Antecedentes

The ASEAN Economic Community is the 7th largest economy with a combined Gross Domestic Product of US$2.6 trillion, which represents a huge potential for lifting people out of poverty in the region. However inefficiency in governance practices hamper inclusive growth and increase inequalities. Corruption has been cited by private sector as one of significant challenges to doing business in ASEAN, which discourages investment and threatens the sustainability of economic and social development in the region.

There is a momentum created by the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development to work jointly with governments and private sector in “instilling a culture of integrity within ASEAN”. UNDP formulated a Regional project on Promoting a Fair Business Environment in ASEAN, aiming to promote a fair business environment in ASEAN by minimizing corruption risks and encouraging sustainable practices. It also helps encourage strong partnerships between governments and private sector to promote fair, transparent and predictable business environments in the dynamic ASEAN economies.

In the context, public procurement is identified as a major sector that makes huge impact on business in ASEAN countries due to its volume and contribution in economy. Improved efficiency in public procurement can save huge government budget, which can be utilized for additional development purpose.

To improve efficiency in public procurement, UNDP Thailand has been providing support to the Royal Thai government in public procurement reform. With support from the UK Foreign Commonwealth Office, UNDP Thailand supports Comptroller-General’s Department in its efforts to reform public procurement system that led to the adoption of the first Public Procurement Law in 2016. However, challenges remain in its implementation. Currently, the Comptroller-General’s Department is leading the process in order to ensure the correct understanding of the law, and that its effective implementation leads to a fairer business environment for national and international companies operating in Thailand.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Objective:

UNDP Thailand is seeking an international consultant to assist the Comptroller-General’s Department of Thailand for effective implementation of the public procurement reform.  Under the new legislation, the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act BE2560 (2017), it is found that there are needs to identify gaps between the legislative and the implementation. The consultant will assist in providing the following work;

1. Identify the constraints nature of international participation in tendering and making practical improvements that would promote such participation;
2. improve the price performance of procurement through interventions that will promote understanding and achievement of value for money as broadly defined in the Act;
3. develop monitoring and evaluation framework to Comptroller General’s Department in monitoring and evaluating public procurement performance of government agencies.

Scope of work:

The consultant is expected to produce the following deliverables:

1. An inception report including rationale for the approach to the assignment; analysis of the implications of the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act, B.E. 2560 (2017), secondary legislation and guidance material; stakeholder engagement strategy; methods including data collection instruments and outlines of deliverables.
2. Conduct interview and workshops of stakeholders involved in international bidding to identify constrain nature of international participation in the public procurement process and its report
3. Practical and detailed recommendations of improvement in international bidding.
4. Guidance note and training materials for the price performance exercise according to the international standard to be used at the Comptroller-General’s Department.
5. Conduct trainings and training of trainers to government officials in selecting product and developing price performance; and
6. Guidance and training materials for developing monitoring and evaluation framework in public procurement and a brief workshop to introduce the framework.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The consultant is expected to produce the following deliverables:

1. An inception report including rationale for the approach to the assignment; analysis of the implications of the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act, B.E. 2560 (2017), secondary legislation and guidance material; stakeholder engagement strategy; methods including data collection instruments and outlines of deliverables.
2. Conduct interview and workshops of stakeholders involved in international bidding to identify constrain nature of international participation in the public procurement process and its report
3. Practical and detailed recommendations of improvement in international bidding.
4. Guidance note and training materials for the price performance exercise according to the international standard to be used at the Comptroller-General’s Department.
5. Conduct trainings and training of trainers to government officials in selecting product and developing price performance; and
6. Guidance and training materials for developing monitoring and evaluation framework in public procurement and a brief workshop to introduce the framework.

Institutional Arrangement:

The consultant will report directly to the Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP Thailand and shall work under overall supervision of Programme Specialist, Democratic Governance and Social Advocacy, UNDP Thailand.

The consultant will work closely with UNDP Project Coordinating Associate who will provide substantive and administrative coordination between the consultant, UNDP, the Comptroller General’s Department and stakeholders.

UNDP Thailand will review the progress and quality of assignment upon outputs prior to issuance the payment. Review/approval time required to review/ approve outputs prior to authorizing payments is 7 – 10 days.

Duration of the Assignment:

3 June 2019 – 3 September 2019  (90 days)

Duty Station:

Home-based with travels to Bangkok, Thailand 2 trips to conduct interview, workshop and training. Each trip will be 7 working days.

Competencias

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Technical Competencies:

• Analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to process, analyse and synthesise complex, technical information;
• Proven ability to support the development of high quality knowledge and training materials, and to train technical teams;
• Proven experience in the developing country context and working in different cultural settings.

Communication:

• Communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.

Professionalism:

• Capable of working in a high pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills.

Teamwork:

• Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
• Focuses on results for the client;
• Welcomes constructive feedback.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

The consultant will need to demonstrate high levels of technical, sectoral and policy expertise; rigorous research and drafting skills; and the capacity to conduct an independent and quality analysis. Specific requirements:

I. Education:

• Advanced university degree in economics, public administration, social science or other relevant discipline.

II. Experience:

• At least 10 years of relevant experience in public procurement;
• Demonstrate record of having undertaken similar assignments.

III. Technical expertise

• A deep understanding of public procurement standards and practice;
• A sound understanding of Thailand Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act, B.E. 2560 (2017), its regulations and the nature of public procurement environment in Thailand;
• Proven ability to produce policy-based analytical reports and high quality in English.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payment :

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on the lump sum amount.

The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

In general, UNDP shall 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.

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Travel costs shall be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent.  The provided living allowance will not be exceeding UNDP DSA rates.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer:

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 set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 100 points)

• Criteria 1 Relevance of Education – Max 10 points
• Criteria 2 Relevance of experience.- Max 30 Points
• Criteria 3 Relevance of technical expertise – Max 30 points
• Criteria 4 Assessment of approach/methodology to assignment – Max 30 Points

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

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

1. Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex III;
2. Personal CV, 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. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. 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 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.
4. Proposed outline of methodology for conducting the assignment (minimum 5 pages)

Incomplete proposals may not be considered. The short listed candidates may be contacted and the successful candidate will be notified

ANNEXES

Annex I - TOR_ International Consultant_Public Procurement Reform

Annex II- General Condition of Contract

Annex III - Offerors Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal

All documents can be downloaded at :http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=55458