Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) works with countries to expand people’s choices for a fairer, sustainable future. UNDP’s new Strategic Plan 2022-25 aims to build a more agile, anticipatory UNDP that embraces complexity, actively manages risk, continually adapts and seeks to learn alongside delivering results. To build this more agile, anticipatory UNDP – an organization ready to respond to many different possible futures – we need the capacity to consider futures proactively and systematically. This means seeking a diversity of perspectives that will push us beyond our usual ways of perceiving the world.

The Strategy and Futures (S&F) Team, part of the Executive Office supporting the UNDP Administrator, is working to achieve these goals by creating a futures ecosystem across UNDP that will cohere, connect and amplify futures and strategic foresight across the organisation.

One of the S&F team’s flagship products in 2022/23 will be the UNDP Global Signals Report. The Report, to be published in January 2023, will draw on insights from UNDP’s new Future Trends and Signals System (established in 2022 to continuously capture trends and signals and turn them into actionable intelligence for decision-making) to describe the signals and trends we see emerging in the next 3-10 years which UNDP considers will be significant for development; and to explain why and how they might be significant for development. The Report’s stakeholders include the S&F team, UNDP’s Executive Office, the Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy (responsible for UNDP’s corporate branding) and all UNDP staff who contribute signals to the Future Trends and Signals System. The Report is intended for two principal audiences: UNDP itself and the global development community.

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ANALYTICAL WORK

The Global Signals Report graphic designer will be required to work closely with the S&F team to produce a Report which is attractive, thought-provoking and readable; appeals to the lay reader as well as to the development expert; seizes the reader’s attention with fresh and interesting ways of presenting information; and is recognized as a high-quality contribution by UNDP to the thinking of the global development community on the futures of development.

The following section, on deliverables, breaks down the various tasks and outputs expected of the graphic designer into three stages:

• Propose to the S&F team various different options for the design, from which the team can select the one they consider best. Since the Report (maximum 30 pages), will be a UNDP corporate product, the graphic designer will have to liaise with the Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy (BERA) to ensure the design options are consistent with UNDP corporate branding.
• Produce the actual designs for layout, typography, data visuals and infographics
• Finalize all designs and layouts.

The text of the Report will be near-final by the time the graphic designer comes on board to start work.

Expected outputs and deliverables:

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Ability to make new and useful ideas work
• Attentive to aesthetics and detail
• Creative
• Ability to communicate ideas well

Technical/Functional:

• Creativity
• Ability to create visuals that are creative and fresh, but aligned with UNDP branding 
• Ability to incorporate different types, colors and imagery into one image
• Strong communication, time management, and organization skills
• Must be self-motivated, demonstrate grace under pressure and work well independently as well as within a team
• Strong portfolio of work 

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional experience in communications, journalism, international relations, fine arts, or related fields is required

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of combined and relevant experience in graphic design is required
• Experience in report design, illustration and a wide variety of products related to the field of work is required
• Experience in working with different types of design software is required
• Experience in sourcing photos is required
• Experience of data visualization and infographics

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is 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.
• Samples of design work produced by the candidate that illustrate their skills and experience (if available)

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. Relevant academic qualification for the specific assignment Weight = 5%; Maximum Points: 5;
• Criteria 2. Relevant professional experience in graphic design of reports and promotional materials. This should include proven experience of graphic production from start to published/printed product, with knowledge of printing processes (off set and digital) and color management Weight = 20 %; Maximum Points: 20;
• Criteria 3. – Demonstrated experience of work (eg through a portfolio of work) that evidences strong skills in graphic design and illustration, with ability to create creative, fresh, visually appealing materials, with attention to detail and aesthetics; including data visualization and infographics, sourcing photos.  Weight = 20%, Maximum Points: 20;
• Criteria 4. – Proposed methodology is deliberately designed to produce a report meeting the objectives described in section C above, i.e. a report which is thought-provoking and readable; appeals to the lay reader as well as to the development expert; seizes the reader’s attention with fresh and interesting ways of presenting information; and is recognized as a high quality contribution by UNDP to the thinking of the global development community on the futures of development. Weight = 15%, Maximum Points: 15; and
• Criteria 5 – Experience of deploying advanced skills in current and different graphic design practices and software. Weight = 10%, Maximum Points: 10.

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 Strategy&Futures Lead Author and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above.

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. 

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.