Background

In Asia and the Pacific, UNDP is increasingly requested to provide support services to governments and private sector on developing transparent and accountable solutions that contribute to sustainable development in the region.  These services are part of UNDP’s Bangkok Regional Hub’s signature solutions on good governance and partnerships with the private sector to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2018, BRH has launched a regional project on “Promoting a fair business environment in ASEAN” (2018-2021) targeting 6 countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. The multi-year regional project- Promoting a fair business environment in ASEAN is carried out by UNDP in cooperation with the British government and aims to promote fair, transparent and predictable business environments by working with both governments and the private sector in a collaborative manner.

UNDP supports governments in building sound public procurement systems that ensure effective service delivery, promote an enabling environment for businesses and maximize the use of domestic resources for development. In addition we support governments in aligning with their obligations under article 9 of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption on Public Procurement And Management of Public Finances.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will work in the Transparency, Accountability & Anti-Corruption team, under the overall guidance of the Senior Advisor and Regional Project Manager of “Promoting a fair business environment in ASEAN”.

The consultant will perform the following roles and responsibilities

1. Partnerships with global, regional and national stakeholders:

• Facilitate and contribute to developing strong and action-oriented partnerships with relevant actors in the region and other UN entities working in the field of governance and open and transparent public procurement systems.
• Participate in regional and global fora as an expert subject promoting UNDP’s approach, tools and good practices.

2. Policy Advice and Programme Support:

• In close coordination with the regional team, lead the policy formulation and development and policy support in relation to the agenda of transparent and open public procurement systems in the context of the SDGs.
• Provide support target countries in these policy areas, helping them to ensure relevance of the services and programmatic activities provided at country level.
• Provide support in the formulation of f integrated and multi-disciplinary approaches aimed at breaking silos at regional and country level.

3.  Knowledge Production and Knowledge Management:

• Produce research, knowledge products and advocacy materials relevant to the output 2 of the project, on improving procurement transparency.
• Stimulate the use of innovative approaches and solutions aimed at improving transparency and openness in procurement systems.
• Develop capacity development offers (workshops, trainings, webinars) for UNDP and partners aimed at promoting knowledge exchange about the challenges and opportunities of creating a fair business environment in the ASEAN context.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The consultant will support the implementation of the Regional Project “Promoting a fair business environment in ASEAN” including:

• Support the preparation of the Regional Dialogue on Open and Transparent Public Procurement jointly organized by UNDP-UNODC-ACT, planned for 9-10 September 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand.
• Provide technical assistance at the country level (the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand), in line with the specific country priorities. The scope of work may include among others:  legal advice on public procurement reform, establishment of internal control frameworks, modernization of public procurement, capacity building and professionalization of public procurement officials and suppliers and, open data and e-procurement processes (October to December 2019).
• Develop training materials and knowledge products (guidance note/issues briefs/tool kits) for public officials and Civil Society Organization (CSO) actors on strengthening transparency, openness and integrity in public procurement (at least two knowledge products agreed with the team).
• Produce a report on UNDP’s progress and results achieved under output 2 on Improving Procurement Transparency in the target countries by March 2020.
• Perform any other tasks related to the Project as assigned.

Institutional Arrangement:

The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Project Manager, Transparency, Accountability and Anti-Corruption at UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub in close cooperation with the other team members (Programme Analyst and Programme Assistants).

Duration of the Assignment:

The period of the assignment starts from 20 August 2019 to 31 March 2020 upto maximum of 100 working days.

Duty Station:

Home based, with travel missions to Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• Strong sense of integrity is essential
• Excellent communication and organization skills
• Effective interpersonal skills
• Full computer literacy and experience in working with PC-based equipment
• Strong communication and reporting skills and ability to work in a team

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree or master’s degree in economics, finance, business, public administration, project management or related field is required

Experience:

• At least 10 years of experience in international and national public procurement systems
• A strong track record in advising governments in reforming national public procurement systems
• Knowledge on rules, regulations, policies, procedures, institutional structures, performance measurement, professional and career development, and good practices of national and international public procurement systems
• Expertise and experience in a) service delivery, particularly public procurement, public financial management  auditing and anti-corruption; and b) institutional development for stakeholders’ involvement and coalition-building for reforms.
• Prior experience and knowledge of the public procurement system in Asia-Pacific is an advantage

Language:

• Fluent in spoken and written English

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Daily Fee. Consultant shall quote an all-inclusive Daily Fee for the contract period. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment are already factored into the daily fee submitted in the proposal. If applicable, travel or daily allowance cost (if any work is to be done outside the IC’s duty station) should be identified separately. Payments shall be done on a monthly basis based on actual days worked, upon verification of completion of deliverables and approval by the IC’s supervisor of a Time Sheet indicating the days worked in the period (which shall be in accordance with the monthly work plan agreed with the Project Manager).

In general, UNDP shall 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

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. Travel costs shall be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis. The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%) and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment. Only shortlisted candidates will be considered for the interview which will be used to confirm and/or adjust the technical scores awarded based on documentation submitted.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

• Criteria 1: Relevance of Education (Maximum 20 points)
• Criteria 2: Mix of academic and practical experience in service delivery, particularly public procurement, PFM, auditing and anti-corruption (Maximum 20 points)
• Criteria 3: Mix of academic and practical experience in institutional development for stakeholders’ involvement and coalition-building for reforms (Maximum 15 points)
• Criteria 4: Excellent knowledge of the political, economic, social situation and local development for the Asia-Pacific (Maximum 15 points)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the total technical points would be shortlisted and considered for the interview and the financial evaluation.

Documentation required:

Interested individuals must submit the following documents /information to demonstrate their qualification, experience and suitability to undertake the assignment.  All supporting documents (a-d) must be part of the detailed CV and uploaded as one document

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex III;
2. Personal CV, 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;
3. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment
4. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (in USD Currency). 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.

*** Incomplete proposals may not be considered. The shortlisted candidates may be contacted and the successful candidate will be notified.

ANNEXES:

Annex I ToR_IC Procurement Consultant
Annex II General Terms and Conditions for Contracts Individual Consultants
Annex III Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal
Annex IV Procurement Notice

All documents can be downloaded at : http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=57543