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.

UNDP is currently seeking an experienced International Expert on Fiscal Decentralization and financing of Municipalities to assist the project “Improving Municipal Governance” in strengthening the financial management and revenue collection capacities of 81 local-self-government units to deliver all necessary public services.

The “decentralization” process that started in 2005 has devolved a wide range of responsibilities from central to local governments. However, many municipalities still struggle to provide adequate services to their constituents. These shortcomings are particularly severe in smaller, rural and remote municipalities, which need assistance in designing and providing services to address the needs of specific groups, particularly women, minorities and vulnerable or marginalized groups such as persons with disabilities.

To address these challenges, EU and UNDP funded project ‘’Improving Municipal Governance” aims to improve people’s lives by helping municipal governments to secure the funds and develop the skills they need to deliver high-quality public services to residents of local communities. The project intends to do so by: 1) improving the monitoring, design and provision of already decentralized services; 2) helping municipalities undertake new services in line with inclusive local development plans; 3) ensuring that municipalities can secure sufficient revenues to deliver all necessary public services.

The country continues to face a long-standing challenge of improving tax collection on local level and increasing municipal revenues. Municipal performance in these key areas remains weak and uneven, and there is no comprehensive knowledge platform offering training modules that can be used as a reference for existing municipal staff and as induction materials for new staff.

To address this challenge, the Project will provide support to the Ministry of Finance to further upgrade fiscal decentralization policy and local capacities on public finance management.

PURPOSE OF THE CONSULTANCY   

Objectives of the Assignment

The aim of this assignment is to improve local capacities to collect local tax revenues and effectively manage and control the budgeting and expenditure of public finances.  In addition, it aims to optimize the effects of the existing local revenue instruments and introduce new ones. These efforts will increase local government fiscal independence, transparency, accountability, efficiency and the quality of service delivery at municipal level.

Duties and Responsibilities

The International consultant is expected to work in coordination with the assigned local expert/s from the consultancy company that will provide local knowledge and input to the project outputs. The International Consultant is expected to conduct the following tasks:

1. Carry out a Comparative Analysis of Local Revenue Systems in EU Countries

• Conduct an in-depth Comparative Analysis of the local revenue systems/structures/models, revenue sources, taxation practices/trends and its normative framework of local revenues in EU Countries and in North Macedonia;
• Identify successful practices from EU member states applicable to boost and diversify municipal revenues within the country legal and institutional framework;
• Provide recommendations on improving existing municipal revenue instruments and the introduction of new ones;
• Provide recommendations for improving the Laws on Municipal Taxes and Fees and on Property Tax;

2. Prepare a Feasibility Study on New and Applicable Municipal Revenue Instruments in the Country Context together with the Consultancy Company hired by UNDP

• Prepare a Feasibility study to elaborate the following criteria: applicability, cost-benefit analysis, fiscal impacts, potential problems, factors to be considered if the recommendations from the Comparative Analysis of Local Revenue Systems of EU Countries which could be applied in the country;
• Organize a two-day consultative event with municipal stakeholders to commonly agree on best solutions and ways to implement new and applicable municipal revenue instruments;
• Provide recommendations to strengthen the financial autonomy of local self-government in the country to fulfill the commitments on the European Charter on Local Self-Governnment for stronger autonomy of local self-government and enable closer integration of the LSG system of the country in the joint European administrative space;
• The study should produce policy recommendations for the Ministry of Finance;

3. Review the Comprehensive Capacity Development Program for efficient collection of local tax revenues, stable financial management and internal financial control to all 80 LSGUs plus the City of Skopje, prepared by the consulting company

• Review and provide professional assistance to the development of the comprehensive Capacity Development Program and curriculum with training courses, briefs and manuals to respond to identified capacity priorities, developed by the engaged local consulting company;
• Review and assist in developing five priority training modules considered as priority for knowledge and skills transfer;
• Define indicators for measuring the success of the capacity development response
• Evaluate the success of the Programme against the set indicators

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES    

Deliverables

The International Consultant is expected to provide the following deliverables:

1. Detailed work plan submitted for approval to UNDP, April 5, 2019
2. Three reviews and inputs to the Comprehensive Capacity Development Program, prepared by the Local consultants, May 25, 2019
3. Draft Comparative Analysis of Local Revenue Systems in EU Countries (up to 50 pages), May 10, 2019
4. Final Comparative Analysis of Local Revenue Systems in EU Countries June 10, 2019
5. Draft Feasibility Study on New and Applicable Municipal Revenue Instruments in the Country Context, June 20, 2019
6. One (two day) consultative event organized with 60 participants for the feasibility study, latest by July 15, 2019
7. Final Feasibility Study on New and Applicable Municipal Revenue Instruments in the Country Context (up to 100 pages), August 30, 2019

Payment schedule

The payment for the services will be carried out in three installments, upon certification of successful completion of the assigned working packages. For this purpose, the consultant shall keep records (time sheets) of her/his work on different tasks.

