Reference for Individual Contractor

A.Project Title:

Chief Editor – Saudi Arabia State of Environment Report

B.Project Description 

Organizational Setting:

State of the environment reporting (SOER) represents an instrumental way of developing and communicating environmental information to decision makers. SOER can also provide an early warning of emerging environmental problems (Emerging Issues); and identify knowledge and information deficiencies impeding the understanding and interpretation of environmental conditions and trends.

In this context, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (MEWA) recognized the importance of developing a state of environment report which will be an important pillar for setting a baseline for all future environmental policies and strategies in Saudi Arabia.

Building on a long-lasting relationship between UNEP and Saudi Arabia, both partners are collaborating to produce the State of Environment Report using the methodology adopted by UNEP known as the Integrated Environmental Assessment and the Drivers-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework.

The report will start with Part A (State of Environment), including seven priority themes: Air Quality, Climate Change, Waste, Biodiversity, Coastal and Marine Environment, Water Resources, and Land Resources. Each theme will be addressed using the DPSIR framework in a separate chapter led by a leading author with contributions from experts who will be nominated by (MEWA).

While Part B of the report will be focusing on the Kingdom’s policies, goals, objectives and environmental governance including an assessment of the Kingdom’s policy effectiveness, Part C will be covering the outlooks and pathways to environmental sustainability within the Kingdom.

The objective of the consultancy is to recruit a Chief Editor to lead the overall development of the report, working very closely with national experts and chapters’ lead authors. In addition, to lead the development of the introductory section covering the drivers of environmental change within the Kingdom, Part B (Policies) and Part C (Outlook). Each part is expected to be 30-40 pages. In addition, the Chief Editor will be responsible to streamline and harmonize the writing across the whole report.

The Consultant will report to the Regional Coordinator for Science at UNEP West Asia Office.

A.Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant will carry-out, inter alia, the following duties & responsibilities:

• Prepare guidance notes to the lead authors and guide/mentor them as necessary. This includes  amongst others what data should be collected, what analysis is to be done, what style of writing should be, how many photos, etc.
• Support the lead authors in finetuning the manuscripts of Part A (State of Environment);
• Based on the thematic chapters, draft (i) introductory section covering the drivers of environmental change within the Kingdom; (ii) Policy chapter and (iii) Outlook chapter including, building up scenarios based on contextualized assumptions, modelling, etc that can be incorporated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia into the pathways of transformation.
• Actively participate in project meetings and workshops and work closely with the UNEP’s Science Regional Coordinator to provide oversight of the chapters;
• Read thoroughly the different chapters produced by the lead authors, with the objective of identifying gaps and requirements for the improvement of overall content and style;
• Revise and edit the report’s full manuscript (including tables, figures, etc) ensuring clarity of text, language, reasoning, and presentation to the highest international scientific publication standards
• Identify and rectify any possible inconsistency(ies) of the report data and information within all chapters of the report. Consult with the Chapters’ lead authors, as needed.  Rectify all inconsistencies with regard to data, statements and logical flow.
• Submit a final report at the publishing standards

B.Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The expert will be expected to deliver the following outputs

A.Institutional Arrangement

The Chief Editor will be supervised by the Regional Coordinator for science in UNEP West Asia Office in close collaboration with the National coordinate from (MEWA)

B.Duration of the Work

The contract duration will be for an initial period of nine months (20 August 2022 to 30 April 2023)

C.Duty Station

This assignment will be mixed between home-based and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

• UNDP/UNEP will cover the cost of travel of the individual to the duty station, as well as their return to their home upon completion of their services. Travel costs are covered only in the event that the function will be undertaken physically in the duty station and exclude working from home arrangements.
• Include any official travel expected to be associated with performing the functions.
• Any change to the preliminary travel plan/schedule above, in such cases, UNDP/UNEP will cover travel costs in accordance with corporate regulations and rules.
• If unforeseen travel outside the assigned duty station is requested by UNDP/UNEP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP/UNEP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the consultant shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).
• Note: A written approval from UNDP/UNEP and relevant authorities will be required to facilitate the consultant's travel to other locations than Riyadh on official missions where necessary.

D.PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

1. All proposals must be expressed in a lump sum amount. This amount must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal.
2. Payments shall be made to the individual contractor upon successful completion and certification by UNDP that services have been satisfactorily performed, based upon the actual number of working days.
3. Payment shall be made as a deliverables-based lump upon the receipt of the deliverables and certification of satisfactory performance by CTA.

• Competencies:

• Ability to provide statistical technical advice on different sectors/themes.
• Ability to work on own initiative as well as a member of a team and to work under pressure.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to establish strong cooperative relationships with senior government officials.
• Ability to work on any of the statistical packages to analyze data. (SPSS, STATA)
• Good understanding and practice of capacity development.
• Knowledge & experience of working with constituents in the Arab States, particularly in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards.
• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.
• Display cultural, gender, religious and age sensitivity and adaptability.

A.Qualifications of the Successful Individual Contractor

• Minimum Academic Education:

• Master’s (or higher) in Environmental Sciences or other related fields

• Minimum years of relevant work experience:

• At least 15 years of proven experience in environmental assessment;
• Familiarity with the Integrated Environmental Assessment (IEA) methodology and DPSIR framework.
• Experience in international publication on Environment Reports and related issues.
• Knowledge of environmental issues in Saudi Arabia is an asset
• Work experience in organizing training and workshops.    
• Teamwork and communication skills

• Required skills and competencies:

• Previous working experience with recent Global Environment Outlooks (GEO) is an asset.

• Desired additional skills and competencies 

• Knowledge of the National context of Saudi Arabia.

• Required Language(s) (at working level)      

Strong research and excellent technical writing skills in Arabic

A.Recommended Presentation of Offer

For purposes of generating Offers whose contents are uniformly presented and to facilitate their comparative analysis, it is best to recommend the preferred contents and presentation of the Offer to be submitted, as well as the format/sequencing of their presentation.  The following documents may be requested:

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
2. 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;
3. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, if applicable, on how they will approach and complete the assignment. A methodology is recommended for intellectual services, but maybe omitted for support services [Note: this is optional for support services]; 
4. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per the template provided. The terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the Proposal. If an 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 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. 

B.Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Step I: Screening and desk review:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Technical Criteria (CV review and Desk Review/Interview optional) – maximum 70 points. Only candidates who obtained at least 70% of points from the CV desk review (who will score at least 49 points) will be considered for the next evaluation stage, i.e., financial evaluation.

Applications will be first screened, and only candidates meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

• Master’s (or higher) in Environmental Sciences or other related field
• At least 15 years of proven experience in environmental assessment;
• Familiarity with the Integrated Environmental Assessment (IEA) methodology and DPSIR framework.
• Experience in international publication on Environment Reports and related issues.
• Knowledge of environmental issues in Saudi Arabia is an asset
• Work experience in organizing training and workshops.    
• Teamwork and communication skills

1. Technical Skills:

The qualified candidate should be fully autonomous in preparing policy papers and presentations, mastering office tools and strong project management skills

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate the 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

1. Instructions for on-line submissions

Step 1:  Please prepare all required documents electronically;

Step 2: Combine all documents in ONE SINGLE FILE (preferably in PDF; however, Word format can also be accepted) and upload to the UNDP Jobs links

Step 3: After that, you will receive an auto-reply from the UNDP jobs if your offer is received successfully.

Interested applicants are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described. 

Interested applicants are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described. 

Given the volume of applications that UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.

UNDP reserves the right to reject any incomplete applications.

Please be informed that we don’t accept applications submitted via email.

Interested Offerors are required to submit an application via UNDP Jobsite system as the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP Jobsite system. Please note that UNDP Jobsite system allows only one uploading of application documents, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your online application submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an email acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application if necessary. Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload a maximum one document.

Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or sent to email mohammed.abbas@undp.org with a copy to nora.alzahid@undp.org  While the Procurement Unit would endeavour to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 3 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain updates related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice

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.

Interested applicants are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described. 

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.

Interested applicants are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described. 

Interested applicants are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described. 

Given the volume of applications that UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.

application can find related document on the following link 

https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=93931