Background

Ukraine is a country with a very challenging business environment, especially for Micro- Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). MSMEs provide work for more than 4 million people in Ukraine and generate about 20% of the country’s GDP. The Government of Ukraine has been increasing its efforts to undertake economic reforms and create business enabling environment for enterprises, strengthen the position of MSMEs in the economy. Business membership organizations (BMOs) – an essential component of the business support infrastructure faces several challenges which are due weaknesses of the BMO sector and low capacity, sustainability and maturity of BMOs in terms of service provision strategy alignment and low level of awareness and understanding of existing and/or potential benefits of BMOs among current and potential member businesses.

During the period 2015 – 2018, in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and with the financial support from Switzerland, UNDP supported BMOs through the “Strengthening SME Business Membership Organizations” Project. Building on the experience and lessons learned, a key focus of the Project Phase II is to ensure the sustainability and scaling-up of the positive results achieved during the First Phase, in particular enhance growth and competitiveness and strengthen the voice of MSMEs in Ukraine through more professional, demand-driven and client-oriented BMOs. The Project also aims to expand BMO coverage throughout Ukraine and is expected to positively impact on their ability to attract members, promote constructive cooperation with governmental structures and contribute to policy development finally leading to MSMEs sector growth.

The Project Phase II is implemented through four interconnected components dealing with the BMOs’ organizational capacity and governance, improvement and expansion of services provision, advocacy and effective cooperation with the government at all levels. The Project is to design and deliver tailored capacity development support to selected BMOs representing different macro-regions and sectors of Ukraine to help strengthen their institutional/organizational/financial capacities to represent interests of the private sector, and facilitate a more active, responsive, professional and policy-oriented dialogue between public and private sectors.

To this end UNDP Ukraine is planning to conduct analysis and provide an overview of the actual state of MSME Business Membership Organizations development covering such aspects as current economic, legal and policy environment for BMOs’ activity as well as MSME BMOs’ profile. The results of this study will provide inputs to baseline data of Project Phase II on current state of BMO development in Ukraine.

Thus, UNDP Ukraine is seeking to hire a National Consultant to conduct a mapping of MSME Business Membership Organizations’ in Ukraine.

Duties and Responsibilities

2. MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The main objective of the assignment is to provide analysis of the historical, economic and political background for the MSME BMOs creation and development in Ukraine, assess current level of influence of these organizations on the business environment, identify active industry BMOs and conduct their mapping for easy access to information about their activities for a wide range of entrepreneurs.

3. DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES / SCOPE OF WORK

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, the Consultant will review available studies, surveys, statistical data, available BMOs records/reports, and undertake independent research as necessary to draw the accurate picture of the development and activity of MSME Business Membership Organizations (MSME BMOs) in Ukraine.

In particular, the consultant will work to:

1. Develop a methodology, including a set of open data-based criteria for evaluating BMOs that are simple and understandable for an ordinary entrepreneur, which will help to make an independent choice of an organization for cooperation and joining membership. Submit the methodology for UNDP approval.
2. Provide overview of the national context for MSME BMO development in Ukraine, in particular, but not limited to:
3. Analyze general economic policy and situation in MSME sector with a focus on existing status, role and capacities of MSME BMOs;
4. Review the existing legal framework for MSME BMOs activity (legal status, bottlenecks, needs for improvement of legislation if any);
5. Provide overview of MSME BMOs in Ukraine including the number of active BMOs with breakdown by type, area of activity/sector, geographical coverage, membership where possible;
6. Identify general trends of the MSME BMOs sector in Ukraine, identify specific features of  MSME BMO groups (industry, universal), identify the range of services provided by the MSME BMOs and their quality (to a possible extent);
7. Identify key challenges for MSME BMO growth and effective operation and recommend key actions to be taken by international technical assistance projects to address the issues;
8. In consultation with the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine, SME Development Office, other governmental and non-governmental stakeholders, and based on the developed criteria provide mapping and compile the list of all-Ukrainian industry BMOs in Ukraine.
9. Identify gaps in the available secondary data and statistics on BMOs to be addressed by further Project’s surveys/research activities.
10. Prepare analytical report - up to 40 pages A4 (without annexes), including executive summary and visualizations on current state of BMO development in Ukraine addressing the issues listed above. Annexes will include the list of all-Ukrainian industry MSME BMOs with data collected from open sources and ranking based on criteria developed (at least 100 all-Ukrainian BMOs).

To ensure the delivery of the above tasks, the Consultant will:

• Liaise and ensure constant communication/coordination with UNDP project team regarding all aspects of the assignment;
• Submit all the deliverables for review, comments and approval to UNDP project team as requested;
• Hold consultations with UNDP project team as requested.

4. DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME

The timeframe and deliverables of the assignment are as follows:

Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in this Terms of Reference as follows: 

• 70% of contract total value will be paid upon completion of the Deliverables 1-2 as per TOR.
• 30% of contract total value will be paid upon completion of the Deliverable 3 as per TOR.

The payments will be processed upon the full completion and acceptance of contractual obligations/deliverables whereupon the Project Manager signs the certification of acceptance.

5. MONITORING/REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The consultant will interact with UNDP staff to receive any clarifications and guidance that may be needed. On a day-to-day basis, consultant’s work will be coordinated with UNDP Project Manager. Each deliverable will be delivered in draft for comments and feedback before finalization.

The Consultant will duly inform UNDP of any problems, issues or delays arising in the course of implementation of assignment and take necessary steps to address them.

All reports and results are to be submitted to the UNDP in electronic form (*.docx, *.xlsx, *.pptx, and *.pdf formats as appropriate). The language of the reports is Ukrainian and English.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision, and values
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment

Competencies:

• Demonstrates high level of professionalism and ethics
• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback
• Demonstrates excellent planning and organizational skills and able to produce high-quality products on tight deadlines
• Able to work on location without any other supervision except for liaison with UNDP
• Demonstrates excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to present information logically, clearly, and concisely
• Able to think creatively, to develop and implement innovative solutions in a challenging environment

Required Skills and Experience

5. EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS

The Consultant should possess the following qualifications, experience and skills:

Educational background:

• At least Master’s/Specialist’s degree in Economics, Finance, International Relations, Management, Law, Social Sciences, Public Administration, Business Administration, Political Science or other relevant area

Professional Experience:

• At least 5 years working experience in economic and social development analysis, public policy analysis and research;
• Proven experience in conducting surveys, desk reviews, data collection, and analysis related to BMOs development and/or MSME/private sector development (at least 3 samples to be provided);
• Excellent writing skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize inputs and relevant findings (proven with at least 3 analytical papers in the area of BMOs development and/or MSME/private sector development, or similar);
• Working experience with UN funded programmes or other international technical assistance projects would be an asset;

Language Skills:

• Fluency in Ukrainian and good level of writing English is a must. Fluency in English is an asset.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision, and values
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment

Competencies:

• Demonstrates high level of professionalism and ethics
• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback
• Demonstrates excellent planning and organizational skills and able to produce high-quality products on tight deadlines
• Able to work on location without any other supervision except for liaison with UNDP
• Demonstrates excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to present information logically, clearly, and concisely
• Able to think creatively, to develop and implement innovative solutions in a challenging environment

6. DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS:

Applicants shall submit the following documents:

7. FINANCIAL PROPOSAL 

 Lump sum contract

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).  

Travel costs

All envisaged travel costs must be covered by the Consultant and included in the financial proposal. 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 requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Logistics arrangements for the events, where participation of the Consultant is requested by UNDP as per this TOR, to be provided by UNDP and shall not be included in the financial proposal. 

8. EVALUATION CRITERIA

• Educational background – 4 points max

{3 pts – Specialist/Master’s degree in the relevant field; 4 pts – PhD degree in the relevant field};

• At least 5 years working experience in economic and social development analysis, public policy analysis and research – 15 points max

{10 pts – 5-7 years; 12 pts – 8-9 years; 15 pts – 10 years and more);

• Proven experience in conducting surveys, desk reviews, data collection, and analysis related to BMOs development and/or MSME/private sector development (at least 2 samples to be provided) – 13 points max

{10 pts – 2-3 samples; 13 pts – 4 samples and more);

• Excellent writing skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize inputs and relevant findings (proven with at least 2 analytical papers in the area of BMOs development and/or MSME/private sector development, or similar) – 13 points max

{10 pts – 2 analytical papers, 13 pts – 3 and more analytical papers provided};

• Working experience with UN funded programmes or other international technical assistance projects

{0 pts – no, 1 pts – yes}

• Language skills - 4 points max

{3 pts – Fluent Ukrainian and Good Writing English, 4 pts – fluent Ukrainian and English}

• Methodology (document which contains explanation on approach to conduct the work) – 20 points max

{Basic methodology developed with an understanding of the nature and scope of tasks, the approach logically describes a sequence of works and addresses the important aspects of tasks in sufficient detail – up to 13 points;
Advanced methodology developed which includes additional thorough criteria and demonstrates that the chosen approach will ensure effective implementation of tasks – up to 20 points}.

Maximum available technical score - 70 points.

9. EVALUATION METHOD

 Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight: 70%

* Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.

Additional requirements for recommended contractor:

Recommended contractors aged 62 and older shall undergo a full medical examination including x-ray, and obtain medical clearance from the UN-approved doctor prior to taking up their assignment. The medical examination shall be paid by the consultant.

The BSAFE online security training course must be successfully completed prior to commencement of contract.