Background

NOTE: Signed Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and availability - https://www.ba.undp.org/content/dam/bosnia_and_herzegovina/docs/Operations/Jobs/Offerors%20Letter%20to%20UNDP%20Confirming%20Interest%20and%20Availability.docx - Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability.docx - to be sent to e-mail ba.shared.hr@undp.org with Subject: Job ID 97719.

The consultancy will take place within the project “Advancing Public Finance Management in Bosnia and Herzegovina” that is supported by the Government of Slovakia (Slovak Ministry of Finance) and implemented by UNDP in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH). The project has three components: (i) Support the preparation of a development finance assessment for Sustainable Development Goals financing in BIH; (ii) Linking finance with results and (iii) Strengthening internal controls and value for money approach in selected local governments.

Under the second project component “Linking finance with results” and in order to equip all government levels in the entity of the Federation of BiH (FBiH) with the required know-how for effective application of the new FBiH Law on Development Planning and Management and related by-laws, the UNDP will support the institutional partners in FBiH with designing brief methodological guidelines (hereinafter: “the Guidelines”) . The guidelines will serve as principle guidance for institutional budget planners at all FBiH governments levels (i.e. line ministries at the FBIH and cantonal levels, local governments’ line departments) in developing the financial elements of institutional mid-term and annual working plans and aligning them with budgets or other financial sources.

For nearly 10 years, the UNDP has been working in BiH to systematise strategic planning and development management at sub-national levels in the country. As one of the flagship achievements, within a joint project supported by the Government of Switzerland – the Integrated Local Development Project, the UNDP supported the participatory development of the Law on Development Planning and Management in the FBiH, adopted in 2017, setting the legal grounds for the development planning and management system in this entity. In order to equip all government levels in FBiH with the know-how for effective application of the FBiH Law on Development Planning and Management and related by-laws in the forthcoming planning processes in FBiH, the UNDP supported the institutional partners in FBiH in  designing training programme and practical manuals that should assist planners at all government levels in designing and implementing their development strategies in a harmonised manner. Actual implementation of strategic documents and the set commitments within the Agenda 2030 will take place through mid-term and annual institutional work planning. The underlaying logic relays on the fact that institutional mid-term and annual work plans are the “transmission belt” for operationalisation of Agenda 2030 and domestic and other domestic socio-economic and financial policies, where they are to be placed into “actual life” through concrete programming of activities and projects.

Preparation of strategy-based institutional mid-term and annual work planning in terms of process, key elements, formats and timelines, has been methodologically regulated through the FBiH Government Decree on Three-Year and Annual Work Planning, Monitoring and Reporting in FBiH and  supported by training programmes and manuals. However, preparation of financial elements of programs within institutional work plans needs to be supported with the additional guidelines specifically targeting institutional finance staff engaged on developing financial aspects of work plans’ programmatic costs and sources of funding as well as aligning those with public budgets and other financial sources at the respective government levels in FBiH.

The Guidelines drafting will be based on the results of a review assessment that will be conducted through desk review of relevant regulatory and methodological document, survey(s) and interviews with key institutional partners, including financial practitioners within line ministries/departments and other external actors and projects that work on cross-cutting themes, such as the EU/supported programme-based budgeting project and others.

The Guidelines, that will be fine-tuned through participatory consultations with the key-institutional partners in FBiH,  will be followed by a train of trainers programme that will be designed and piloted under a separate ToR and ultimately handed over to the FBiH Civil Service Agency for wider replication to institutional budget and finance practitioners (civil servants) at all government levels in FBiH.

For this purpose, 1 (one) public finance international expert will be engaged. 

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant is expected to review regulatory and methodological requirements against the existing practice and prepare brief and practical guidelines for development and alignment of financial elements of institutional (mid-term and annual) work plans with government budgets and other financing sources in FBiH.

More specifically, the Consultant will be expected to perform the following tasks:

Task 1 – Review regulatory and methodological requirements for designing financial elements of mid-term and annual institutional work plans and aligning them with public budgets and other financial sources in FBiH.

