Background

UNDP in partnership with Ministry of Planning of Kurdistan Regional Government has introduced Funding Facility for Economic Reform – KRG (FFER-KRG) which intends to support Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the design and implementation of economic reform. FFER-KRG is positioned as a financing instrument that will be used to channel high-caliber international expertise and support into top priority reform initiatives drawn from the KRG’s newly adopted reform plan. The Facility will help to mobilize expertise for initiatives aimed at transforming and diversifying the region’s economy, restructuring and strengthening public administration and public financial management, and improving the delivery of public goods, including basic services.

Due to the current economic and financial challenges that Kurdistan Region is facing, the government has been required to reduce its capital investment budget for the last few years and this has created major side effect on the public service delivery. To sustain the significant gains that the Kurdistan Region has achieved in promoting local and international investments and in expanding the supply of basic services, and to ensure the continuity of its development strategy. The Ministry of Planning of Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG MoP) is undertaking major efforts to provide greater role for the private sector participation in providing services to citizens thorough the implementation of PPP modality. This effort will be conducted in partnership with all relevant partners and development of required policy and procedures and institutional structure to develop and implement PPP projects. 

The objective of this assignment is to support KRG MoP with the development of PPP framework that includes PPP draft Law, regulatory and institutional arrangement to determine how the government select, implement and manage PPP Projects. Development of potential PPP proposals/projects

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

The PPP Expert – under the direct guidance and coordination with KRG MoP Senior Management, will carry out the following activities but not necessarily be limited to:

• Review of legal, regulatory, policy, and project documents that are relevant to PPP system to ensure an enabling environment for PPP system, including Annex E of Public Procurement Regulation 2 of 2016.
• Assess the existing arrangement established by some ministries for the development and implementation of PPP Projects (e.g. KRG Ministry of Electricity for the implementation of IPP projects) and design an institutional framework for the identification, review, selection, development and implementation of PPP projects
• Conduct policy dialogue with relevant Governments departments to identify and address challenges in introducing PPP system.
• Develop PPP framework in coordination with KRG MOP and other stakeholders to guide government and private partners on each stage of developing and implementing a PPP Project.
• Advise on determining modalities of forming the MoP task teams to further explore relevant areas introducing necessary modifications.
• Develop a list of potential PPP projects that have high probability of success for service sectors with some detail of their economic impact, using multi-criteria and PPP suitability analysis.
• Present initial workplan to KRG MOP and continue the consultation at stages of the assignment 
• Design and conduct stakeholder consultations with MoP, relevant ministries, financial and private sector parties to reach consensus on the proposed PPP framework.
• Identify and conduct required capacity building trainings to KRG MOP staffs on the implementation of the PPP framework and identification of PPP Projects.
• Establishing a mechanism for engaging both the public and private sector to propose projects for PPP.

It is expected that the Expert will prepare an initial baseline report through desk review of relevant documents that will serve as the basis for more in-depth consultations during mission.This report should set out the policy, legal, regulatory and institutional arrangements pertaining to PPP and document the current state of play in PPP in KRG.The Expert will then undertake a mission to consult with all the relevant ministries, financial institutions, and private firms interested in PPP opportunities in KRG.This will include detailed consultations with the ministries regarding their investment plans and discussions regarding PPP suitability.Based on the research and consultations the Expert will (1) formulate a proposed PPP Framework comprising optimal legal, regulatory, and institutional arrangements to implement the KRG’s PPP goals, and (2) identify a prioritized pipeline of projects that have passed the PPP suitability test using multi-criteria analysis.This pipeline should enable the ministries to select the most suitable projects to proceed to technical feasibility stage.Concurrently, the Expert will work closely with the MoP and respective sector/ministry teams to design a suitable institutional framework for prioritization, review, appraisal, and selection process for PPP projects.During a subsequent mission, the Expert will conduct a day long workshop with key government and private sector stakeholders to discuss and help reach consensus on the proposed PPP framework.Finally, the Expert will, based on consultations with MoP and relevant ministries help finalize the PPP Framework, including an outline draft PPP Law and outline of PPP Implementing Regulations based on international best practice for the KRG to implement.

1. Expected outputs and deliverables:

 The Specialist shall submit the following deliverable to UNDP FFER-KRG on the agreed timetable.

1. Time and Method of payment

The price proposal should be an “all-inclusive” lump sum fixed rate.

1. The Daily fee must be “all-inclusive”; and
2. An IC Time Sheet must be submitted by the Specialist, duly approved by the FFER-KRG Project Manager, which shall serve as the basis for the payment of fees. 
3. The Specialist’s report and deliverables will be certified by the project manager. The Specialist will be paid based on the submitted deliverable as outlined in section 3 and submission of certification of payment.

1. Reporting:

Overall management: The Expert shall report directly to the FFER-KRG Project Manager to whom all deliverables should be provided within agreed timelines. 

 Task management: The Expert shall report directly to the FFER-KRG Project Manager who will be his/ her task manager on a day- to- day basis.

1. Travel Plan:

1. Contract Duration:

The assignment will be for 65 WDs over 6 months period (35 WDs on Field and 30 WDs home base), starting from the date that work assigned to specialist official by FFER-KRG Project Manager.   The consultant is expected to start in January 2019.

Competencies

• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
• High analytical skills oriented towards problem-solve;
• Leadership and self-management;
• Focus on results and respond positively to feedback;
• Consistently approach work with energy and a positive attitude;
• Demonstrate openness for approaches to manage complexity;
• Team spirit and excellent interpersonal skills;
• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP and the UN; and
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications, Experience and Competencies of the successful contractor 

The Senior PPP Expert will require the following qualifications, experience, competencies and language skills. Only applicants who meet these criteria will be short-listed and will be contacted.

A. Education and Professional Qualifications Required:

• Master’s Degree in Economics, Public Administration, Finance or related field.

B. Experience Required:

• A minimum of 7 years of relevant experience in public private partnerships of which at least 4 years are at international level
• Experience in conducting assessment and PPP Framework development
• Experience in providing capacity building on PPP and knowledge transfer
• Experience in preparing potential PPP projects for different sectors that were successfully implemented
• Experience in PPP Project Prioritization based on set of criteria.
• Experience with Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq would be considered important asset

C. Languages Required:

Excellent written and spoken English is a must and knowledge of Arabic/Kurdish is an asset

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The contractor shall submit a price proposal as below:

Daily Fee – The contractor shall propose a daily fee, which should be inclusive of his professional fee, local communication cost and insurance (inclusive of medical health insurance and evacuation). The number of working days for which the daily fee shall be payable under the contract is 65 working days.

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

1. Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria: weight 70%

* Financial Criteria weight 30%

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

Technical Criteria – Maximum 70 points

Technical Proposal (30 marks)

• Technical Approach & Methodology (20 marks) – Explain the understanding of the objectives of the assignment, approach to the services, methodology for carrying out the activities and obtaining the expected output, and the degree of detail of such output. The Applicant should also explain the methodologies proposed to adopt and highlight the compatibility of those methodologies with the proposed approach.
• Work Plan (10 marks) – The Applicant should propose the main activities of the assignment, their content and duration, phasing and interrelations, milestones (including interim approvals by the Client), and delivery dates. The proposed work plan should be consistent with the technical approach and methodology, showing understanding of the TOR and ability to translate them into a feasible working plan.

Qualification and Experience (40 marks) [evaluation of CV]:

• General Qualification (20 marks);
• Experience relevant to the assignment (20 marks);

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

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested international  individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• Duly accomplished Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II);
• 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:

• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment

Financial proposal, as per template provided in UNDP jobsite (Annex II); https://www.iq.undp.org/content/iraq/en/home/operations/jobs.html 

Incomplete proposals may not be considered