Historique

Please provide Offeror’s Letter and proposal together with your CV and cover letter in one single file while submitting application. And please note that the system will not accept the uploading of more than one document so please merge or scan all your documents into one prior to uploading. 

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 47 Least Developed Countries (LDC). UNCDF promotes financial inclusion, also through digital financial services (DFS), as a key enabler of poverty reduction and inclusive growth; and it demonstrates how localizing finance outside the capital cities can accelerate growth in local economies, promote sustainable and climate-resilient infrastructure development, and empower local communities.

Recently, UNCDF has formulated its strategy ‘Leaving no one behind in the digital era’ based on over a decade of experience in digital finance in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. UNCDF recognizes that reaching the full potential of digital financial inclusion in support of the Sustainable Development Goals aligns with the vision of promoting digital economies that leave no one behind. The vision of UNCDF is to empower millions of people by 2024 to use services daily that leverage innovation and technology and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.

As part of this development process, the Chinese government has always attached great importance to the construction of inclusive digital economies that is built on the foundations of a financial system which is inclusive and acts as an important policy tool for poverty eradication and achieving resilience and prosperity for people at large. China has had many useful experiences in the process of building inclusive digital economy, especially in the field of digital inclusive finance, mobile payments and Internet based credit.

In China, UNCDF started operating in May 2019 to combine its expertise and know-out in the development of financial solutions for low and moderate-income people with the rich experience of Chinese institutions in the digital economy. The Chinese economy and the digital eco-system has been on a growth path and has set lessons for most of the other markets of the world on how digital eco-systems could be developed. With some of the fundamental elements that are available in the market, the UNCDF work is focused on driving innovations leveraging the infrastructure of payments, data, etc. In 2019 and 2020, UNCDF aims to invest in building new innovative partnerships that could help achieve the objectives of innovations in space of financial health.

Purpose of a Framework Agreement

UNCDF would like to enter into a non-exclusive Framework Agreement, also known as Long-Term Agreement (LTA), with up to four (4) individuals that will perform the services described below on a need-basis.  In UNCDF, an LTA is a framework agreement by and between UNCDF and a company or individual where the latter may, at any time within the duration of the LTA, be required to render the agreed services at the agreed and fixed unit prices for a minimum period of 12 months, with potential extension for up to two (2) additional years, depending on satisfactory performance of the company.

Under an LTA, UNCDF does not guarantee that any specific quantity of services shall be purchased during the term of this agreement.  The LTA does not form a financial obligation or commitment from UNDP at the time the LTA contract is signed and that such an agreement is non-exclusive.   

Where a request for service arises, UNCDF can engage the individual on LTA through a “call-off” of the LTA.   Every call-off shall have specific tasks, scope of services and outputs to be delivered within a specific period.   For this work, the call-off shall be formalized through the issuance of a Purchase Order, attaching thereto the TOR, and any other document relevant to the call-off.  Financial commitments will only be established each time a Purchase Order for the specific services/TOR for Individual Contractor is committed.

The LTA shall have a cumulative ceiling amount that may accrue to the individual contractor during the life of the LTA, but said amount shall remain as an upper limit, and must not and cannot be interpreted nor understood as neither a financial commitment nor guarantee of business volume.

The overall objective of the assignment is for the consultants to effectively support UNCDF’s work on digital finance and innovation projects in China. This includes developing, advising and providing technical support to a variety of projects focusing on DFS solutions for agriculture, health sector, gig economy workers, promotion of financial health, support to micro enterprise, strengthening of supply chain, etc.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Compétences

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree in business, engineering, computer science, marketing, social sciences, and/or related discipline is mandatory.
• Master’s degree in economics, public/business administration, social sciences, microfinance or related discipline is preferred but not mandatory.

Experience and skills

• 2 years of professional experience in digital finance, banking, microfinance or, telecommunications is mandatory.
• 1 years of professional experience in Digital Financial Services (DFS) is preferred.
• 1 year of experience in Digital Finance Plus projects (i.e. financial inclusion initiatives related to agriculture, MSME financing, education, women empowerment) is preferred.
• 1 year of professional experience in Asia.
• Professional experience China is preferred but not mandatory.

Language

• Excellent written and spoken English is mandatory.
• Excellent written and spoken Chinese Mandarin is mandatory.

Timeline, total number of working days, duty station:

• Timeline: 12 months renewable for another 24 months.
• Total Number of Working Days for Assignment: up to 470 working days over 36 months.
• Duty station: Home based.

Standard travel costs and living expenses:

Please quote an economy class return ticket and 5 days of living expenses from your home base to Singapore in your financial proposal for a planning meeting per year (3 in total).

Kindly note that living expenses may not exceed Singapore Daily Sustainable Allowance rates referred to in the https://icsc.un.org/ map.

Progress Controls & Payments:

The consultants are to be compensated based on a daily fee payable upon satisfactorily completion of each deliverable and submission of related reports during every call-offs.  The daily fee shall remain fixed for the duration of the IC, including any extension that may be executed. 

Payments shall be made following certification by the Technical Specialist that the services related to each deliverable have been satisfactorily performed and the deliverables have been achieved by or before the due dates specified in the call-off.

Application process:

Interested individuals must submit the documents mentioned below as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications (Note: the system does not allow multiple uploads of documents. Applicants must make sure to upload all documents in one PDF file).

All applications must contain the following information:

• Cover letter with a summary statement of competencies and motivation rationalizing how the applicant meets the qualifications and can deliver the requirements of the Terms of Reference (TOR);
• Earliest availability and proposed schedule for consultancy;
• Complete and signed P11, Personal History Form with names and current contacts of 3 referees (available from http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc)
• Signed financial proposal for the assignment outlining: all-inclusive fee (including professional fees and other professional expenses, such as insurance, taxes, etc.). Template for this is available at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=29916).

Please make sure you have provided all requested materials. 

Evaluation: 

Step I: Screening & longlisting: Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the mandatory criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

• Bachelor’s Degree in business, engineering, computer science, marketing, social sciences, and/or related discipline
• 2 years of professional experience in digital finance, banking, microfinance or, telecommunications
• English is mandatory
• Chinese Mandarin is mandatory

Step II: Shortlisting (20 points)

UNCDF will produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate candidates from 1 to 100% as per experience requirements in the Terms of Reference. As applicable, only applicants scoring 70% or more shall be considered for an interview.

Shortlisting scoring:

20%- Education/Qualification;

40%- Mandatory Experience.

40%- Preferred Experience.

Step III: Interview (80 points): An interview shall be conducted to candidates having passed the test.

Step IV: Financial Evaluation: Only candidates with scores above 70% of the technical evaluation (70 Points or above) will be considered. 

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal: lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30%.

Award Criteria

The contact shall be awarded to the 4 best applicants whose offer have been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and having received the highest combined weight (technical scores) 70% + financial 30%= 100%.

Both individual consultants and individual employed by a company or institution are welcome to apply. 

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a Procurement Notice for IC must do so in their individual capacity (providing a CV so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly). Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.

Please provide Offeror’s Letter and proposal together with your CV and cover letter in one single file while submitting application. And please note that the system will not accept the uploading of more than one document so please merge or scan all your documents into one prior to uploading.