UNDP Jobs - 78623- Consultancy – On-Call Consultant, Private Sector D

Consultancy – On-Call Consultant, Private Sector Due Diligence, Research Analyst

Location :

New York HQ (Home based)

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Jun-2018

Application Deadline :

15-May-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

1year (upto100days) with possibility of extension up to 3Years, subject to satisfactory perfomance

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

100 labor days per year

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 purpose of this procurement exercise is to contract a consultant on Long Term Agreement who will support private sector due diligence as part of UNDP’s Development Impact Group (on call).

Private sector plays an important role as an engine of economic growth and job creation in developing countries. It provides goods and services, generates tax revenues to finance essential social and economic infrastructure, and helps combating climate change and developing new and innovative solutions to tackle development challenges. As such, the private sector is an important strategic partner for UNDP in achieving its vision to help eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities and exclusion within broader sustainable development.

UNDP has projects related to private sector development or engagement in most of the over 170 countries and territories where we provide assistance. UNDP works with companies from a variety of sectors, for example, water, energy, extractives, food and agriculture, consumer products, healthcare, finance and information technology. UNDP’s work related to the private sector takes various forms, for example:

Facilitating public-private dialogues on a specific development theme or industry sector;
Helping developing countries create policy frameworks and an environment that supports responsible, inclusive and sustainable business development and scale up;
Finding solutions for development challenges through core business activities and initiatives that include low-income groups into value chains as producers, suppliers, employees and consumers;
Mobilizing private sector financial and in-kind resources for development projects; and
Leveraging innovative technologies and solutions for development.

While engagement with the private sector presents many opportunities, there are also risks. Therefore, UNDP has a mandatory due diligence process that must be conducted to inform the decision on engaging or not in any kind of a partnership with a private sector entity, as stated in the UNDP Policy for Due Diligence and Partnerships with the Private Sector (2013).?

More information about UNDP’s private sector related work can be found online at www.iicpsd.org and www.undp.org/privatesector.

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ANALYTICAL WORK

Research on perspective partners and potential risks are integral aspects of private sector engagement and engagement with private philanthropy. This area of work aims to support UNDP’s effective engagement with business and aligned with the organization’s principles and mandate, as well as reflect an adequate assessment of the risks and benefits that engagement brings to the organization and its beneficiaries.

The consultant will support private sector due diligence as part of UNDP’s Development Impact Group. The Development Impact Group has the following private sector due diligence functions:

(1) hosts the secretariat of the Headquarters Inter-Bureau Due Diligence Committee that reviews escalated cases?

(2) provides guidance and technical support in conducting due diligence and technical reviews of draft Risk Assessments

(3) provides upon request access to third party intelligence reports on selected private sector entities

Expected outputs and deliverables:

The Research Analyst will support the following areas of work and deliverables on an as needed basis:

Support in the conduction and revision of Risk Assessments:
- Support in identifying and accessing intelligence on potential partners
- Support the completion, review and analysis of due diligence to ensure accountability and compliance to UNDP’s institutional and corporate guidelines; and ensure that content meets qualitative standards
- Support the screening of potential partnerships against exclusionary criteria and ensuring robust knowledge management
- Support the reputational risk- benefit analysis and assessment of private sector companies to determine their suitability for partnership.
- Support the evaluation of the Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) performance of private companies;

2.Support the Secretariat of the Inter-Bureau Private Sector Due Diligence Committee

Support secretariat functions including convening meetings and documentation of meeting outcomes
Support the maintenance of the intranet space for Committee documentation

3.? Support Knowledge Management and Learning

Support the tracking of Risk Assessments conducted and Partnerships Established
Support the collection of lessons learned and the response to Frequently Asked Questions
Support the collection of lessons learned from other entities on private sector due diligence policies and processes
Support capacity building with trainings and developing of training materials on due diligence analysis
Support the improvement of the Risk Assessment and Due Diligence Proces

Competencies

Technical / Functional Competencies:

Experience with private sector engagement, due diligence, Corporate Social Responsibility, and/or Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards;
Superior written and oral communication skills, with the ability to convey complex development concepts and recommendations in a clear and persuasive manner that is tailored to a range of audiences;
Strong research skills and analytical aptitude;
Good organizational, time management and strong interpersonal skills;
Fluency in both written and spoken English is required;
Knowledge of other UN languages would be an asset.

Personal Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Works collaboratively with team members by sharing information openly and displaying cultural awareness and sensitivity;
Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships within the work unit and with internal and external partners; and
Positive and results-oriented attitude, able to meet targets/deadlines

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

The candidate must hold at least a master's degree or be in final stages of pursuing the Masters in business, social policy, public policy, management, politics, economics, development studies or a related area.

Experience:

2- 3 years of professional experience in corporate social responsibility, international development or related field (internships and volunteering experiences will be assessed positively);
Proven experience in conducting or managing research and preparing reports;
Experience with private sector due diligence is an asset;
Experience with quality assurance standards and risk management is an asset; and
Work experience with the UN/UNDP system is an asset.

Language:

Fluency in written and spoken English is required;

Application Procedure

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

Online application with brief statement of motivation and description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment (max 500 words); and
Personal CV or P11, indicating all 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.
Confirm availability and flexibility to take on short-term assignments on an as-needed basis.

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 should specify an all-inclusive daily fee (based on a 7-hour working day - lunch time is not included - and estimated 21.75 days per month).
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.
This consultancy is a home-based assignment, therefore, there is no?envisaged travel cost?to join duty station/repatriation travel. ?
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%.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (700 points):

Criteria 1 Experience with Due Diligence. Weight = 20%; Maximum Points: 140;
Criteria 2. Experience with Quality Assurance standards and risk management= 20%; Maximum Points: 140;
Criteria 3. Work experience with the UN/UNDP system Weight = 10 %; Maximum Points: 70; and
Criteria 4. Interview: Weight = 50 %; Maximum Points: 350.

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.

Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

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

Financial proposals must be all inclusive and must be expressed on the basis of “a daily fee”.
Any travel expenses will be paid for directly by UNDP and should not be included in the price proposal.

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 on-call consultant will report to, seek approval/acceptance of outputs from Holly Mergler, UNDP Policy Specialist, Social and Environmental Standards and Dionysia Rigatou, Research Analyst.

The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.

Framework Agreement

Please note that the LTA does not form a financial obligation or commitment from UNDP at the time the LTA contract is signed, and that such an agreement is non-exclusive. When a specific need arises, the successful Individual Contractor will be approached and be provided with a specific TOR and deliverables (and time frame) but still within the scope of the responsibilities stated in the LTA. The successful Individual Contractor is expected to provide Confirmation of Interest on the specific services required and submit Financial Proposal based on the agreed LTA Daily Rate Consultancy Fee. Financial commitments will only be established each time a Purchase Order for the specific services/TOR for Individual Contractor is committed.

This LTA has a cumulative ceiling amount that may accrue to the individual contractor during the life of the LTA, but said amount shall remain as an upper limit, and must not and cannot be interpreted nor understood as neither a financial commitment nor guarantee of business volume.

The duration of LTA will be for initial period of one year with possibility of extension up to two additional years subject to satisfactory performance and UNDP’s demand in services.?

Payment modality

Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.

The term ‘all inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal