Background

The Transformative Economic Policy Programme (TEPP) is designed to inform, support, and influence the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) to improve the effectiveness of its economic policies. It delivers policy support to the government, generates data and evidence, and supports civil society to advocate for policy reforms. The programme has two components: i. Policy and analytical support to the government, delivered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) ii. Economic research and policy advocacy managed by the International Growth Centre (IGC) 2. The programme was launched following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a substantial impact on the economy. Millions of people were pushed into poverty, businesses shut down and investment decisions were postponed. The government’s policy response to support the economy was hampered by a lack of data and its effectiveness was limited by weaknesses in design and implementation. Despite this, the economy bounced back quickly but the recovery was uneven. The programme is designed to initially run for two years to gauge the extent to which the analysis, evidence and data can inform and influence the Bangladesh government’s policy processes. If it gets sufficient traction and can demonstrate influence, the development of a more comprehensive programme to support LDC graduation in partnership with the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) will be considered.

TEPP is looking to recruit a Senior Policy Expert for 85 (Eighty five) days who will lead a research team to be engaged for the Research and Analytics Unit (RAU) to support the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) in its investment planning.

The RAU will provide research support for informed economic policymaking in the context of LDC status graduation and support formulation of an accelerated economic recovery. The demand-driven short-term studies will facilitate evidence-based decision-making for policymakers to meet the objectives of the country’s Eighth Five Year Plan that have a critical need for early detection of emerging economic trends and policy measures. The proposed Unit will provide estimates of critical economic and social indicators based on existing statistics and trends; if required, it will provide research support by legal experts on trade-related rules and regulations for facilitating Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). The study outputs will provide analysis of contemporary economic issues relevant to investment and business development, assess short-term changes in socio-economic activities, and undertake appropriate strategies to accelerate policymaking for inclusive economic growth.

Objectives

The overall objective of the assignment will be the following:

• To provide overall guidance to the team engaged for carrying out research in areas where there is a critical need for early detection of emerging trends and providing analysis for informed decision making; and
• To maintain liaison with the senior management of BIDA to understand their needs for research support from the RAU.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work:

The Senior Policy Expert (RAU) is expected to

• Manage the research agenda of RAU that include the following three work streams:
  • filling information and knowledge gap on priority sectors.
  • identification of broken and weak links and good practices for better inter-agency coordination for investment facilitation.
  • creating Evidence and Value Proposition for Upgradation of Investment Governance

• Deliver the following outputs as set out in the agreed the Work Plan to the full satisfaction of BIDA and UNDP:

• Inception report with the detailed work plan      
• 2 internal briefing notes to BIDA              
• 1 Operational assessment brief outlining areas of improvement  
• 2 Investment Policy Briefs (as per BIDA’s need and priority
• Report on the progress of the detailed work plan
• Work closely with the Research Team to make sure that they deliver quality outputs
• Put in place a suitable framework to monitor and review the progress of work as delineated in the work plan
• Produce quarterly progress reports and share those reports with BIDA and UNDP
• Hold dialogues with the relevant stakeholders to gather insights on the upcoming investment challenges in the context of LDC graduation, post-COVID recovery and other developments in world economic order that are affecting the global economy
• Facilitate workshops/seminars with participation of the relevant stakeholders including BIDA, UNDP and FCDO to validate outputs of the unit
• Prepare a completion report at the end of her/his mission together with the lessons learnt.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision, and values.
• Knowledge in working with governance issues will be get advantages.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

• Familiar with and shares the vision of human development as laid out in the flagship HDR series

Functional Competencies

• Encourages Knowledge Sharing and Learning
• Disseminates specialized knowledge and experience
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills

Development and Operational Effectiveness

• Able to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported
• Able to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve operational problems

• Able to perform work of confidential nature and handle a large volume of work
• Has good knowledge of financial rules and regulations.
• Able to provide input to business processes re-engineering, implementation of new system.

Leadership and Self-Management

• Focuses on result for the client
• Has demonstrable leadership skill.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
• Remains calm, in control and good humoured even under pressure
• Demonstrates openness to change
• Responds positively to feedback and differing points of view

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Minimum Master’s Degree in Economic/Public Policy/Social Sciences/Mathematics or any other relevant discipline.

Experience:

• At least 15 years of overall experience in policy research and analysis and or management of research driven projects.
• Proven experience in producing strategic documents, analytical reports and or research papers related to investments, economic policy, and other relevant areas.
• Proven experience working in development sector/academia/think tanks/private sector,Govt etc.

Expected Outputs/Deliverables:

Supervision and Performance Evaluation: The activities of the Senior Policy Expert will be supervised and evaluated by the Senior Governance Specialist of Democratic Governance Cluster, UNDP

Timeframe and deadlines: The assignment will be for 85 working days over 5 months with no field visit.

Activities/Reports:  The activities of the consultant will be regularly monitored by the Senior Governance Specialist, Democratic Governance Cluster UNDP.

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 installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e., upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. To assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals. The financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

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 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 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.

TECHNICAL EVALUATION

Individual consultant will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

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:

• Responsive/ compliant/ acceptable with reference to this ToR, and;
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation, with the ratio set at 70: 30 respectively (this is to reflect the high-level skills mix required).

Only individual obtaining a minimum of 70% (i.e., 49 points out of 70 points) in the technical analysis would be considered for the financial appraisal.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Interested individuals must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.

Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;

• 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;
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment.
• Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided below:
• Relevant sample works link/report regarding research/policy or relevant field.

BGD_ Individual Contract_Offerors Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability.docx (live.com)

Suppose an organization/company/institution employs an Offeror 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). In this case, the Offeror must indicate this at this point and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated into the financial proposal submitted to UNDP. 

Note: The individual consultant who does not submit the above documents/requirements(which applicable) shall not be considered for further evaluation.