Environmental Impact Assessment Expert to support the Environmental Impact Assessment Registry

Background

The implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and the full roll-out of Agenda 2030 in Ukraine brings environmental issues to the forefront of the policy implementation agenda. According to Article 363 of the Association Agreement (‘AA’), Ukraine should gradually approximate its legislation to EU law and policy on environment in accordance with Annex No. 30 to the AA, inter alia, Directive 2011/92/EU of the European Parliament and the Council of 13 December 2011 on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Public and Private Projects on the Environment (Codification) (‘the EU Directive’).

The latter introduces a special environmental impact assessment (‘EIA’) procedure for the projects likely to have significant effects on the environment. To comply with the EU acquis communautaire, the Law of Ukraine “On Environmental Impact Assessment” No. 2059-VIII (‘the Law of Ukraine on EIA’) has been adopted on May 23, 2017 to be effective as of December 18, 2017.

The Law of Ukraine on EIA introduces an EIA procedure as prescribed by the EU Directive. It envisages preparation of the EIA report by the developer; carrying out of public consultations; examination by the competent authority of the information presented in the EIA report and any supplementary information; the issuance of a reasoned conclusion by the competent authority on the significant effects of the project on the environment; and integration thereof into a respective decision.

The implementation of the EIA procedure in Ukraine requires the development of an effective automated electronic system that enables the smooth and transparent transmission of EIA documents from a developer to a competent authority and back, enables easy and free public access to the respective environmental information, and promotes public participation in consultations and decision-making. The Law sets the EIA procedure in a way that ensures full transparency of the new projects and creates mechanisms, which prevent corruption.

Article 4 of the Law mandates the competent central authority to develop and maintain the Unified National Environmental Impact Assessment Registry. The Registry shall provide open, free access to its information to all interested parties via the internet. The procedure for maintaining the Unified National Environmental Impact Assessment Registry shall be established by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. This is envisaged by the draft of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Decree “On adoption of the Procedure of Transmission of Documents for Obtaining of the EIA Conclusion and the Maintenance of the Unified Registry of EIA”.

The ultimate goal of the project is to enable the Government of Ukraine to launch a well-functioning Unified National Environmental Impact Assessment Registry congruent with the appropriate EU standards. The key result of the project is a fully functional web-based Registry software provided to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine (MENR), as well as technical assistance and communication support for the initial period of entering cases in to the Registry.

This project is a preparatory phase of the process of EIA Law implementation in Ukraine. UNDP has a considerable experience in developing the Registry for E-Declarations, which drew important lessons, that the Registry itself will not achieve the intended anticorruption and transparency goal without a more comprehensive support of the reform process.

Considering the importance of the smooth and sustainable functioning of the EIA system in Ukraine, a Environmental Impact Assessment Expert is required to assist the project, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine and the regional authorities with the first registered cases submitted to the EIA Registry.

Duties and Responsibilities

Main Objective of the Assignment

The purpose of the respective Contract is to provide technical and expert support for the initial period of entering cases into the EIA Registry, namely support the Project Team, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine (MENR) and the regional authorities with the first cases filed to the Registry, ensuring its smooth functioning from the point of view of users, provide continuous feedback on the Register functioning and develop the lessons learned and recommendations for further support required.

Scope of work

The Environmental Impact Assessment Expert (EIA Expert) will perform the following activities for the successful completion of the assignment: 

1. Provide support to the regional (oblast) authorities on the EIA Law implementation process through webinars and online consultations;

2. Provide support to the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine (MENR):

3. Participate in the process of preparation of responses to citizens’ requests and appeals.

4. Asist in preparing responses to inquiries and appeals of economic/business entities.

• Participate in the events, devoted to the explanation of the assessment procedure.
• Participate in the process of drafting legal acts on the development of experts’ roster, expected to be involved into the environmental impact assessment procedure as per the Article 10 of the EIA Law, and provide support for the clearance with governmental bodies procedure.
• Participate in the development of the Guideline on the types of activities and objects, which are made subject to the environmental impact assessment.
• Organize and participate, as might be required, in any meetings, working group discussions on environmental impact assessment implementation and application.

