UNDP Jobs - 72350- 3 consultancies - Proposals Reviewers for the Unit

3 consultancies - Proposals Reviewers for the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD) – UNDP

Location :

Home-based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

05-Jun-2017

Application Deadline :

25-May-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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 United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD) is a unique collaborative effort that brings together UN entities, governments, disabled people’s organizations and the broader civil society to advance the human rights of persons with disabilities around the world. The UNPRPD supports the full implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by facilitating policy dialogue, coalition-building and capacity-development at country, regional and global level. In doing so, it leverages the comparative advantage of multiple stakeholders to advance the vision of a “society for all” in the 21st century.

The UN entities participating in the UNPRPD are the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Department for Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the World Health Organization (WHO). The UNDP Inclusive Political Processes Team serves as the Technical Secretariat for the Partnership. The UNPRPD also works closely with multiple civil society organizations including the International Disability Alliance (IDA) and the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC).

The UNPRPD is supported by the UNPRPD Fund, a Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF) established to mobilize resources for the Partnership. The UNPRPD MPTF is administered by the UNDP Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF Office) and builds on the experience developed by the MPTF Office in managing multiple Multi-Partner Trust Funds and joint programmes around the world.

Purpose:

On the 3rd of December 2016, the UNPRPD announced its third funding round (UNPRPD R3). It is expected that, under this funding round, a selected number of joint UN programmes on the human rights of persons with disabilities will be funded at country level for a period of three years. After a screening of initial expressions of interest, a total of 37 United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs) have been invited to submit proposals under the UNPRPD R3.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultants will be part of a team of external reviewers who will: 1) review the proposals submitted by UNCTs; 2) score the proposals based on a Technical Review Scoresheet prepared by the UNPRPD Technical Secretariat and agreed by the MC; and 3) provide detailed analytical feedback on the quality of the proposals and their consistency with the principles laid out in the UNPRPD Strategic and Operational Framework (SOF).

Specific activities:

The consultant will undertake the following activities:

Review relevant UNPRPD documents (UNPRPD Strategic and Operational Framework, templates for the submission of proposals, Technical Review Scoresheet, previously funded proposals) – 0.5 days.
Participate in an initial briefing to be provided by the UNPRPD Technical Secretariat – 0.5 days.
Review and score the proposals 24–days.
Reach out to UNCTs if further information or clarification is required 2-days.
Participate in a joint review of scores with other consultants – 1 days.
Conduct a final review of scores, provide additional analytical comments on the proposals (if and as needed) and wrap up – 2 day.

Specific deliverables to be produced by the consultant will be:

Initial assessment of submitted proposals;
Final assessment of submitted proposals.

Timeframe

The consultancy will be conducted over 30 working days between the tentative period of the 5th of June 2017 to the 28th July 2017 with the following milestones:

5th June 2017 UNPRPD Technical Secretariat to share relevant documents with reviewers
9th June 2017 UNPRPD Technical Secretariat to brief external reviewers
30th June 2017 Proposals submitted by UNCTs
21st July 2017 External reviewers to submit initial assessment of proposals
28th July 2017 Joint review of initial assessments
4th August 2017 External reviewers to submit final assessment of proposals

Competencies

Core Values and Guiding Principles:

Integrity

Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UNDP in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;

Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity

Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP and the UN;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Technical/Functional Competencies:

Strong theoretical understanding of policy and programmatic issues related to the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities rights in the context of developing countries;
Strong understanding of results-based management in the context of development interventions, particularly in human rights and social inclusion;
Strong analytical skills.
Very good knowledge and understanding of the UNPRPD.
Good understanding of joint programming at country level.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Master’s degree (or higher level qualification) in Disability Studies, Social Science, Development Studies or Management;

Experience

At least 7 years of professional experience in the promotion of human rights and social inclusion including experience in promoting the rights of persons with disabilities using the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as legal framework, ideally in the context of developing countries;
Familiarity with results-based management particularly in the context of joint programming;
Experience in the evaluation of projects, programmes and funding proposals;
Familiarity with UN interagency processes especially at country level.

Language

Excellent written and spoken English;

Application Submission Process:

The application is a two-step process. Failing to comply with the submission process may result in disqualification of the application:

Personal CV and/or UNDP Personal History Form 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.- To note, a completed PH 11 Form will be required at the time a consultant signs an Individual Contract (IC) or his/her employer, if employed, signs a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) for work associated with this assignment.
Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment (300 words maximum).
Indication of the date when the applicant can start the assignment and the availability to carry out the assignment.

Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposal (Shortlisted candidates will be contacted for financial proposals)

Upon completion of the Technical evaluation, only applicants meeting all minimum requirements and obtaining a minimum of 49 points (or 70%) on technical evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation and will be approached for submission of their financial proposals.
Financial proposals must be all-inclusive and must be expressed based on a daily fee in US dollars. The term ‘all inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel related expenses, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the daily fee;

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

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer:

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their price proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores. The selection of the best offer from the shortlisted candidates will be based on a Combined Scoring method – where the technical evaluation will be weighted a maximum of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a maximum of 30%.

Only those candidates who meet the minimum level of education and relevant years of experience requirements will be considered for the technical evaluation. The technical evaluation will be based on a desk review of applications.

The following evaluation criteria will be used for the desk reviews:

Number of years (more than 7) of professional experience in the promotion the rights of persons with disabilities using the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities as legal framework, ideally in the context of developing countries (40);
Strong analytical skills and prior experience in the evaluation of projects, programmes and funding proposals (20);
Experience of working with the UN System and with the UNPRPD would be considered an asset (10 points).

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% on technical evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation. Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 of the obtainable points of 70 points (70%) in technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Financial Evaluation-

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

Conflict of Interests:

Applicants should not have been on unpaid leave, employed by, providing services to or under any other commercial relationship with the partners involved in the development of a project proposal for the third UNPRPD Funding Round.

Schedule of Payments:

Payments will be made based on the agreed upon daily rate and released upon submission of a certificate of payment request, indicating outputs achieved and days worked to be verified and cleared for payment by the supervisor.

Office and equipment:

The consultancy will be home based.

Annexes

Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs

Annex 2 - IC Contract Template

Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions

Annex 4 – RLA Template

The above templates and forms can be accessed from the following link: Procurement Notice 37627