Background

Micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (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 Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and with the financial support from Switzerland (the Donor), 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 Business Membership Organizations. The Project 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 to contribute to policy development leading to MSMEs sector growth.

The Partner BMOs have been selected as a result of a competitive process based on clear and transparent criteria and will be delivered tailored support to improve their institutional, organizational, financial, as well as communication capacities to represent the interests of the private sector.

The group of Partner BMOs includes 27 organizations of different profiles and geographic coverage: National CCI, five regional CCIs, five regional universal BMOs and nine industry associations

In addition, the Project will provide follow-up support to 7 partner BMOs engaged under Project Phase I, which will be additionally trained to serve as hubs or platforms for cooperation of wider BMO community, thus spreading further the experience and knowledge obtained in the Phase I and contributing to MSME sector consolidation.

To ensure quality data collection, monitoring of development results and reveal the actual status, perceptions and needs of MSMEs being members of the Partner BMOs, the project is seeking to hire a National Consultant on surveying, data analysis and reporting.

Resulting outcomes of this exercise will allow to establish baseline for key Project indicators, monitor the effectiveness of interventions undertaken, evaluate progress and identify problems, gaps and needs to continue to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the participating BMOs and their services to member MSMEs.

The incumbent will promote UNDP’s mandate as a gender-responsive organization with zero tolerance to any kind of discriminatory and abusive behaviour, including sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse.

Duties and Responsibilities

2. MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The overall objective of the assignment is to conduct data collection, collation, analysis, and reporting to establish baseline for key Project indicators and further monitor the progress of interventions undertaken and change in perceptions and loyalty of MSMEs that are members of the Partner BMOs.

Specific objectives include, but not limited to identifying:

• Number of BMO members, share (and number, if available) of women entrepreneurs, share (and number, if available) of MSMEs among the members of each of 27 Partner BMOs. Number of new members that joined during 2020.
• Share of members paying fees, share of BMO income from membership fees and from service provision in 2020.
• Number and full list of laws/sub-laws that partner BMOs participated in consultations / provided comments in 2020 and their status (stage of review or adoption).
• Number and full list of coalitions and networks where partner BMOs became members during 2020.
• Number and full list of industry-based quality standards for services and goods, or independent professional certifications introduced by partner BMOs during 2020.
• Number of people employed at member MSMEs (gender disaggregated).
• Number and full list of Business Development Services (BDS) offered by each BMO on a cost recovery basis.
• Awareness among member MSMEs on services and benefits provided by the Partner BMOs
• Share of MSMEs acquiring BDS provided by Partner BMOs.
• Share (and number, if possible) of women entrepreneurs among BDS customers.
• Number of member MSMEs benefiting from Group Purchasing Organizations, if any.
• Demand among member MSMEs for services based on cooperation, i.e. group purchasing.
• Importance of currently offered BDS to member MSMEs, MSMEs’ perception of availability of BDS that are needed, MSMEs demand for services.
• Level of MSMEs satisfaction with the BDS provided by BMOs and loyalty to their BMO.
• Willingness of member MSMEs to pay for BDS.
• Awareness among member MSMEs on sustainable business practices, interest in and need for related training and services.
• Demand among member MSMEs for industry-based voluntary quality standards for goods or services to be developed by Partner BMOs on the principles of self-regulation.
• Demand among member MSMEs for independent professional certification that may be offered by BMOs.
• Demand among member MSMEs for advocacy services that may be offered by BMOs.
• Share of MSMEs satisfied with the quality of public-private dialogue.
• Share of MSMEs satisfied with the business environment.
• Other questions to MSMEs as agreed with UNDP and the partner BMOs.

3. DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES / SCOPE OF WORK

3.1. Methodology

In overall, the Consultant is expected to use a sound combination of desk review (where the information is already available or collected by the project or partner BMOs), as well as other methods for obtaining information from the partner BMOs and MSMEs (interviews and discussion with Project staff, interviews with BMOs and MSMEs, telephone interviews with MSMEs). The Consultant will consolidate information from all available sources to inform the findings.

It is expected that the Consultant will review the information available, assess the state-of-play and will adapt the methodology and develop a detailed assessment toolkit.

