UNDP Jobs - 80198- Reference Verification Consultant, BMS, OHR

Reference Verification Consultant, BMS, OHR

Location :

Home-Based with missions to Bonn, Germany and other OneHR hubs when required

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

04-Sep-2018

Application Deadline :

07-Aug-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

03 Years

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

03 Years

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 Global Centre for Human Resources Services (OneHR) is a network of UN organizations, which provides centralized delivery of select HR services on behalf of participating Organizations of the United Nations Common System and other organizations. OneHR has its central office location in Bonn, Germany with affiliated locations in multiple UN system offices.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the Long-Term Agreement, the consultant is expected to perform the following duties:

Conduct all aspects of reference verifications as requested by OneHR. These include employment history verification, academic verification of all higher education degrees from accredited institutions, qualitative reference verification, and other requested reference verification services.
Communicate directly with the employers, academic institutions, professional referees and authorized/official bodies of respective countries such as ministries, military bodies, embassies, and academic intuitions in order to obtain employment, academic, and qualitative reference documentation.
Interact frequently with candidates and clients in order to confirm Personal History Profiles (e.g. PHP, P11, applications) including employment history details and/or request additional documentation.
Interact with employers and universities in order to validate the information provided in the application form of candidates (PHP, P11 etc.).
Liaise with OneHR’s Manager and/ or with Reference Verification Focal Point regarding case status and results.
Determine and continuously monitors the accreditation status of institutes of higher education utilizing accreditation databases and other measures to obtain accreditation information.
Liaise with international organizations and UN offices that provide specialized background data on candidates as required (such as, IAU, Interpol and the UN Secretary General’s office for the prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse).
Electronically store documents in the OneHR reference verification database and maintains complete and updated records for each case.
Submit detailed reference verification reports to clients and OneHR manager through the OneHR case management tool.

Scope of work:

The reference verification service per each case will involve three main components: 1. Employment record verification; 2. Academic record verification; and 3. Qualitative reference verification.

The description of each component is provided under the matrix below:

Reference Verification Services: Employment record verification - (10 previous years)

Detailed Definition: Confirmation of employment, job titles, dates of employment and other relevant information

Reference Verification Services: Academic record verification - (required qualifications)

Detailed Definition: Verification of academic credentials & accreditation of academic institutions

Reference Verification Services: Qualitative reference verification - (3 professional references)

Detailed Definition: Verification of knowledge, skills, competencies, judgement and ethics by professional references.

For proposal preparation and evaluation purpose, the estimated number of hrs to complete one case is 2.3hrs, and consultants will be expected to complete 68 cases per month. A case will be deemed complete upon completion of all verification activities listed under the “duties” above, and submission of an acceptable reference verification report.

On preparing financial proposals, consultants should estimate their fees per case and not per day.

Management and Organizational Arrangements:

The consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the deliverables under this assignment;
The consultant will work from home with limited mission travel;
The consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to reliable internet connection;
Given the global consultations to be undertaken during this assignment, the consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones;
Payments will be made upon submission of the deliverables defined in the Terms of Reference. Payments will be made monthly upon completion of deliverables defined and acceptance by OneHR’s Manager.

Travel Arrangements:

The assignment is likely to involve two mission travels throughout the assignment duration as follows: one mission to Bonn, Germany and one mission to Brindisi, Italy are anticipated and will need to be reflected in the financial proposal. For cost estimation and proposal preparation purpose, the number of days for each mission is as follows:

Mission Station: Bonn, Germany and Brindisi, Italy

Number of Days and Expected Dates: Up to 5 days

Any necessary travel must be approved in advance by OneHR’s Manager
The consultant is responsible for obtaining any visas and security clearances needed to travel, with the necessary support from OneHR;
The consultant is also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/
All related travel expenses will be supported by OneHR budget and will be arranged as per UNDP rules and regulations for consultants. Costs for airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should be included in financial proposal.

Competencies

Ability to adhere to tight deadlines
Ability to manage multiple tasks simultaneously
Sound judgement and decision making
Ability to work in a multicultural environment

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree from an accredited higher education institution. Relevant fields of study and professional work include: Human Resources Management, Business Administration, Psychology or International Relations is required.

Years of Experience:

At least 5 years relevant experience in human resources management is required
At least 3 years of experience in recruitment is required
Experience communicating with various stakeholders is required
Experience in the usage of office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc) is required
Customer relations experience is desirable
Data and record management experience is desirable
Excellent case management skills are desirable.
UN experience is desirable
Experience with HR modules and/or CRM systems is desirable

Language:

Excellent writing, editing, and oral communication skills in English is required;
Knowledge of official UN languages is desirable, including French, Arabic, Spanish, Russian and Chinese

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 CV or 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-houra 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. Relevant knowledge for the assignment, particularly specialization in Human Resources Management, Business Administration, Psychology or International Relations: Weight 10 %; Maximum Points: 10;
Criteria 2. Relevant experience in Human Resource Management: Weight 30 %; Maximum Points: 30;
Criteria 3. Experience with HR modules and/or CRM systems Weight 10 %; Maximum Points: 10;
Criteria 4. Interview: Weight 20 %; Maximum Points: 20.

Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top five shortlisted candidates for interview. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

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 OneHR’ Manager, and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above.

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

Framework Agreement:

UNDP plans to enter into the Long-Term Agreement (LTA) with two TOP ranked successful Individual Contractors to assure resources availability at the required time frame and/or increased demand for services requested. Other technically qualified applicants that are not contracted, at the UNDP discretion, will be placed in the roster of consultants, for a period of three years, to be used based on call basis for similar services.

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 Contractors 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/s is expected to provide Confirmation of Interest on the specific services required. Financial commitments will only be established each time a Purchase Order for the specific services/TOR for Individual Contractor is committed and based on the agreed LTA Daily Rate Consultancy Fee.

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.

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 hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily (taking into account Brandisi and Bonn working hours)