Background

Those candidates who previously applied to this VA should revisit the UNDP Procurement notice site to review the TOR and revised procurement notice in order to decide whether to resubmit his/her application. If no resubmission is received, previous submission will be used for evaluation.

The Office of Audit and Investigations (OAI) reports to the Administrator and is responsible for internal audit and investigations services to UNDP and its affiliated entities.  OAI provides independent, objective assurance on the effectiveness of risk management and the effectiveness and adequacy of internal controls. OAI also responds to allegations of misconduct by conducting and reporting on investigations.

The Investigation Section of OAI is responsible for conducting investigations into allegations of misconduct, such as mismanagement, fraud, corruption, retaliation on whistleblowers, workplace harassment, abuse of authority, violation or willful disregard of UNDP regulations, rules, and administrative instructions, that involve UNDP staff, contractors and other applicable persons.  The Investigations Section is also tasked with investigating allegations against parties external to the UNDP of financial irregularities committed to the detriment of UNDP.  In addition, OAI undertakes proactive investigations in high risk areas that are susceptible to wrongdoings, fraud and corruption.

OAI conducts investigations in accordance with the Uniform Principles and Guidelines for Investigations, the UNDP Legal Framework for Addressing Non-Compliance with UN Standards of Conduct, and the OAI Investigation Guidelines.

The number of allegations received through OAI’s reporting mechanisms fluctuates from month to month.  OAI needs to engage experienced investigators on contract from time to time when the number of cases requiring assessment and investigation are above staff capacity.   For this purpose, OAI enlarges its pool of LTA and Roster holders who are suitably skilled and experienced investigators to call upon as required.

Duties and Responsibilities

Nature of Services and scope of  work

Contract investigators are required to assist with case assessments and investigations and with the writing of investigation-related documents such as assessment reports, closure notes, investigation plans, mission plans, vendor sanctions memos and investigation reports.

Expected outputs

The specific tasks that will be required of the contract investigator are:

  • Review and assess cases for relevance of OAI jurisdiction, sufficiency of evidence, accuracy, and propose recommendations for further action;
  • Participate in investigations where required, including travel as necessary;
  • Draft investigation-related reports that incorporate all relevant evidence and which are consistent with all facts obtained in the course of an investigation;
  • Maintain contemporaneous records of all actions undertaken.

Competencies

Core Values & Ethics:

  • Demonstrates integrity and fairness;
  • Demonstrates the ability to remain objective, neutral and independent vis-à-vis all parties involved;
  • Possesses the psychological ability to discern and handle the intricacies of workplace and sexual harasment issues;
  • Displays utmost discretion and upholds confidentiality;
  • Displays cultural sensitivity;
  • Supports corporate goals;
  • Complies with UNDP regulations, rules, and code of conduct.

Teamwork:

  • Leads team-based activities;
  • Embraces extra responsibility;
  • Builds team morale & consensus.

Task Management Skills:

  • Produces timely, quality outputs;
  • Exercises sound judgment/analysis;
  • Develops creative solutions;
  • Ability to handle multiple tasks.

Communications:

  • Writes clearly and convincingly;
  • Speaks clearly and convincingly;
  • Has good presentation skills;
  • Listens actively and responds effectively.

Professional:

  • Demonstrates ability to perform in accordance with relevant professional standards for administrative investigations.

Technical Competencies:

  • Demonstrates ability to use and apply the following technical process of aides, in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of OAI services;
  • Microsoft office suite;
  • Investigations software and open source applications;
  • Database applications.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Advanced university degree in investigations, law, business administration, finance or another directly relevant field, or significant relevant training and experience in the field of investigations in lieu of an advanced university degree;
  • A combination of formal professional training from a national law enforcement or investigations academy or equivalent, and at least 3 years’ additional experience in conducting administrative investigations as an investigator (in addition to the 2 years of investigation experience required below) may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree. 

Work Epxiernece:

  • At least 2 years’ experience in the field of administrative or criminal investigations is essential;
  • A high level of skill in preparing investigation-related documents is essential;
  • Experience in the editing and quality control of documents of an investigative or legal nature is an advantage;
  • Working experience with an International Organization is desirable;

  • Investigation experience in the field level is desirable.

Language:

  • Fluency in English is required;
  • Fluency in French or Spanish is highly desirable.

Application procedure

This assignment is also advertised in UNDP Procurement Notice, where P11 and financial proposal templates are posted . The link is:

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=26444

The interested applicants should submit the below required documents:

  • P11 in lieu of Curriculum vitae;
  • Financial proposal;
  • Cover Letter.

Evaluation method:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Assessment of applicants:

  • Technical evaluation (70% weight):

Step 1 - CV scoring:

  • The P11 will be evaluated against requirements specified in the TOR.

Those applicants who meet the requirements will be long-listed and be invited to take written test on issues relating to investigations areas.

Step 2 - Written test assessment

  • Those applicants who meet the threshold of written test results will be invited to interview. The written test aims to test the writing skills and investigations knowledge of the applicants.

Step 3 - Interview:

  • The short-listed applicants will be interviewed by the panel. The interview aims to test the competencies required for investigations. 

Financial evaluation (30% weight):

  • The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion.

Selection of applicants for Long Term Agreement and Roster:

  • Based on the result of assessment, OAI will award Long Term Agreement for maximum 5 candidates;
  • Other Qualified candidates will be included into OAI Investigations Roster.

Selection of consultant for specific investigations cases:

The contract investigator will be engaged on an ‘as needed’ basis.  In other words, as and when OAI requires the services of one or more contract investigator/s, a selection will be made from LTA pool and/or the roster, according to:

  • The required investigation skills, language abilities; and
  • Value for money of the contract investigators. This is based on the proposed daily rate of the applicants.

The selected consultant will be awarded Individual contract with specific TOR on investigations cases and duration.