The toolkit should contain (but not be limited to):

a) Detailed description of methodological approach and approach to reach specific objectives of this assignment and retrieve required information from BMOs and their member MSMEs, and timelines.

b) Surveying tools (sampling approach to ensure representativeness, survey approach, draft interview protocol, draft survey questionnaire, and other necessary tools designed in close collaboration with UNDP and Partner BMOs).

The following variables should be considered when designing the sample and surveying tools for MSMEs: business type, geographical location, industry/sector, business size, gender of the owner/manager, percent of the employment generated in the enterprise to women etc.

The Consultant should ensure that the following conditions are met regarding the sampling for the member MSME survey:

• It is expected that the sample will be representative in terms of geography and will include MSMEs from both urban and rural areas.
• The Consultant should ensure that each sample includes proportional number of women’s MSMEs.
• The membership base of partner BMOs varies greatly. Eight (8) BMOs – under 50 members, five (5) – 51-100, three (3) – 100-200, seven (7) – 201-400 members, three (3) – 501-900 members.

The Consultant, in consultation with UNDP, will have to develop a strategy to ensure that the study sample will be selected in a robust, objective, and representative manner. The samples for each organization should allow for comparability and aggregation of results to also reflect the average picture within 27 partner BMOs. The Consultant should develop a study sample with statistical error rates and confidence level to ensure representativeness and capturing insight on perceptions and needs of MSME members of each partner BMO.

• Respondents must be the owners or the managers of the company so that they have a reasonable knowledge of the use and expenditure on cooperation with BMO and business services obtained by MSME in the past and current period. For medium enterprises, another senior person or representative familiar with business services used by the enterprise may be a respondent.

A survey questionnaire should allow for attaining the objectives and goals as specified in the above 2. “Main objectives of the assignment”. It should be designed to require not more than 30-40 minutes of respondent time to respond to it.

The consultant is expected to collect information through telephone interviews and/or virtual meetings (e.g. through Zoom, MS Teams). The electronic questionnaire may be used as a supplementary tool in some cases, if preliminary approved as a part of the methodology by UNDP. Beyond telephone interviews with MSMEs, the Consultant should also plan for at least 27 individual virtual meetings or calls with partner BMOs to collect required information on BMO development.

Data recording approach/platform to be suggested by the Consultant for review and approval by UNDP.  

NOTE: The Consultant should discuss methodology with UNDP and Partner BMOs. The final version of the methodology with detailed research methods, samples, tools and timetable should be approved by UNDP.

3.2. Specific tasks

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, and in close collaboration with UNDP Project team and the responsible persons from the main beneficiaries, the Consultant will accomplish the following activities.

1. Review the background documents provided by UNDP to obtain a better understanding of the goals and context, and develop a detailed work plan, consisting of activities to obtain specific datasets, logistic arrangements, and detailed timeline of work with fixed deadlines.

2. Design detailed assessment toolkit following the requirements as per 3.1. above. Organize meetings with UNDP, as required, to discuss the methodology and draft assessment toolkit prior to broader presentation.

3. Deliver at least one (1) webinar discussion with the leaders of 27 BMOs regarding membership survey methodology and schedule, data collection and interpretation. Collect feedback on methodology, MSME membership survey questionnaire and/or collect additional questions for potential inclusion into the survey. The Consultant must be ready to deliver additional meetings with partner BMOs to discuss the membership survey questionnaire if there is need or requested by the Partners. All meetings are expected to be organized virtually (online).

4. Obtain MSMEs membership databases/information from 27 Partner BMOs and design survey samples of the MSMEs, separately per each organization. It is expected that the samples will be prepared by the Consultant and submitted to UNDP for approval.

5. Identify the actual data to establish baseline or update key Project indicators related to 27 partner BMOs’ membership, service provision and advocacy activities through:

a) Reviewing the available internal documents of 27 BMOs for available information.

b) Conducting short interviews/meetings with the leaders of 27 BMOs to supplement available information.

c) Documenting and analyzing findings.

6. Pre-test membership survey questionnaire and ensure pre-notification

As comments from UNDP and Partner BMOs are incorporated into the membership survey questionnaire, the Consultant should run the pilot test under real conditions and provide detailed feedback. If the Consultant identifies problems with the questionnaire, these should be reported back to UNDP. Modifications should be made to the questionnaire on the basis of lessons learned during the pilot test and group discussions before the actual survey commences.

