Background

Objective:

The purpose of this procurement exercise is to contract a Project Coordinator Consultant to oversee and coordinate the project implementation and execute policy guidance and procedures for MPS project implementation.  The Project Coordinator will be the key focal point to support Regional Bureaux in the identification of country offices, and to provide expertise and support directly to country offices in their implementation.

Background:

The UNDP Treasury Division is a function within the UNDP Office of Financial Resources Management that provides services and policy guidelines to the organization in the areas of cash management; processing of payments & receipts; contributions management; investments; and foreign exchange.   UNDP relies primarily on electronic payments generated from its OraclePeoplesoft ERP system (known as ‘Atlas’) and processes them through integrated solutions with its banking partners independently from its over 150 country office locations.  Because of its global presence and unique mandate in development, in the countries where the banking system is not present or the geographic coverage is limited, as well as in a crisis situation when the domestic financial infrastructure struggles to function as usual, UNDP relies on traditional payment methods such as physical cash distribution to beneficiaries and writing checks. Purpose of these payments is to pay to small vendors, meeting/seminar participants for their travel and daily allowance, and volunteers and beneficiaries deployed in crisis locations.  These low value traditional payment methods are costly and come with the disadvantages of increased administrative processes and financial risks. UNDP seeks to increase the level of electronic messaging utilization globally to significantly reduce the requirement of physical cash distribution and check issuance as payment methods.   

With an objective of implementation of an alternative payment solution, UNDP initiated in 2013 Mobile Payment Solutions (MPS) pilot programmes with emphasis on Asia Pacific and Africa regions.  A few pilot countries were selected based on the advancement of the mobile ecosystem and availability of the service provider.  The pilot programmes confirmed the high potential of mobile payments in other markets.  At this point, UNDP recognizes that there is no global solution from a single provider for MPS. Each market has different mobile payment service models.  Treasury would like to scale up the MPS programmes in more countries with emphasis in Africa and Asia Pacific regions by providing guidance, support and technical expertise in payments building on corporate policy, procedures and controls to engage with service providers. 

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK

Project Coordinator will be expected to gain knowledge of existing pilot programmes and achievements and take a lead role in achieving the following major objectives:

1. Serve as the key focal point to support Regional Bureaux to identify appropriate country offices for this project;

2. Draft guidance notes, policy documents, operational procedures, and controls to implement MPS at a larger scale;

3. Provide feedback and recommendation based on established policies and help bringing coordinated effort from other technical areas as, IT, private sector partners, and other divisions of UNDP.

4. Coordinate the Country Offices project implementation, providing expertise and problem solving.

5. Engage and leverage the private sector involvement of partners in this initiative including banks, mobile operators, and other experts.

6. Support Treasury in representing UNDP in interagency fora and with other key stakeholders.

 Expected outputs and deliverables:

Following outputs and specific deliverables are expected from the Project Coordinator during the contract period:

Following additional outputs are expected from the Project Coordinator on regular basis:

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values.

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

• Treats all people fairly and without favoritism

Functional Competencies

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Shares knowledge and experience

• Encourages office staff to share knowledge and contribute to UNDP practice areas

Development and Operational Effectiveness

• Ability to perform a broad range of specialized activities related to financial resources management.

• Sound knowledge of financial rules and regulations

• Strong IT skills

• Ability to provide input to business processes for the ATLAS system

Leadership and Self-Management

• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude

• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexity

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Finance/Accounting/Economics/Public/Business Administration or related is required.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years’ experience with increased responsibility in finance/banking/mobile banking technology is required.

• Professional banking experience and/or experience on mobile banking.

• Prior experience in electronic payment in development organization.

• Knowledge of mobile payments vis-à-vis knowledge of electronic payments through regular banking channels.

• Experience in writing policy/ procedure documents required (two samples are required)

• Experience in ERP systems required.

• Functional and operational knowledge of Risk Management and compliance is an advantage.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English required.

• Knowledge of French is an added advantage.

Application Procedure

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• Online application with brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment; and

• Personal CV or P11, indicating all 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.

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around the specific and measurable deliverables of the TOR. Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR, and deliverables accepted and certified by the technical manager.

• The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; cost of travel from the home base to the duty station and vice versa, where required; living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.

• In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

• 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.

• The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below. 

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; and

• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation where technical criteria weighs 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

• The technical evaluation will include a desk review and an interview.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (700 points):

• Criteria 1. Professional banking experience or experience on mobile banking. Maximum 100 points.

• Criteria 2. Prior experience in electronic payment in development organization. Maximum 100 points.

• Criteria 3. Knowledge of mobile payments vis-à-vis knowledge of electronic payments through regular banking channels.  Maximum 100 points.

• Criteria 4. Experience in writing policy/ procedure documents required (two samples are required). Maximum 100 points.

• Criteria 5. Experience in ERP systems required. Maximum 100 points.

• Criteria 6. Functional and operational knowledge of Risk Management and compliance is an advantage. Maximum 100 points.

• Criteria 7. Knowledge of French is an added advantage. Maximum 50 points.

• Criteria 8. Interview. 50 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the available points on the desk review will be invited to an interview

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.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (300 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate 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

Contract Award

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.

Institutional arrangement

The Project Coordinator will report directly to the Chief, Treasury Operations and will receive overall guidance from the Treasurer.

The Consultant will be given access to relevant information and data necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment, while ensuring his/her duty to protect and maintain confidentiality of information and data used.

The Consultant will be responsible for providing his/her own laptop and access to internet during the assignment.

Payment modality

Payments under the IC contract shall be made on submission and acceptance/certification of the deliverables by the Chief, Treasury Operations.

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs

Annex 2 - IC Contract Template

Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions

Annex 4 – RLA Template

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

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by posting the answers in the Procurement Notice Site 37181 including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants