UNDP Jobs - 14763- Consultant: International Law Expert

Consultant: International Law Expert

Location :

Odessa, UKRAINE

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Mar-2010

Application Deadline :

16-Feb-10 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

Russian

Expected Duration of Assignment :

2 months

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.

Background

The Moldova-Ukraine State Border is 1,222 km long, consisting of 955 km of green border and 267 km of blue border. There are 53 official border crossing points along the Ukraine border, including international, inter-state and local ones. At the Moldova-Ukraine border, a section of 472 km is under control of the so-called Transnistrian authorities, including 25 official crossing points (5 international, 8 inter-state and 12 local). There is an internal / administrative ?boundary? between the Eastern regions of the Republic of Moldova and Republic of Moldova proper (which is basically the Dniester River) where 14 Internal Customs Control Posts have been established. Moldovan border guards do not control this ?internal boundary?.

In June 2005 the Presidents of Moldova and Ukraine sent a joint letter to the EU requesting assistance for enhanced border management capacities, including the development of an international standard of border and customs control at the Moldova/Ukraine state border. The EU responded positively to this request and an EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine was set-up which is based on a Memorandum of Understanding dated 7 October 2005 and signed between the European Commission, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. UNDP is the European Commission?s implementing partner in this endeavor.

EUBAM's mandate is, amongst others, to build up appropriate operational and institutional capacity in Moldova and Ukraine to ensure effective border and customs controls and surveillance as well as effective fight against criminal cross-border activities and organized crime in relevant inland areas and locations with particular attention to the Moldovan-Ukrainian state border. The Moldovan-Ukrainian border appeared only after 1991 and its clear demarcation is not completed yet. Due to fact clearly define state border is main element of the internal security EUBAM is seeking to make a contribution to support successful work of the Joint Ukrainian-Moldovan Border Demarcation Commission (JUMBDC) who is dealing with demarcation of the MD-UA state border since 2002.

On August 24, 1991, the Parliament of Ukraine expressed the will of people and declared Ukraine an independent state. Independence of the Republic of Moldova was declared on August, 27, 1991. The borders separating Moldova and Ukraine, all of which were Soviet republics before 1991, follow former Soviet largely administrative divisions. During 1995 ? 1999 delimitation of the state border between UA and MD has been done, upon results of which the border line has been determined.

There is series of trans-boundary environmental disagreements involved Ukraine and Moldova, both of which encountered transportation problems created by the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Moldova lost access to the Black Sea through navigable waterways because the Danube was on Ukrainian territory, its closest point, the mouth of the Prut, being several hundred meters from the Ukraine ? Moldova border. Ukraine lost access by land to its town of Reni except across Moldovan territory.

In 1993 Moldova claimed a 1.5 km strip of Ukrainian land along the Danube. According to a settlement reached in 1998, Ukraine gave up a 430 meters strip of land near the village of Giurgiulesti and 150 hectares of land next to Basarabeasca railway station as well as some other property. According to the same 1998 agreement on exchange of land, Moldova gave Ukraine control over a 7.7 km stretch of secondary road linking Izmail to Reni.

The demarcation of the state border is still underway in compliance with the Agreement between Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova on state borderline of August 18, 1999, which was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada on April 6, 2000. Moldovan ? Ukrainian border cover 1.222 km. At the present there are 5-6 disputable sectors on the Northern and Southern part of Moldovan-Ukrainian border and the Transnistrian segment where demarcation of the state border has not been completed.

The Joint Ukrainian-Moldovan Border Demarcation Commission (JUMBDC) was set up, it is meeting since 2002 and working on demarcation of the Moldovan-Ukrainian state border.

Duties and Responsibilities

To assist the JUMBDC and expert working groups as consultants in the border demarcation of the central segment of the common border between the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine and upon request of the parties of other areas.
To work closely with the JUMBDC and with other stakeholders, to identify and specify problems and possible solution in disputes areas; and to identify the strengths and weaknesses in existing situation.
To provide advice and recommendation to the JUMBDC and other relevant state authorities of both countries if requested.
Provide written and oral advice to the JUMBDC as it will be requested.
Provide written and oral advice based on practical experience and international border related law.
Provide written and oral advice on the implementation of performance appraisal systems for border demarcation in the central segment of the common UA-MD border.
Provide written and oral advice on implementation of performance measurement systems for border demarcation aof other areas on request of the parties.
Provide a comprehensive written report that includes an evaluation of the work done and recommendations for future work.

The activities can be divided into 3 phases:

An Inception Phase identifying and agreeing needs and refining and agreeing strategies, outputs and objectives for the assignment (10 days);
An Implementation Phase of up to the needs of the JUMDBC (28 days);
Evaluation of the work done (5 days).

The project locations will be Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova; Odessa and Kiev, Ukraine; different location at the Moldovan-Ukrainian state border.

Office accommodation

The partner services shall make provision for appropriate office accommodation, with Internet access, for appropriate period of the project.

Facilities to be provided by the Consultant

The Consultant have to provide adequate equipment that allows him to fully implement this assignment. This includes, in particular, a personal computer with appropriate software; camera etc.

Equipment

No equipment is to be purchased on behalf of the Contracting Authority as part of this service contract or transferred to the Contracting Authority at the end of this contract. Any equipment related to this contract that is to be acquired by the beneficiary country must be purchased by means of a separate supply tender procedure.

