Antecedentes

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the development arm of the United Nations system, with offices in 180 countries. Globally, the organization employs 17,000 people and manages a budget of USD 5 billion each year.

The UNDP office in Skopje employs a team of 65 and currently manages a portfolio of projects in environmental protection, good governance and social inclusion worth USD 18 million per year.

In a joint response to the stagnant integration of Roma, persons with disabilities and youth, as population segments exposed to multiple barriers in accessing the labour market, UNDP in partnership with Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MLSP) and Employment State Agency (ESA), financially supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has launched at the beginning of 2019 the implementation of a four-year project that strongly focuses on enhancing the employability and facilitating employment of the most vulnerable individuals.

Ministry in its efforts to further develop and improve the process of the social reform and to improve required conditions for systematic outsourcing of services and delivery of the same by the non-state service providers and CSO’s is initiating evaluation of the existing Law and preparation of the new text proposal for the Law on Employment and Insurance Against Unemployment. This Law shall regulate the labor exchange issues, the rights and obligations of the employers, the unemployed persons, other jobseekers, and the state in relation to employment and insurance against unemployment, and other issues of importance for the employment. Having in mind country background and similarities of organization, in order to provide smooth transition,  Ministry is looking  the Slovenian model of the Law including applied solution with in the same.

New law will enable Employment service agency (ESA) to follow and implement recent trends in labour activation of vulnerable but as well to act as referral mechanism with possibility to outsource and  engage non state service providers. Law and its bylaws shall provide instruments for smooth implementation of social contracting model and in same time ensure delivery of sustainable, standardized services by licensed service providers, financed according to standardized pricing methodology adopted for all social services. This law shall also regulate data management and exchange.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Objective of the Assignment

The objective of this assignment is to provide expert support in evaluation of the existing Law on Employment and Insurance Against Unemployment but as well to provide gap analysis of the same compared to Slovenian model of the same Law including the provision of recommendations adopted accordingly to the country context but as well according to EU legislation requirements. The Legal/policy expert will also support and advise appointed multidisciplinary Working Group (WG) chaired by the MLSP and specially established for the purpose of drafting of the new Law. Development of Gap analysis will be done in constant cooperation with the appointed focal points from the MLSP and requires a joint and coordinated approach of technical and legal experts.

Scope of Work

• to review and evaluate the Law on Employment and Insurance Against Unemployment, Rulebook on the Form, Content and Manner of Keeping the Registers; Rulebook on Amending the Rulebook on the Form, Content and Manner of Keeping the Registers; Rulebook on the Form and Content of the Mandated Payment Order; Rulebook on the Form and Content of the Misdemeanor Payment Order, other relevant documents proposed by the members of the working group.
• to provide gap analysis of the same compared to Slovenian model including the provision of recommendations adopted accordingly to the country context but as well according to EU legislation requirements.
• To provide expert support and to advise appointed multidisciplinary Working Group (WG) chaired by the MLSP and specially established for the purpose of drafting of the new Law

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES:

Expected deliverables from the Experts, in the course of the assignment are:

1. Evaluation of  the Law on Employment and Insurance Against Unemployment and other relevant documents proposed and submitted by the members of the working group (not later than 30th of June 2021- up to 10 expert days)
2. Gap analysis of the existing Law on Employment and Insurance Against Unemployment including  recommendations adopted accordingly to the country context but as well according to EU legislation requirements. (not later than 30th of June 2021-up to 7 days)
3. Develop a report on the current situation, policy alternatives and expert guidance and recommendations to the i) changes in the legal regulations and ii) outline in a separate chapter good practices coming from other  EU countries (not later than 31st of July, up to 5 expert days)
4. Expert support to the working group and submission of written recommendation after WG meeting attendance (September-December 2021- approximately up to 16 meetings or up to 8 expert days divided in hours)

Institutional arrangment

The consultants will work under direct supervision of relevant UNDP programme and in coordination with the MLSP Head of Department of Labour Law and Employment Policy and will provide regular information on the progress of expected outputs’ delivery.

Duration of the Work

Contracting period for the assignments is envisaged from 01st of April 2021 to 10th of December 2021.

Duty station and travel

This assignment shall be home-based with meetings organized through video conferences in coordination with the UNDP Policy Advisor.

If unforeseen travel is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement.

Competencias

• Proven ability to conduct comparative reviews and analysis in a multi-country and multi-dimensional setting;
• Demonstrated ability to use different tools and techniques for research and analysis;
• Equipped with skills to integrate and consolidate data from different sources and prepare and present/interpret divergent data and trends;
• Enabled to work and perform well under time pressures and considerable workload;
• Excellent writing and oral communication skills in English
• Report writing abilities

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

The selected candidate shall possess:

• Minimum BA in Law or related discipline in other fields combined with 10 years’ professional experience for candidates without relevant diploma Higher degrees (Master’s or PhD) in the above-mentioned qualifications will be considered as an asset.
• Minimum 7 years of experience and proven knowledge of Slovenian Employment Law, labor relations, employment policies, especially related to insurance against unemployment, labour activation and increasing of employability of vulnerable categories is a must

• Record of participation in at least 1 assignment in relation to Slovenian labor relations, employment policies, law on employment and strategy development Participation or affiliation in national/ international bodies working on issues such as labor relations, flexible working arrangements, well-being policies as part of HR developments  etc.  
• Participation or affiliation in national/ international bodies (working groups) working on issues such as labor relations, flexible working arrangements, well-being policies as part of HR developments, social contracting  etc.  

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF BEST OFFEr

The award of the contract shall be made to the offeror whose offer has been evaluated and determined using Cumulative analysis methodology. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) Being responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) Having received the highest score based on the following weight of technical and financial criteria for solicitation as per the schedule below:

* Technical criteria weight: 70%

* Financial criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) in the technical evaluation shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

For the considered offers in the financial evaluation only, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points. The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula: (Pn / Pl) * 30 where Pn is the financial offer being evaluated and Pl is the lowest financial offer received.

Technical Criteria:

DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED

Interested offerors are invited submit the following documents/information to be considered:

1. Offeror’s letter, as per the following form LINK
2. Most updated CV with focus on required qualification as well as the contact details of at least three (3) professional references.
3. Financial Proposal The financial proposal must be expressed in the form of a lumpsum all-inclusive cost, supported by breakdown of costs as per deliverable provided in USD for this consultancy.

The financial proposal must take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; cost of travel from the home base to the duty station and vice versa, where required (the prevailing price for an economy class ticket on the most direct routes shall apply; 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 such as the cost of mission travels, as applicable.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Step 1

1. Click on the "Apply now" button

2. Input your information in the appropriate sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume, and motivation (cover letter). You can type in or paste your short Resume into the last box.                                                                                                       

3. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload other required documents listed in the step 2.

Step 2

Interested individual consultants must submit the documents/information listed in the “Documents to submit section” above.

The system will allow only one attachment. Therefore, please upload all required documents as one file.

Failing to submit any of these documents may result in disqualification of the application.

Please note that shortlisted candidates might be interviewed.