UNDP Jobs - 99765- Sr. Consultant, Financial Business Advisor, BMS/OF

Sr. Consultant, Financial Business Advisor, BMS/OFRM/FBA

Location :

Home based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

12-Jul-2021

Application Deadline :

20-Jun-21 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

3 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

3 months with possible extension

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

The FBA Advisors team is the point of contact for client facing offices in providing advice, guidance, and related services on complex financial issues, in particular those relating to the financial aspects of project and programme management. The services provided include policy advice, financial management training, internal controls, financial planning support, report and query management, and programme resources management.

The unit also plays a role in monitoring the financial performance of the Bureaux and offices in support of OFRM's responsibilities for corporate oversight. In so doing, develops constructive relationships with clients to understand the reasons for strong/weak performance and develops strategies, in close consultation with the regional bureaux to help them improve.

The required services will help fill the void left by a vacant International Professional post and also provide resources to the NextGen ERP Data Preparedness Task Team for the transition to a new Oracle Cloud ERP from the current PeopleSoft (Atlas) system during 2021.

Duties and Responsibilities

Monitor the performance of the country offices, Regional Bureau and Central Bureaux accounting and financial functions by ensuring more effective identification of problems in the general accounting area and initiating, independently, actions to support their addressing the concerns both in country offices and HQ; provides risk-based monitoring services, including inputs to periodic financial reviews and conducting CO scans;
Advise country offices, Regional Bureau and Central bureau on options available and decisions to be made regarding optimal utilization and management of their financial resources, and support quarterly and year-end closure process and certification.
Review country offices’, Regional Bureau and HQ units financial resource management data in accordance with the Work Plan in order to proactively advise on decisions to be made and corrective action to be taken to ensure adherence to UNDP’s financial and resource management policies, procedures and SOPs.
Provide assistance to country offices, Regional Bureau and HQ units in the interpretation and implementation of UNDP’s financial and resource management guidelines, ensuring improved financial performance in terms of control, speed of response and data accuracy.
Support the Regional and Central Bureau Finance Business Partners in the exercise of their oversight responsibilities, through support to review of the financial management and accounting activities related to resources mobilized for programming, budget/expenditure management, the interpretation and/or application of accounting policy and related financial management procedures.
Serves as a member of ERP Data Preparedness Project Team. Drafts and updates the Overall Project Plan as well as the Task List. Correspondences with Country Offices; HQ Units and Regional Bureaus regarding progress of the project. Provides briefing and updates to OFRM Management regarding the project on an on-going basis.

Expected outputs and deliverables:

Issuance of Quarterly Financial Reports to Country Offices Q2- 30th July
Launch of Phase 3 NextGen ERP Preparedness – 13 August
Consolidate results of Phases 1 & 2 NextGen ERP and oversee the conclusion of remaining items – 31st August
Bureaux Reviews and unspent analysis re 2021 Delivery issues – 30th Sept

Competencies

Demonstrated ability to provide guidance and oversight in the area of financial and administrative management.
Proven skills and ability to identify issues, formulate opinions, draw conclusions and recommend solutions.
Able to assess risks and correctly analyze the likelihood of them occurring. Able to then prioritize action to the risks with the biggest business impact.
Strong financial management skills.
Knowledge of the financial frameworks, programme policies & procedures of UNDP and/or UN entities.
Proven ability to write in a clear and concise manner and to orally communicate in an effective manner.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

Advanced (Masters) University Degree is required. Those with a degree in Finance, Accounting or a professional accounting qualification certificate from an internationally recognized institute of accounting will have an advantage.

Experience:

Minimum 7 years of relevant and progressive professional experience in providing financial advisory services, business partnering and/or managing staff and operational systems is required.

Thorough experience with ERP systems, required. Experience with PeopleSoft or Oracle Cloud ERP will be an added advantage.
Familiarity with international development, preferably the UN system, required. UNDP experience will be an added advantage.
A sound understanding of International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) utilized by international organizations will be an added advantage.
Analytical capabilities combined with strong interpersonal, verbal and written communication skills.

Language:

Fluency in written and spoken Englishis required;
Working knowledge of another UN language would be an asset

Application Procedure

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

A cover letter with a brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment;
Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references.

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around the specific and measurable deliverables of the TOR. Payments are based upon output, i.e., upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR, and deliverables accepted and certified by the technical manager.

The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; (excluding mission travel); living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.
This consultancy is a home-based assignment, therefore, there is no envisaged travel cost to join duty station/repatriation travel.
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. 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.
If the Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below. Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Being responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation where technical criteria weighs 70% and financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (70 points):

Criteria 1. Experience with ERP systems, preferably PeopleSoft or Oracle Cloud ERP. Weight = 30 %; Maximum Points: 30;
Criteria 2. Demonstrable experience in financial management Weight = 20 %; Maximum Points: 20;
Criteria 3. Analytical skills combined with strong verbal and written communications skills. Weight = 20 %; Maximum Points: 20; and

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

p = y (µ/z), where
p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Institutional arrangement

The consultant will work under the guidance and direct supervision of the direct supervisor is the Chief, Financial Business Advisors and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above.
The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.

Payment modality

Payments are based upon output, i.e., upon delivery of the services specified above and deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.
The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e., on a 7-hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs
Annex 2 - IC Contract Template
Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions
Annex 4 – RLA Template

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to cpu.bids@undp.org

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by email and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.