Background

Successive Philippine Administrations in the Philippines have consistently pursued programs to reduce poverty and inequality. The amount of government spending has increased significantly over the period 2011-2015 largely because of improved revenue collection and fiscal reforms. The administration of President Rodrigo Duterte has accelerated this spending program, particularly through the mantra “build, build, build”. However, absorptive capacity of government agencies has been affected by bottlenecks in the planning, design, pre-execution, procurement, and execution phases of projects with problems in coordination within and between national government agencies and issues also with local government capacity. A critical issue, therefore, is the effective management of public procurement that underpins the Administration’s Development Agenda.

The legal framework for public procurement in the Philippines is notably strong: the passage of the Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA) or RA 9184 in 2003 ended the era of fragmented procurement regulation which had enabled leakages. Still, public procurement continues to suffer from frequent delays (e.g., bid failures) as well as corruption scandals (e.g., bid riggings), both of which hamper the timely and effective delivery of public services. Systemic reform and capacity building are needed to support government plans to boost public spending to meet its development goals.

A Rapid Assessment has been pursued on the last quarter of 2017 to help inform the process of strengthening institutions for public procurement. The Rapid Assessment conducted diagnosed the integrity risks in public procurement and the management of public finances in order to develop a collective agenda for improving public service delivery.  It provided relevant information emanating from the series of dialogues conducted among key stakeholders on these integrity risks and broader Public Financial Management (PFM) and service delivery issues; and likewise provided recommendations for a capacity development action plan for improving service delivery.

The engagement of a National Consultant for Procurement Reform for Department of Transportation (DOTR) is needed to contribute to the initiative of UNDP to strengthen the public procurement system of the Philippines and deepen integrity and effective delivery of services.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Democratic Governance Team Leader, the Consultant will:

1. Closely coordinate with the Procurement Reform Advisor and provide assistance whenever necessary in developing the five-year PFM programme document of UNDP and resource mobilization strategy;
2. Closely coordinate with the Consultant for Procurement Internal Control Framework and provide assistance in crafting the Procurement Internal Control Framework standard which will be used by the pilot agency (DOTR);
3. Assist the Consultants in the assessment of the internal control system used by DOTR in their procurement processes and procedures with emphasis on the efficiency of the procedures that are followed in accordance with R.A. 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act” and identify specific internal control weaknesses in their procurement processes and procedures;
4. Assist the Procurement Reform Advisor in implementing the UNDP 5-year PFM programme in DOTR;
5. Provide technical support to DOTR in the adoption of a risk-based procurement business model;
6. Provide inputs to the Consultants on the feasibility to include a “procurement analyst” item in the staffing summary of the DOTR Procurement Division.
7. Provide inputs to the Procurement Reform Advisor on the viability for DOTR to pursue Green Procurement;
8. Conduct a policy scan and desk review on how to improve and integrate CSO (Civil Society Organizations) participation in the procurement process; and
9. Regularly report the development of the abovementioned programs to UNDP Philippines through the Project Manager of the DepEd Team.

Expected Output and Deliverables

The Individual Contractor is expected to accomplish the following activities with corresponding deliverables:

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.

Functional and technical competencies:

• Strong knowledge of the latest theories and concepts in urban development and sustainable cities in the Philippines and broader region;
• Strong analytical and research skills;
• Familiarity with current actors working on urban development challenges in the Philippines;
• Strong communication skills and ability to communicate with different stakeholders;
• Excellent in oral and written communication; have skills to write independent reports, documents, maintain systems and procedures in administering programs.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications Of The Successful Individual Contractor

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, Communications, Social Sciences and related courses

Experience:

• Minimum of fifteen (15) years relevant experience to project management, financial administration, and other related work experience;
• Minimum of 10 years public financial management; national and local budget reform experience;
• Minimum of 10 years social accountability and third-party monitoring experience;
• Previous engagement with any UN agencies

Language:

• Fluency in spoken and written English, Filipino

Scope Of Price Proposal And Schedule Of Payments

The financial proposals from possible candidates should be expressed in lump sum amount inclusive of all financial costs related to this engagement (i.e., such as transportation/travel to and from residence for meetings within Metro Manila, supplies and materials, equipment, reproduction, communications including internet, etc).

Payments will be made when specific outputs have been submitted, as outlined below:

Recommended Presentation of Offer

Offerors are requested to upload in one file the following documents:

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability that indicates the all-inclusive lumpsum contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided; If an 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 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;
2. Financial Proposal 
3. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
4. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, if applicable, on how they will approach and complete the assignment.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

The offer will be evaluated based on a Combined Scoring method where the qualifications and technical proposal will be weighted a maximum of 70% and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a maximum of 30%. The technical proposal will be evaluated based on 1) CV and 2) submission of item # 4 – brief description under the Recommended Presentation of Offer.

For the evaluation of the CV, the following point system will be used:

The breakdown of percentage for the entire technical evaluation is as follows:

In the combined scoring, the Financial Proposal will be computed as a ratio of the Proposal’s offer to the lowest price among the proposals received by UNDP.

Please visit http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=51540  to access the Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and view the complete details of Terms of Reference.

In view of the volume of applications UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.