UNDP Jobs - 78965- Administrative Support Consultant

Administrative Support Consultant

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

21-Jun-2018

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

02 Months with possibility of extension

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

02 Months

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 Development Program (UNDP) is the UN’s Global Development Network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP is present in over 170 countries, employing participatory approaches to developing local solutions to national and global development challenges. UNDPs core vision is to help countries and communities achieve simultaneous eradication of poverty and significant reduction of inequalities and exclusion. We do this through three main areas of work are: (1) sustainable development (2) inclusive and effective democratic governance and peacebuilding, and (3) resilience.

Under its current Strategic Plan 2018-2021, UNDP outlines a strong organizational commitment to work with communities to recover from crisis and build resilience. As one of the few partners with a permanent presence and a cross-cutting mandate on the ground before, during and after a crisis, UNDP aims to take immediate action at the onset of crises in addressing communities’ and governments’ needs for rapid recovery and effective transition to sustainable development. To implement this vision, UNDP reasserted its commitment to be faster, more effective, and more predictable in its response to crisis.

As part of its crisis response strategy, UNDP developed a set of ‘Crisis Response Packages’ allowing the organization to deliver quick, effective and predictable support. The packages enable UNDP country offices to design sound early recovery/recovery projects and implement them in a timely manner. While often operating in a humanitarian context, the crisis response packages will provide as early as possible, a clear entry point to recovery and rapid return to sustainable development pathways. The packages provide relevant guidance, tools and mechanisms on programming, operations, human resources and communication/partnerships, in a coordinated toolboxes and cover key thematic areas, such as: (i) resilient livelihoods (including debris management, community infrastructure rehabilitation, municipal solid waste management, emergency employment, enterprise recovery and cash-based interventions), (ii) national recovery planning and coordination, and (iii) restoration of core government functions.

The Crisis Response Unit (CRU) and the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) want to ensure a proper roll-out of the crisis response packages on national recovery planning and coordination.

CRU and the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (RBLAC) are also investing on preparedness actions for UNDP country offices in the Caribbean in view of the forthcoming hurricane season and at the light of lessons learned from past weather triggered crises in the region

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will perform the preparatory administrative tasks required for the training that include logistics, procurement, scheduling, communication with participants etc. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the Crisis Response Unit and BPPS teams as well as with the relevant UNDP Regional Hubs and country offices. Excellent written and oral communication skills in English are a must.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The consultant is expected to deliver the following outputs for the two crisis response packages trainings and the Caribbean crisis preparedness workshop:

Prepare the list of meeting/training requirements (i.e. venue size, seating arrangements, number of break out rooms, etc.) for the UNDP Regional Hub/country office to conduct the procurement of the venue based on the list of meeting/training requirements;
Develop the logistics note for the training/workshop;
Carry out the review of supporting documentation for the e-requisitions and POs and vouchers creation;
Be a focal point for travel and logistics for training participants in coordination with the UNDP Regional Hub/country office;
Coordinate with country offices on the issuance of visa letters, note verbales when required;
Develop, update and maintain the list of participants to the training/workshop;
Prepare in coordination with selected hotels and the UNDP Regional Hub/country office the training material, arranging venues, shipping items, etc.
Upload the relevant learning material on the UNDP Crisis Response Portal and troubleshoot any issue with participants’ access to the material;
Prepare and manage in collaboration with CRU the pre-training/workshop activities (e.g. share learning material with participants, organize webinars, etc.) and an online survey;
Prepare and manage in collaboration with CRU post-training/workshop activities including an online training/workshop evaluation survey, analyze the survey data and produce a short report;
Verification of invoices, and support CRU Finance Specialist in the follow up of payments of hotels.

Competencies

Technical Competencies:

Capacity to efficiently process a high number of tasks;
Excellent written and oral communication skills, including efficient email messaging and promptness in getting back to the client;
Knowledge of Microsoft SharePoint based platforms and document management on SharePoint is a must;
Proven capacity to meet tight deadlines with high quality products with minimal level of supervision.

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modelling the UN/UNDP's values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN/UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Communication, project management, or similar is required.

Years of Experience:

At least 1 year of experience in a supporting role in corporate initiatives and processes related to knowledge management is required;
Proven working experience in UN/UNDP is desirable;
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English is required;
Knowledge of UNDP current organizational structure and key corporate crisis support systems is desirable

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 description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment; and
Personal 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 should specify an all-inclusive daily fee (based on a 7-hours 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.
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% (70 points):

Criteria 1: Capacity to efficiently process a high number of tasks: Maximum Points: 20;
Criteria 2: Proven capacity to meet tight deadlines with high quality products: Maximum Points: 15;
Criteria 3: Knowledge of Microsoft SharePoint based platforms and document management on SharePoint: Maximum Points: 20; and
Criteria 4: Excellent written and oral communication skills, including efficient email messaging and promptness in getting back to the client: Maximum Points: 15;

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation - Total 30% (30 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 consultant will work under the guidance and direct supervision of Programme Specialist Crisis Response and Preparedness Team and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above.

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 work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7-hours working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.