Background

UNDP is the development arm of the United Nations system, with offices in 180 countries. Globally the organization employs 17,000 people and manages a budget of USD 5 billion each year.  

The UNDP office in Skopje employs a team of 65 and currently manages a portfolio of projects in environmental protection, good governance and social inclusion worth USD 15 million per year.

The new Government, which took power in May 2017, following elections in December 2016, subscribed to redefine the size and attributions of the public administration system. Revision, overhaul and reduction of the public administration institutional structure are particularly aimed at strengthening the coordination and level of efficiency of the state institutions to reduce circuits, eliminate waste of resources and unnecessary procedures in order to promote efficiency and quality of services provided to citizens.

UNDP is currently seeking an experienced Consultant to conduct a legal environment assessment of the public administration structure in the country and provide a set of recommendations that would become an integral part of the functional assessment analysis supporting the upcoming reform process. Implicitly, this engagement will support the project in its efforts to lay the foundation for a UNDP’s sustained assistance to the Ministry of Information Society and Administration (MISA) in planning and carrying out the reform.

The project aims to address unclear public administration institutional structures, overlapping responsibilities, disproportionate number of employees, and at the same time, lack of expertise within the management echelons of the administration. Carefully implemented, the project will help MISA to address and rectify this situation in line with UN principles and EU commitments, and in view of a much needed rapid and substantial reform push. Furthermore, substantial reforms in the public administration will lay the basis for a series of policy reforms related to institutional governance, as required by the EU and which are needed to fulfil the EU’s acquis communautaire. UNDP’s role in supporting the reform process will be pivotal to its success, thus contributing to a major institutional reform and implicitly to better living conditions for the citizens of the country.

The incumbent will work under the supervision of the Head of Democratic Governance Unit and the Democratic Governance Programme Analyst and in close coordination with the UNDP hired international functional analysis expert and MISA appointed Coordinator. He/she will be responsible for carrying out a comprehensive analysis of the legal framework governing establishment of public institutions, defining their competencies and powers and regulating their duties. Understanding the law behind the public management is essential to determining what kind of relationships exists between the various public authorities, and consequently the conditions subject to which they must pursue their own goals and efficiently perform their tasks and respond to citizens’ needs and demands.

The incumbent will ensure that the provided consultancy services are in line with the overall objectives of the public administration reform processes and sustainable development principles, as well as other relevant projects within the Governance Unit and relevant initiatives in other units in UNDP.

The incumbent will work in close collaboration with the UNDP programme and operations team, the ministries appointed focal points and government officials, technical advisors, other experts and the civil society to provide quality and timely completion of tasks as indicated in these terms of reference. Some in-country travel may be expected during the assignment.

Objective of the assignment

The aim of this assignment is to identify and contract a consultant to conduct an assessment of the legal environment surrounding the state administration bodies in the country. The assessment will lead to a future systematic, structural and functional reform of the public administration, leading to a more democratically controlled, efficient and responsive, inclusive, as well as transparent and accountable administration.

 

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant is expected to conduct the following tasks:

  • Analyse the legal environment (Law on general administrative procedure, Law on civil servants, Law on public sector employees and other laws and legal documents) outlining the strength and weaknesses of the legal framework and its harmonisation with commitments to EU’s acquis communautaire;
  • Conduct the analysis based on the following common principles: the principle of legality, the principle of equality before the law, and the prohibition of discrimination, the principle of proportionality, the principles of legal security and of reliance on legitimate expectations and the principle of administrative procedure based on the rule of law;
  • Identify gaps (lack of definite legal rule for regulation of certain relations or complete absence of a legal rule) in the legal framework that create ambiguity and affect efficiency and effectiveness of the public administration;
  • Propose recommendations for the improvement and streamlining of the regulatory framework, including the creation of a registry of public institutions.

During this assignment, the Consultant will collaborate closely with the functional analysis expert hired by UNDP to provide comprehensive functional analysis of the current state of public administration and propose recommendations for its improvement. The legal environment analysis will be an integral part of the Functional Assessment Report.

Deliverables
The consultant is expected to produce the following deliverables:

  • Detailed Methodology for conducting the analysis and preparing the legal analysis section of the Functional Assessment Report, latest by 19 January 2018;
  • Draft Legal Environment Analysis Report, latest by 26 February 2018;
  • Final Legal Environment Analysis Report, incorporating the feedback from UNDP programme team and MISA, latest by 23 March 2018;
  • Presentations of the findings of the legal analysis section of the Functional Assessment Report at a workshop organized by UNDP and MISA, latest by 30 March 2018.

Duration of assignment

Tentatively, the assignment should be completed in the period from January 2018 to March 2018. The overall duration of the tasks covered by this ToR has been estimated not to exceed 30 days, including desk work, field work and presentation delivery.

Travel
The consultant is expected to work from home and is expected to have two (25 days total) in-country missions. Per diem is paid for overnight stay only.

Reporting
No additional formal reporting is foreseen in the course of the assignment apart from that specified in the deliverables. However, the consultant is expected to maintain constant communication with the Project Coordinator and/or Democratic Governance Programme Team and regularly provide information on the progress of the tasks.

Payment schedule
The payment of the Consultant on this project will be done in four successive instalments upon completion of each deliverable and providing corresponding time sheets.

  • 1st payment (10%) after submitting Deliverable 1;
  • 2nd payment (50%) after submitting Deliverable 2;
  • 3th payment (20%) after submission of Deliverable 3;
  • 4th payment (20%) after submission of Deliverable 4;

Competencies

  • Strong research, analytical, reporting and writing abilities.
  • Ability to work under pressure, uses time efficiently. Identifies priority activities and adjusts them as required.
  • Conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.
  • Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Master’s degree in Law. PhD degree is a strong asset.

Experience:

  • At least eight years of specific professional experience in the legal field, preferably related to policy development, institutional needs assessment, functional review, sectoral analysis and capacity development in the public sector.

Languages:

  • Excellent written and oral communication and presentation skills in English are required.

Other required qualifications:

  • Experience in public administration reforms in the region and/or EU candidate country;
  • Record of at least three similar assignments in the legal field of public administration reform, institutional needs assessment or business process analysis of public institutions;
  • Record of at least two legal studies/analysis/papers prepared in the areas of public administration reforms, capacity and policy development, institutional needs assessment, functional review;
  • Experience in liaising and co-operating with government officials, municipal authorities, academic institutions, NGOs and the private sector;
  • Awareness and understanding of relevant EU policies and directives;
  • Knowledge of and sensitivity to local politics and culture; and
  • Excellent computer literacy (MS Office; Windows).

Application Procedure
Step 1

  • Click on the "Apply now" button
  • Input your information in the appropriate sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume, and motivation (cover letter). You can type in, or paste your short Resume into the last box.
  • Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload other required documents listed in the step 2.

Step 2
Interested individual consultants must submit the documents/information listed below to demonstrate their qualifications. The system will allow only one attachment. Therefore, please upload all required documents as one file.

  • CV;
  • Reference list of at least three similar assignments in the field of public administration reform, institutional needs assessment or business process analysis of public institutions; Please provide information about position held and contact details of the clients;
  • Reference list of at least two studies/analysis/policy papers prepared in the areas of public administration reforms, capacity and policy development, institutional needs assessment, functional review;
  • All-inclusive* financial offer – specifying a total lump sum in USD for the deliverables specified in the TOR. The financial offer shall include a breakdown of the lump sum amount
    •  Consultancy fee
    • number of anticipated working days,
    • travel/air tickets (most direct economical class),
    • per diems during in-country mission and other possible costs). Note that UNDP Living allowance for Skopje is 167 USD. Under no circumstance UNDP would accept higher per diem rate than this.

NOTE: The financial proposal shall not include costs of any activity apart from provision of consultancy services. Potential events, meetings and/or presentations will be organised by UNDP and paid accordingly.
* The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Consultant are already factored in the financial proposal.
Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested documents/information.

Evaluation of Offers
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the combined scoring methodology. When using this method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Technical Evaluation (70% of total evaluation – maximum 70 points):

No./Technical criteria/Points obtainable/Max. 70

  • Master’s degree in Law. PhD degree is a strong asset.    10
  • At least eight years of specific professional experience in the legal field, preferably related to policy development, institutional needs assessment, functional review, sectoral analysis and capacity development in the public sector.    15
  •  Record of at least three similar assignments in the legal field of public administration reform, institutional needs assessment or business process analysis of public institutions    15
  • Record of at least two legal studies/analysis/papers prepared in the areas of public administration reforms, capacity and policy development, institutional needs assessment, functional review    15
  • Experience in public administration reforms in the region and/or EU candidate country and awareness and understanding of relevant EU policies and directives    10
  • Experience in liaising and co-operating with government officials, municipal authorities, academic institutions, NGOs and the private sector    5

Only candidates who will obtain at least 49 points and will score at least 70% of the maximum points obtainable for the technical criteria No. 1-6 will be considered for financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation (30% of total evaluation – maximum 30 points):
The offer with the lowest price will receive the maximum of 30 points. Other offers with higher prices will receive their respective scores according the following formula:
   Lowest Bid
               ------------------- x 30
                Proposed Bid
The contract will be awarded to the candidate that will obtain the highest aggregate score based on the technical and financial evaluation.