4. Provide expert assistance during the process of reviewing/screening the documents for the environmental impact assessment procedure, notably setting up thresholds and/or criteria for the examination research and the scope of information, which has to be included into the EIA Report.

5. Support the organization of public hearings and preparation of reports on the results of the public discussion on the EIA Report.

Expected Level of Efforts (LOE) is 60 days with the possibility of extension.

The Technical expert will be working closely with the Project Manager, Project Team and the EIA Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources with the office space allocated in the Ministry building on 35 Vasyl Lypkivsky Street, Kyiv.

Reporting Requirements:

The Consultant will:

• submit monthly time-sheets indicating the days worked and short details of tasks per week;

• submit one final report summarizing all outputs produced. The final report should consist of two parts:

  • Report on the assistance provided to the MENR and regional (oblast) authorities, including the number of consultations, clarifications, responses to citizens’ and economic/business entities’ requests and appeals; public hearings participated, support in drafting legal acts.

  • Lessons learned and recommendations for further support needed beyond the duration of the current project.

UNDP will be the final authority to control the quality and evaluate the work. No reports, documents, communications should be published or distributed to third parties without prior approval of UNDP.

Contractor will receive the necessary guidance, clarifications, information/materials that may be needed for this task. Contractor shall be responsible and ensure timely performance hereunder, logistics, its human resources and expenditures related hereto as well as the quality of works in close consultation with the UNDP Ukraine.

Payment for Services:

The Consultant will receive payments from UNDP in instalments upon provision of time sheets duly accepted and certified by UNDP. The schedule of payments is to be provided monthly.

Responsibility for Expenses and their Reimbursement:

The Consultant will be responsible for all personal administrative expenses associated with undertaking this assignment including office accommodation, printing, stationary, telephone and electronic communications, and report copies incurred in this assignment. If the assignment will happen to require travel, the expenses will be covered by UNDP according to the established rules and regulations. Any travel undertaken in relation to this assignment, where the traveler requires reimbursement of travel expenses from UNDP, should be approved by UNDP prior to the mission.

Competencies

Competencies:

• Computer proficiency.

• Excellent communication and networking skills.

• Good English writing and oral skills.

• Strong analytical and research skills.

• Excellent coordination skills and result oriented collaboration with partners.

• Strong interpersonal skills.

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards.

• 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.

• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Required Skills and Experience

• University degree in ecology, natural sciences, engineering, public administration, governance, law, economics and/or any other relevant field.
• At least five years of relevant experience in providing expert, technical, legal support in the environmental, energy and/or sustainable development sphere.
• Experience with researching, collecting and synthesizing data into coherent narratives and reports in the area of environment and energy.
• Experience with conducting Environmental Impact Assessments is an asset.
• Excellent command of Ukrainian, good command of English.

Application Procedure:

The application should contain:

Filled CV/P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees.

Financial Proposal* - specifying a daily fee for the tasks specified in this announcement.

Financial proposal:

The financial proposal shall specify a daily fee amount. Expected Level of Efforts (LOE) is 60 days with a possibility of extension. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this daily fee based amount and number of anticipated working days.   

The Consultant will be responsible for all personal administrative expenses associated with undertaking this assignment including office accommodation, printing, stationary, telephone and electronic communications, and report copies incurred in this assignment.

Evaluation of Applicants:

University degree in ecology, natural sciences, engineering, public administration, governance, law, economics and/or any other relevant field.	Bachelor level – 7; Master’s level or equivalent, relevant additional trainings – 10 points (10 points max)
At least five years of relevant experience in providing expert, technical, legal support in the environmental, energy and/or sustainable development sphere.	5 years – 20 points; 7 years and more – 25 points (25 points max)
Experience with researching, collecting and synthesizing data into coherent narratives and reports in the area of environment and energy.	1 proven research/report/publication example – 15 points; 3 and more – 20 points (20 points max)
Experience with conducting Environmental Impact Assessments in Ukraine is an asset.	1 EIAs completed – 5 points (5 points max)
Language Requirements: native Ukrainian, good command of English.	7 points for native knowledge of Ukrainian; 3 additional points for good command of English (10 points max)

Maximum available technical score – 70 points.

Evaluation Method:

Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight: 70%

* Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer.