National Consultant for design and creation of the information website to raise the level of environmental knowledge and activity for civil society in Donetsk and Luhansk regions

Background

I.  BACKGROUND

The ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine has had a direct and highly negative impact on social cohesion, resilience, livelihoods, community security and the rule of law.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been active and present in eastern Ukraine for the past decade, prior to the conflict, with a focus on community development, civil society development and environmental protection. Work on addressing the specific conflict-related development challenges built on this earlier engagement, established partnerships, and started in 2015 through the United Nations Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (UN RPP). The UN RPP is a multi-donor funded framework programme formulated and led by the UNDP in collaboration with the Government of Ukraine and in cooperation with a number of partnering UN agencies (UN Women, FAO, UNFPA). The RPP was designed to respond to, and mitigate, the causes and effects of the conflict in the east of Ukraine. It is an integral component of the UNDP Country Programme and is therefore fully aligned with the United Nations Partnership Framework (UNPF).

The Programme’s interventions are grouped under the following key Programme components, which reflect the region’s priority needs:

Component 1: Economic Recovery and Restoration of Critical Infrastructure

Component 2: Local Governance and Decentralization Reform

Component 3: Community Security and Social Cohesion.

The Programme, which operates based on a pooled funding arrangement, follows a multi-sectoral programme-based approach and is implemented using an area-based methodology. With the current project, it is a unifying programmatic framework for 12 projects funded by 12 international partners in the conflict-affected areas in the east of Ukraine, with an overall budget of over USD 80 million.

One of the priority areas of work is to promote a cleaner environment in the conflict-affected areas through successful decentralized and participatory environmental protection under component 2.

To address the above issues, the Programme is looking to contract a National Consultant with a capacity to design and creation of the information website which main task will be to raise environmental awareness of civil society in Donetsk and Luhansk regions

This Contract falls under the project “Good governance and citizens engagement for justice, security, environmental protection and social cohesion in eastern Ukraine” funded by the Swedish International Development Agency, Government of Denmark and the Swiss Development Cooperation.

Duties and Responsibilities

II. MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The main objective of the assignment is to design and develop a website for the purpose of increasing awareness on environmental issues of the population in Donetsk and Luhansk regions and ensure citizens’ engagement in the selection and addressing the environmental problems in the targeted communities.

III. SCOPE OF WORK AND EXPECTED OUTPUTS

Under the supervision and day-to-day cooperation with the UNDP Environmental Protection Specialist, the National Consultant (Individual Contractor) is expected to implement the assignment according to the proposed methodology. However, the Contractor can propose own methodology in coordination with the UNDP specialist:

1. At the first stage, the contractor must provide a schematic layout of the website, and / or visual design which should reflect all the structural elements provided in the Terms of Reference. These should be examples of general pages listed in the “Site structure” section.
2. At the next stage, the Individual Contractor should develop a general website code. The website should conform to the approved design with possible minor differences due to the limitation of the hypertext markup on which the website display is based and other technical features, such as the separate screen density. At the end of this phase, the Individual Contractor must present the working minimum viable product (MVP) of this project and approve it with a UNDP specialist.
3. In the third stage, the Individual Contractor should make a general analysis of the proposals for hosting sites and offer the UNDP specialist a choice based on technical aspects. The website hosting for website will be paid by UNDP directly to a hosting provider. The Individual Contractor should also be prompted to select a server according to the calculated average load specification (Data Transfer, CPU and RAM load) at the MVP level and 5 times higher.
4. At the last stage, the Individual Contractor must transfer the website from the temporary development website to the purchased hosting website and configure it to the purchased domain name (the website domain name should be agreed with UNDP). the Individual Contractor should integrate all remarks, if any, from the UNDP specialist. All the initial textual and graphical information should be transferred into the website. After the release the production version of the website, source codes must be transferred to the UNDP.

