Background

The MPTF Office is a UN center of expertise on pooled financing mechanisms. It supports development effectiveness and UN coherence through the efficient, accountable and transparent design and administration of innovative pooled financing instruments as well as provision of advisory services for fund operations. Housed within UNDP, the MPTF Office is firewalled from all UN implementing entities, UNDP included. The MPTF Office’s core function as Administrative Agent focuses on Pooled Fund Design and Pooled Fund Administration, with the specific responsibilities documented in the UNDG protocol on the Administrative Agent.

In addition to Fund Design and Fund Administration services, the MPTF Office has also provided Secretariat Support services, for a limited number of pooled funds and often for a limited time frame. This type of support is especially important in the case of newly established global or regional funds, for which at the establishment no interim secretariat support arrangements are in place.  This time-bound secretariat support to Fund Steering Committees has been clearly separated from the MPTF Office’s Administrative Agent function.

The Secretariat Support services, when performed by the MPTF Office, are carried out as per UNDG guidance, which describes the generic responsibilities of the Secretariat as follows: (a) Advise the Steering Committee (SC) on strategic priorities, programmatic and financial allocations; (b) Provide logistical and operational support to the SC; (c) Organize calls for proposals and appraisal processes; (d) Ensure the monitoring of the operational risks and Fund performance;  (e) Consolidate annual and final narrative reports; (f)  Facilitate collaboration and communication between PUNOs; and (g) Liaise with the AA on fund administration issues.

Based on a 2018 review of the experience with Secretariat Support services, the MPTF Office has decided that it is important to consolidate its knowledge gained in this particular area of professional services, in order to better service its current and future clients. This knowledge management is expected to take place in 2019 in the form of a generic secretariat toolkit, and of a generic secretariat workflow and templates being integrated in the design of the Fund Management System of the redesigned MPTF Office Gateway, to be launched in the second half of 2019.

In view of the above, the MPTF Office is looking for a Consultant for Secretariat Support - Pooled Funds that can help the office to consolidate and systematize the knowledge on Secretariat Services, ensure this knowledge is integrated in the design of its new web-based portal under development, and – if time allows – provide ad-hoc support to secretariats, as and when requested.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant - Secretariat Support for Pooled Funds will:

• Collect and systematize existing documentation related to MPTF Office’s secretariat support services, (including templates, workflows) and determine gaps in the documentation that are required in order to produce a basic, user friendly  off-line ‘Secretariat Support toolkit’ for use by fund secretariats of newly established small to medium size pooled funds.
• Review the existing forms/templates developed for the Fund Management System (FMS) of the new web-based portal to the extent that they are relevant for Secretariat Support services, suggest additional forms/ templates that are required to support the work of fund secretariats, and ensure the consistency of the complete set of FMS forms to be used by fund secretariats with the Secretariat Support toolkit.
• Review the proposed business process flows incorporated in the FMS specifications for the new web-based portal, determine specific adjustments to be made to address the needs of Fund Secretariats, and work with the coordination team to ensure that these Secretariat Support needs are fully and adequately integrated in the design and build phases, and adequately tested before the launch of the new web-based portal.
• Develop a training package for fund secretariats that introduces them, in an integrated way, to both the Secretariat Support toolkit and the Secretariat Support features in the new tool.
• Provide ad hoc support to secretariats, covering the list of generic secretariat support services as listed in the background section.
• Prepare in the first week of each month a monthly workplan with specific, more detailed deliverables for review and approval before the end of the first week of the month.  

Expected Outputs

Competencies

Competencies

• Strong planning and organizing skills
• Strong client orientation
• Well-developed technological awareness

Required Skills and Experience

Institutional Arrangement

• The Consultant – Secretariat Support will report to the Deputy Executive Coordinator of the MPTF Office.

Duration of the Work

• 10 months full-time equivalent, from 1 March 2019 to 31 December 2019.

Duty Station

• The consultant works mostly from the MPTF Offices in New York, though part of the assignments can be carried out from home.

Education:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in one or more of the following disciplines: international development, economics, social studies, business studies and other related fields.

Experience

• At least five years of progressively responsible experience in an international development organization, focusing on programme development, implementation, monitoring and/or reporting.
• Experience in developing and documenting procedures, tools and templates in a UN setting;
• Experience with web-based fund integration tools or similar online IT tools as used by other Fund Trustees;
• Knowledge of and previous experience with UN Pooled Financing Mechanisms; experience of working as a pooled fund secretariat is a distinct advantage;
• Knowledge of and previous experience in UNDP and/or another UN operational agency desired;

Language

• Fluent in written and spoken English; knowledge of French and/or Spanish is an advantage.

Application Procedure

• The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):
• Brief (1-2 paragraph) description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment and how the Offerer will approach the required outputs within the assignment period and a link to an online portfolio showing samples of similar work;
• 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;
• The financial proposal shall specify an all-inclusive daily rate. Monthly payments are based on the number of days worked for the delivery of the outputs included in the monthly detailed work plan.

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

• The daily rate 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.
• This consultancy is a largely office-based assignment working from the MPTF Office in New York.  
• In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. 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.
• 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.

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. Weight = 40%; Maximum Points:280;
• Demonstrated skills appropriate to the needs outlined in the TOR. Weight = 60 %; Maximum Points: 420;
• Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (490 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (700 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 the Deputy Executive Coordinator, 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 done monthly based on the all-inclusive daily rate and the number of days worked during the calendar month, upon certification of satisfactory performance by the manager.