Background

General 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.

Project Description and Objectives:

Promoting a level playing field for business requires an effort not only on the part of government but also on the part of companies and other stakeholders to “put their house in order” and participate in collective action in the region. Cooperation among different actors is essential to implement the commitments made by countries in Asia-Pacific in various global and regional fora, including during the UK Anti-Corruption Summit in 2016 on measures such as public registries of companies’ ownership and country-country reporting of multinational profits. Therefore, the Project aims to strengthen business integrity and sustainable practices for both private and state-owned enterprises by promoting relevant international standards such as UNCAC, the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance and by encouraging companies to join global and regional initiatives that promote sustainable practices.

To this end, the Fair Biz project has recently developed a Strategy to raise the impact of the project through greater business engagement. The plan is to create a Business Integrity Hub, made up of “platforms” which are designed to maximise business involvement in creating a fair and transparency business environment. The Fair Biz programme is now looking for a consultant to conduct a mapping exercise to identify the companies that UNDP can approach for each of the selected platforms.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work:

Under the overall guidance of Project Leader for the Fair Biz project based in Bangkok, and under the day-to-day guidance of the Business Integrity Advisor, the consultant will support in  development of a mapping study to identify which companies and funds are the main investors in the region and in each of the 6 countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam).

The consultant conducting this mapping study  will be supporting in developing research and collecting information to identify the following:

• Name of company, name of local entity in each country, country where the company is headquartered
• Basic financials from latest published annual report or reported in national registration committee
• Market/industry/sector/investment category
• A short due diligence analysis on the company’s reputation
• Website address
• Name of CEO, Legal counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, Head of PR, Head of GR
• Contact details in the CEOs office
• Business or industry associations of which the company is an active member (ie sitting on board or advisory council or equivalent)
• Which of the Business Integrity Hub platforms the company could be part of

In the following categories:

1. Top 10 private companies from each of the 6 countries.
2. Top 10 State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) from each of the 6 countries.
3. Top 10 companies in the ASEAN region.
4. Top 10 multinationals in each of the 6 countries. headquartered outside each country but in other ASEAN countries.
5. Top 10 multinationals in each of the 6 countries.headquartered outside the ASEAN region.
6. Top 10 multinationals in each of the 6 countries headquartered in the UK.
7. Top 10 international investment funds investing in each the  6 countries and the region.
8. Top 10 current infrastructure projects in the region.  

The above criteria may be modified in discussion with the selected candidate at the beginning of the assignment.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES:

FINAL PRODUCT:

Final mapping study on major companies in each of the 6 countries and ASEAN region

Institutional Arrangement: Consultation calls will be organized on weekly basis with the Business Integrity Advisor for progress monitoring and quality assurance as well as to ensure the timely delivery of the specified deliverables.

Duration of the Work:  Up to a maximum of 25 working days over a period: 13 April – 31 May 2020.

Duty Station: This is a home-based assignment.

Competencies

• Strong command of English.
• Ability to perform tasks in timely manner and under pressure, to tight deadlines.
• Ability to communicate verbally and in writing with a wide range of partners persuasively and collaboratively.
• Able to work independently and as part of a team seamlessly using a range of modern means of communication as required.

Required Skills and Experience

Essential

• Master’s degree or equivalent in relevant areas such as Business Administration
• Knowledge of the private sector in Asia.
• Proven fluency in English writing skills.
• Previous experience conducting research and market studies focusing on private sector.

Desirable

• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience in business integrity, anti-corruption, compliance or business ethics issues in Asia.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

•    Deliverable 1 Final Baseline Study: 50% of total contract amount

•    Deliverable 2 Participation in and support to the organization of the UNDP BRH Lab on Business Integrity and Responsible Business Conduct: 50% of total contract amount

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.  The provided living allowance will not be exceeding UNDP DSA rates. Repatriation travel cost from home to duty station in Bangkok and return shall not be covered by UNDP.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer:

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.

• Criteria 1: Relevance of Education (max 10 pts)
• Criteria 2: Relevant experience in business integrity, anti-corruption, compliance or business ethics issues in Asia (max 20 pts)
• Criteria 3: Working knowledge of the private sector or UNDP’s partnerships with the private sector in Asia (max 30 pts)
• Criteria 4: Approach of work in technical proposal (max 10 pts)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the total technical points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

a)  Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;

b)  Personal CV, indicating all relevant and similar previous experiences, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Applicant and at least three (3) professional references;

c)  Brief description of why the applicant considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, relating how he/she proposes to conduct the assignment to their previous experience.

d)  Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price.

e)  List of research conducted with dedicated focus on mapping, industry analysis and other topics relevant to this assignment.

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

ANNEXES:

Annex I - TOR_IC_Development of a Mapping study of investors in ASEAN Region
Annex II General Terms and Conditions for Contracts Individual Consultants
Annex III -Individual Contract_Offerors Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability
Annex IV P11 for ICs ( optional)
Annex V - Procurement Notice

All documents can be downloaded at: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=64596

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to procurement.th@undp.org