Background

The project of Strengthening Arab Economic Integration for Sustainable Development (AEISD), by UNDP, has an objective to provide technical assistance to the League of Arab States (LAS), specifically the Economic Sector and relevant organs, and member states of Pan Arab Free Trade Area (PAFTA) in working towards a deepened integration, including preparations for the Arab Customs Union.

Being conscious that trade has significant potential to fight poverty in Arab countries through generating more income and access to markets. Its second important component relates to strengthening the Arab connectivity among economies in the region. Expectedly, these efforts would be translated into contribution of economic integration for better livelihoods, more employment opportunities and participation by the private sector.

To support improvement of Arab connectivity among countries, project activities, priority is exercised in activities aimed at facilitation of trade, transport, investment and trade-related areas (i.e. trade/transport corridors, promotion of quality infrastructure, competition). Among these, an important initiative related to the promotion of application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and digitalization to facilitate trade, investment and economic development for various countries. UNDP cooperates with Governments of Arab countries and regional/sub-regional organizations such as Agadir Technical Unit to promote activation of trade facilitation measures such as the dematerialization and the digitalized information processing platforms such as National Single Windows, specified by Article 10:4 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.

Its third component focuses on the promotion of inclusiveness and transparency as part of the development agenda, particularly on the economic empowerment of women for regional economic integration.

Built on the progress achieved in supporting the implementation of the Executive Program of the agreement on Facilitating and Developing Trade among Arab Countries (PAFTA), the current project focuses on specific aspects of making trade an engine of inclusive and sustainable growth guided by the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.  In continuation, the project will also focus on helping countries and the main sub-regional and regional integration entities to accelerate the pace of trade reforms and regional economic integration to strengthen the employment effects of those reforms, with a particular focus on women and youth, and to mobilize additional resources for this purpose.

The project also aims to address specific challenges and complexities that Arab countries and League of Arab States face to enhance regional economic integration, more specifically in the transition from an FTA- based framework towards making the customs union a reality.

The following present major areas of focus:

1. Provide a structured and targeted technical support to LAS Secretariat and Arab negotiators on trade policy formulation and reform under PAFTA.
2. Provide assistance to the LAS Secretariat with a view of strengthening its organizational capacity in the pursuit of further facilitation of the regional economic integration agenda as well as promotion of trade liberalization.
3. Assist target Arab countries in collaborating with national policy makers in trade and economic fields in efforts to modernize and reform trade policy by taking into consideration new developments.
4. Facilitation of transport and trade activities which constitutes one of the key areas to support national programs of enhancement, national competitiveness, better market access, and more integration of the value chain.
5. Promoting gender equality and women empowerment as well as generating business and job opportunities for youth is also a key target under the project activities. Moreover, good governance constitution which is a pre-requisite in deepening Arab economic integration to a higher level of commitment with inclusiveness and sustainability.
6. Promoting contribution of trade to be one of the pillars to achieve the SDGs at national and regional level.

These priority dimensions form the basis of the work program of the project. Specifically, the project targets the following result-oriented activities:

1. Development of a technical framework and required instruments for the PAFTA Upgrading - an upgrade from the existing PAFTA, and for the Arab Customs Union (ACU) preparations, to deepen Arab economic integration.
2. Reinforcement of mechanisms of policy design, measures of implementation and of systems of documenting the progress of implementation to secure smooth acceleration of realization of regional commitments.
3. Building the technical capability and capacity of policy makers of Arab countries to support accelerated implementation of the PAFTA Upgrading and preparations for the ACU.
4. Introduction of institutional arrangements that are necessary for the LAS to respond to the requirements of implementation of the PAFTA Upgrading, and consequently of designing and establishing the ACU.
5. Delivery of awareness raising activities and provision of technical guidance on good governance and integrity approaches.
6. Promotion   of   regulatory   transparency, open   dialogues   and   consultations   with   related stakeholders, targeting all social groups but particularly women, for more active participation to cross border operations and related economic activities, among others.

The project team also cooperates with several national authorities and regional organizations in the implementation of defined activities by taking into account requirements and priorities of national socio- economic development plans and strategies of Arab economic integration. The execution is carried out under rules and regulations of the UN applicable for Delegated Direct Implementation and fully aligned to UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures (POPP).

One of the essential components in the promotion of Arab economic integration relates to laying down foundations for a more integrated framework of regional institutions, supportive toward closer cooperation. Improvement of the delivery of public services to Arab citizens, businesses and industries will contribute to enhancement of economic competitiveness. In several economic groupings in the work, having adequate institutional arrangements and working mechanisms is imperative to strengthen regional cooperation and to make it another development tool in support of domestic reform and modernization. This approach constitutes the main topic of the current assignment.

In effect, enhancement of the regulatory transparency and adoption of corresponding peer review by concerned stakeholders will lead to improvement of their accountability, responsibility while lowering the costs of compliance to regulations, costs of adjustments and upgrading of the efficiency of public services. These contribute to further inclusiveness of all economic actors, particularly SMEs to benefit of new opportunities and to capitalize on the new potential.

Good governance is essential to uphold normal functioning of market operations/transactions and efficient allocation of production factors. And more importantly, it contributes to secure equal access to opportunities and resources as well as participation to the international supply chain.

Furthermore, the role of the private sectors and the peer review by the end-users is essential to secure that the regulators execute their duties in accordance with rules and regulations. That will further help to urge for continuous improvement of the delivery of public services.

Taking into account the importance of good governance to works being conducted by border control agencies, the World Customs Organization (WCO) in its 2018 SAFE Framework of Standards Development points to the professional capability and integrity of customs authorities as part of key measures of the to secure an facilitate Global Trade. In effect, the assignment would look into how to foster adoption of good practices in the governance framework of revenue administrations and the one of border control agencies for better efficiency and convenience to the public.

It is also well known that demand for high level of integrity is particularly important for border management agencies as they represent the trust of the public on governmental institutions who are in charge of protecting the country, collection of revenue and protection of citizens. In this regard, the performance of the delivery of services to the business community, actors along the supply chain and the public has a significant impact on economic transactions through enhanced certainty of regulations and control measures. In this regard, the WCO Revised Integrity Development Guide defines integrity as “A positive set of attitudes, which foster honest and ethical behavior and works practices”. These characteristics form part of the basis of the professionalism of staff working in the administration being responsible to manage cross border movement.

Duties and Responsibilities

Governance is imperative for the Arab economic integration taking into various level of development among participating countries and needs of administration of larger markets. One of main expectations from the modernization and reform by the public is, with a higher level of integration, markets in the region would be expanded and, with it, a larger number of employment opportunities and those of producing outputs will be brought about. Effectively, these could result from more efficient and effective allocation of production resources as well as more synchronization and integration of industrial and agricultural production among participating Members of PAFTA. These policies could start with principles of transparency, peer review and accountability and promotes compliance.

The performance by staff and institutions of regulatory agencies in charge of administration of cross-border transactions plays a key role in facilitating the secured trade. Indeed, these agencies are part of the supply chain and enabler of the efficient job distribution and timely flow of goods and commodities across national borders. To that end, multiple international institutions, led by the World Customs Organization intensified their work in the area of Good performance.

Economically, the unreliable performance by border control agencies could cause additional burden and affect business profits. The uncertainty and lack of predictability would require additional goods stockage, costs of preservation again its quality deterioration and delay in the receipt of payment for economic transactions undertaken. As such, these are impediments to the continuous flow of e-Commerce and traffic of small postal packages.

To address these challenges, the assignment intends to focus on the review and design of key indicators to measure the performance in the delivery of public services by governmental agencies in charge of administration of commercial cross-border movement. Secondly, it looks to further the cooperation with business associations and chambers of commerce of Arab countries to promote voluntary compliance.

The expert will be responsible to complete the following tasks:

Activity 1: Review trade and control processes of standard commercial transactions (cross border movements) from the perspective of identification of areas in which productivity and performance could be further improved.

Activity 2: Partner with governmental agencies to study existing regulations and processes to understand any possible exposure to the mis-use or abuse of practices during implementation.

Activity 3: Collaborate with business associations, chambers of commerce and industries to promote voluntary compliance and enhancement of regulations transparency.

Activity 4: Raising awareness of the reform and modernization on the basis of international instruments such as the Revised Arusha Declaration in Customs, WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, Revised Kyoto Convention and similar international literature and references.

Activity 5: Promotion of good practices of contribution of inputs and technical elements from businesses and industries to governmental agencies in charge of border management in enhancing facilitation and security.