General requirements:

1. The website needs to be developed in modern programming languages allowing to deploy it in a fast time, or to transfer without additional efforts on various hosting platforms.
2. The platform on which the website will be built should have the ability to expand the functionality for future addition of various content and increase functionality.
3. The website must have a content management system, i.e. registered users have the opportunity to independently create information pages (news), download/upload graphics materials (photos, etc.) and post in public.
4. Based on the previous paragraph, the site should have 2 roles for users, the first is "Administrator" - who can customize the appearance, create "categories" of information pages, as well as create users with another role "Editor", which in turn has access to the creation and publication of information pages.
5. The website should be bilingual, namely Ukrainian and English. The site must also be able to display each information page in two languages.
6. The website should have a feedback form for visitors appeals with messages, comments and suggestions

Site structure:

1. The website should contain the main page, which should display the latest news, as well as community pages, a separate page for citizens, a separate gallery and legal information.
2. The website must have a menu to access the pages: Home, Communities, Requests, Gallery, Legal Information.
3. The main page should display in abbreviated form the last 5 (five) news items with the possibility of opening the full text on a separate page.
4. The community page should contain information about the community (Description, photos, contact information, etc.) 
5. The gallery page should contain thumbnails of photos in tabular form with the ability to enlarge them when you click on them.
6. The legal information page should contain textual information with a link to external sources (in the form of a hyperlink to other websites) and the ability to go to them.
7. The appeal page should contain a form for receiving appeals from visitors and should contain the following fields: Last Name, First Name, category of appeal, phone or email, and the text of the message.

Warranty support

The Individual Contractor undertakes to provide guarantees of the quality of services rendered in the form of warranty (technical) support within 12 (twelve) months from the date of signing of the final act of acceptance, which includes technical support, elimination of errors, software malfunctions, consulting support, including when configuring software subsystems that open during the warranty period.

The warranty technical support does not imply additional financial costs of the UNDP and the Beneficiary.

 

IV. EXPECTED OUTPUTS

Deliverables	Task description	Due date
Deliverable #1	Work plan and work methodology are developed by Individual Contractor and approved by UNDP. Proposals for website design, colours, layouts, menus and sections are submitted and approved by UNDP. The first interim report is approved and signed by the UNDP Environmental Specialist.	3 weeks after the start of the contract
Deliverable #2	General code of the website according to the technical task is developed. Proposals for the choice of hosting website (price, storage capacity, amount of RAM, CPU capacity, etc.) are submitted and approved by UNDP, proposals for the purchase of a domain name, pre-configured "server" on the above-mentioned hosting site, configured additional services such as caching proxy, DDOS protection are submitted and approved by UNDP.	8 weeks after the start of the contract
Deliverable #3	The website is transferred to the hosting platform and filled with specialized content. Testing and subsequent transfer of code and all credentials to the hosting platform and website is carried out. The second interim report is approved and signed by the UNDP Environmental Specialist.	10 weeks after the start of the contract
Deliverable #4	The final report is approved and signed by the UNDP Environmental Specialist.	12 weeks after the start of the contract

 

V. MONITORING/REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The National Consultant will work under the overall guidance of the Programme Coordinator and direct supervision of the UNDP Environmental Specialist. The National Consultant will report weekly to the UNDP specialist and to the Programme Coordinator during the meetings. The National Consultant will regularly participate in project meetings (via Skype) and share his/her work progress. Moreover, the National Consultant shall provide 2 (two) interim reports and 1 (one) final report according to the schedule set out in these Terms of Reference. The interim reports will include the work progress, as well as issues to be addressed. The final report will include achievements, lessons learned and recommendations for further actions. All reports and surveys are submitted electronically (formats of * .docx, * .xlsx, * .pptx, * .pdf) on electronic source or in the form of electronic communication. The reports must be written in Ukrainian.

 

VI. OFFERED PAYMENT SCHEDULE

UNDP will pay the negotiated amount in 3 tranches according to the following schedule:

• Delivery of output 1 and submission and approval of the First Interim Report – 20%;
• Delivery of output 2, 3 and submission and approval of the Second Interim Report – 60%;
• Delivery of output 4 and submission and approval of the Final Report – 20%.

Payments will be made upon full completion and acceptance of contractual obligations by the Component Lead’s signing the act of acceptance.

Competencies

Ethics and values:

• Demonstrating and promoting the highest standards of integrity, impartiality, fairness, and incorruptibility in all matters affecting his/her work and status.

Organizational awareness:

• Ability to lead the development, implementation supervision, monitoring, and evaluation of development projects.

• Ability to lead strategic planning, change processes, RBM, and reporting.

