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 Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation(SDC) and Danish International Development Agency (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 is observed through different studies that unless fiscal decentralization is effectively materialized, the local government institutions cannot function effectively. The Government is committed to strengthening the local government system of the country, which has been reiterated in different policy documents. After political and administrative decentralization, fiscal decentralization may effectively contribute to strengthening of the LGI system in the country. The study will examine the current fiscal transfer trends and local resource mobilization potential to portray the future need to address the development need of the LGIs to deliver their mandated services as per the Act;

Objectives of the Assignment:
The objective of the study is to explore and advocate for policy intervention and greater fiscal decentralization to Local Government Institutions in Bangladesh.

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 of existing laws, acts, rules, regulations and other legal instruments and recent study reports and recommendations related to decentralization;
• Examine the existing status of decentralization (i.e. administrative, functional, fiscal) in Bangladesh and develop a theoretical concept for fiscal decentralization considering ideal fiscal transfer scenario and good practices in other countries of this region;
• Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of increased transfer from the central to local and the potential benefits of fiscal decentralization;
• Explore areas and scopes for widening fiscal decentralization of LGIs in Bangladesh;
• Visit at least 6 UPs and 3 UZPs under three Districts in three Divisions to assess and analyze the local context of decentralization as well as the challenges of fiscal decentralization.
• Suggest policy recommendations, implementation strategies and advocacy mechanisms for effective fiscal decentralization and develop a policy brief for the Local Government Division.

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 and projects, Local Government Experts/Academia and others. The study will be carried out by an individual consultant under the direct supervision of UNDP and LGD.
The 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.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables
Tasks 01: Inception report with detailed methodology and scope of study and work plan. Days required: 05 Days

Task 02: Interim report with review of existing legal instruments and recent study reports related to decentralization and the existing status of decentralization (i.e. administrative, functional, fiscal) in Bangladesh along with a cost-benefit analysis of increased transfer from the central to local and the potential benefits of fiscal decentralization; Days required: 15 Days

Task 03: Draft report with exploration of areas and scopes for widening fiscal decentralization of LGIs in Bangladesh, a theoretical concept for fiscal decentralization considering ideal fiscal transfer scenario and good practices being practiced in other countries of this region; Days required: 15 Days

Task 04: Draft report with assessment and analysis of the local context of decentralization as well as the challenges of fiscal decentralization and with policy recommendations, implementation strategies and advocacy mechanisms for effective fiscal decentralization and with a policy brief for the Local Government Division; Days required: 10 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.
 

Input from Project

The project will provide necessary documents, data/information and reports available to the project and will organize seminar, workshop, meeting etc. whenever required in connection with this consultancy.

Duration of Assignment, Duty Station
45 working days within the period of 5 months tentatively from 20 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

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 working with fiscal management and/or decentralization
• Proven understanding on acts, rules, regulations and functions of LGIs as well as on the fiscal management system of the Government.
• 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 of study and work plan [20% of total contract amount];

• Second Payment: Submission of interim report with review of existing legal instruments and documents related to decentralization and examination of the existing status of decentralization (administrative, functional, fiscal decentralization) in Bangladesh with a theoretical concept for fiscal decentralization. [30% of total contract amount];

• Third Payment: Submission of draft report with exploration of areas and scopes for widening fiscal decentralization of LGIs in Bangladesh, a theoretical concept for fiscal decentralization considering ideal fiscal transfer scenario and good practices being practiced in other countries of this region. [30% of total contract amount];

• Fourth Payment: Submission of final report with assessment and analysis of the local context of decentralization as well as the challenges of fiscal decentralization and with policy recommendations, implementation strategies and advocacy mechanisms for effective fiscal decentralization and with a policy brief for the Local Government Division. [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.