Activity 6: Identification of concrete initiatives of partnership between governmental agencies and business associations and/or chamber of commerce and industry. Also, to conduct dialogues and seminars aimed at better transparency and strengthening of the partnership between the Government, businesses and the public in lowering compliance costs.

Activity 7: Design the template of performance contracts for frontline inspectors and staff as a technical guide aimed at enhancing their performance taking into account performance measurement indicators as discussed in references by the World Customs Organization, as well as those by OECD and relevant international organizations.

Activity 8: Prepare the final report and policy recommendations.

Approach and Methodology

The expert is expected to review corresponding literature, regulations and systems of human resource development toward the design of measures to enhance Key Performance Indicators in border control agencies. It is expected that better performance indicators will produce positive results in lowering time and costs of compliance as well as costs of enforcement for better economic competitiveness in the region. These indicators could be either quantitative or qualitative terms, which help to benchmark the progress achieved and to identify how to improve these further.

From findings of literature and on the basis of international technical guidelines, the expert should develop corresponding practices aimed at promotion of voluntary compliance and better performance and efficiency in the regulatory control by concerned agencies while taking into consideration operational circumstances of the region.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

The expert will be responsible to complete the following tasks:

Deliverable 1: Prepare the report of procedural practices of manual control by the control agencies such as customs authorities, Food and Drug Authorities and others, with focus on the identification of areas in which the productivity and performance could be further improved.

Deliverable 2: Collaborate with governmental agencies to study existent regulations and processes to understand any possible exposure to the mis-use or abuse of practices in the implementation. Study perspectives by businesses and industries, the public and suggestions from them on how to improve the performance of control agencies.

Deliverable 3: Collaborate with business associations, chambers of commerce and industries to promote voluntary compliance and enhancement of transparency of regulations. That might include the development of the Guidelines to enhance Regulatory Transparency and Voluntary Compliance.

Deliverable 4: Organize seminars and workshops in cooperation with businesses associations, governmental agencies and the like on key instruments of reform and modernization of controls by governmental agencies, such as the Revised Kyoto Convention, Revised Arusha Declaration in Customs to raise awareness on the approach of Voluntary Compliance.

Deliverable 5: Promote good practices of contribution of inputs and technical elements from businesses and industries to governmental agencies in charge of border management in enhancing facilitation and security. Prepare a booklet of good practices to secure regulatory transparency.

Deliverable 6: Identify specific activities of cooperation between governmental agencies and business associations and/or chamber of commerce and industry. It is included conduct of technical trainings aimed at better transparency and strengthening of the partnership between the Government, businesses and the public in lowering compliance costs.

Deliverable 7: Develop the template of performance contracts for frontline officers of border control agencies as a technical guide of application, aimed at enhancing their performance taking into account performance measurement indicators as discussed in references by the World Customs Organization.

Deliverable 8: Develop the indicative plan of activation of the template performance contracts of frontline officers. Preparation Final Report and respective policy recommendations.

Matrix 1. List of expected deliverables/Outputs

Competencies

Corporate

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’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.

Functional

• Time management and organizational skills, with the ability to undertake multiple tasks and deliver under pressure;
• Strong analytical and synthesis skills;
• Ability to work independently and achieve quality results with limited supervision and within tight schedules;
• Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills;
• Experience in reports production;
• Ability to write in a clear and concise manner;
• Good teamwork and interpersonal skills;
• Flexibility and ability to handle multiple tasks and work under pressure;
• Excellent computer skills especially Word, Excel and Power Point.

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Ability to strongly promote and build knowledge products;
• Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information and best practices from within and outside of UNDP;
• Demonstrates a strong capacity for innovation and creativity in providing strategic policy advice and direction.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualification:

• Bachelor’s Degree in international trade, business administration, economics, trade and development or any other related field.

Work Experience:

• At least 5 years of professional experience with works related to human resource development and/or having extensive experiences in operational procedures in the administration of cross-border trade control.
• Familiar with the design of public policies in human resource development in governmental agencies.

Technical experience:

• Holding solid experiences in relevant works of good compliance, good governance and voluntary compliance.
• Extensive expertise and knowledge of customs practices and operations;
• Extensive expertise and knowledge on key customs techniques (i.e…, tariff, valuation, rules of origin) and promotion of voluntary compliance;
• Having experience in working with business associations and businesses related to control and administer cross-border trade;
• Having experience in the implementation of projects of partnership with governmental agencies in facilitating secured cross-border trade;
• Being familiar with international agreements and good practices in good governance and institutional strengthening for voluntary compliance;
• Demonstrated experience in having performed similar assignments in the Arab region is an asset; and
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

Language Requirements

• Language proficiency in English written and oral is required. Arabic Language is desirable.