Coordinate with the partner BMOs to arrange pre-notification for members on forthcoming survey and that it will be arriving from a third party (UNDP). Prepare a draft cover letter to be distributed on why the survey is being done and why it is important for them to participate. Letter to be approved by UNDP prior to distribution.

7. Conduct membership survey to identify the actual data related to awareness, perceptions, satisfaction and loyalty of MSMEs that are members of the Partner BMOs. The Consultant will conduct interviews with selected representatives of MSMEs as per agreed samples of respondents. The modality of the surveys should be telephone interviews. The electronic questionnaire may be used as a supplementary tool, if approved as a part of the methodology by UNDP. The Consultant shall take full responsibility of all quantitative and qualitative data collection.

8. Analyse the data and draft a brief report. The Consultant will analyse and consolidate the data obtained during the assignment and will compile relevant Excel charts and a brief consolidated report. The report shall be prepared in Ukrainian.

The final structure and content of the report shall be agreed with UNDP, and consist of the following tentative sections:

1. Executive summary (1-2 pages) of the Report.
2. Description of research methodology, including but not limited to structure and description of the study samples, interviewing approach, limitations and challenges encountered.
3. Key findings as per assignment objectives per each BMO (up to 2 pages A-4 per organization). Data shall be presented visually to the extent possible.
4. Annexes (survey forms, interview guides and questionnaires, timetables, databases and any other materials related to the study). Filled in questionnaires should be made available for checks at the request of UNDP.

9. Present the results. Upon completing the Report, the Consultant will prepare presentation in Ukrainian, which should cover brief methodology, results and main findings of the survey for Partner BMOs. It should be prepared in PowerPoint format (or another format approved by UNDP) and agreed with UNDP. The Consultant is expected to participate in at least one meeting with Partner BMOs to present the findings. It is expected that meetings will be organized online (virtually).

NOTE: All materials relating to this assignment, including all Information collected from various meetings/documents shall be kept confidential and shall not be shared with the third parties beyond UNDP and Partner BMOs.

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

• Hold inception and follow-up meetings with UNDP project team as requested.
• Submit all the deliverables for review, comments and approval to UNDP project team as requested.
• Develop tools and documentation as described above in this Terms of Reference and validate/approve them with UNDP project team.
• Liaise and ensure constant communication/coordination with UNDP project team regarding all aspects of the assignment, as well as instantly inform UNDP of any difficulties or delays encountered during the delivery of the assignment in order to resolve them.
• Ensure the mainstreaming of gender equality and women’s empowerment considerations in activities, promote a safe and enabling environment free of any kind of discrimination and abusive behaviour, and use the principles of gender-responsive communications in line with the UNDP corporate standards.

4. DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME

The target date for the start of work is March 2021.

NOTE: Copyright. All information and products produced by Consultant under this assignment will remain property of the UNDP.

5. PAYMENT SCHEDULE

UNDP will pay the negotiated amount in tranches according to the following payment schedule:

30% - upon successful completion of the Deliverables 1-4.

40% - upon successful completion of the Deliverables 5-7.

30% - upon successful completion of the Deliverables 8-9.

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

6. MONITORING/REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Project Manager and in close cooperation with the Project staff and Designer provided by UNDP.

Work-progress reporting/monitoring meetings will be held with the Consultant on a regular basis.

The consultant will interact with UNDP to receive any clarifications and guidance that may be needed. He/she will also receive all necessary informational and logistical support from the Project. 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.

UNDP will be the final authority to control the quality and evaluate the work. The satisfactory completion of each of the deliverables shall be subject to the endorsement of the Project Manager. Each deliverable will be delivered in a draft for comments and feedback before finalization. No reports or documents should be published or distributed to third parties without the approval of UNDP.

