Antecedentes

Background:

The likelihood of Mosul dam failure presents a very complex problem for Iraq which needs to be addressed through a coordinated approach involving multiple institutions and stakeholders. While ensuring structural safety remains critical to address this problem, it has become equally important and urgent to roll out an emergency response and preparedness plan that can potentially safeguard the people and assets in the likely impacted areas in the downstream.

A number of national plans have been developed by various Iraqi authorities to address the challenge posed by Mosul dam in Iraq. Among them, the contingency plans developed by the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR), Civil Defense, and Ministry of Defense (MOD) are notable ones. However, there exists gaps and lack of coherence in these plans as well as overlapping mandates, roles and responsibilities.

UNDP is already engaged with the Government of Iraq in its efforts to review safety and security of Mosul Dam. UNDP’s technical assistance is targeted to strengthen the on-going national efforts through undertaking a systematic assessment of risks and vulnerabilities and development of a comprehensive emergency response and preparedness plan. The key objective is to protect the communities, institutions and the assets in the downstream areas in case of the dam being breached.

The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) is the official operator of the Mosul Dam and is legally mandated to safeguard population from flood risks. The role of the ministry of water resources is central to any effort to improve capacity and preparedness for any possible emergency in the Mosul Dam. In 2017, UNDP established a strong partnership with the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) and to bring them fully on board in the emergency flood preparedness actions in Tigris river valley.  To this end, an Expert will be mobilized to engage with MoWR for initiating a modern dam safety programme that puts system and capacities in place to mitigate the risks and vulnerabilities through a combination of structural and non-structural solutions. These will include a review of capacity gaps and provisioning training to the concerned officials on dam safety, regulations and protection based on international best practices.

Recognizing the benefits of successful accomplishment of Dam safety measures at Mosul Dam, the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has sent a formal request to UNDP for continuing and expanding the Dam Safety programme to cover other important dams including Darbandikhan which pose risks to a large downstream population. UNDP has successfully completed dam safety training for Mosul Dam technical staffs and has completed the preparation of Safe Operational Plan of the Dam. It is important to continue the momentum and undertake a set of urgent activities to establish emergency preparedness measures in the MoWR for the purpose of safeguarding the lives of the vulnerable communities along the flood paths of Darbandikhan, Dokan and Haditha Dams. Emergency preparedness measures and protocols will be activated, and dam safety training will be provided to the managers and the technical staffs at the dam sites and detail operational plans will be developed and finalized for Darbandikhan, Dokan, and Haditha Dams.  With the objective to scale up the efforts by the MoWR, a national dam safety standards manual will be developed and finalized to help the Government of Iraq to scale up emergency preparedness efforts across all the vulnerable dams in the country.

The nationwide management of dams is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Water Resources. While the threat to Mosul dam is that of collapse due structural weaknesses, the threat to other dams is associated with earthquakes, such as Darbandikhan Dam. As assessed by the Ministry of Water Resources, these dams are vulnerable to earthquakes and therefore some form of preparedness is advised at this point.

On the other hand, water management of the Tigris River is done as an integrated system. In the case of Mosul Dam failure, managing the dams along the Tigris River and its tributaries accordingly is an integral part of the response plan to minimize the impact on the exposed population.

UNDP believes that the preparedness momentum gained on the Mosul dam is a perfect opportunity to rollout preparedness to other vulnerable dams, as clearly a collapse in one will impact the operations of the others in terms of resources allocation and usage by the ministry.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Objective of the Assignment:

The objective is to hire a dam safety expert urgently to lead UNDP-Iraq engagement with Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) and to review the capacity gaps and provisioning training to the concerned officials in Mosul, Darbandikhan, Dokan and Haditha dams on dam safety, regulations and protection based on international best practices. The expert will also be required to offer his technical support to develop and finalize a national dam safety standard manual to help the Government of Iraq to scale up emergency preparedness efforts across all the vulnerable dams in the country.

Scope of Work:

1. Undertake a systematic review and assessment of Darbandikhan, Dokan, and Haditha dam emergency response plans and operating practices;
2. Review current MoWR national water management plans to mitigate the various risks of Mosul, Darbandikhan, Dokan and Haditha Dam;
3. Review and assess current capacity of MoWR and provide training to the concerned officials on dam safety, regulations and protection based on identified capacity and operational gaps in MoWR and guided by international best practices;
4. Provide technical leadership and support to develop and finalize a national dam safety standards manual in consultation and coordination with MoWR.

