UNDP Jobs - 79733- Consultant to Study the Legal Framework in Georgia

Consultant to Study the Legal Framework in Georgia and its Implications on Developing Impact Investment Bond

Location :

Tbilisi, GEORGIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

14-Jul-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Up to 15 days during July-September 2018

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

Social Impact Bonds (SIB) is an innovative financial instrument designed to bring together the public, private and voluntary sectors to solve the prevailing challenges by having a clear focus upon delivering the outcomes we want to see. A social impact bond (SIB) is a fairly new result-based financial instrument, where outcome payers agree to pay and reward investors only if agreed-upon outcomes are achieved. The idea is to engage private capital in funding social/environmental/development projects with a possibility for a financial return. The public sector institutions agree that if the bond succeeds in achieving the agreed outcomes, the investors will get their capital back and a possible financial return. The financial return is dependent on the degree to which outcomes improve the initial situation.

The first SIB was launched in September 2010 at Peterborough Prison to fund rehabilitation services for short-sentence prisoners released from the prison, with the express aim of reducing reoffending post-release. In addition, other social impact bonds are currently being designed and/or implemented for example in early childhood education, global health, and workforce development, including recidivism and employment.

Currently UNDP is developing a pilot SIB to tackle the youth (13-18) physical inactivity in Rustavi in cooperation with the Rustavi Mayor’s Office and Public Service Development Agency (PSDA). More specifically, the overall goal of the initiative is to decrease the prevalence of chronic diseases caused by the physical inactivity among youth. The specific objectives envisage increasing free time physical activity among youth, promoting public premises as active lifestyle fostering platform and enabling youth and their families to have a voice in active-lifestyle policy planning and implementation. Currently, more than 8,186 youth reside in the city of Rustavi with only 1,200 of them engaged in sports activities. Therefore, the aforementioned aims are crucial.

Social Impact Bond, as a multi-stakeholder mechanism, includes numerous parties, like commissioners, investors, outcome payers, service providers and beneficiaries. In this particular SIB in Rustavi, the Mayor’s Office is a commissioner and outcome payer, while investors and service providers need to be identified. Moreover, Rustavi Mayor’s Office is heavily engaged in designing the pilot initiative and exploring potential stakeholders in the SIB process.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNDP will engage a consultant to identify and analyze the legal framework in Georgia related to designing a detailed operational modality of the social impact bond. UNDP will provide all relevant background documentation and in case of necessity, will facilitate communication in terms of the SIB model.

The consultant should look through the current Georgian legislation and analyze the feasibility of structuring the modality taking into consideration local legal framework. During the process, information provided by the consultant should be relevant to the following questions (but not limited to):

Does Georgian legislation allow impact investment and especially investing into impact bond modality?
Which laws and regulations are related to the impact investing in Georgia?
What are the possible challenges related to the structuring SIB model in Georgia?
In case of inability of the local legislation for supporting the modality, what changes should be made to enable SIB model in Georgia?

In a more detail:

What options, if any, would an investor have when contracting with the government directly?
Are there differences in outcome-based payment from the ministry and the city/municipality perspective?
What are the contract enforcement concerns and mechanisms to ensure, that governments follow their commitment to pay according to an independent evaluator’s report? Could the government easily challenge the report? What are the risks?
What tax rules apply to the funding provided by investors?
Are the tax incentives/breaks for socially oriented investing? How cumbersome is the process for obtaining/collecting these incentives?
Is it possible to write off losses or to reframe a failed investment in SIBs as a grant/donation? If so, would the grant/donation be subject to taxes?
Do applicable public procurement rules authorize the implementation of an SIB scheme, in which payment from the government would be entirely contingent on the organization achieving measurable and positive social outcomes?
Does annual budgeting apply? If so, are there legal mechanisms to ensure future payments?
What happens if a government entity does not execute the whole of its annual budget? Would there be any negative consequences for the entity? If so, would there be legal mechanisms to enable the “freezing” of budget funds?
Explore other relevant questions that arise in the course of the research and analysis.

The consultant will:

Describe the legal framework in Georgia related to impact investment
Identify the challenges related to launching SIB in Georgia
Provide an expertise on structuring the relevant SIB model for Georgia (provided by UNDP)
Prepare a final report with recommendations for establishment and implementation of SIB in Georgia.

Deliverables and Timeline

Outline of the report: by July 30, 2018
Draft report reviewed by involved parties (UNDP, ServiceLab (PSDA), Rustavi Innovation Hub): by September 1, 2018
Presentation of the findings: by September 10, 2018
Final report and recommendations: by September 20, 2018

Management Arrangements:

The local expert’s work will be directly supervised by GRF/PAR Capacity Assessment, Evaluation and Monitoring Specialist/Social Impact Bond focal point in coordination with UNDP Assistant Resident Representative. The service provider will be directly responsible to, reporting to, seeking approval from, and obtaining certificate of acceptance of outputs from the above-mentioned persons.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Understanding of the mandate and the role of UNDP would be an asset;
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 Competencies:

Has experience in experience in investment law, Impact investing, corporate law or public procurement, preferably in Georgia;
Has road understanding and knowledge of national legislation and public-private partnership regulatory framework;
Strong and proven research and analytical skills;
Proven ability to deliver quality output working under tight deadlines;
Proven ability to coordinate with others and to work as part of a team;
Excellent communication, interpersonal and presentation skills;
Ability to work independently and under pressure.

Leadership and Self-Management skills:

Builds strong relationships with the working group and with the project partners; focuses on impact and results for the project partners and responds positively to feedback;
Cooperates with working group effectively and demonstrates strong conflict resolution skills;
Remains calm, in control and good humored under pressure;
Demonstrates openness to change, new ideas and ability to manage ambiguity;
Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
Demonstrates ability to transfer knowledge and competencies;
Is able to work independently and hurdle competing priorities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

At least Master’s degree or equivalent in the field of law, business administration, finances, preferably – Business Law or related field; (minimum requirement: Master's degree - 10 points; PhD - additional 5 points).

Experience:

Broad understanding and knowledge of national legislation and public-private partnership regulatory framework;
Minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience in investment law, Impact investing, corporate law or public procurement, preferably in Georgia (minimum requirement: 5 years – 15 points; more than 5 years – aditional 5 points);
Minimum 3 years of experience in analyzing legal documents and providing specialized expertise in issues related to Georgian legislation (minimum requirement: 3 years – 10 points; more than 3 years – aditional 5 points)
Understanding of the public-sector procurement and contracting policies and the taxation of the Government of Georgia;
Knowledge of impact investing and outcome-based agreements/procurement is an advantage.

Language requirements:

Excellent command of English and Georgian.

Evaluation:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis method, against combination of technical and financial criteria. Maximum obtainable score is 100, out of which the total score for technical criteria equals to 70 and for financial criteria – to 30. Offerors that do not meet Minimum Qualification Criteria will be automatically rejected, while the rest will form up the long list. The offerors who obtain minimum 35 points as a result of the desk review will be invited for the interview. Offerors who pass 70% threshold, i.e. obtain minimum 14 points, as a result of the interview will be requested the financial proposal.

Financial Proposal:

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. 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. Maximum 30 points will be assigned to the lowest price offer. All other price offers will be scored using the formula (inverse proportion): Financial score X = 30* the lowest price offer/suggested price offer. All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal as well. Technical criteria and financial proposals are summed up and the candidate obtaining maximum points out of maximum obtainable 100 points is selected for the position.