Background
The UNDP-GEF Unit is based in the Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) and is responsible for providing leadership, technical support and implementation oversight to the delivery of Environment and Sustainable Development pillar of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. The Unit is organized into a number of substantive technical teams with staff located in both HQs and UNDP's Regional Service Centers in Addis Ababa, Istanbul, Panama, and Bangkok, and with a decentralized structure in terms of financial, operational, and budget managements with authority delegated to respective managers located in HQ or in the region.
With funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and a number of donor countries, the Integration Strategies (IS) technical team is implementing a wide range of Climate Change Enabling Activities and Medium sized projects in more than 100 countries, including the National Communications (NC), Biennial Update Reports (BUR) and the Cross-Cutting Capacity Development (CCCD) Programmes. The Programme Support Consultant is needed to assist the Programme Analyst and Technical Advisors with programme and administrative support and oversight for Enabling Activities at a global level, liaising directly with Country Offices in all regions. On a large scope, key responsibilities will include supporting the IS team with monitoring project progress, follow-up on delivery, quality assurance, tracking of financial status, and reporting to internal and external bodies on progress and implementation.
Duties and Responsibilities
The consultant will work under the supervision of the UNDP-GEF Programme Analyst (PA) and Technical Advisors for National Communication projects and Cross-cutting Capacity Development, and will support the Programme Analyst (PA) to carry out the following activities:
Management and Oversight of project processes:
- Examine, review, process, and record incoming documents relating to project portfolio;
- Provide quality assurance in the form of organizing and updating project records, as necessary, in PIMS+ and any other reporting mechanism;
- Communicate directly with PA, UNDP Country Offices (COs), and when necessary, UNDP-GEF Headquarters and Regional Coordination Units to support the PA with project development and implementation;
- Identify non-compliance with UNDP Financial Regulations and Rules and the Internal Control Framework and bring it to the attention of the PA for corrective action;
- Provide support to COs ensuring that UNDP and Global Environmental Facility (GEF) operational and financial guidelines are followed for project formulation and implementation;
- Coordinate with the PA, UNDP-GEF financial unit, and COs regarding operational and financial aspects of project approval, implementation and closure;
- Assist with facilitation and oversight of project implementation and development, including processing of approval letters, assistance with technical and financial clearances, securing relevant signatures, and ensuring quality assurance within digital project files;
- Provide quality control and corrective/anticipatory feedback to the PA regarding project submissions, contributing to quality and accuracy of project proposals and documents.
Monitoring and Evaluation:
- Monitor project delivery and timely submission of progress reports, flagging any potential issues to the PA/RTA;
- Assist with collection, data completeness, and analysis of relevant project progress reports as necessitated by the GEF Secretariat, the UNDP-GEF and the UNFCCC, including annual NC and BUR status surveys, Project Implementation Reports (PIR)/Annual Project Reporting (APR), mid-term and final evaluations. Liaise with relevant COs, project team and/or PA/RTA to ensure correction, completeness and quality of every PIR with due consideration of the PIR quality evaluation criteria, which will be provided;
- Assist PA/RTA with the follow-up on projects with low delivery and implementation issues.
Budgeting Support:
- Assist with review and approval of budget revisions and approval of Authorized Spending Limits of individual projects in close collaboration with Programme Analyst, Country Offices, and UNDP-GEF financial unit;
- Analyze individual project budgets and advises COs on any adjustments that may be needed to comply with Project Documents and UNDP-GEF regulations prior to PA/RTA clearances;
- Assist PA and COs with financial clearance of Project documents.
Outputs:
An indicative list of outputs includes:
- Record and update 60 pipeline and under-implementation projects in the UNDP-GEF project database (PIMS+);
- Review for data completeness and finalization of 14 PIF, EA and CEO approval requests, including Project Documents;
- Secure the finalization and signature of 14 PIF/EA-approved and CEO-endorsed projects;
- Review and analyze 50 AWPs to ensure ASL is allocated;
- Collect, review and support finalization of 10 Project Implementation Reports (PIR)/Annual Project Reporting (APR);
- Collect, review and consolidate annual status reports on the progress of 60 BUR and NC projects;
- Follow-up and collection of supporting documents for 25 operationally and financially closed projects
Institutional Arrangements:
- The overall objective of this Framework Agreements is to facilitate and expedite the process by which UNDP-GEF can hire the services of a Global Programme Support Consultant over the next 3 years;
- Maximum working days over the 3-year period would be 521.
- UNDP does not warrant that any quantity of services will be purchased during the term of the Framework Agreement, as this will depend on forthcoming needs;
- IC as a Framework agreement is non-exclusive (i.e. it does not prohibit UNDP from entering into another such framework agreement with another individuals or entities);
- The Framework Agreement will be for a fixed all-inclusive daily fee;
- Once the Framework Agreement is signed, if there is a specific assignment, the focal person(s) at UNDP would contact the Consultant by email informing of specific deliverables and timeline;
- The consultant must advise within 48 hours whether s/he is available to deliver the requested service;
- Thereafter a Purchase Order will be raised. Financial commitments will only be established each time the services are requested within the scope of the Framework Agreement through the transmitted email and purchase order;
- The consultant will work from home, with limited mission travel;
- The consultant will report to, and be directly supervised by, the UNDP-GEF Programme Analyst based in Istanbul IRH;
- The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
- The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own work 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 a detailed time sheet and certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Supervisor on days worked (with a “day” calculated as 8 hours of work) and outputs delivered.
Travel:
- International travel, not exceeding 10 days per year, may be required (up to 30 days during the 3-year period). The purpose of the missions will include: detailed administrative support to country office teams and national stakeholder to advance project inception and early implementation, participation in inception meetings, and/or to attend Meeting of Practitioners and/or PIMS training;
- Any necessary missions must be approved in advance and in writing by the Supervisor;
- The BSAFE course must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
- Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
- Consultants are responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
- The Consultant is required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/
- The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies;
- All related travel expenses will be supported by the project travel fund and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations for consultants. Costs for airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should not be included in financial proposal.
Competencies
Corporate Competencies:
- Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
- Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Treats all people fairly without favouritism.
Functional Competencies:
Planning and Organizing:
- Sets priorities, produces quality outputs, meets deadlines and manages time efficiently;
- Ability to set and juggle multiple priorities and work under pressure;
- Strong attention to detail within an overall context of high-performance.
Client Orientation:
- Strong service and client orientation;
- Anticipates evolving client needs;
- Excellent interpersonal qualities with the ability to put people at ease and to communicate sensitively and effectively across different constituencies.
Teamwork:
- Ability to participate effectively in a highly team-based, information-sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating harmoniously with others;
- Willingness and ability to travel as work requires.
Communication:
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills (both verbal and in writing);
- Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately;
- Asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication;
- Proven ability to use information technology effectively as a tool and resource.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Bachelor’s degree in economics, natural sciences or other closely related field is required.
- Master’s degree in economics, natural sciences or other closely related field preferred (max.7 points);
- Certification in project management would be desirable (max.5 points).
Experience:
- At least five years of experience in financial resources management, budget management, and/or a project management support functions (max.10 points);
- Experience with any UN or GEF Agency project oversight and/or management is an advantage (max.5 points);
- Knowledge of tools and methodologies to follow-up on projects and project cycle management (max.8 points);
- Experience at the national or international level with organizations that manage grants is a plus (max.5 points);
- Mastery in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, as a minimum; database management as a plus) (max.5 points);
- Experience with UNDP-GEF project cycle work in Climate Change and Multiple focal areas is an advantage (max.10 points).
Language requirements:
- Excellent oral and written communication skills in English language (5 points);
- Spoken and written fluency in other UN languages highly advantageous (5 points).
Evaluation Method:
- Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated. Incomplete applications will not be considered;
- Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the technical criteria will be weighted at 60% and the financial offer will be weighted at 40%;
- The technical criteria (education, experience, language [max. 65 points] and interview [max. 35 points]) will be based on a maximum 100 points.
- Only the top 3 candidates that have achieved a minimum of 39 points from the review of education, experience and language will be considered for the interview;
- Candidates obtaining 21 points or higher in the interview will be deemed technically compliant and considered for financial evaluation;
- Financial score (max 100 points) shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal of those technically qualified;
- The financial proposal shall specify an all-inclusive daily fee. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additionally include a breakdown of this daily fee (including all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment);
- Applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and has accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.
Documentation to be submitted:
- Applicants must submit a CV, including Education/Qualification, Professional Certification, Employment Records /Experience or a duly completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P11) to be downloaded from the below link;
- Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application.
- Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment to be downloaded from the UNDP procurement site.
Kindly note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).
UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.
General Conditions of Contract for the ICs:
Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment:
http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=54836