Background

The Negotiations Affairs Department

The PLO Negotiations Affairs Department (NAD) was established in 1994 in order to follow up on the implementation of the Interim Agreement signed between Israel and the PLO. The NAD’s Ramallah office is responsible for following up on the Interim Agreements and preparing Palestinian positions for the Permanent Status talks with Israel.

The Palestinian Negotiation Support Project

In late 1998 the NAD approached the Government of the United Kingdom seeking technical assistance to its preparations for Permanent Status talks. The U.K. Department for International Development consequently agreed to support the establishment of the Negotiations Support Project in Ramallah. The purpose of the Negotiations Support Project is to provide highly professional legal, policy and communications advice to the NAD and Palestinian negotiators in preparation for, and during, Permanent Status negotiations with Israel. Following the collapse of formal negotiations at the outset of 2001, an additional purpose of the project is to encourage the resumption of Permanent Status negotiations by contributing to a variety of diplomatic initiatives aimed at bringing the two sides back together.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the Assignment:

The Adviser of the PNSP shall perform the duties aimed at achieving the following objectives

• Provide policy advice to Palestinian Negotiators during negotiations with Israeli counterparts;
• Prepare  policy  materials for the Palestinian leadership in its engagements with members of the international community and in diplomatic efforts;
• Conduct research and studies on issues affecting Palestinian and Israeli positions in Permanent Status (PS) Negotiations;
• Develop coherent PLO positions and strategy papers on PS issues; and
• Participate in local,international and regional fora and meetings and present the Palestinian PS positions to various audiences.

Scope of Work (general tasks):

• Identifying Palestinian positions which require strengthening or development from scratch if Palestinian negotiators are to be prepared for permanent status talks, and planning distinct research projects to meet these needs;
• Undertaking research to answer questions identified and as related to the Palestinian positions;
• Writing Terms of Reference for work to be carried out by an external adviser, monitoring the interim outputs of that adviser and ensuring that the final product meets the content needs and quality standards of the NAD/PNSP;
• Communicating the conclusions of own research and the work of external consultants and implications for existing Palestinian negotiation positions to the relevant ministers and negotiators, and securing authorization for changes in official policies or further work by the PNSP. This is likely to be done through both written documents and oral presentations;
• Working with relevant negotiators, ministers, authorities and non-governmental organizations and external advisers to develop an overall strategy for the negotiation of issues within the adviser’s scope of work , including the sequence according to which issues will be addressed, positions which should not be compromised and those where a fallback position is acceptable;
• Capturing all research outputs, policy decisions and negotiation strategies relevant to the particular file in a single reference document;
• Producing and reporting on work plans at regular, scheduled intervals. At the start of each six month period advisers will identify remaining work for the files in coordination with the Leadership;
• Ensuring coherence of work with negotiation positions developed for other files and informing other advisers of significant developments within one’s own file such as leadership decisions;
• Monitoring how Israeli positions and policies are impacting Palestinian rights and long-term interests and recommending to the leadership the steps which should be taken in response;
• Supporting preparations for, and the conduct of negotiations with Israel concerning final status issues;
• Analyzing Israeli actions or initiatives by foreign governments intended to support or to undermine the peace process and providing recommendations for how Palestine should respond;
• Preparing for diplomatic events, and communicating these recommendations to the NAD or to other members of the Palestinian leadership;
• Communicating Palestinian  positions  and activities  to the international diplomatic community;
• Attending meetings and events in the Palestinian and international diplomatic communities;
• Working with others at the NAD/PNSP to produce written material, presentations, maps and other material to ensure Palestinian positions are clearly represented internally and externally;
• Providing general advice to the leadership on negotiation-related issues;
• Translating and editing documents as needed and as time permits.

This scope of work is subject to compliance to NAD-PNSP Standard Working Procedures and Personnel Handbook.

Payment Terms:

• Monthly equal payment scheme will be applied.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• Good management, coordination and organization skills to facilitate production of quality outputs in a timely manner;
• Ability to communicate effectively complex, technical information.

Policy Advisers must demonstrate the following to be able to advise the leadership:

• Solid understanding of the conflict, Palestine and the local culture;
• Understanding of the Palestinian political context, actors, positions, political dynamics, constitutional frameworks, factions, political leaders etc.;
• Understanding of political decision making -interests, positions, power groups etc.;
• Understanding what works in politics in parallel to good advice;
• Understanding of regional politics;
• In-depth knowledge and understanding of the intricacies of the to be assigned  files;
• Credibility, presence and networking in the wider community and specifically as related to assigned files;
• Commitment to and appreciation of negotiations as a tool for reaching a two state solution;
• Well versed in policy analysis and formulation;
• General understanding of socio-political development;
• Understanding the leadership and the role of an Adviser thereto.

Policy Advisers must be skillful in the following:

• Staying abreast of political developments, assessing their implications, and gearing advice accordingly;
• Providing informational and analytical briefings;
• Defending policies and positions and building backing on endorsed positions;
• Ability to work effectively individually and as part of a team;
• Respecting and complying with confidentiality needs.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Graduate degree related to the permanent status subject matter.