Prior to initiating this task, the Consultant will undertake several preparatory steps.

Firstly, the Consultant is to familiarise him/herself with the newly established development planning and management system in FBiH, including its regulatory and institutional frameworks defined in the FBiH Law on Development Planning and Management and corresponding by-laws. The Consultant will particularly focus on the FBiH Government Decree on Three-Year and Annual Planning, Monitoring and Reporting in FBIH, from the perspective of methodological approach, key elements, and timelines. Secondly, the Consultant will  familiarise him/herself with the Law on Budgets in FBiH and accompanying laws relevant for preparation of financial elements of institutional work plans.

The preparatory work will be done through a desk review of the regulatory, methodological and development documents available at the relevant FBiH institutional partners web pages (e.g. the FBiH Development Institute, FBIH Ministry of Finance).

Furthermore, the Consultant will familiarise him/herself with the comprehensive training material, including the manuals prepared for development practitioners from the FBIH, cantonal and local government levels: (i) “Training on Preparation of Strategic documents in FBiH”; (ii) “Training on Three-Year and Annual Planning, Monitoring and Reporting in FBiH. The training materials will be shared with the Consultant by the UNDP project team.

Based on the results of preparatory work, the Consultant will conduct a detailed review of the regulatory and methodological requirements for development and aligning financial elements of mid-term and annual institutional planning with public budgets and other financial sources at FBiH. The review will be conducted through a combined approach, including desk review of the publicly available regulatory and methodological documents and examples of work plans/budgets, tailored survey(s) and interviews with the key institutional partners (e.g. FBIH Development Planning Institute, FBIH/cantonal ministries of finance, line ministries and 2-3 selected local governments, as well as with other relevant actors, like ongoing EU Programme Based Budgeting Project, etc.

The review will begin with an assessment of the regulatory and methodological requirements stemming from the recently adopted FBiH Government Decree on Three-Year and Annual Planning, Monitoring and Reporting and its relations with the existing and emerging budgetary regulatory framework in FBiH. In this regard, the review will concentrate on the preparatory process/approach related to preparation of financial elements of programmes within the institutional (mid-term and annual) work plans that are to be developed and aligned with process and elements of mid-term and annual budget preparation as well as with the planning process and elements of the public investments plan (PIP). During the review, the Consultant will have in mind that the SDG Framework in BIH, development strategies and sectoral strategic documents priorities will be operationalised through programmes within institutional work plans (where, in line with the new regulatory framework, a strategic measure(s) from development and sector strategies = programme(s) from institutional works plans = budget programmes). 

Furthermore, a particular attention will be given to the methodological approach, modalities and specifics related to cost-sharing of programmes within institutional work plans within one or among different ministries, including modalities for direct and indirect costing of programmes. In addition, the review will carefully consider the  envisaged main categories of financing sources within the institutional work plans (e.g. credits, EU financial sources, other donations, other financial sources) in order to identify the methodological specifics that need to be additionally addressed or clarified through the Guidelines.

Prior to initiating the review, the Consultant will prepare an activity plan stipulating individual actions, stakeholders, review methods and indicative timelines, taking into consideration the COVID-19 limitations, and submit it to the UNDP project team for validation.

Based on the conducted review, the Consultant will prepare a brief report with findings and recommendations, which will be subsequently shared through the UNDP team with the key institutional partners for feedback. The maximum number of pages of the review report shall not exceed 20 pages (not including annexes).

The review report with recommendations will be submitted to UNDP project team for validation, before it is shared with the key-institutional partners and other interested parties.

Task 1 is expected to be completed by end-April 2021 with estimated level of effort of 10 days.

Task 2 – Prepare brief guidelines on designing financial elements of institutional work plans and their alignment with budgets.

Based on the conducted review within the Task 1, the Consultant will prepare the draft of brief guidelines for developing financial elements of institutional (mid-term and annual) work plans and their alignment with public budgets and other financing sources in FBiH.

Prior the preparation of draft guidelines, the Consultant will prepare an outline with main conceptual considerations and proposed structures of the Guidelines that are to be validated by the UNDP project team.