The payment of the Consultant on this project will be done in three instalments:

• First payment after submitting deliverable 1;
• Second payment after submitting deliverable 2, 3 and 4;
• Third payment after submitting deliverable 5, 6 and 7;

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT     

The Consultant will work under direct supervision of the Project Manager. He/she will be in regular communication with the supervisor through e-mail and over the phone and will provide regular progress report on agreed basis.

The Consultant is expected to work in coordination with the Local Company hired in the framework of the same project on tasks (2, 5, 6 and 7) listed above.

The consultant, during the course of the assignment, is expected to interact and collaborate with national authorities (Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Local Self-Government), municipalities, mayors, Association of municipalities -ZELS etc.

LANGUAGE

All deliverables/outputs need to be prepared in English. The produced documents shall be subject to proofreading, while the quality of the final versions is subject to UNDP approval.

DURATION OF THE WORK

The assignment should be completed in the period from March 2019 to September 2019. The exact start of the assignment will be agreed with the selected contractor upon finalization of the procurement process. The overall duration of the tasks covered by this ToR has been estimated to not exceed 100 days, including desk-work and field work.

DUTY STATION AND TRAVEL

The international consultant is expected to have three in-country missions. Each in country mission will be five to ten days long depending on the methodology for this assignment. Costs must be anticipated by the expert and presented under travel costs all inclusive.

• Tickets should be on most direct economic class (business and first-class airfare are not permitted as per UNDP rules and regulations);

Preliminary travel schedule is presented bellow (NOTE: this schedule is tentative and for orientation purposes only. It is subject to modifications depending on actual project activities:

Competencies

• Strong research, analytical, reporting and writing abilities;
• Demonstrates excellent organizational skills and proven ability to deliver consultancy products within deadlines;
• Ability to synthesize research and draw conclusions on the related subject;
• Writes clearly and convincingly, adapting style and content to different audiences;
• 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: A master’s degree in public or Business Administration, Economics, Public Finance Management, or related discipline is required. A PhD is a strong asset.

Experience:

• At least 8 years of relevant practical experience is required in fiscal decentralization projects in the field of local financing, public finance management, local taxes, tax collection, revenue instruments;
• At least 5 years of practical working experience as a consultant and advisor in international context in the field of local financing and/or fiscal decentralization and/or 7 years as management level official in subnational national/local government public administration.

Languages: Excellent language proficiency in both written and oral English.

Other required qualifications

Proven record of at least 3 similar assignments carried out in the field of research and analysis of local financing, local revenues, tax policies, capacity building, public finance management. Evidence, knowledge and experience in fiscal policies, revenue collection, local financing in EU context. Previous knowledge of the country context will be an asset.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF BEST OFFER

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 against below criteria and deemed the most favourable:

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

Only candidates who will obtain at least 49 points and will score at least 70% of the maximum points obtainable for the technical criteria (1-7) will be considered for financial evaluation followed by an interview.

 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.

DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED

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.

Applicant ‘s offer has to comprise the following documents:

1. Offeror’s letter (summarizing qualifications and relevance for the assignment based on previous experience) as per the following form LINK
2. Most updated professional CV with focus on required qualification;

1.  Methodology
2. Financial proposal.

The financial proposal must be expressed in the form of a lumpsum i.e. all-inclusive cost, presented per deliverables and supported by breakdown of costs as per deliverables in the template provided for this consultancy

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Step 1

1. Click on the "Apply now" button
2. 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.
3. 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 in the “Documents to be submitted” section to demonstrate their qualifications. The system will allow only one attachment. Therefore, please upload all required documents as one file.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested documents/information.

Please note that shortlisted candidates might be interviewed.

If the deliverables are not produced and submitted by the consultant to the satisfaction of UNDP as approved by the responsible Programme Officer, no payment will be made even the consultant has invested man-days to produce such deliverables.