Experience:

• At least seven (7) years of experience in providing policy related advice to government or NGO actors, preferably in Palestine or related to the Middle East peace process;
• Experience in public speaking preferred.

Language:

• Fluency in English and Arabic required;
• Hebrew language skills would be an asset.

How to apply:

Documents comprising the Technical Proposal

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information, which comprises the Technical Proposals:

• Provide professional CV including all qualifications and past experience in similar projects;
• Submit at least two (2) up-to-date recommendation letters;
• Explain why you are the most suitable for the work;
• Provide a brief methodology and/or work-plan on how you will approach and conduct the work;
• Submit sample report/project document or relevant deliverables;
• Submit financial proposal; and,

Specify which areas you can contribute to: 

• Security;
• Water and Environment;
• Refugees – Compensation – Restitution;
• Borders and Settlements;
• Jerusalem;
• Prisoners;
• Economy;
• GIS;
• Treaties and International Organizations – UN bodies;
• Administration of Justice;
• Regional Cooperation and Multilateral Approaches;
• State to State Issues (tourism, archeology, health, telecommunication, agriculture, etc.);
• Other – please specify.

Evaluation Process:

Preliminary examination

UNDP/PAPP will examine the Proposals to determine whether they are complete, and whether they are substantially responsive to the qualification and experience minimum requirements. A Proposal determined as not substantially responsive will be rejected by UNDP/PAPP and may not subsequently be made responsive by the Applicant by correction of the non-conformity.

Detailed examination

A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical proposals prior to any financial proposal being opened and compared.

The technical proposals are evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (TOR).

Below please find the evaluation form for the technical proposals. The obtainable number of points specified for each evaluation criterion indicates the relative significance of weight of the item in the overall evaluation process.

Evaluation Criteria

Qualification and Experience:

• Degree related to the permanent status subject matter (8 points);
• graduate degree (20 points);
• General experience (12 points).

Level of Expertise:

• Relevance of Specialized Knowledge (15 points)
• Relevance of Experience on Similar Programme / Projects (15 points)

Proposed Methodology (5 points each):

• To what degree does the Applicant understand the Type of input needed?
• Have the important aspects of the work required been addressed?
• Is the conceptual framework adopted appropriate for the type of work?
• Is the scope of work well defined and does it correspond to the TOR?
• Is the presentation clear and is the sequence of activities and the planning logical?
• Is the presentation realistic and promise efficient implementation to the project?

Total obtainable points =100

In the Second Stage, UNDP/PAPP will open and compare the Financial Proposals received from applicants who attained the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the evaluation of the technical proposals.

Financial Proposal

Your financial offer in USD shall specify a lump sum figure (monthly salary) all inclusive, and shall take into account various expenses incurred during the contract period and shall form the amount of the resulted contract between the winning Consultant and UNDP. No other entitlements will be considered after submission of financial proposals.
The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (number of anticipated working days, all envisaged travel (such as but not limited to all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel), per diems/daily allowances). Fee Breakdown should be attached under a separate sheet.

Candidate is requested to submit the price quotation on or before 10:00 a.m. on 17 November 2014 (Jerusalem Time). Submissions should be made either via/to e-mail address:  quotation.papp@undp.org or to Fax No. +972-2-6268257 (If will be sent thru Email: File/Email size should not exceed 5 MB in a single email - quotation could be send by multiple emails as needed). Any submission of the financial proposal via any other mean will cause the whole application from the candidate to be rejected and disregarded.

Payments will be paid-out in equal monthly installments upon certification by the responsible officer.

Award of Individual Contract

The procuring UNDP entity reserves the right to accept or reject any Proposal, and to annul the solicitation process and reject all Proposals at any time prior to award of contract, without incurring any liability to the affected applicant or any obligation to inform the affected applicant or applicants of the ground for the UNDP’s action.

The procuring entity will award the Individual Contract to the applicant who attained the Highest Combined Technical and Financial weighted score.

However, final selection and contract award decisions are subject to the result of an interview (carried out by the evaluation committee) with the potential successful candidate.

The Combined score will be calculated as follows:

The total technical score is simply calculated by summing the scores attained for each evaluation criterion in the “evaluation criteria” table shown above.

The price score for the financial proposal will be calculated in the following manner:

• Where “x” is the price of the lowest proposal;
• And “y” is the price of any other proposal;
• The percentage score for price allocated to the lowest priced proposal will be 100 points, and to any other proposal x/y times 100.

The General mark or combined score for each proposal will be arrived as follows:

• The total score of the Technical proposal multiplied by 70% will be added to the Financial Proposal score multiplied by 30%. The candidate whose proposal received the highest combined score will be the successful applicant.

This IC is subject to Individual Consultant General Terms and Conditions available on http://jobs.undp.ps/.