UNDP Jobs - 72440- Consultant to ensure accessibility of UNPRPD Techn

Consultant to ensure accessibility of UNPRPD Technical Secretariat documents in digital formats to persons with disabilities

Location :

Home-based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

02-Jun-2017

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

2 June 2017 - 1 July 2018

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

2 June 2017 - 1 July 2018

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 disability rights 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:

The UNPRPD is committed to accessibility, therefore, it is in the process of ensuring that all its documents are accessible and available to persons with disabilities in different accessible formats. The purpose of the consultancy is to support the conversion of UNPRPD documents into accessible formats.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of service:

The UNPRPD Secretariat requires the services of a professional to ensure that all documents produced by the Technical Secretariat in 2017 are accessible and usable for persons with disabilities.

Specific activities over one year (date for final deliberable 1 July 2018)

Provide the accessible version of the Quality Assurance Framework, in EPUB, DAISY, HTML and PDF. By end of August 2017.
Provide accessible version in PDF of UNPRPD 2016 annual report by June 2017. Provide EPUB, DAISY, HTML versions of the UNPRPD 2016 Annual Report by June 2017.
Support with the design of an accessible version of PowerPoint institutional presentation. By August 2017.
Provide accessible formats of the institutional brochure in (EPUB, HTML, DAISY and PDF). By June 2017.
Provide accessible version of R1 and R2 countries Phase I (20 documents) and Phase II (15 documents) proposals with excel budget and end of project reports (10 documents). Phase 1 by August 2017, Phase II and End of project reports on a rolling basis.
Provide accessible version of regional and global proposals and end of project reports. (6 documents).
Revise and check accessibility of WORD, EXCEL, PPT documents depending on needs (for a total of 10 documents) over 1 year.
Provide accessible version in EPUB, DAISY, HTML and PDF of 5 documents depending on needs (approx. 50 pages each) over 1 year.

Specific deliverables to be produced by the consultant will be:

Accessible version of the Quality Assurance Framework, in EPUB, DAISY, HTML and PDF.
Accessible version of R1 and R2 countries Phase I (20 documents) and Phase II (15 documents) proposals with budget and end of project reports (10 documents).
Accessible version of regional proposals and end of project reports (4 documents)
Accessible version in EPUB, DAISY, HTML and PDF of annual report;
Accessible version of power point institutional presentation;
Accessible formats of the institutional brochure;
Depending on needs up to 10 accessible documents in WORD;
Depending on needs up to 5 documents in accessible versions including EPUB, DAISY, HTML and PDF.

The documents produced will be tested before delivery for accessibility compliance on a range of platforms and with different assistive technologies used by persons with disabilities. The accessible documents produced will meet criteria and standards set in accessibility checkers and WCAG 2.0 level AAA as applicable.

Competencies

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:

Knowledge in application of Assistive Technology- Screen Reading Software, Screen Magnification and Optical Character Recognition;
Advanced knowledge of the Windows;
Knowledge of Programming Languages like HTML, XML, XHTML, SMIL, C.
Advanced knowledge and experience of working with assistive technologies used by persons with disabilities to access digital content.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Master’s degree (or higher level qualification) in Disability Studies, Social Science, Development Studies or Management;
Studies and training courses in computer application and access technology.

Experience

Minimum 10 years of experience in converting content into accessible digital formats for persons with disabilities.

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:

Step 1

This shall include:

Personal CV and/or UNDP Personal History Form

Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment (300 words maximum).
At least three samples (please provide links) of work done in producing content in accessible formats.
Names, titles and contact details (telephone and e-mails) for 3 references. UNDP retains the right to contact the referees directly;
Indication of the date when the applicant can start the assignment and the availability to carry out the assignment.

NB.: 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. The UN Personal History form (UN PH11) can be downloaded from here www.sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc

Please do NOT include your financial proposals as part of Step 1.

Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposal (Shortlisted candidates only 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 lump-sum fee in US dollars based on deliverables. 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;

• In the case of unforeseeable official duty travels, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses will be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be paid. All envisaged travel costs must be included in the daily fee. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP will 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.

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:

10 years of experience in converting content into accessible digital formats for persons with disabilities.
(40 points);

Advanced knowledge and experience of working with assistive technologies used by persons with disabilities to access digital content. (20 points);

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

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 and References:

Individual Consultant's General Terms and Conditions are provided here:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.