arabic into English
• Working in close consultation with the personnel from MEP and with 
• interlocutors from other institutions, as well as other government offices and International organizations
• Perform translation of correspondence from English into Arabic and vice Versa
• Translates project-related documents and official correspondence in a concise 
• manner from English to Arabic and from Arabic to English as requested.  
• Provide interpretation for international project staff at presentations
• Other interpretation tasks as needed within the project implementation. 
• Provide a simultaneous translation for international project staff  
• Act as interpreter in meetings and conferences, according to needs
• Performs other duties and responsibilities as required and necessary
• Remain flexible for travelling to other provinces if required, subject to UN security standards
• Translate both written and verbal communication from English to Arabic and vice versa.
• Proofread, edited and revise final translated documents.
• Ensuring translated texts convey original meaning and tone
• Provide constructive feedback on translated documents to other departments and deputyships within MEP. 
• Follow up with internal team members to ensure translation meets their needs.
• Participate in the assistant deputyship for Sustainable Development Affairs meetings and special events as required. 
• Identify and resolve conflicts related to the meanings of words, concepts, practices and terminology.  

A.        EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

B.        Institutional Arrangement

The expert will be reporting to MEP and UNDP. A detailed work plan for the expert’s duties and responsibilities will be formulated by MEP. She/he will be supervised by Assistant Sustainable Development Department team and work in close collaboration with the Chief Technical Advisor (CTA), other consultants and the relevant MEP technical staff.

C.        Duration of the Work

The expected duration of the assignment is 12 months, with the possibility of extension.

D.        Duty Station

This assignment will be based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and virtual.

• This assignment will be based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• UNDP will cover the around ticket to/from duty station 
• If unforeseen travel outside the consultant’s duty station 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.

Competencies

Desired additional skills and competencies

• Knowledge & experience of working with constituents in the Arab States, particularly in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
• 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.
• Knowledge of Economic related programmes and/or policy and SDGs;
•  Knowledge of Computer Assisted Translation tools preferred specially Inpage and Unicode Text in Ms-Word
• Solid knowledge of MS Office tools (Word, Excel and Publisher) with advanced knowledge of MS Excel and MS Access.
• Capacity to edit, update, and review content within files;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines.

Required Skills and Experience

A.        Qualifications of the Successful Individual Contractor:

Min. Academic Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in English Translation, Linguistics, International Relations, Business/Public Administration, Project Management or other related fields.

Min. years of relevant Work experience:

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in translating documents, articles and publications relevant to the Economy, sustainable development and the SDGs. (English to Arabic and vice versa)
• Previous experience working with the Sustainable Development Goals, conducting SDGs localization and use of tools and mechanisms in relation to localizing the SDGs would be a strong advantage.
• Written and verbal fluency in English and Arabic is essential.

Required skills and competencies

• Experience in translating documents in different sectors/themes.
• 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.
• Good understanding and practice of capacity development.

Desired additional skills and competencies

• Knowledge & experience of working with constituents in the Arab States, particularly in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
• 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.
• Knowledge of Economic related programmes and/or policy and SDGs;
•  Knowledge of Computer Assisted Translation tools preferred specially Inpage and Unicode Text in Ms-Word
• Solid knowledge of MS Office tools (Word, Excel and Publisher) with advanced knowledge of MS Excel and MS Access.
• Capacity to edit, update, and review content within files;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines.

Required Language(s) (at working level)

• Language proficiency in both written and oral English and Arabic.

B.        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.

C.        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. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, if applicable, on how they will approach and complete the assignment. A methodology is recommended for intellectual services, but maybe omitted for support services [Note: this is optional for support services]; 
4. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per the 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 the 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. 

D.        Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

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 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:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent degree) in sustainable development, economics, social sciences, urban planning, public policy or related field is required.
• Minimum 10 years’ experience in development-related activities and advisory role, including in urban and/or social development, this may include research activities and experience in the creation of research articles and publications
• Expertise with preparing concise analytical documents such as technical notes
• Experience working with urban data and/or urban-related indicators and knowledge of urban planning frameworks
• Previous experience working with the Sustainable Development Goals, conducting SDGs localization and use of tools and mechanisms in relation to localizing the SDGs would be a strong advantage

1. Technical Skills:

The qualified candidate should be fully autonomous in translating, editing and proofreading reports, policy papers and presentations in Arabic and English

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

A.        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 on 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=97683  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.