Background

Purpose

To support the development of the National Disaster Risk Register by identifying data sets and records of relevance at local level and to support local self-government units (LSGs) in identifying and feeding selected data sets in Disaster Risk Register by providing hands-on technical support in the area of disaster risk reduction (DRR).

Objective

To support implementation of EU for Civil Protection and Disaster Resilience Strengthening in the Republic of Serbia Project. 

Background Information

Disaster affect Serbia’s economic and environmental standing, diminish the country’s development potential, pose a risk to social stability, and jeopardize EU investments. The effectiveness of the disaster risk management system relies on the adequate human, physical, and financial capacities for planning, preparation, responding, and post-disaster recovery, as well as on proper vertical and horizontal coordination between all the relevant institutions.  

Global Crisis Severity Index with an average score of 3.5 places Serbia in the group of medium-risk and rather stable countries. Although the applied INFORM methodology assesses Serbian vulnerability as moderately low, it still recognizes institutional and governance shortcomings (scored with 5.2) and DRR (5.7) as having undermining impact on the overall coping capacity. The critical problem of the Serbian Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management System is the fragmentation of the institutional framework, procedures, and insufficient capacities at the central and local level for adequate prevention, preparation, and response to disaster risk needs of the communities and population.

To support national authorities in addressing above mention challenges, EU Delegation to the Republic of Serbia entrusted UNDP with implementation of the EU for Civil Protection and Disaster Risk Resilience Strengthening in the Republic of Serbia Project. 

In line with the one of the most important novelties in the Disaster Risk Reduction area which was brough by the Law (Article 22) is the establishment of National Disaster Risk Register (the Register). The legal responsibility for its development is entrusted to SEM whilst all the relevant authorities are required to provide timely updates. Due to technical capacities, the Republic Geodetic Authority (RGA) will be responsible for technical infrastructure maintenance in accordance with the geospatial regulations. The Register shall be used as a subsystem of the national geospatial data infrastructure system comprised of the following data: physical and geographical characteristics of risk affected areas, affected population vulnerability data, infrastructure data including level of exposure and vulnerability, historical data, risks description, areas of immediate risk and local-self-governments’ risk reduction capacities. Project is currently supporting the establishment of the Register as an interactive and interoperable system aligned with the EU INSPIRE Directive and the EU Initiative to Enhance Data Interoperability. 

Following the successful procurement process UNDP has signed a contract with the selected contractor responsible for the development of the National Disaster Risk Register in May 2021 (the Contractor). Currently the Contractor is finalizing its Inception phase which includes development and approval of project implementation plan, and establishing tools for project management, progress monitoring, software development and testing, issue tracking and other project-related work and communication deployed. There are still ongoing meetings with key project stakeholders and data providers to define system overview, its IT infrastructure, verify beneficiary requests, and review of existing data that should be included in the Register. 

Establishment of the Register shall contribute to the realisation of National Disaster Risk Management Program, specifically Component 3 – structural and non-structural risk reduction measures, by incorporating risk information in sector investment planning and infrastructure, thus creating preconditions for risk based urban and economic planning.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNDP is seeking a qualified consultant tasked to identify data sets and records of relevance to the development of the National Disaster Risk Register. The consultant is also expected to provide hands-on technical support in the Disaster Risk Reduction area to responsible staff of LSGs in preparation, input and update of existing data records for feeding the Disaster Risk Register, once system becomes operational. More specifically, under the direct supervision of UNDP Project Manager and close cooperation with Beneficiary (PIMO and RGA) the Consultant shall:

Provide support to the development of the Register at local level:

• Make an inventory of the existing data sets and records at local level which are of importance to the Register;
• Propose recommendations for unification of risk related data at local level;
• Develop assessment report which shall contain inventory and recommendations.

Provide support to LSGs in providing inputs and updates to existing databases, suitable for direct replication into the Register:

• Identify contact persons in LSG responsible for data and development of policy documents in the area of DRR;
• Analyse the current status of the documents and data of LSGs units (type of document submitted by LSG, timeliness, SEM endorsement status);
• Provide hands-on support to LSGs contact persons/responsible staff in preparing inputs and updates of the data records – lead the step-by-step process of document preparation, upload (if needed) and data updating;
• Prepare Interim Progress Report each 15 days on the progress of the data acquisition and data records’ update:
  • List of LSGs engaged;
  • Assessed engagement – success or not;
  • Risks identified;
  • Mitigation measures proposed.

Prepare Final Report which will tentatively include:

• Inventory of the existing data sets and records at local level and status of implementation of unification recommendations;
• Engagement status of LSGs and contact persons;
• Risks and mitigation measures;
• Status of the documents and data of LSGs units;
• Results of provided support to LSGs on document preparation, upload and data update.

