Antecedentes

Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia (MAP) project is designed to strengthen the National Assembly in its new and fundamentally enhanced role within the governance system in carrying out critical functions of law-making, oversight, and representation. With a long-term goal of enhancing the overall effectiveness of the Parliament as a policymaking institution, the project is designed to support the newly elected National Assembly to take advantage of the modern governance tools and mechanisms that are focusing on improved quality, transparency and inclusiveness of parliamentary operations and enhanced parliamentary capacity for gender-responsive policymaking.

The three components of the project are focused on the areas of Legislative capacity, Legislative transparency, and Legislative responsiveness. To that end, a three-stage strategy will be applied: (i) catalytic stage of needs assessment, strategic agenda-setting, and pilots of the designed approaches, (ii) full-fledged implementation of the strategic agenda, tested approaches and activities, (iii) evaluation of the implementation, policy recommendations, and project closure.

Nowadays, ICT technologies are part of any institution, and national parliaments are no exception.  Parliaments are now more connected to the outside world, increasingly through two-way processes, where citizens are given more opportunities to get involved. And the trend towards greater openness and accountability continues: more parliaments are using open data, and more are turning to popular communication channels. In addition, the use of ICT provides several advantages for lawmakers to work and operate from any location. This becomes very important, especially in case of need to work remotely during crisis situations. Thus, properly designed tools for implementing e-Parliament functions are mandatory for any modern parliament.

For the implementation of the E-Parliament system, the project is looking for an expert to perform a comparative analysis of existing solutions and develop functional and technical requirements tailored with the local specifics for the National assembly of the Republic of Armenia. The expert will be part of a team, including international and local experts.

Deberes y responsabilidades

The consultant will act under the overall supervision of UNDP MAP Project CTA and Project IT Expert to develop a concept and solutions for an E-Parliament system tailored for the National Assembley of the Republic of Armenia (RA NA) needs, in particular:

• Provide advisory services to the UNDP MAP Project on ICT related issues related to the E-parliament during the meetings with the RA NA;
• Translate the Rules of Procedure of the RA NA into the IT e-parliament design;
• Develop frames to incorporate e-deliberation, e-voting, e-participation, and transparency and oversight in general into e-parliament;
• Provide recommendations on selecting the right model for software development, including using the of the shelf products as it is (with examples), modification of the existing solutions and localization into Armenian, and using the model of software development from scratch;
• Prepare TOR for contracting a company to develop an e-parliament that includes:
  • Scope of work (functional and non-functional software requirements; software design; deployment requirements);
  • Duties, responsibilities and critical milestones;
  • Qualifications;
• Participate in the evaluation of received bids;
• Advice on amendments to the rules of procedure that are necessary to enable the introduction of E-parliament in the RA NA, based on the global best practice;
• Recommendations on implementation of IT-solutions based on the results of complex diagnostics of information systems of the RA NA  agreed with the relevant stakeholders in team with national experts;
• Recommendations for implementation of new registration and voting procedures for MPs, including technical, functional and other related documentation, and technical specifications developed.  

Expected deliverables:   

Payment mode:

Payment will be conducted in the following instalments upon completion of the tasks under each output and approval of deliverables by UNDP MAP and ICT Expert:   

• Output 1, 2 –40%
• Outpu 3,4 – 40%
• Output 5,6 – 20%

In case of the country mission (if required), UNDP will purchase economy class round-trip tickets on the most direct routes and pay Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) in accordance with itineraries and UN DSA rates including terminal expenses.  

Competencias

• Ability to write clearly and concisely in English for print and online publications
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities skills;
• Openness to change and the ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
• Proficiency in the use of office IT applications and the internet in conducting research;
• Outstanding communication, project management, and organizational skills;
• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills;
• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Positive, constructive attitude to work;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Capacity to interact with senior officials and elected Members and credibly influence senior decision-makers;
• Strong analytical, negotiation and communication skills, including the ability to produce high quality practical advisory reports and knowledge products;
• Demonstrated practical knowledge and experience in the field of parliamentary assistance;
• Useful and timely delivery of agreed outputs in a high-pressure work environment;

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education: 

•  Ph.D. or equivalent degree in software engineering, information technology or related field would be an asset but is not required;

 Experience:

• Minimum 7 years of experience as a business analyst, software engineer and/or information technology consultant;
• Minimum 5years of experience in developing large scale enterprise information systems;
• Experience with IT in parliaments would be an asset;
• Published journal articles on digitalisation and conference proceedings on e-parliament
• Experience in working on developing more that 3 e-parliament systems in different parliaments
• Experience in working legislative drafting and open data are an asset
• Experience in working with UNDP is and asset
• Successful experience in defining the functional requirement, planning and designing information systems;
• In-depth knowledge of current issues about the latest issued regarding the innovation’s technology;
• Experience in soliciting and managing input from experts and project partners;
• Cultural and political awareness, diplomatic skills, ability to adapt and ability to work independently and take responsibility for delivering results;

 Languages:   

• Proficiency in the English language is required.

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANTS WILL BE EVALUATED BASED ON THE FOLLOWING METHODOLOGY:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' technical qualifications,  experience and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as technically responsive/compliant/acceptable to the requirements of the ToR and received the highest cumulative (technical and financial) score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.  

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation - max. 70 points

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation - max. 30 points. 

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION.

• Financial Proposal and Availability form:OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP (total lump-sum option is applicable for this assignment)
• CV shall include Education/Qualification, Processional Certification, Employment Records /Experience

General Conditions of Contract?is available here: GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

Note: Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).