• Developing and empowering people, coaching, and mentoring.

• Self-development and initiative-taking; Teamwork.

• Acting as a team player and facilitating the teamwork.

• Communicating information and ideas;

• Facilitating and encouraging open and effective communication within a team.

• Delivering verbal/written information in a timely, clear, organized, and easy-to-understand manner.

• Informing and transparent decision making.

• Accepting responsibility for the quality of the outcome of his/her decisions.

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrating integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards.

• Treating all people fairly.

Required Skills and Experience

VII.  EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

1. At least Bachelor’s / Specialist degree in engineering education in the field of information technology.

2. At least 3 (three) years of experience in website development.

3. At least 3 (three) years of experience in setting up Web servers, CDN, DNS.

4. At least 3 (three) years of experience in creation of a structure with secure mail, protection against external intrusions, network security infrastructure, and creation of secure data storage with distributed access level.

5. At least 2 (two) examples links/attachments of previous experience in website designs and creations.

6. Fluency in Ukrainian, Russian and English.

 

VIII.  DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING PROPOSALS

The applicants shall submit the following documents:

REQUIRED
X	Brief description of the assignment implementation using an indication approach to the performance of each stage (up to 500 words).
X	Personal CVs including information about previous experience in similar projects/assignments, contact details of referees and links/attachments of 2 (two) examples of previous experience in website designs and creations.
X	Offeror's Letter to UNDP confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) Assignment with Financial Proposal, indicating approximate working days, needed for assignment.
X	2 (two) positive references from previous contractors/employers.

 

IX. FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

 Lump-sum contract

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). The payments are based upon outputs, i.e. upon delivery of services specified in the ToR. To facilitate the Commission’s work when comparing financial proposals, a financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount. The National Consultant will be responsible for all personal administrative expenses associated with undertaking this assignment, including costs for office accommodation, printing, stationery, phone and electronic communications, as well as report copying.

 Travel costs

All envisaged travel costs shall be included in the financial proposal. This will include all travels to join duty station/repatriation. In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. If the National Consultant wishes to travel higher class, he/she may do so at his/her own expense. In cases of unforeseeable travel, the payment of travel costs including tickets and accommodation shall be agreed between the relevant department and individual consultant before and will be reimbursed.

 

X. EVALUATION OF APPLICANTS

1. Does the brief description of the assignment implementation meet the objective and scope of work? – 20 points max.

       {The brief description of the assignment implementation corresponds well to the objective, but its scope of work is overstated/understated – 17 points; the brief description of the assignment implementation is logical and details the algorithm of the objective corresponding to the scope of work – 20 points}.

2. How well developed, reasonable, and reliable is the approach of implementation of services? – 20 points max.

       {The approach logically describes a sequence of works – 17 points; the approach includes thorough criteria demonstrating its feasibility – 20 points}.

3. Proved experience in website development – 5 points max.

        {2 pts. – 3 (three) years of relevant experience; 5 pts. – more than 4 (four) years}.

4. Proved experience in setting up Web servers, CDN, DNS – 5 points max.

       {2 pts. – 3 (three) years of relevant experience; 5 pts. – more than 4 (four) years};

5.  Proved experience in creation of a structure with secure mail, protection against external intrusions,     

        network security infrastructure, and creation of secure data storage with distributed access level. –  5   

        points max.

        {2 pts. – 3 (three) years of relevant experience; 5 pts. – more than 4 (four) years};

6.  Proved experience in website designs and creations – 15 points max.

       {9 pts. – 2 (two) examples of relevant experience; 15 pts. – 3 (three) and more examples}.  

7. At least Bachelor’s / Specialist degree in engineering education in the field of information technology – Pass / Fail.

8. Fluency in Ukrainian, Russian and English – Pass / Fail.

 

XI. 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 meeting the minimum requirements and 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 and will be awarded a contract.

 

 

ATTENTION!

1. UNDP documents templates are available at the following the link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/506vw4976ka77jy/AABF10LJ-JEqb843fiCK7btSa?dl=0

2. Online system does not recognise Russian or Ukrainian language, information you provide in on-line application should be in English

3. Online system allows to upload only 1 (one) file. Please combine all the files in one and then upload