Background

Strengthening local governance has been a key focus of not only the government of Bangladesh, but also of different development partners/agencies. Considering the importance of the issue, UNDP has been working to strengthen the local governance system in Bangladesh for more than a decade. UNDP-led support projects to the LGIs have played an important role in reforming the Union Parishad (UP) and Upazila Parishad (UZP). Since the Upazila Governance Project (UZGP) and Union Parishad Governance Projects (UPGP) were phased out in mid-2017, UNDP in collaboration with SDC and DANIDA planned to support UZP and UP through one project entitled Efficient and Accountable Local Governance (EALG). Objective of the EALG Project is to strengthen the capacities of local governments and other stakeholders to foster participatory local development service delivery for the SDGs. The Project has three components, which are ‘Strengthening Upazila Parishad’ (SUZP: Component-1); ‘Strengthening Union Parishad’ (SUP: Component-2) and ‘Policy for Effective Local Governance’ (PELG: Component-3). All three components of the project will have a common policy output to provide space for support to the overall devolution process. It was observed through different studies that the rural local government institutions are weak in resource mobilization which has been contributing to their weak delivery of services to the citizens since the beginning. The areas of local resources, existing tax schedule and modalities of tax collection, management and administration of local resources need to be reviewed. Areas and scopes need to be explored for widening the resource base for the rural LGIs and modernization of its management system. A policy brief would be helpful for conducting advocacy with the Government for implementing necessary policy reforms with the objective of strengthening the rural local government institutions through mobilization of local resources and modernization of its management system.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The objective of the study is to explore areas and scopes for policy intervention towards widening resource base for rural Local Government Institutions as well as modernization of the modalities and management of local resources.

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK:

The following list reflects the main activities that the consultant is expected to carry out within the contractual period.

Key tasks include:

• Review existing acts, rules, regulations, circulars, mandates and researches/studies/ recommendations related to local resource mobilization and its administration by the Union and Upazila Parishad;
• Examine effectiveness of the local resource mobilization modalities and the existing model tax schedule of Union Parishads and assess the extent of mobilization of local resources by the rural LGIs;
• Identify legal, administrative and other challenges towards widening resource mobilization for rural local government institutions in Bangladesh;
• Analyze and benchmark between best practices of local government resource mobilization modalities of countries within the region and identify methods for possible replication in Bangladesh;
• Recommend areas, scope and modalities for widening resource bases along with possible revision of tax schedules for the UPs to be done in consultation with relevant officials and stakeholders;
• Develop recommendations and a policy/concept brief for policy makers with regard to local resource mobilization and management for rural local government institutions;
• Visit at least 8 UPs and 3 UZPs under three Districts in three Divisions to assess and compare existing resources each UP/UZP receive/collect.

The primary stakeholders for this study will be relevant Ministries, Policy makers and officials of Local Government Division (LGD), Director, Local Government (DLGs), Deputy Director, Local Government (DDLGs), line department officials, public representatives of LGIs, civil society representatives, UNDP and other development partners, Local Government Experts/Academia etc. The study will be carried out by individual consultant under the direct supervision of UNDP and LGD. The individual consultant will select appropriate methodologies to conduct the study i.e. analyzing secondary sources of information, setting the size of key informants’ interview, selecting the number of focus group discussions, consultation and sharing workshop with relevant stakeholders, etc. The project will organize workshop, seminar and facilitate the focus group discussions to be organized for this study.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables
Tasks 01: Inception report with detailed methodology and scope of study and work plan along with review of existing acts, rules, regulations, circulars, mandates and researches/ studies/ recommendations related to local resource mobilization and its administration; Days required: 05 Days

Task 02: Interim report with review of effectiveness of the local resource mobilization modalities and the review of the existing model tax schedule of Union Parishads and assessment of the extent of mobilization of local resources by the rural LGIs; Days required: 15 Days

Task 03: Draft report with identification of legal, administrative and other challenges towards widening resource mobilization and analysis of best practices of local government resource mobilization modalities of countries within the region and identification of methods for possible replication in Bangladesh along with proposals for revision of the model tax schedule; Days required: 15 Days

Task 04: Final report with recommendation for widening resource base for LGIs along with final proposal for revision of tax schedules of UPs with reflection of feedback from stakeholders and with a policy brief; Days required: 15 Days

Institutional Arrangement
The consultant will report to the Project Coordinator, Efficient and Accountable Local Governance Project, who will also carry out a performance evaluation at the end of the assignment. While arranging consultation and sharing workshop with stakeholders, the EALG Project will provide necessary logistic supports in organizing any event with project costs.

Duration of Assignment, Duty Station
50 working days within the period of 5 months tentatively from end October 2019. Duty station will be in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Competencies

Competencies

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
• Comprehensive knowledge of information system and design principle;
• Outstanding communication, project management and organizational skills;
• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills.
• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Positive, constructive attitude to work;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Minimum Masters degree in Public Administration, Public Policy, Development Studies, Political Science, Economics, Governance or Social Science field.

Experiences:

• At least 10 years’ proven experience of undertaking policy studies on decentralization and local development at LGIs;
• At least 3 years’ experience of working with fiscal management and/or decentralization;  
• Proven understanding on acts, rules, regulations and functions of local government institutions of Bangladesh and of similar other countries;
• Minimum five years’ experience of working with UN Agency, LGD and LGIs. 

LANGUAGE REQUIREMENT:
Excellent command over Bangla and English.

PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENT

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the ToR, including professional fee, living allowance, data collection and processing and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the following deliverables/outputs:

• First Payment: Submission of inception report with detailed methodology and scope of study and work plan along with review of existing acts, rules, regulations, circulars, mandates and researches/ studies/ recommendations related to local resource mobilization and its administration [20% of total contract amount];
• Second Payment: Submission of interim report with review of effectiveness of the local resource mobilization modalities and the review of the existing model tax schedule of Union Parishads and assessment of the extent of mobilization of local resources by the rural LGIs; Days required [30% of total contract amount];
• Third Payment: Submission of draft report with identification of legal, administrative and other challenges towards widening resource mobilization and analysis of best practices of local government resource mobilization modalities of countries within the region and identification of methods for possible replication in Bangladesh along with proposals for revision of the model tax schedule [30% of total contract amount];
• Fourth Payment: Submission of recommendation for widening resource base for LGIs along with final proposal for revision of tax schedules of UPs with reflection of feedback from stakeholders and with a policy brief; [20% of total contract amount];

EVALUATION
The consultant will be selected on the basis of relevant expertise and financial offer received. In the second stage, the price proposal of all qualified consultant who have attained minimum 70% score in the technical evaluation, will be compared. The contract will be awarded to the consultant offering the best value for money based on the cumulative method. In this methodology, technical criteria weight is 70 and Financial Criteria weight is 30. According, the maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proposal.
A formula is as follows:
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
The proposal obtaining the overall highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal is the proposal that offers best value for money. The technical and financial proposal should be submitted following the UNDP guideline and formats. UNDP Procurement reverses the right to accept or reject any. Only candidate obtaining a minimum of 49 points and above would be considered for the financial Evaluation.

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Proposers who shall not submit below mentioned documents will not be considered for further evaluation.

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (Refer to link on Sl 3);
2. 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 (Annex-Personal History Foirm or P11 for the IC Hiring)
3. Financial Proposal: Financial Proposal has to be submitted through a standard interest and availability template which can be downloaded from the (Annex-Template-Confirmation of Interest and Availability with Financial Offer)
4. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment and submit evidence by the consultant which would substantiate the technical requirements.

Annex-GTC for Contracts Individual Consultants

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document. Incomplete proposals may not be considered.