Deliverables & Payment Schedule:

The consultant is expected to discuss with the Project Manager and the EECC pillar head the detailed implementation plan within the scope of the work and identify the specific deliverables and the timelines for their submission

Payments will be made in 4 installments based on the satisfactory accomplishment of the assignments and submission of quality deliverables as per agreed work plan. The dates and schedules of the payment instalments are:

Institutional Arrangements:

The Consultant shall work closely with UNDP project partners and report directly to the Project Manager and the EECC pillar head.

• Prepare quarterly progress reports for inclusion in project’s report to the Donor;
• Review and gaps assessment report for emergency response plans for each of the dams considered;
• Review and capacity gap assessment report of MoWR National Water Management plans;
• Capacity building programme design and implementation report;
• Report on Draft National Dam Safety Standards manual;
• Completion report.
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Duration of the Work:

The duration of the work will be 90 working days spanning over a period starting from 15 October 2019 to 15 June 2020 (8 months).

Duty Station:

The consultant shall be home-based with a position to undertake missions to the field as per the work plan to be finalized in consultation with the Project Manager.

• The consultancy will be Home Based, with travel to different location in Iraq as needed upon the approval of the project manager for a total of 36 Working days over a period of 8 Months to start by Late November 2019 till end of June 2020.
• Consultancy May includes travel to other locations inside Iraq or to other countries as needed/ requested by the Unit Manager and upon approval of UNDP Iraq office.

Travel days to Baghdad: 21 days

Travel days to Erbil/Ninewa/Sulaimaniya/Anbar: 15 days

Competencias

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the mission, vision and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly and with impartiality.

Functional Competencies:

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines;
• Demonstrates excellent oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Self-reliant and able to work as a part of a multi-cultural team in a stressful.

Professionalism:

• Shows pride in work and in achievements; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments; observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; Remains calm in stressful situations.

Communication:

• Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; Asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience; Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Planning and Organizing:

• Identifies priority activities and assignments; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; Uses time efficiently.

Client Orientation:

• Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view; Establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; Meets time line for delivery of product or services to client.

Teamwork:

• Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; Builds consensus for task purpose and direction with team members; Supports and acts in accordance with final group decisions, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position.

Technological awareness:

• Keeps abreast of available technology; actively seeks to apply technology to appropriate tasks; Shows willingness to learn new technology.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• At least Master’s degree in Dam Engineering, Water, Hydrology, Disaster Management or related development discipline is required. A doctorate degree will be preferred.

Experience:

• At least 15 years of increasingly responsible experience in dam engineering, dam safety, water management, or hydrology with focus on managing large scale and complex water management facilities;
• Must have demonstrated ability to lead a multi-disciplinary team of experts, particularly in conflict context;
• Proven experience of working with diverse range of stakeholders;
• Proven experience of dam safety programmes is important;
• Working experience in the UN system would be a strong asset;
• Experience in the context of Iraq will be an advantage.

Language:

• Demonstrates excellent oral and written communication skills in both in Arabic and English.

EVALUATION OF CANDIDATES:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis: The candidates will be evaluated through Cumulative Analysis method. When using the weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• 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.

**Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% marks i.e. 49 marks in the Technical evaluation would be considered for Financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Criteria (Total 70 marks):

• Adequacy of the Proposed Methodology & Approach: Submission of detailed Methodology explaining 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. -  10 Points;
• Appropriateness of the Proposed Work Plan: Submission of clear workplan with detail deliverables and payment schedule. 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  - 5 Points;
• Minimum 5 years of experience in planning, coordinating and managing technical strategies and relevant programmes in water resources management, water crisis, and capacity building programmes (more than 5 years will get full marks) - 15 points;
• Proven record of good report writing in the areas of dam operation and safety, sustainable management of shared river basins, droughts management, climate change impact and variability - 10 points;
• Demonstrated ability to facilitate consultative process engaging with key stakeholders in water resources management, water negotiation and conflict resolution -  10 points;
• Experience of working at the policy level/strategic level and demonstrated ability to influence policy makers -  10 points;
• Have peer reviewed research, articles and/or books published in the last 10 years - 5 points;
• Experience in the context of Iraq will be an advantage - 5 points

Financial Evaluation (Total 30 marks)

Financial proposals from all technically qualified candidates will be scored out 30 marks based on the formula provided below. The maximum marks (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal.

All other proposals will receive points according to the following formula:

• 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.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested international individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Duly accomplished Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Template using the template;
• 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:

• A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment;
• A detailed work plan.

Financial proposal, as per template mentioned above;

Please group all your documents (Duly accomplished Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Template, CV or P11, Technical Proposal and financial) into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document. Incomplete applications will not be given consideration.

Travel: All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of a most direct economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.