Risk Management Advisor- Consultant

Background

The Silk Road Cities Alliance Project (hereafter referred to as ‘the new Project’) is a new global project, supported by the Government of the People’s Republic of China, directly implemented by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) at the global level.  It supports the development of the partnership initiative known as the Maritime-Continental Silk Road Cities Alliance (hereafter referred to as ‘Cities Alliance’), to promote dialogue and partnership building among member cities of the “Belt and Road Initiative.

The new Project is the full-fledged phase built upon the result of the initiation phase which lasted one year (2015-2016) under national implementing modality.  The key results of the initiation phase include the formulation of a model for continued project operation. This model has been tested and consists of the four following established pillars:

1. The Cities Alliance: the overarching organizational body, encompassing all participating members. Members can choose to be involved in the other three pillars.
2. The Cities Forum: an annual conference of the mayors from member cities. Consisting of representatives of government, it provides policy guidance to the work of the Business Council and the various specialized committees.
3. The Business Council:  an existing committee focused on promoting business ties and collaboration between private sector firms from member cities of the alliance.
4. The specialized committees:  multi-stakeholder committees developed to focus on sectoral areas.

The new Project seeks to further align its services and support to the five priority areas of the “Belt and Road Initiative”, namely policy coordination, facilitating infrastructure development and connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to people bonds and exchanges.

The new Project aims to strengthen the capacity of the Cities Alliance Secretariat, deepen cooperation between the Cities Alliance and relevant United Nations entities, scale up the impact of the proposed annual conference of participating cities’ mayors, and ensure the Cities Alliance sustainability.

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK:

The project will involve extensive public-private partnerships under the framework of the City Alliance. It presents great potential to leverage expertise and resources from private sector, local government, civil society organizations to support the achievement of SDGs, through city level actions and South-South cooperation. However, these can only be achieved with due diligence in managing risks associated with broad partnership and a fast expanding membership.  Therefore, UNOSSC seeks to establish a comprehensive and robust system to manage risks associated with the project, including structural, financial and reputational risks.

The objectives are:                                                                                                         -

• Maintain maximum risk mitigation and operations to include perceived reputational risk, governance and management risk, legal and financial exposure
• Ensure the applicable regulations and rules are properly followed
• Provide comprehensive risk assessment and analysis of potential pipeline

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS:

The consultant will be under direct supervision of the UNOSSC Regional Chief for Asia and Pacific, working closely with the project manager at UNOSSC Headquarter, under the guidance of the Deputy Director for Programme and Operations.

 The consultant, with occasional travel, will provide services in coordination with relevant stakeholders within UNOSSC, UNDP and Cities Alliance Secretariat in Beijing and other associated partners for the project.

TIMELINE AND EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES:

1. Assessment of risks and development of a mitigation strategy – 30 January 2018
2. Development of standardized agreements with  the specialized committees – 25 February 2018
3. Advocacy and awareness plan and activities for the increased understanding of the Standards of Conduct – 25 April 2018
4. Systematic risk management, including on-going efforts to: – 15 November 2018

• Identify potential areas of compliance vulnerability and risks;
• Develop corrective action plans for resolution of problematic issues
• Provides general guidance to partners and advice to management on how to avoid or deal with similar situations in the future;
• Update and disseminate new and existing compliance issues and related policies and procedures.

Competencies

TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES

• Strong working experience in risk management, business consulting, policy development, regulatory or related field in business/ private sector, Public-Private Partnerships, or the UN system;
• Capacities to utilize risk assessment tools and other risk management tools from UNDP and other agencies;
• Experiences in assessing and mitigating comprehensive risks across financial and non-financial dimensions, especially in evaluating the effect of negative societal and reputational impacts
• Excellent proven organizational, communications and writing skills;
• Good understanding of the SDGs and South-South cooperation agenda;

Required Skills and Experience

THE SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATE IS EXPECTED TO HAVE:

Education: Master degree in Business Administration, Management, Finance, Legal, or other relevant areas.

• Strong working experience in risk management, business consulting, policy development, regulatory or related field in business/ private sector, Public-Private Partnerships, or the UN system;
• Capacities to utilize risk assessment tools and other risk management tools from UNDP and other agencies;
• Experiences in assessing and mitigating comprehensive risks across financial and non-financial dimensions, especially in evaluating the effect of negative societal and reputational impacts
• Excellent proven organizational, communications and writing skills;
• Good understanding of the SDGs and South-South cooperation agenda;

Application Process

Applicants are requested to submit in one file the following documents:

• Brief cover letter (1 page) outlining experience against selection criteria;
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) at least three (3) professional references; and on how they will approach and complete the assignment.
• Financial proposal in the form of a monthly rate in US dollars including all expenses for the assignment. Please include a breakdown of the financial proposal indicating fees and any other expenses that applicant might think is required for the assignment;

Evaluation

Method: cumulative analysis method will be used to evaluate proposals.

The evaluation criteria as shown below shall be used to evaluate all the proposals received. The award of the Individual Contractors Contract shall be made to the individual contractors whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• 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.

Technical Criteria weight - 70 per cent

Financial Criteria weight - 30 per cent

Technical Proposal (70 per cent of total score)

Selection criteria are as follows:

1. Strong working experience in risk management, business consulting, policy development, regulatory or related field in business/ private sector, Public-Private Partnerships, or the UN system; --40 pt
2. Capacities to utilize risk assessment tools and other risk management tools from UNDP and other agencies; --20 pt
3. Experiences in assessing and mitigating comprehensive risks across financial and non-financial dimensions, especially in evaluating the effect of negative societal and reputational impacts --20 pt
4. Excellent proven organizational, communications and writing skills; --10 pt
5. Good understanding of the SDGs and South-South cooperation agenda; --10 pt

Financial Proposal (30 per cent of total score)

Applicants are requested to submit a financial proposal in the form of a monthly rate in US dollars including all expenses for the assignment. Please include a breakdown of the financial proposal indicating fees and any other expenses that applicant might think is required for the assignment.

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal: p = y (µ/z),

• 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;

Other Information

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

Incomplete application and applications received after the deadline will not be considered. Only selected candidates will be notified

UNDP Individual Consultant General Conditions for Contract apply and can be downloaded at:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf