National ICT Expert to Support the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare of Montenegro in Drafting Bylaws to the new Law on Games of Chance and Prize Games

Background

The Project “Strengthening Transparent and Accountable Public Finance Management in Montenegro”, supported by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare (MFSW) of Montenegro and UNDP. The Project is linked with the past and present activities implemented through the Slovak Ministry of Finance (MF SR) - UNDP Public Finance for Development (PFD) programme since 2009. The main goal of the Project is to support the Montenegrin MFSW in strengthening the transparent and accountable public finance management on central and local level.

In the scope of the Project, one of the intervention areas will be devoted to the support to MFSW in improving normative and institutional framework related to the games of chance and prize games. The previous Law on Games of Chance was adopted by the Montenegrin Parliament in 2004. As the gaming sector is developing rapidly, certain shortcomings have been identified during its implementation. Digitalization is particularly significant in terms of affecting gambling games. New legislation should reflect the fact that a number of players are moving to on-line environment, which brings new challenges for state-controlled supervision. Taking the above mentioned into account, Montenegro plans to adopt a new Law on Games of Chance and Prize Games. It should be noted that the Draft Law was prepared by MFSW and public discussion was held in 2021. In the course of the public discussion, the competent authorities submitted significant number of comments and suggestions to be incorporated in the Proposal of the Law. Once the Proposal of the Law is finalized, its adoption by the Government and Parliament of Montenegro is planned. 

It is expected that the adoption of the new Law on Games of Chance and Prize Games will significantly improve the existing legislative framework and contribute to the better regulation in this field. It will reflect the development of new types of games of chance and technical progress of gaming devices, with a particular emphasis on regulating remote gambling.  It is expected that the public revenues earned from the games of chance and prize games would significantly raise the state budget revenue from this type of activity, which would positively reflect on the overall state finances. The new Law should deal, inter alia, with the competences of the institutions responsible for gambling supervision and clarify their responsibilities more precisely, especially with the view of regulating new sorts of the games of chance. 

With the view of the above mentioned, it is necessary to draft the secondary legislation to the new Law on Games of Chance and Prize Games, which would encompass a number of bylaws, elaborating on the legal provisions stipulated by the Law in more detail. Given that the Law covers a wide area, the precise and knowledgeable bylaws drafting would assist the Ministry in defining all the issues that may arise with the necessary precision, which would allow for a successful implementation of the Law. The planned bylaws would relate to a broad range of issues, such as e.g. technical conditions for specific types of games of chance, prerequisites to be fulfilled by gaming operators in order to organize them, the manner of records keeping by gaming operators, conditions for performing technical inspection, etc. In this process, it would be helpful to have in mind the best practices and lessons learnt from the European Union countries, which have already established the functioning normative and institutional framework for the games of chance regulation and to rely on their experience in this process for the sake of avoiding possible hindrances and obstacles. In order to support MFSW to fulfill the above described obligations, UNDP Montenegro will engage National ICT Expert to Support the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare of Montenegro in Drafting Bylaws to the new Law on Games of Chance and Prize Games. The Consultant will be engaged in the scope of the Project “Strengthening Transparent and Accountable Public Finance Management in Montenegro”, supported by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, and jointly implemented by MFSW and UNDP CO Montenegro.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment:  

The main objective of the assignment is drafting of bylaws to the new Law on Games of Chance and Prize Games. 

Job content:

Under the supervision of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare, Director General of the Directorate for Financal System and Financial Technologies in MFSW and UNDP Project Manager, the National ICT Expert is expected to deliver the following services: 

• Conduct desk research of the current Proposal of the Games of Chance and Prize Games, relevant strategic and policy documents; gather inputs, suggestions and hold discussions with the representatives of the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare, Revenues and Customs Administration and other competent national authorities; 
• Upon the completion of the research and interviews with the relevant stakeholders, provide inputs for draft bylaws that shall regulate the following issues/areas: 

1. Technical conditions necessary for the estabilishment of the system of direct surveillance of the organizers of games of chance, individually per games (casinos, betting shops, slot machines, lottery games, TV tombola, tombola  held on the premises), including on line games (individually per games); 

2. Technical conditions necessary for the organization of games of chance, individually per games (casinos, betting shops, slot machines, lottery games, TV tombola, tombola  held on the premises), including on line games (individually per games); 

3. Technical and other conditions for receiving payments for lottery games and the conditions of use, testing and certification of devices for winning prizes in certain lottery games, as well as fees for issuing consents to the appointment of the commission; 

4. Conditions and manner for establishing the fulfillment of the technical conditions for the organization of online games of chance; 

5. The manner of registration and identification of participants; 

6. Other bylaws regulating technical conditions for the organization of games of chance, as per the needs defined by the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare of Montenegro. 

• After the review and inputs received from MFSW, the Consultant will finalize and fine-tune the aforementioned bylaws, in close cooperation with the selected Legal expert; 
• Prepare the report on the completed activities with recommendations for follow-up activities – to be submitted to UNDP in English language (up to 3 pages). 

The expected results:

Under the supervision of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare, Director General of the Directorate for Financal System and Financial Technologies in MFSW and UNDP Project Manager, the National ICT Expert is expected to deliver the following results:

• Inputs for draft bylaws to the new Law on Games of Chance and Prize Games; 
• Report on completed activities with recommendations for follow-up activities in English language (up to 3 pages). 

Timing and reporting: 

The National ICT Expert is expected to work home-based during 40 consultancy days (15 March – 25 December 2022). She/He shall regularly report to MFSW and UNDP Project Manager for the project “Strengthening Transparent and Accountable Public Finance Management in Montenegro”, supported by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, and implemented by MFSW MNE and UNDP.

Time duration and travel:

National ICT Expert will be engaged under Individual Contract, for the total of 40 consultancy days (15 March – 25 December 2022), pursuant to the agreed plan with UNDP. No travel is envisaged under this assignment.

Note: It should be noted that MFSW and UNDP plan to hire National Legal Expert who will be in charge of drafting bylaws to the Law on Games of Chance and Prize Games, regulating the relevant legal requirements in this field. The National Legal Expert shall also draft bylaws regulating technical conditions for the games of chance organization based on the inputs provided by ICT Expert and they shall finalize and fine-tune the mentioned bylaws in a close coordination. National Legal and ICT Expert will liase and work in a close cooperation throughout their engagement for the purpose of the successful completion of the tasks defined by the TOR.

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN/UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates ability to manage complexities and work under pressure, as well as conflict resolution skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree in Information Technology/Computer Science/Information Systems, or related, whereas advanced degree would be considered as an advantage;
• Post-graduate diploma in ICT will be considered as an asset;

Experience:

• At least ten (10) years of relevant professional experience; 
• Experience in the design and development of information systems;
• Good understanding of various software architectures and database systems, and solid understanding of the architecture of hybrid systems based on web technologies;
• General knowledge of Database/Web application system design, development, administration and implementation; 
• Experience in ICT management of institutions or organizations for at least two years would be an asset;
• Experience in software analysis and design, preferably for public sector;
• Experience of interoperable ICT solutions, preferably for the public administration; 
• Extensive knowledge about the system of games of chance and prize games, as well as the Montenegrin regulations in this field; 

Language:

• Fluency in Montenegrin language, knowledge of English language would be considered as an advantage; 

Other:

• Excellent organizational skills, proven communication and presentation skills, and ability to work in an environment requiring liaison and collaboration with multiple actors including government representatives, international organizations, and other stakeholders.  

Criteria for selection:

Combined Scoring method will be used. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: (i) responsive, compliant, acceptable, and (ii) 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% (Background and education 10%; Relevant previous experience 20%; Substantial knowledge/Required competencies 30%; Required language 10%);
• Financial criteria weight - 30%.

Only offerors obtaining a minimum 490 points for technical criteria will be considered for the financial evaluation. For more information on procurement methodology for Individual Contractors, please refer to Procurement Notice.

Application procedure:

Interested applicants are requested to submit their applications by March  6, 2022 by using the Apply now button. The application should contain CV or P11 that can be downloaded at https://www.me.undp.org/content/montenegro/en/home/jobs.html. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file.

Only the short-listed applicants will be contacted and requested to submit a letter of interest including a price quotation indicating the lump sum (in EUR) requested for the work envisaged in the section "Description of Responsibilities".