The UNDP Legal Office (LO) is part of the Bureau for Management Services (BMS) and is the exclusive source of legal advice to the Administrator and all UNDP business units.

The Administrative Law Practice Group (AL) within the LO is responsible for:

• Advising senior management in Headquarters, Country Offices and of affiliated funds and programmes on legal issues of the status and conduct, the formulation of policies and procedures and the resolution of claims, with respect to staff members and UN volunteers;
• Representing the Organization in cases and settlements within the internal justice system.

The UNDP Legal Office is seeking a consultant to support ongoing review of Administrative Law matters. 

The consultant is required to, inter alia, assist the Senior Legal Adviser of the Administrative Law Practice Group with the legal research, analysis, drafting, logistics and coordination associated with pending matters.  In particular, and in connection with these matters, the consultant’s duties will include:

• Reviewing investigation reports and advising on an appropriate course of action as well as preparing drafts of appropriate correspondence in relation to cases involving allegations of misconduct in accordance with the UNDP Legal Framework. Responding to interim issues in relations to such matters including administrative leave;
• Reviewing and advising on requests for management review, and preparing draft responses to such requests in accordance with the UN Staff Regulations and Rules, and applicable UNDP policies;
• Advising UNDP senior management, headquarters units and country offices and other funds and agencies, on legal issues arising with respect to the administration and management of staff on a global basis, including privileges and immunities, rights and obligations of staff, legal status of staff and their dependents, financial recovery, taxation and insurance issues. Liaison with UNDP OHR and UN/OLA as appropriate;
• Drafting policies and procedures and reviewing legal issues arising with regard to draft policies and procedures in UNDP as well as those arising on an inter-agency basis related to matters affecting UN agencies;
• Drafting briefs for submission on behalf of UNDP and other funds and agencies, representing the administration before the UN Dispute Tribunal, and support UN/OLA in its representation of UNDP before the UN Administrative Tribunal;
• Preparing legal opinions and perform extensive legal research and analysis on complex or novel legal issues for the Director and/or the Senior Legal Advisor;
• Work with the Senior Legal Advisor and advice on UNV matters including allegations of misconduct, requests for administrative review and other matters arising in the administration of UN volunteers.

Institutional Arrangements

The consultant will be supervised by the Senior Legal Adviser of the Corporate and Institutional and will provide daily oral reporting and participate regularly in departmental weekly case status meetings. Administrative/Logistics support provided.

Duration of the Work

The consultant is expected to work 5 days/week. A contract will be issued for an initial period of 6 months with the possibility of extension up to 12 months. 

General:

• Motivated by a willingness to respond rapidly and effectively to client needs;
• Strong analytical and judgmental skills;
• Use initiative to deliver required outputs and planned results;
• Excellent communication;
• Independent assessment and integrity.

Management Competencies:

• Judgment/Decision-making;
• Good judgment and initiative, imagination and resourcefulness, energy and tact;
• Ability to ensure an effective work structure to maximize productivity and achieve the goals and objectives of the UNDP.

Building Trust:

• Reputation for dealing honestly and openly with issues and staff;
• Recognized and respected by peers, clients and staff.

Communication:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills;
• Listens actively and responds effectively.

Academic Qualifications:

• An advanced degree in law (Master’s level)

Years of experience:

• Admittance to the bar of a Member State or equivalent qualification to practice law in a Member State is desirable.
• Practical experience in litigation or managing cases before the UN Tribunals an asset;
• A minimum of 6 years’ practical experience in the practice of law with a law firm, a government and/or an international organization;  
• Practical and substantive familiarity with the UN system internal administration of justice;
• Two years’ experience in handling issues related to the personnel/administrative law issues of United Nations system organizations.

Language:

• Excellent oral and written skills in English is required;
• Knowledge of other UN official languages is an asset.

Payment Modalities

• The successful consultant will receive Daily Fee contract. The daily fee must be proposed by the consultant in its financial proposal and must be “all-inclusive” (including all costs like professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc. required to perform the demands of the TOR, as well as related benefits and insurance costs, that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal);
• The work week will be based on 40 hours, i.e. on 8 hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.

Qualified and interested individual consultants are hereby requested to apply using this link:
https://jobs-undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur-job_id=66511

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

The application package containing the following documents/information should be uploaded to online application (to be uploaded as one file):

• Cover letter: brief description of why the Offeror considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment; and
• Personal CV or UNDP P-11 Form, indicating past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references.

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Financial Proposal:

The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive total daily fee (including all costs like professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc. required to perform the demands of the TOR, as well as related benefits and insurance costs, that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal).

If the 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 a 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.

Evaluation:

Applicants are shortlisted based on Required Skills and Experience stated in the TOR. Having reviewed applications received. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring.  When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Being responsive/compliant/acceptable;
• 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/Financial Proposal (30%).

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (490 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (700 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Technical evaluation criteria:             

Additional experience in the practice of law with a law firm, government or international organization legal office, with experience in UN system especially a UN Fund or Programme, handling legal matters relevant to requirement.     100 points

Experience in reviewing investigation reports, providing advisory roles on an appropriate course of action, preparing drafts of appropriate correspondence in relation to cases involving allegations of misconduct.      200 points                                   

Experience in providing advisory role on legal issues arising with respect to the administration and management of staff, have good understanding of  privileges and immunities, rights and obligations of staff, legal status of staff and their dependents, financial recovery, taxation and insurance issues.                                                                                                                          200 points

Experience in drafting policies and procedures and reviewing legal issues arising with regard to draft policies and procedures, experience preparing legal opinions and performing extensive legal research and analysis on complex or novel legal issues.                     100 points

Experience in litigation or managing cases before the UN tribunals, practical experience with personnel/admin law issues of UN, knowledge of UNDP legal framework, UNDP HR policies and procedures                                                                                                         100 points

TOTAL                                                                                                                                          700 points

Financial                            

(Lowest offer / Offer evaluated) x 300      30%       300

Total Score = [(Technical Score/700) x 70] + [(Financial Score/300) x 30]

Contract Award:

The candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to cpu.bids@undp.org 

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by email and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.

ANNEXES

ANNEX 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs

ANNEX 2 - IC Contract Template

ANNEX 3 – IC GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

These forms and templates can be found on the UNDP procurement Notice website using the following link:

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=30108