UNDP is the UN Development Programme and works in more than 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion. UNDP helps countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities and build resilience in order to sustain development results. UNDP supports the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as they help shape global sustainable development.

UNDP has a workforce of more than 18,000 personnel in country, regional and headquarters offices. The workforce includes national employees (85%) and international employees (15%). In 2019 The organization posted 4,800 job vacancies for internal and/or external candidates, and hired and onboarded 2,613 new employees, including 2,174 national employees (638 National Officer/General Service staff and 1,536 Service Contract holders) and 439 International Professional staff. In addition, the organization reassigned/relocated 740 International Professional staff within the organization.

In May 2019 UNDP launched its new people strategy called People for 2030.  The vision of People for 2030 is to:

• Build a “One UNDP” culture and employer brand that generates continuing fitness for the future characterized by high performance and employee engagement, creativity, collaboration, and continuous improvement, attracting and retaining talent,
• Ensure that managers at all levels are oriented towards, and capable of, leading and developing personnel, and managing performance effectively – and fully own their part of People for 2030,
• Incorporate a talent perspective into all aspects of management and organisational development,
• Develop organisational and digital capabilities that enable personnel to strive for excellence and adapt to future challenges,
• Transform HR into a function that drives organisational effectiveness, capability and value generation in partnership with managers – in contrast to the cost-based and administrative focus of the past.

One of the key People for 2030 objectives is to enhance UNDP’s capacity to attract, assess and select people with the right skills, knowledge, and attitude. In order to achieve this, UNDP is developing strategies to attract and select the best talent, including offering a seamless candidate experience and positioning the organization as an employer of choice. The following work is currently being implemented:

• An Employer Value Proposition has been developed with a clear and compelling statement for why people would come and work with UNDP and will be used as a platform for recruitment communication and marketing campaigns. A social media strategy aimed at engaging and attracting talent is being developed for roll-out in early 2021, and a new career site is being developed and will be launched in 2021.

• A new competency framework, defining the knowledge, skills, and attributes needed for people within UNDP will be launched at the end of the year. In addition, a new framework for career development, as well as a new mobility and performance management policy have recently been launched. 

• A new Applicant Tracking System (Oracle Recruiting Cloud) will be rolled-out in 2021.

• A standardized and holistic approach to assessment and selection will be rolled-out in 2021, ensuring that candidates are assessed in the same manner across the organization and based on the new competency framework. A young professional assessment and selection framework, which introduces an integrated and holistic approach to assessment and selection, has been developed and will be rolled-out for selected young talent programmes, including among others the new UNDP Graduate Programme, and the Junior Professional Officers Programme. 

As part of the above work, UNDP is seeking to design an Organizational-Fit-Questionnaire that will enable job applicants to gain quick insight into UNDP’s Employer Value Proposition, core values, culture, mission and work offering,  and assess their compatibility with the applicant’s own values, preferences and aspirations. The questionnaire is to be used as a pre-application, self-assessment tool for job applicants, who are considering applying for different positions at different grades and at international and national levels across UNDP. 

It is the intention that the questionnaire will help candidates self-assess whether they are a good match for UNDP and inform their decision whether to apply to the position with UNDP.

UNDP is looking for an experienced consultant to provide support to the design of an Organizational-Fit-Questionnaire for positions at international and national level, and at different grades and in different areas. 

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

UNDP’s People for 2030 Strategy, employer value proposition, recruitment communication material, competency and career frameworks, will constitute key building blocks for the design of an Organizational-Fit-Questionnaire.

The consultant will provide advisory support to:

• Design of an Organizational-Fit-Questionnaire, which will serve as a pre-application, self-assessment tool enabling  job applicants to gain quick insight into UNDP’s mission, core values, norms, culture, and work offering, and assess their compatibility with the applicant’s own values, preferences and aspirations. The questionnaire will be applied in the pre-application phase of the recruitment process for external candidates applying to international and national professional positions across UNDP. It is not intended to be used as a screening-tool, nor will the scores be stored. It is to be used as a means for job applicants to obtain a quick overview of what UNDP can offer as an employer and provide swift feedback to the candidate on her/his overall matching score.  The design shall be supported by adequate evidence to be considered fair, free of bias and discrimination. It is the objective that the questionnaire will contribute to an improved candidate experience and enhance UNDP’s assessment and selection process to ensure that the UNDP employs the most talented candidates who will thrive in the organization.

• Draft an implementation plan for the roll-out of the Organizational-Fit-Questionnaire, including advice regarding:
  • the most optimal business intelligence tool to use for the design of the questionnaire, as well as tracking, management and analysis of data
  • data protection
  • seamless candidate experience
  • digital testing platforms which would be most suitable for hosting of the questionnaire and which can integrate with Oracle Recruiting Cloud
  • additional factors that may influence the implementation

Expected outputs and deliverables:

The consultant will implement the following deliverables:

• Commitment to UNDP vision, mission, and values and knowledge of UN work environment an advantage.
• Capability to bring tested best practice on assessment and selection
• Sound knowledge of talent acquisition, assessment and selection, and behavioural, strength-based assessments
• Deep knowledge in psychometric testing in international occupational settings
• Proven knowledge of the Attraction-Selection-Attrition-model and Personal-Organizational Fit theory
• Proven knowledge on Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace, including the biases and barriers that have negative impact on these
• Strong analytical skills, including identification of key issues and how they relate
• Ability to focus on impact and results for the client
• Ability to work independently, organize work and being flexible
• Excellent communication and writing skills

Academic qualifications:

• Minimum Master’s Degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Occupational Psychology, Applied Psychology, or related area, including Psychometrics and questionnaire design.

Experience:

• Minimum 3 years of experience in supporting large public organisations or private companies in assessment and selection of candidates, including using different assessment tools (incl. psychometric tests). Required
• Minimum 3 years of experience in designing psychometric questionnaires in international occupational settings.  Required
• Experience in survey and/or assessment methodologies used, to assess Person-Organizational-Fit.  Required
• Experience with business intelligence tools; Power BI, Qlik or Tableau; and multivariate statistics (for creating the necessary dashboards for monitoring and ensure that it is operating in a manner that is free from bias).  Required
• Experience from the multilateral sector would be an advantage
• Experience from the private sector would be an advantage

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required;

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;

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. Relevance of the experience in supporting large public organizations or private companies in assessment and selection of candidates, including using different assessment tools (incl. psychometric tests) to the assignment. Weight = 10 %; Maximum Points: 10;
• Criteria 2. Relevance of the experience in designing psychometric questionnaires in international occupational settings to the assignment Weight = 10 %; Maximum Points: 10;
• Criteria 3. Experience in survey and/or assessment methodologies used, to assess Person-Organizational-Fit.  Weight = 10 %; Maximum Points: 10;
• Criteria 4. Experience with business intelligence tools; Power BI, Qlik or Tableau; and multivariate statistics (for creating the necessary dashboards for monitoring and ensure that it is operating in a manner that is free from bias. Weight = 10 %; Maximum Points: 10;
• Criteria 5. Experience from the multilateral  sector. Weight = 5 %; Maximum Points: 5;
• Criteria 6. Experience from the private sector. Weight = 5 %; Maximum Points: 5;

• Interview: Weight = 20%; Maximum Points: 20.

Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top three shortlisted candidates for interview. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

 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 report to and work closely with the Chief of Central Recruitment and Chief of Talent Acquisition and Peoples Programme.

The consultancy will be home based with weekly virtual meetings with the Chief of Central Recruitment and Talent Acquisition & Peoples Programme. The consultant will hold virtual meetings with key stakeholders within UNDP.

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. 
• The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7 hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.

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.