UNV Jobs - 89128- 94253-Consultant - Business Workflows and Efficien

94253-Consultant - Business Workflows and Efficiency Gains

Advertised on behalf of

UNV

Location :

Based in Bonn, Germany for 45 days and homebased remote work 45 days

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

15-Jan-2020

Application Deadline :

05-Jan-20 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

18 weeks

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

January to May 2020

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 Volunteers (UNV) programme is administred by UNDP and follows all UNDP rules and regulations. UNV is the UN system common service that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. Volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing volunteers.

Since 1970, UNV has collaborated with a variety of partners at different levels to promote volunteer contributions to sustainable human development and peace. Every year around 8,000 skilled individuals from about 160 nationalities serve as UN Volunteers in about 130 countries in Africa, Arab States, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and CIS. UNV also mobilizes more than 11,000 UN Online Volunteers yearly.

UNV is based in Bonn, Germany, with around 130 staff members at headquarters. UNV also has an Office in New York, six Regional Offices in Amman, Bangkok, Dakar, Istanbul, Nairobi and Panama City and around 60 Field Units that represent the organization at the country level (http://www.unv.org/about-us.html).

In 2017-2018, UNV implemented a Transformation Plan, which called for re-alignment of the organisational structure to its new Strategic Framework of 2018-2021 (https://www.unv.org/about-unv/unv-strategic-framework-2018-2021). The Plan was successfully completed in 2018. As a result of the re-structuring process, the Volunteer Services Centre (VSC) was formed to provide centralised services during all phases of volunteer management cycle. In particular, VSC is responsible for providing timely and high-quality services in the identification and recruitment of UN Volunteers, as well as in the management of the conditions of service of volunteers globally. Based in Bonn, Germany in UNV Headquarters, VSC works in close collaboration with Regional Offices and Field Units to ensure seamless and consolidated services in accordance with regulations and rules, pertinent policies and internal procedures.

In 2017-2019, UNV achieved stellar results in mobilising UN volunteers for UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes. With the growing business outlook and increasing demand for qualitative yet faster and more cost-conscious service provision to partners, VSC is reviewing its current workflows to address immediate demands and continue playing a pivotal role in providing services to a wide range of stakeholders.

In parallel, UNV is reviewing the UN Volunteers Conditions of Service (COS) so as to strengthen the package of services provided to UN Volunteers and their host entities while reducing the volume of transactions required.

In 2019 UNV has also embarked in a digital transformation aiming at leveraging latest technologies and artificial intelligence to reduce labor required by each transaction. In this regard a new Unified Volunteer Platform (UVP) should be launched in December 2020 together with new COS.

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE REQUESTED SERVICES

The purpose of the consultancy is to undertake a detailed analysis and review of VSC operation workflows, from their initiation to the final deliverable to stakeholders, and develop and/or amend business processes in order to further increase VSC and UNV efficiency and effectiveness.

VSC operation workflows have been identified and grouped as below:
a. Talent acquisition
b. Cabdidate identification
c. Volunteer recruitment
d. Volunteer management
e. Payroll
f. Service desk
g. Full-funding and UN agencies special initiatives

To achieve this objective, the consultant is expected to:
1. Conduct time and motion study for all business processes and sub-processes to cost and time them:
a. Develop and/or update workflows featuring every step
b. Time and cost them end-to-end
2. Identify possible bottlenecks that might be impeding the smooth and timely initiation, development and processing of transactions
3. Recommend options to optimize and automate business performance and address the identified bottlenecks in compliance with UNDP Internal Countrol Framework
4. Develop new business workflows accordingly, incorporating improvements resulting from digital transformation (leveraging latest technology developments such as Robotic Process Automation, Artificial Intelligence, digitalization, machine learning, etc.) and highligthing efficiency gains
5. Define benchmarks and key performance indicators (KPIs) for each workflow as per industry standards to guide staff on the strengthened business work processes
6. Recommend possible optimization of the decision-making milestones, compliance management and organizational set up as per best practices in public and private global shared services for efficient and cost-effective service delivery.

The consultant will have to submit a detailed methodological approach and work plan in the Inception Report, that will be commented on by UNV and then finalized by the consultant.

The consultant is also expected to produce a Final Report, which will be up to a 50-page document (maximum, excluding the annexes) in English, having a stand-alone Executive Summary, description of end-to-end workflows, industry standards, efficiency gains, benchmarks and kpis for each workflows (current and new) and conclusions.

The consultancy will be carried out in a period of 18 weeks (90 working days) between January and May 2020.

The consultant commits to the following deliverables:
• Startup of the consultancy: 15 January 2020
• Inception Report: 24 January 2020
• Time and motion study (including optimization options): 18 March 2020
• New workflows (including benchmarks and kpis): 29 April 2020
• Presentation of main findings and draft report: 6 May 2020
• Final Report based on feedback on the draft and presentation: 15 May 2020

The consultancy will be based on existing data sources, such as service performance metrics and results of the Time Study conducted in Summer 2019. The consultancy will also require the consultant to identify and pursue any other relevant primary and secondary information sources. It is expected that the consultant coordinates evidence collection with the relevant UNV sections to limit duplication of efforts. The consultancy deliverables will inform the system development of UVP.

The consultation will be managed by the VSC Team Leader, with the oversight of the Director of Management Services.

The VSC Team Leader will be responsible for the day-to-day supervision of work and the review of key deliverables. In particular, the VSC Team Leader will help in identifying the key subject matter experts, facilitate communications with key stakeholders and chair related meetings, enable access to all relevant data, and manage the contract. In working on the assignment, the consultant may work with other teams/units as would be defined by UNV.

The VSC Team will be fully involved in the consultancy as information source and key informant for and through briefings, debriefings and review of deliverables.

The Director of Management Services will guide the consultancy, and recommend the approval of the consultancy final report.

The consultant will be based in Bonn, Germany at UNV Headquarters for 45 days and homebased remotely for 45 days, total 90 days. Please include two return travel tickets to Bonn in your financial offer. UNV will provide overall logistical support (including temporary office space in Bonn).

The consultancy will be conducted in English.

Competencies

Competencies:

Experience performing business workflows analysis and review in a global service centre setting
Hands on experience with end to end time and motion study
Experience working with multiple partners in a UN setting
Excellent analytical skills and ability to organize and analyze data
Solid business operation acumen skills
Excellent communication and presentation skills (written & verbal) across multiple audiences
Highly driven, dependable and results-oriented
Familiarity with latest trends in process automation is a strong asset
Familiarity with UN rules and internal control framework (ICF) is an asset
Fluency in English required

Required Skills and Experience

REQUIREMENTS FOR EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS
I. Academic Qualifications:
Advanced university degree in business administration, HR, accounting, economics, financial management or any other related field

II. Years of experience:

At least 10 years of relevant professional experience in business transformation, especially in human resource and financial management.
Experience with UNDP is an asset;

The award of the contract will 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 a set of weighted technical and financial criteria described below:

Evaluation Criteria Max. Point; 70
Technical (Note: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation), including:
a. Proposed methodology: 20
b. Experience performing business workflows analysis and review in a global service centre setting: 20
c. Hands on experience with end to end time and motion study: 15
d. Experience working with multiple partners in a UN setting: 5
e.Business operation acumen skills 5
f. Familiarity with UNDP rules and internal control framework (ICF) 5
Financial 30

4. DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Cover letter including a Technical Proposal
The technical proposal shall describe
• why the consultant is the most suitable for the work
• the methodology on how the consultant will approach and conduct the work

2. Financial proposal
The lump sum/contract price is fixed (regardless of potential, subsequent changes in the cost components).

3. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references

5. FINANCIAL PROPOSAL
The financial proposal shall consist of all-inclusive lump sum for the whole duration of the contract period, which shall include the consultancy fee, costs of living, costs for insurance, and cost of travel to and from the duty station. The financial proposal shall contain a breakdown of these costs and indicate the number of off-days the consultant wants to take during the contract period (if any). You must use the Confimation of Interest (COI) form, see link below.

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel and per diem costs. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel, 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

The payments will be made in three installments using the lump sum approach, i.e. against the main deliverables, at the client satisfaction:
• 20% upon reception of the Inception Report;
• 40% upon reception of the Time and motion study (including optimization recommendations) and
• 40% upon reception of the Final Report.

Application procedure:
Qualified candidates must apply online via the UNDP Jobshop. Interested candidates are advised to carefully review these terms of reference and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described above.

Applications should contain:
a) Cover Letter, including a summary of your experience and expertise and why you are the most suitable for the job

b) the Technical Proposal which includes the methodology on how the consultant will approach and conduct the work,
c) Financial Proposal using the duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability (COI) link to COI template ; https://popp.undp.org/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=/UNDP_POPP_DOCUMENT_LIBRARY/Public/PSU_%20Individual%20Contract_Offerors%20Letter%20to%20UNDP%20Confirming%20Interest%20and%20Availability.docx&action=default

Your Financial Proposal must indicate the total 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 UNV 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 UNV

d) 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;

Please paste the cover letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application and ensure you have provided all requested materials. All supporting documents should be scanned and attached into one PDF format document. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Queries should be sent to: procurement@unv.org, att Marc Wharton clearly marking – 94253 - Consultant - Business Workflows and Efficiency Gains
Terms and conditions, as well as contract samples can be found at this link:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf
as well as contract samples can be found at this link: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/procurement/business/how-we-buy.html

Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are only able to inform the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

Please make sure you provide all requested materials. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Applications sent by email will not be considered.

Note: UNDP/UNV reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this procurement notice. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP/UNV with similar terms of reference, experience and educational requirements.