Incidental expenditure

The provision for incidental expenditure covers the eligible incidental expenditure incurred under this contract. It cannot be used by the Consultant for costs that should be covered by the Consultant as part of its fee rates, as defined above. The provisions in the General Conditions govern its use. It covers: Locally incurred operational costs directly related to project execution, e.g. car hire for visits by the Consultant to sites and facilities within the geographical area of the project to assess suitability, including, if required, visits to UA SBGS facilities where official transport is unavailable. The Provision for incidental expenditure covers the ancillary and exceptional eligible expenditure incurred under this contract. It cannot be used for costs which should be covered by the Consultant as part of its fee rates, as defined above. Its use is governed by the provisions in the General Conditions and the notes in Annex V of the contract. It covers:

Reporting requirements

Please refer to Article 26 of the General Conditions. Interim reports must be prepared in accordance with the agreement with the Project Manager during the period of execution of the contract. They must be provided along with the corresponding invoice, the financial report and an expenditure verification report defined in Article 28 of the General Conditions. There must be a final report, a final invoice and the financial report accompanied by an expenditure verification report at the end of the period of execution. The draft final report must be submitted at least one week before the end of the period of execution of the contract. Note that these interim and final reports are additional to any required in Section 4.2 of these Terms of Reference.

Each report shall consist of a narrative section and a financial section. The financial section must contain details of the time inputs of the experts, of the incidental expenditure and of the provision for expenditure verification.
Submission & approval of progress reports

The Consultant has to submit an inception report and regular updates to the project management team as follows:

An initial Project Inception Report (PIR) – within 10 days of the commencement date. The Inception Report shall define the aims, objectives and methodology of the project and will demonstrate a clear understanding of the development needs of the organisation at the strategic level and a clear and well defined plan showing how objectives are to be achieved and
Project Progress Reports (PPR) at appropriate intervals during the programme. The progress reports should summarise in project progress, timesheets and details of any incidental expenditure incurred during the period. Difficulties encountered, results accomplished as well as recommendations, any requests and plans for project activities for the forthcoming reporting period should be described. Submission and approval of progress reports
A Final Report (PFR) showing achievements and work done – this should clearly show what has been achieved against project expectations and should include recommendations for future work that ought to be done in this sector, including recommendations for further donor assistance.

The working language of the project shall be Russian. All reports and formal communications relating to the project shall be in the Russian language. Translation from Russian into other languages shall be used where operationally necessary or advantageous. All reports shall in the first instance be submitted to the Programme Manager designated by the Contracting Authority. The Programme Manager is responsible for approving the project reports.
All reports shall be dated and signed by the Consultant.

All reports shall be submitted to the Programme Manager in electronic form (MS Word format) and in two hard copies.
No report or document should be published or distributed to third parties without the approval of the Contracting Authority.

Competencies

Professional in the area of border management in an EU Border Guard, Border Police, Immigration Service or similar organisation with at least 10 years of experience – with particular experience in border management;
Well developed client interface and interpersonal skills;
Advanced information analysis skills, good drafting skills;
Ability to write sensitive policy-relevant analytical reports, to study alternative options and suggest recommendations;
Experience of running projects and working in an international context;
Previous experience/cooperation with ministries (e.g. MFA, MoI) and/or state services (e.g. border guard, customs, police, military) in FSU or transition countries will be an asset;
Ability to work in multi-cultural environment;
Expertise in international law with experience of work regarding border demarcation issue able to deal with sensitive political situation.
Skills to interpret documents/agreements on a basis of international border related law..

Required Skills and Experience

EU citizenship is required;
University degree in Law or relevant field;
Active or recently retired member of a Border Guard, Police, Immigration or equivalent public service or ministry with extensive managerial background.
Good drafting skills, familiarity with relevant IT software tools such as power point, etc.
Fluency (both oral and written) in Russian.
Knowledge of English is an asset.

UNDP will utilize a two-stage procedure for evaluating proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Technical evaluation will be represented though the desk review of applications and further interview of short-listed candidates.

A) The technical part is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (TOR). Namely:

Educational background (10 – Master’s degree; 5-University degree;) – 10 points max;
Relevance of the experience and technical expertise – 20 points max
Language Skills (10 - both English and Russian; 8 – only Rus) – 10 points max
Interview (30 - technical knowledge and experience s; 10 - communication/interpersonal skills; 10- motivation; 10 - creativity) - 60 points max
Total Score 100 points

UNDP will consider the price proposals only from the candidates that passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the evaluation of the technical proposals. Technical evaluation will be represented though a review of applications and further interview of short-listed candidates. The offer with highest scores obtained will receive a technically weighted score which will equal to 70. All other submissions that passed the 70% threshold will be evaluated as per below formula:

A = T/Thigh*(0.7), where:

T = The total technical score awarded to the bid
Thigh = The Technical Score achieved by the bid that was scored highest among all responsive bids

B) Financial evaluation:

UNDP will contact the successful candidates (those, who obtained 70% out of the 100 points during the technical evaluation) subject of providing the financial offer for proposed specific vacancy. The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

B = Clow /C*(0.3), where: C = Evaluated bid price and Clow= The lowest of all evaluated bid prices among responsive bids
The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal (A+B) will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.