UNDP Jobs - 78216- Consultant - Capacity Assessment Advisor

Consultant - Capacity Assessment Advisor

Location :

Home-based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-May-2018

Application Deadline :

24-Apr-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

3 Months consisting of up to 63 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

3 Months consisting of up to 63 working days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is re-writing its prescriptive content on programming to enhance the performance of UNDP’s programming while reducing unnecessary administrative burden whenever possible. Part of this work includes streamlining UNDP’s requirements and approach to capacity assessments of project Implementing Partners and Responsible Parties.

The objective of this work is to:

Reduce the burden of performing project capacity assessments;
Propose a differentiated approach to conducting project capacity assessments;
Propose an approach to partner due diligence and capacity assessment for Performance Based Payment Agreements (PBPAs) and On-Granting.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

The Capacity Assessment Advisor will:

Streamline the IP Checklist and HACT Micro Assessment to reduce duplication, eliminate requirements/questions that don’t add value and ensure questions on project management capacity facilitate decision-making and integration of capacity strengthening activities into the project.
Develop a proposed due diligence and capacity assessment for PBPAs, where the purpose of the assessment is to screen for capacity to pre-finance the achievement of specific results and to ensure mechanisms exist to safeguard risks to people and the environment.
Develop a capacity assessment for on-granting, to assess the capacity of an entity to make grants in a robust, accountable and transparent manner.
Propose a differentiated approach to conducting project capacity assessments in different contexts, because the needs in a high-income country with demonstrated capacity is different from a low-income country with established capacity constraints.
Advise if/how UNDP can accept capacity assessments of partners, such as the Global Fund, GFATM, Montreal Protocol, the World Bank and others, to avoid duplicative requirements.
Advise on what other partners do on capacity assessments – best practice
IP Capacity Assessment Checklist
HACT Guidance
Draft PPM Policies and Procedures related to selecting Implementing Partners and Responsible Parties
Lessons/interviews with staff on challenges and needs in conducing capacity assessments in different contexts

The Capacity Assessment Advisor will request capacity assessment templates from key partners to facilitate completion of deliverables 5 & 6. There will be one mission to NY shortly after commencing the work to clarify requirements and discuss needs with key stakeholders.

Expected Outputs

Deliverables/ Outputs and Target Dates:

Streamline IP Checklist and HACT Micro Assessment - May 2018;
Develop due diligence and capacity assessment for PBPAs -June 2018;
Develop capacity assessment for on-granting - June 2018;
Advisory paper outlining: Differentiated approach to conducting capacity assessments in different contexts, what other partners do to assess capacities, and the potential acceptability of partners’ assessments - July 2018.

Institutional Arrangement

The Capacity Assessment Advisor will report to the BPPS Development Impact Group Team Leader a.i. on Quality Programming and the Chief of Accounts, Office of Financial Resources Management.

Duration of the Work

3 months

Duty Station

The consultant can work remotely, with either in-person or skype meetings to discuss content.

Travel

There will be one mission to New York shortly after commencing the work to clarify requirements and discuss needs with key stakeholders.

Qualifications of the Successful Individual Contractor

Education:

Masters’ degree in related field

Experience

Minimum of 5 years’ experience on the content and application of capacity assessments in UNDP
Demonstrated knowledge on the application of capacity assessments and due diligence in development partner institutions
Knowledge of and previous experience in UNDP or another UN agency desired;

Language

Fluent in written and spoken English

Competencies

Corporate:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional:

Ability to meet deadlines and plan the work according to priorities;
Demonstrable analytical and writing skills;
Strong interpersonal and communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters’ degree in related field

Experience

Minimum of 5 years’ experience on the content and application of capacity assessments in UNDP
Demonstrated knowledge on the application of capacity assessments and due diligence in development partner institutions
Knowledge of and previous experience in UNDP or another UN agency desired;

Language

Fluent in written and spoken English

Application Procedure

Application is a two-step process:

STEP 1

Qualified applicants are requested to apply online via this website. Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications (note: all documents must be compiled into one file to be uploaded as part of the online application):

Cover letter explaining why the candidate is the most suitable for the assignment; and
Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references.

STEP 2

Financial Proposal.

After review of applications, shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be contacted by UNDP and requested to submit a Financial Proposal:

The financial proposal should specify a daily professional rate;
The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and 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; 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.
If the Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.
Cost for mission travel to New York should be included in the financial proposal.

The Financial Proposal is to be submitted by email as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Incomplete applications will not be considered, so please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

Qualified women are encouraged to apply.

Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidate(s) about the outcome or status of the selection process.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below. Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Being 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 where technical criteria weighs 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (700 points):

Demonstrated understanding of the assignment based on assessment by UNDP of the proposed approach submitted in the application. Maximum Points: 260;
Demonstrated skills appropriate to meet the needs outlined in the TOR based on assessment of proposed approach, samples provided, and CV/P11 (including years of relevant experience). Maximum Points: 380;
Knowledge of and previous experience in UNDP or another UN agency. Maximum Points: 60.

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (490 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (300 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

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

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Institutional arrangement

The consultant will work under the guidance and direct supervision of Jessica Murray and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above.

The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.

Payment modality

Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified above and deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs

Annex 2 - IC Contract Template

Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions

Annex 4 – RLA Template

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to cpu.bids@undp.org

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by email and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.

Additional Questions:

Are you a former staff of the UN/UNDP? If yes, please clarify the reason of separation.
Are you a UN/UNDP retiree?