Deliverables

The following deliverables are required from the Consultant:

All deliverables have to be prepared in English language. All the deliverables have to endorsed, quality reviewed, approved and accepted by UNDP Project Manager in consultations with PIMO. All the comments have to be addressed in satisfactory manner and submit the deliverables to UNDP for final clearance.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP.

Functional competencies:

• Capacity to work across the sectors;
• Ability to express ideas clearly;
• Ability to deliver when working under pressure and within changing circumstances;
• Proven ability to timely and quality delivers expected outputs through the portfolio of previous work;
• Approach to work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Minimum BA in Natural Sciences; Advanced University Degree would be considered an asset (MSc, Ph.D.);
• Possession of licenses related to civil protection and disaster risk management or related field would be considered an asset; 

Experience

• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in the disaster risk management area;
• At least 3 years of professional experience related to document management (organising, securing, digitizing and classifying documents and data records);
• Excellent understanding of Serbia's socio-economic situation and state of play in the areas of civil protection and disaster resilience; 
• Profound knowledge of existing legal framework in the DRR area with special emphasis on the role, responsibilities and obligation of local self-government units within the national disaster risk management system.
• Experience in the development of local policy documents and data records in the area of DRR;
• Knowledge in the use of computers and office software packages and handling of web-based management systems;
• Excellent writing/reporting and presentation skills;
• Excellent interpersonal, networking and team building skills.

Language skills

Excellent knowledge of spoken and written Serbian and English is required. 

Application Procedure:

Qualified and interested candidates are asked to submit their applications via UNDP Web site: UNDP in Serbia under section “Jobs” no later than Monday, 11 October 2021.

Application should include: 

• CV in English language containing date of birth, contact information (home address, phone number, e-mail) and timeline of work experience (including description of duties);
• Offeror’s Letter (only PDF format will be accepted) confirming Interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) Assignment. Can be downloaded from the following link: https://www.undp.org.rs/download/ic/Confirmation.docx. The Offeror’s Letter shall include financial proposal specifying a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this announcement with a breakdown of costs. 

In order to apply please merge above listed documents into a single PDF file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded.

Any request for clarification must be sent by standard electronic communication to the e-mail: Vacancy.rs@undp.org . The procuring UNDP entity will respond by standard electronic mail and will send response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants.

Shortlisted applicants will be requested to submit copies of Diploma(s) and relevant certificates as proof of the consultant’s qualification and experience.

Lump sum contracts

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount as per deliverables indicated in Terms of Reference.

 Travel

This is a homebased consultancy, and no travel is envisaged under this assignment.

Evaluation

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should 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 a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight; 70%

* Financial Criteria weight; 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

Additional Information:

• Individual Contract (IC) will be applicable for individual consultants applying in their own capacity. If the applicant is employed by any legal entity, IC would be issued upon submission of Consent letter from the employer acknowledging the engagement with UNDP. Template of General Conditions on IC could be found on: https://rs.undp.org/content/dam/serbia/downloads/General%20Conditions%20for%20Individual%20Contracts.pdf
   
• Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) will be applicable for applicants employed by any legal entity. Template of RLA with General Terms and Conditions could be found on: https://www.undp.org.rs/download/RLA%20with%20General%20Terms%20and%20Conditions.doc . In the case of engagement of Civil servants under IC contract modality a no-objection letter should be provided by the Government entity. The ‘no-objection’ letter must also state that the employer formally certifies that their employees are allowed to receive short-term consultancy assignment from another entity without being on “leave-without-pay” status (if applicable) and include any conditions and restrictions on granting such permission, if any. If the previous is not applicable ‘leave-without-pay’ confirmation should be submitted.

Engagement of Government Officials and Employees

Government Officials or Employees are civil servants of UN Member States.  As such, if they will be engaged by UNDP under an IC which they will be signing in their individual capacity (i.e., engagement is not done through RLA signed by their Government employer), the following conditions must be met prior to the award of contract: 

(i)  A “No-objection” letter in respect of the individual is received from the Government employing him/her, and; 

(ii) The individual must provide an official documentation from his/her employer formally certifying his or her status as being on “official leave without pay” for the duration of the IC. 

The above requirements are also applicable to Government-owned and controlled enterprises and well as other semi/partially or fully owned Government entities, whether or not the Government ownership is of majority or minority status.   

UNDP recognizes the possibility that there are situations when the Government entity employing the individual that UNDP wishes to engage is one that allows its employees to receive external short-term consultancy assignments (including but not limited to research institutions, state-owned colleges/universities, etc.), whereby a status of “on-leave-without-pay” is not required.  Under such circumstance, the individual entering into an IC with UNDP must still provide a “No-objection” letter from the Government employing him/her.  The “no objection” letter required under (i) above must also state that the employer formally certifies that their employees are allowed to receive short-term consultancy assignment from another entity without being on “leave-without-pay” status and include any conditions and restrictions on granting such permission, if any.  The said document may be obtained by, and put on record of, UNDP, in lieu of the document (ii) listed above.