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT

• The expert is required to exhibit his or her commitment to this assignment with UNDP-RBAS;
• S/He shall perform tasks under the guidance of the Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) of the Strengthening Arab Economic Integration for Sustainable Development (AEISD) project. The supervision will include approvals/acceptance of the outputs;
• The expert is expected to liaise and collaborate in the course of performing the work with other consultants, suppliers and UN colleagues;
• The expert is required to maintain close communication with the UNDP-RBAS on regular and needed basis at any period throughout the assignment in order to monitor progress. In the event of any delay, s/he will inform UNDP promptly so that decisions and remedial action may be taken accordingly.
• Delays that would affect the flow of the collaborative work and the delivery of outputs on schedule will lead to termination of contract; and
• Should UNDP deem it necessary, it reserves the right to commission additional inputs, reviews or revisions, as needed to ensure the quality and relevance of the work.

DURATION OF THE WORK

The duration of the work is expected to be 40 working days from the date of signing the contract for the duration of 5 months.

DUTY STATION AND TRAVEL PLAN

Home-based assignment, with expected travel to Jordan, Sudan and Egypt

TRAVEL PLAN

This assignment requires the individual contractor to travel in line with the preliminary travel plan/schedule hereunder. If any additional unforeseen travel outside the consultant home based city is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the consultant shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).

SCOPE OF PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

All proposals must be expressed in a lump sum amount. This amount must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the terms “all-inclusive” implies that costs of (professional fees, communications, translation costs…., etc.) that could possibly be incurred are a factored into the final amounts for submission in the proposal.

The contractor will be paid an all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based lump sum amounts over the assignment period, subject to the submission of Certification of Payment (CoP) duly certified and confirmation of satisfactory performance of achieved work (deliverables/outputs) in line with the schedule of payments table hereunder:

Matrix 2. Schedule of Payment

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Candidates that fail to submit the required information will not be considered.

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
2. 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;
3. A five-page description to substantiate thematic explanations about why you consider yourself as the most suitable candidate for the assignment with supporting evidence of previous works;
4. One sample of work that shows the candidate’s competence to undertake the assignment.
5. Financial Proposal: that indicates the all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided.  The terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. 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. 

Interested candidates shall submit above documents to the Job Advertisement Website: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm  as one document not later than 08 February 2020.

Interested candidates can find Procurement notice, letter of confirmation of interest and availability and P11 http://procurement-notices.undp.org/

Please do not submit financial proposal in this stage.  Financial proposal shall be requested from Candidates who are considered technically responsive

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF THE BEST OFFERS

Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%; using the following evaluation criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Step I: Screening and desk review:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Applications will be first screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum requirements will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

• Bachelor’s Degree in international trade, business administration, economics, trade and development or any other related field.
• At least 5 years of professional experience with works related to human resource development and/or having extensive experiences in operational procedures in the administration of cross-border trade control.
• Language proficiency in English written and oral is required.

Technical evaluation Criteria max 100 points (Weighted 70):

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in international trade, business administration, economics, trade and development or any other related field (25 points);
• At least 5 years of professional experience with works related to human resource development and/or having extensive experiences in operational procedures in the administration of cross-border trade control (25 points);
• Extensive expertise and knowledge on key customs techniques (i.e…, tariff, valuation, rules of origin) and promotion of voluntary compliance (15 points);
• Proofed track record of holding solid experiences in relevant works of good compliance, good governance and voluntary compliance and submission of two samples or extracts of previous works (15 points);
• Language proficiency in English written and oral is required. Arabic Language is desirable (5 points);
• Technical Report ( 15 points).

Financial Criteria - max 30% of total evaluation

For those offers considered in the financial evaluation, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points. The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula:  (PI / Pn)* 30 where Pn is the financial offer being evaluated and Pl is the lowest financial offer received.

Step II: Final evaluation

The final evaluation will combine the scores of the desk review and the financial proposal with the following weights assigned to the technical and financial proposal.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology (weighted scoring method), where the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight: 70% of the total score.

Financial Criteria weight: 30% of the total score.

Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the evaluation of the technical proposal would be considered to present for the evaluation of the financial proposal