UNDP Jobs - 98395- Long Term Agreement (LTA) for on-call Photographer

Long Term Agreement (LTA) for on-call Photographers (as Individual Consultants)

Location :

India

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

07-May-21 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

One year

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Three years, subject to satisfactory performance

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Since 1951, UNDP has been working and partnering with different public private sector organisations in India to strengthen systems and institutions and promote Inclusive Growth and Livelihoods as well as Sustainable Energy, Environment and Resilience, with a focused agenda to leave no one behind.

UNDP India’s Communications department works closely with the verticals listed above, ensuring that the organisations’ communication reaches all its stakeholders – the government, private sector partners, implementation partners, beneficiaries and the general public. This is done by leveraging strategic communication tools, as well as by creating effective campaigns, community outreach, and media engagements.

Objective of the Assignment

With the rise of digital platforms, it is more important today than ever before to communicate through images. Photographs are one of the most effective, immediate and powerful ways through which UNDP can convey how our work improves people’s lives worldwide.

In this context, UNDP India is looking to contract multiple photographers based in different parts of the country to deliver powerful images that demonstrate the impact of UNDP projects and initiatives in a range of areas where we work. These include inclusive growth, systems strengthening and institutions, energy and environment, and others related to UNDP core principles. A key ask of the photographer will be to deliver quality images for sharing through UNDP’s global communications channels and to supply images for use by the Indian media.

Under the Long-Term Agreement (LTA) photographers will be empanelled under three categories for:

Category I: Photojournalists documenting results from projects and partnerships across the country.
Category II: Multimedia documentation through photos, videos and use of innovative communication/documentation tools.
Category III: Photographing events, workshops and high-profile visits, initiatives and partnerships across the country.

Duties and Responsibilities

LTA Objective and Set-up

The overall objective to set up these Long-Term Agreement (On Call) Contract is to facilitate and expedite the process by which UNDP will hire the services of photographers in one of the three categories above, once there are specific assignments in the next 3 years. The assignments will typically be to photograph key outreach events and photo document the impact of UNDP initiatives.

Under the supervision of the Programme Management and direct guidance of the Communications Specialists, the photographer provides high quality still photography services. The photographer demonstrates a client-oriented approach, tact and ability to work with people of different national and cultural backgrounds. The photographer ensures effective and efficient provision of services, full confidentiality in all aspects of assignment, management of information flow and follow-up on deadlines and commitments made. In all activities UNDP commissioned photographers are to ensure dignity of subjects, particularly in the context of people living or affected by HIV and children.

UNDP has over 40 projects across India which from time to time, require photo documentation. To give interested applicants a sense of volumes, in the last six months, the Country office has completed photo documentation of 15 projects and partnerships. This does not include workshops and conference which are a regular and key knowledge sharing component in annual work plans of each project. It is anticipated that the following number of assignments will take place per year in each of the categories:

Category I: 40-50 assignments
Category II: 25-35 assignments
Category III: 100-130 assignments

Scope of Work

For each assignment, the typical scope of work and deliverables would be as follows:

Photograph projects, initiatives and events; submit edited photos; and videos (based on category), as directed by the communications unit
80-100 high-resolution, high-quality images appropriately captioned and a suggested storyline per assignment (based on category)
Photos, and video content (raw and edited) to be submitted along with a suggested script for the project documented (based on category II)
Applicants will be required to interview people (beneficiaries, project managers, etc.) on their assignments and share the transcript in a word document
Applicants will share select photographs/ video clips (based on category) through WhatsApp/or any other channel along with short captions for social media outreach
Captions to be embedded in the images and shared separately as a word document as well (based on category)
All selected images to be edited, subject to assignment and category
All selected video files/raw footage, subject to assignment and category
Final CD/DVD/pen drive with all images shot during the assignment to be provided to UNDP
Final hard drive with all raw footage and final videos shot during the assignment to be provided to UNDP
Ensure consent forms are submitted when the subjects of photographs/videos are children or people living with or affected by HIV or violence or any such circumstance

Note: as per UNDP General Terms and Conditions for IC contracts (refer to Annex I for details), UNDP retains copyright over all images shot during the course of an assignment. Copyright will appear as name of photographer/UNDP India.

Supervisor

Head of Communications, UNDP India

Duration of the assignment

The assignment, under this Long-Term Agreement (On Call) Contract, is expected to have a duration of 3 years. The initial contract would be for one year (May 2021 – April 2022) with an option for renewal in subsequent years upon satisfactory performance evaluation.

Copyright

Copyright for all written, edited and designed material rests with UNDP India. No material may be used/published or reproduced without prior permission from UNDP India.

Geographic requirements

UNDP seeks to employ photographers working in all parts of the country and it is a requirement that photographers are already based in India.

Candidates are requested to clearly state in their technical proposal the region where they are based, according to the below categorization:

Region 1: New Delhi
Region 2: North India
Region 3: South India
Region 4: East India (West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand)
Region 5: Maharashtra
Region 6: North East

Note: Non-Indian passport holders are required to provide proof of a valid work permit in India at the time of submitting the application. Please note, applicants holding business visas will not be considered.

Duty station and travel

The photographers on LTAs might be required to travel outside their duty station (as identified in their proposal) for specific events in which case the photographers would make their own arrangements for travel and lodging, if required. Payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging, etc. should be agreed upon, between the Communications Unit and the photographer prior to travel and will be reimbursed on actuals.

LTA contracting modality and Call-off mechanism

The LTA to be signed will be on a fixed daily fee for one year; however, UNDP does not warrant that any quantity of services will be purchased during the term of the LTA as this will depend on forthcoming needs.
Once the LTA is signed, if there is a specific requirement/event to be photographed, the focal person in the Communications Unit would contact the top-ranking LTA photographer for that Category/Region (ranking to be set up as per evaluation method and criteria section below). Should this photographer not be available for the event, UNDP will contact the second ranked photographer in the Category/Region and so on.
Upon receipt of this communication, the LTA photographer would have to confirm their availability for the assignment. If positive, s/he would inform UNDP of the expected travel/lodging costs (if applicable if the event requires travel). Upon review of the same, UNDP will send the photographer a written communication confirming the requirement in the form of a work order or purchase order sent by email. The order will include details on the location of the photo-shoot, number of hours/days to be worked and other practical details. Price in the order will be based on daily fee included in the LTA contract and on the agreed travel costs. After the work order has been sent, no further costs would be reimbursed by UNDP (increased number of work days/hours, or increased travel costs) unless there is prior written authorization by UNDP.
Once the services are completed and have been approved by the Communications Unit, the photographer will send the following documentation for payment purposes: a) complete invoice indicating number of hours/days worked and travel costs (if any); b) supporting documentation (bills/vouchers) for reimbursements of travel costs if applicable; c) copy of the UNDP order for the assignment. Note: for photographers used regularly, UNDP may agree regular (monthly or bi-monthly) payments to photographers for payments of all work orders done in the period.

Contract management

UNDP Communications Unit would request LTA holders to report on a quarterly basis.

UNDP will regularly monitor the performance of these LTA holders, based on the following Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

KPI 1: Responsiveness: Photographer should respond and confirm their availability event within 1 day of UNDP’s notification by email/telephone/WhatsApp.
KPI 2: Quality and number of the photographs taken are as per work order submitted.
KPI 3: Accuracy of payment documentation. Photographer shall provide complete payment documentation including accurate invoices with correct quantities, unit price, complete travel bills/vouchers for reimbursement, etc.
KPI 4: Communication and Reporting. Photographer shall communicate and provide reports in a timely and professional manner.

UNDP would conduct performance reviews of these LTAs every 6 months, which might include meeting with the LTA holders and feedback from other stakeholders.

If the photographer fails to meet UNDP’s performance requirements detailed above, s/he will receive in the first instance a warning to improve their performance. Continued failure to meet performance requirements may result on termination of the LTA.

Competencies

Excellent photography skills and ability to deliver images that tell a story
Excellent communication skills
Ability to work with a multicultural environment and a multidisciplinary team
Willingness to travel to project sites (within India), no matter how remote
Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards
Positive, constructive attitude to work

Required skills and experience

CATEGORY I

Education Qualifications: Degree in communications, arts, media or any relevant field will be preferred
Minimum 5-7 years’ experience (nationally and internationally) delivering on high profile projects
Applicants with a background in photojournalism are preferred
Contributes to national and international media outlets (for e.g.: National Geographic; Getty images; Granta; BBC; Reuters; etc). This is not mandatory
Excellent communications skills, especially written for putting together captions, photo essays, etc.
Ability to conduct short video/audio interviews
Ability to shoot through innovative tools like drone, 360-degree and underwater photo/video would be preferred
Contributes regularly to leading news agencies, bilateral and multilateral agencies, NGOs, etc.
Preference to photographers with local language skills

CATEGORY II

Education Qualifications: Degree in communications, arts, media or any relevant field would be preferred but not mandatory
Minimum 3-5 years of experience, documenting multimedia projects and initiatives through innovative communication/documentation tools like drone, 360-degree and GoPro photo/video is necessary
Good communications skills and ability to conduct short video/audio interviews
Applicants with multimedia experience is mandatory
Preference to photographers with local language skills
Owning necessary equipment such as drones, 360-degree and GoPro, etc. to document projects and initiatives will be preferred (please list out such equipments in the proposal)

CATEGORY III

Minimum 3 years’ experience in photography
Significant experience in documenting events and workshops
Good communications skills and ability to conduct short video/audio interviews
PIB accreditation preferred
Preference to photographers with local language skills

Required Skills and Experience

Application procedure

Candidates must clearly indicate in their Technical Proposal the Category(ies) they are applying for. Candidates applying for more than one category should only send one submission. There is no restriction on the number of categories to apply, i.e. a candidate could apply to 1, 2 or 3 categories. However, candidates are requested to go through the required qualification and experience requirements stated above and only apply to Categories where they meet such criteria. Evaluation will be based per-category as per details in below section.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Technically qualified consultants will be requested to submit their daily fee rate i.e. consultants who score more than 70% i.e. 49 marks with respect to the above-mentioned evaluation criteria. Consultant should not specify their consultancy fee on their CV or with the submission. The CV will not be evaluated further in case the consultant submits the same.

Note: Consultant must send a financial proposal when requested based on Daily Fee in Indian Rupees.

Note: this Daily Fee will be the basis for UNDP to calculate rates below one-day duration: half-day rate will be 60% of daily fee. Note: for contract purposes “daily” would be understood as 8 hours of work, and “half day” as 4 hours of work.

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Individual Consultants will be evaluated based on the Cumulative Evaluation (technical + financial) methodology. The ranking of photographers shall be made based on proposals that are a) responsive/ compliant/ acceptable; and b) having received the highest cumulative score out of set of weighted technical criteria and financial criteria as per below weightages (technical-financial): 70%-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.

It is anticipated that UNDP will only sign LTA agreements with the following maximum number of photographers as ranked according to their cumulative evaluation (technical + financial) score:

Category I: Top ranked 3 photographers, per region
Category II: Top ranked 3 photographers per region
Category III: Top ranked 3 photographers, per region, except New Delhi region, for which would be the top ranked 4 photographers.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points) – CATEGORY I

Relevant international and national experience and qualifications in the field – Max 20 points
Excellent communication skills with demonstrated experience in writing news stories, web stories, photo essays and other communications products – Max 30 points
Quality of portfolio – Max 20 points

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points) – CATEGORY II

Relevant experience and qualifications in the field- Max 10 points
Experience in documenting multimedia projects using innovative tools such as drones, 360 degree and GoPro – Max 40 points
Quality of portfolio – Max 20 points

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points) – CATEGORY III

Relevant qualifications in the field and experience in photographing workshops/ events, in particular in-door events (experience as a PIB photographer preferred) – Max 40 points
Experience with international development organisations – Max 20 points
Quality of portfolio – Max 10 points

Only candidates obtaining 70% of the total technical points (49 out of 70 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Documentation required

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:

Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability.
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.
Technical proposal, including a) a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; b) Clear statement of the Categories s/he is applying for; c) Clear statement of the Region in India where s/he is based; d) Link to online portfolios (only mandatory for applications to Categories I and II).
Financial proposal - Only technically qualified consultants will be requested to submit their daily fee rate i.e. consultants who score more than 70% i.e. 49 marks with respect to the above-mentioned evaluation criteria. Consultant should not specify their consultancy fee on their CV or with the submission. The CV will not be evaluated further in case the consultant submits the same.
Non-Indian passport holders are required to provide proof of a valid work permit at the time of submitting the application. Please note, applicants holding business visas will not be considered

For any clarification, please write to ic.india@undp.org