Consultancy - support the Secretariat to the Headquarters Programme Appraisal Committee (HQ PAC), BPPS/DIG

Background

The Headquarters Programme Appraisal Committee (HQ PAC) is mandated to appraise the quality of the country programme documents (CPDs) to ensure they are firmly linked to the UNDP Strategic Plan and its Integrated Results and Resources Framework, and can make a transformational contribution toward national development results. The PAC reviews CPDs as part of the corporate quality assurance mechanism and as a pre-requisite for clearance for submission to the Executive Board, with the view to providing feedback to Bureaus and Country Offices on their quality as well as for learning and experience sharing.  The HQPAC ensures conformity with the UNDP Quality Standards for Programming introduced in 2016. 

The Development Impact Group (DIG) in BPPS is the HQ PAC Secretariat and support the smooth functioning of the HQ-PAC and its quality assurance appraisals of all the CPDs to ensure they met these quality standards before they are submitted to the Executive Board for approval.  Continuity of support to the HQ PAC functions is critical for achieving consistent programming quality across all country programmes.  In 2017 alone, close to 30 new Country Programme Documents and 5 Regional Programme Documents were appraised by the HQ PAC.  To this extent, 2018 will be a defining year for the HQ PAC, as the organization will start implementing the recently adopted new Strategic Plan 2018-2021.  

In order to ensure the smooth functioning of the HQ PAC Secretariat, the Development Impact Group in BPPS is seeking a consultant to support the first of three HQ PAC sessions planned for 2018.  The second session will take place in April-May 2018, in preparation for the EB Session of September 2018.  The Consultant will play a critical role in ensuring logistics coordination, record keeping, and liaison with HQ PAC members and Regional Bureaus submitting CPDs

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be expected to deliver the following, indicative list of deliverables, subject to modification based on the changing needs and priorities of the team:

Expected outputs and deliverables:

1. Support the HQ PAC Secretariat in the Development Impact Group (BPPS) with the process of reviewing and quality assuring up to 13 draft country programme documents (and related documentation) during April and May 2018, in time for the September 218 EB Session. This work will include, but may not be limited to, the following:

• Maintain the schedule of the HQ PACs and upload finalized version of CPDs to the document library, including subfolders for each EB submission, for HQ PAC review.
• In preparation of the HQ PAC sessions in April and May 2018, ensure that all documents on the HQ PAC online document repository are complete and up to date. 
• Maintaining and updating of the HQ PAC page with the participants for each session.
• Ensure all logistics for the HQ PAC are in place for each of the HQ PAC sessions (April and May 2018), including venue coordination and liaison with the HQ PAC Chairs for scheduling purposes.

2. Upon conclusion of the HQ PAC, upload finalized version of CPDs and accompanying clearance documentations to the HQ PAC online document library, including subfolders, in orderly and timely fashion in preparation for the September 2018 EB session.

3. Support to the HQ PAC Secretariat to produce all relevant material for the September 2018 EB (Item on Country Programmes), including ‘What’s At Stake’ documentation.

4. Reviewing all post-PAC QA ratings and making sure these are recorded on a spreadsheet.

5. Support the analytical work related to the production of the preliminary lessons learned report for the OPG on the 2018 HQ PAC (submission to be scheduled tentatively in December 2018) 

Competencies

• Strong understanding of communications and outreach at the international level;
• Proven ability to develop and implement effective communications strategies;
• Proven ability to develop user-friendly, high quality communications materials;
• Outstanding writing and editing skills, with proven ability to meet tight deadlines;
• Proven ability to communicate issues effectively, both orally and in writing;
• Proven ability to communicate effectively, creatively and with cultural sensitivity;
• Outstanding strong organizational and planning skills;
• Proven networking skills and ability to generate interest in UNDP;
• Proven ability to multi-task effectively; and
• Respect for diversity and ability to work in a multicultural team.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

•  Master’s degree in communications, journalism, international relations, economics, social science or related fields is required.

Years of Experience:

• At least five (5) years of professional experience with multilateral development organizations in the areas of event coordination, advocacy, communications or knowledge management is required;
• Strong familiarity with UNDP programming cycles and with international development issues is desirable.
• Prior experience with the UNDP HQ PAC process and requirements is a strong asset.
• Strong familiarity with UNDP programming cycles and with international development issues is desirable.
• Good knowledge of office software packages and on-line tools, including SharePoint and Excel desirable.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required; 
• Competency in French or Spanish is an asset.

Application Procedure:

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• Online application with brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment; and
• 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.

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

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee (based on a 7-hours working day - lunch time is not included - and estimated 21.75 days per month).

• The financial proposal 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.

• 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.

The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

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% (70 points):

• Criteria 1: Strong familiarity with UNDP country programme document Headquarters PAC process:  Weight = 40%; Maximum Points: 40;
• Criteria 2: Strong experience in internal event coordination involving multiple stakeholders in different time zone: Weight = 10 %; Maximum Points: 10; 
• Criteria 3: Experience in knowledge management, including development of advocacy and knowledge products: Weight = 10%; Maximum Points: 10; and
• Criteria 4: Experience in analyzing lessons learned and using data to illustrate/convey strategic trends and analysis: Weight = 10%; Maximum Points: 10

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation - Total 30% (30 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 Advisor on Knowledge and Innovation, DIG/BPPS 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:

• Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.
• The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7-hours working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily. 

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs

Annex 2 - IC Contract Template

Annex 3 - IC General Terms and Conditions

Annex 4 - RLA Template

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to cpu.bids@undp.org 

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by email and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.

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