In general, brief guidelines preparation will follow the similar approach as the manual for institutional work planning in the FBIH. However, depending on the character of findings and recommendations prepared under Task 1, it will be decided if a) the Guidelines will be prepared as a separate brief manual/ practicum; b) its content will be incorporated in the existing manual on institutional work planning in the FBiH as a new section; or c) it will be used to update the existing chapter(s). References to regulatory framework, practical examples, templates and tools provided in the annexes will be connected to the relevant chapters of the Guidelines through hyperlinks so as to allow their views as well as practical use within the respective guidelines chapter. The maximum number of pages of the Guidelines shall not exceed 25 pages (not including annexes).

The draft of Guidelines will be presented and discussed with the representative of the FBIH Development Planning Institute and the FBIH Ministry of Finance as well as with selected practitioners from FBIH and cantonal line ministries and local governments for feedback and further fine-tuning. For this purpose, the Consultant will conduct at least 3 focus groups with institutional counterparts, namely planners and finance staff from FBiH, cantonal and local government level. Depending on further developments with COVID-19 pandemic, the focus groups will be organised either in Sarajevo or through electronic communication platforms.

Logistic support in terms of organising focus groups will be conducted by the UNDP project team, in cooperation with the FBIH Development Planning Institute and the FBIH Ministry of Finance.

The draft brief guidelines will be submitted to UNDP project team for validation.

Task 2 is expected to be completed by end-May 2021 with estimated level of effort of 20 days.

The service will be delivered in the English language, with the interpretation in the meeting and translation of documents that will be shared with the domestic partners in languages of BiH peoples.  

Deliverables/outputs

Competencies

Corporate Responsibility and Teamwork:

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Plans, prioritizes and delivers tasks on time;
• Strives for and promotes excellence in performance continually;
• Participates effectively in a team-based, information-sharing environment, collaborating and cooperating with others;
• Generates ideas and seizes opportunities to support corporate strategic objectives.

People Skills:

• Demonstrated ability to work harmoniously with persons of different national and cultural backgrounds;
• Recognizes and responds appropriately to the ideas, interests, and concerns of others;
• Builds trust and engenders morale by displaying open, transparent and credible behavior;
• Respects individual/cultural differences; utilizes diversity to foster teamwork;
• Ensures others’ understanding of, involvement in, and adaptation to a change process.

Partnering and Networking:

• Communicates sensitively and effectively across different constituencies;
• Ability to work as a member of a team as well as work autonomously.

Results-Orientation:

• Plans and ensures quality results to meet established goals.

Communication:

• Formulates written information clearly and persuasively;
• Shares information openly with co-workers and partners while using discretion to protect confidences;
• Presents information in a clear and articulate manner.

Job Knowledge and Expertise:

• Strong analytical skills;
• Advanced writing skills,
• Progressive knowledge of strategic planning at local and higher levels and the related methodologies;
• Strong facilitation and coordination skills;
• Substantive knowledge on security issues and activities with an emphasis  on local communities;
• Executes day-to-day tasks systematically and efficiently;
• Initiative and sound judgment.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications/Education:

•  University degree in public finance or economy, or a relevant field.
• Advanced degree will be considered as an asset;

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of previous experience in capacity development or delivery of technical assistance to public sector beneficiaries, preferably in the area of public finance management.
• Previous experience in design of technical guidelines and practical manuals in the area of development programme planning, institutional work planning, and budget/finance planning with a focus on (budget) programmes.
• Previous practical experience in the domain of development finance planning and management in public sector in BiH and/or the region of Western Balkan and/or new EU member state
• Previous experience in the area of SDG implementation/financing
• Specific knowledge of the standardized development planning methodologies applied in BiH is considered an asset.

Languages Requirements:

• Fluency in languages of peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Longlisting/Shortlisting Criteria

Qualifications as stated in the ToR

Technical Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation

Individual  will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the candidate whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
b) Having received the 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%

Interested candidated must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

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

Please scan all above mentioned documents and upload as one attachment only online through this website.

Note:

• For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
• Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.