Background

The UNODC Early Warning Advisory on new psychoactive substances (EWA) was developed by the UNODC Laboratory and Scientific Section in the framework of its Global Synthetics Monitoring: Analyses, Reporting and Trends (SMART) Programme as a response to the emergence of new psychoactive substances (NPS) at the global level. The EWA aims to monitor, analyze and report trends on NPS, as a basis for effective evidence-based policy responses.

Many Member States and the international community, in an effort to protect public health, have explored a wide range of legislative responses to address the dynamics of the NPS market, particularly the rapid emergence and attempts by manufacturers to circumvent legislation; the diversity of the problem; and paucity of data to enable full evaluation of harm. In addition to technical and trend information, the EWA provides an overview of legislative approaches and measures that have been adopted at the national level in response to the emergence of NPS. This information requires updating from time to time to include new developments.           

The purpose of this assignment is to review and analyse the current legal framework on NPS implemented in eight Southeast Asian countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam) to provide a better understanding of the breadth and responsiveness of legal responses to NPS in the region for updating into the EWA legislative database.

Objectives

UNODC seeks the services of a consultant to undertake research on recent legislative measures taken at the national level and provide the information on legislative approaches and measures on NPS available in the EWA, with a focus on developments in target Southeast Asian countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam). It will include the following deliverables:

1. A compilation of information with abstracts on national legislative approaches and measures on NPS, with a focus on developments in Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
2. Descriptions of each national legislative approach or measure for the EWA (length of descriptions should be between approximately 100 and 200 words) using the existing descriptions as a template.
3. A technical summary report on current national legislative approaches to NPS in Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam (narrative part approximately 1,500 words per each country plus annex with source references).

Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision and substantive guidance of the Programme Officer (Illicit Drugs Researcher), the consultant will:

• Research, retrieve and compile information on national legislative approaches and measures on NPS, with a focus on laws that entered into force between January 2016 and June 2022 and on developments in the target Southeast Asian countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam). For all countries, the consultant needs to verify and document whether or not legislative approaches and measures on NPS have been taken, and if so, which ones.
• Draft an abstract on each legislative approach or measure encountered, indicating the type of approach or measure, its (intended) impact, its name, date of entry into force and source references (including web link if available) as well as other information which may be relevant to describe the approach or measure.
• Draft a description of the legislative approach or measure for the EWA or update existing descriptions, taking into account that the intended audience consists mainly of experts many of whom may not have a legal background.
• Provide advice on the further development of the typology of legislative approaches used in the EWA as appropriate, taking into account the results of the research.
• Draft a short technical summary report on current national legislative approaches to NPS in the target Southeast Asian countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam).

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The consultant is expected to deliver on the following deliverables:

Institutional arrangements/reporting lines

The incumbent shall be under direct supervision of the Programme Officer (Illicit Drugs Researcher). Progress of actions and monitoring of the consultant will be based on agreed work plans that are reviewed and updated on a weekly basis. The incumbent’s outputs will be monitored, reviewed and certified by the Programme Officer (Illicit Drugs Researcher).

Payment Modality

The contract price is in USD and based on professional fee to deliver the outputs. The service provider shall be paid upon satisfactory submission and acceptance of deliverables by UNODC according to the following schedule.

Competencies

Technical competencies of the consultant should include:

• A minimum of three (3) years of relevant professional experience;
• Experience with drafting technical or scientific documents on narcotic laws;
• Experience with research on illicit drugs or related fields;
• Work experience in Southeast Asia and with national drug authorities in the region;

Corporate competencies of the consultant should include:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UNs values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Strategic vision and strong technical and analytical capabilities;

Strong written, interpersonal and oral communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Years of experience:

• A minimum of three (3) years of relevant professional experience;
• Experience with drafting technical or scientific documents on narcotic laws;
• Experience with research on illicit drugs or related  fields an desirable;
• Work experience in Southeast Asia and with national drug authorities in the region is desirable;
• Work experience for UN or other international organizations or work for global companies or enterprises is an asset.

Language:

• Professional fluency in English with excellent drafting skills required;
• Good working knowledge of the language of at least one of the target Southeast Asian countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam) is required;
• Any additional languages from the above-listed countries are an asset.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

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

1. Document 1: Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability 
2. Document 2: Technical Proposal:on how your qualifications, experience and list of track records can lead to successful deliverables of this assignment within the required timeframe, and provide a methodology and approach on how you will approach and conduct the assignments;
3. Document 3: Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per the payment breakdown above.  If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution and expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under the 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 consultant should also indicate any travel and related costs, e.g., meetings, etc.
4. Document 4: 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  
5. Please submit this information in one file as Document 1, 2, 3, and 4. The system will only accept ONE (1) attachment, please merge all documents and submit them as one file.
6. Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application.
7. Candidates who fail to submit all the information requested above will be disqualified.

How to Apply:

• Kindly download the Letter of Confirmation of interest and availability, Financial Proposal Template, and General Terms & Conditions mentioned below;
• Read and agree to the General Terms & Conditions (refer to below link);
• Click the ‘apply’ icon and complete what is required;
• Scan all documents into 1 (One) pdf folder and then upload;
• For clarification questions, please email procurement.my@undp.org. The clarification question deadline is three (3) days before the closing. When emailing for clarification questions, please put "MyIC/2022/019" as the subject matter.

General terms & conditions to be downloaded:

• The General Terms & Conditions for Individual contract 

Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA): A legal instrument between UNDP and a Company/institution, according to which, the latter makes available the services of an individual delivering time-bound and quantifiable outputs that are directly linked to payments

• The General Terms & Conditions for Reimbursement Loan Agreement  

Incomplete proposals may not be considered. Only short-listed candidates may be contacted, and successful candidates will be notified.

EVALUATION METHOD & SCORING

The award of the contract will be made to the Individual Consultant who has obtained the highest Combined Score and has accepted UNDP and UNODC’s General Terms and Conditions. Only those applications which are responsive and complaint will be evaluated. The offers will be evaluated using the “Combined Scoring method” where:

a)Technical Proposal including education background and experience on similar assignments will be weighted a maximum of 80% (100 points). The evaluation criteria are:

• Minimum academic education (15 points).
  • University degree (Master’s degree or above) in law, international relations, or any relevant field is essential.
• Experience relevant to the assignment (70 points):
  • A minimum of three (3) years of relevant professional experience (20 points);
  • Experience with drafting technical or scientific documents on narcotic laws (15 points);
  • Experience with research on illicit drugs or related fields (15 points);
  • Work experience in Southeast Asia and with national drug authorities in the region is desirable (10 scores);
  • Bonus points for additional relevant experience and technical competencies or a proven record of published relevant research publications (5 points);
  • Bonus points for work experience for UN or other international organizations or work for global companies or enterprises (5 points).
• Language (15 points):
  •  Professional fluency in English with excellent drafting skills required (10 points);
  • Good working knowledge of the language of at least one of the target Southeast Asian countries (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam) is required (5 points);
  • Any additional languages from the above-listed countries are an asset.

Only those candidates who obtain a total technical score of 70 points and above (out of 100 points) on the technical evaluation will be considered for evaluation and will be asked to submit a financial proposal.

b)Financial Evaluation will weigh as 20% of the total scoring.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to attend a virtual interview to ascertain suitability, competency, and areas of interest