All reports and results are to be submitted to the UNDP in electronic form (*.docx, *.xlsx, *.pptx, and *.pdf or other formats accepted by UNDP). The intermediate and Final reports should be submitted in English.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision, and values
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Knowledge of gender equality and women’s empowerment issues and ability to apply it to strategic and/or practical situations, e.g. integrating into the project/programme cycle, including design, planning, and implementation 

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

7. EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS

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

Criteria A:

Educational background:

• At least a Master’s/Specialist’s degree in Social Sciences, Political Sciences, Statistics, Anthropology, Marketing, Management, Mathematics, Economics, Business Administration, Finance, International Relations and other relevant areas. A PhD or higher degree in the field of Social Studies, Statistics or Economics is an asset.

Criteria B:

Professional Experience:

1. At least 7 (seven) years of professional experience in designing and implementing market and consumer surveys, social studies and/or research, including questionnaire design and sampling.
2. At least 5 (five) years of professional experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection, collation, and results analysis; managing and/or conducting telephone or face-to-face surveys, in-depth interviews or similar.
3. Previous experience of working with BMOs, knowledge and understanding of BMO services and MSMEs needs would be a strong asset.
4. Previous experience of working with UN agencies or donor-funded programmes would be an asset.

Criteria C:

Writing skills

• Excellent writing skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize inputs and relevant findings (proven with samples of at least two (2) prepared or co-authored presentations, briefs or other analytical documents related to surveys, research or similar).

Language Skills:

• Fluency in Ukrainian and working knowledge of English are essential.

8. DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS:

Applicants shall submit the following documents:

UNDP documents templates can be downloaded from the following link:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/297e72t7i3v2969/AADDRyUo2uoNrYjuD8NLmdl0a?dl=0  

Please combine your CV, financial proposal and other necessary information in one PDF file and upload the document when submitting the application.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

9. 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, a number of anticipated working days per each deliverable, as well as a reference professional daily fee).  

Administrative arrangements

Assignment is home-based and the IC will be responsible for his/her own office facilities, any equipment and materials needed for work.

Travel costs

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should 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.

As assignment is home based, travel is not envisaged, but if the need arises it will be by mutual agreement. 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 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. 

10. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Technical evaluation – Total 70% (max 70 points)

Criteria A: Educational background – 4 points max

At least a Master’s/Specialist’s degree in Social Sciences, Political Sciences, Statistics, Anthropology, Marketing, Management, Mathematics, Economics, Business Administration, Finance, International Relations and other relevant areas. A PhD or higher degree in the field of Social Studies, Statistics or Economics is an asset.

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

Criteria B: Work experience – 32 points max

1. At least 7 (seven) years of professional experience in design and implementation of market and consumer surveys, social statistics and/or research, including questionnaire design and sampling – 15 points max

{10 pts – 7-8 years; 11 pts – 9-10 years; up to 15 pts – 11 years and more);

1. At least 5 (five) years of professional experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection, collation, and results analysis; managing and/or conducting telephone or face-to-face surveys, in-depth interviews or similar – 15 points max

{10 pts – 5-7 years; 11 pts – 8-9 years; up to 14 pts – 10 years and more);

1. Previous experience of working with BMOs, knowledge and understanding of BMO services and MSMEs needs would be a strong asset.

{0 pts – no, 2 pts – yes}

1. Working experience with UN funded programmes or other international technical assistance projects as an asset:

{0 pts – no, 1 pts – yes}

Criteria C: Technical Skills – 24 points max

Writing skills - 9 points max:

Excellent writing skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize inputs and relevant findings (proven with at least two (2) prepared or co-authored presentations, briefs or other analytical documents related to surveys, research or similar)

{8 pts – 2 analytical papers, 9 pts – 3 and more analytical papers provided}

Language Skills – 2 points max:

Fluency in Ukrainian and working knowledge of English are essential.

{2 pts – fluent Ukrainian and working English}

Brief description of approach to the assignment – 13 points max:

Methodology (document which contains explanation on approach to conduct the work)

{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 6 points;
Advanced methodology developed which includes additional thorough criteria and demonstrates that the chosen approach will ensure effective implementation of tasks – up to 13 points}.

Criteria D: Interview – 10 points max

Only those obtaining minimum 39 points for Criteria A-C will be invited to the interview. During the interview the applicant will be requested to provide the relevant practical and well-elaborated examples proving their experience.

Maximum available technical score - 70 points.

11. 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.