E-Governance Strategy Implementation Consultant

Consultant

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. UNCDF strategy set forth in 2019 of ‘Leaving No One Behind in the Digital Era’ is based on over a decade of experience in digital finance in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. UNCDF recognizes that reaching the full potential of digital financial inclusion in support of the Sustainable Development Goals aligns with the vision of promoting digital economies that leave no one behind. For further detail on UNCDF strategy, refer to; https://www.uncdf.org/article/4931/global-strategy-leaving-no-one-behind-in-the-digital-era .

Since 2013, UNCDF has been implementing a market development approach on digital finance in Uganda. With the support of the Sweden Development Agency (SIDA), UNCDF will execute the “Leaving No One Behind in the Digital Era” strategy in country until 2024 under the “Connect” Rural Uganda Programme. The Programme has the aim to develop an inclusive digital economy in Uganda with a specific focus at empowering rural communities, smallholders’ farmers, agri-business and refugees - to lead productive and healthy lives, by expanding access and usage of digital services.

New Cities:

The Government of Uganda created ten cities which became operational on 1st July 2020. These include Arua, Gulu, Mbarara, jinja, Mbale, Fort portal, Hoima, Lira, Masaka, and Soroti. Uganda is experiencing rapid urbanization, about 20% of its population now lives in the urban centres (national urban policy, 2013). Besides, the urban population is growing at a rate of 5.6% per annum compared to the national average of 3.2% (UBOS, 2012).

It is estimated that about 50% of the total population of Uganda will be the structural transformation of the Ugandan economy. Urbanization accounts for about 72% of manufacturing output and over 55% of the national gross domestic product (GDP). It is therefore important that it is managed efficiently and effectively to contribute to growth. Thus, the growing urbanization in Uganda can no longer be ignored as it creates a need to accommodate many people in a relatively small area. For this population to survive, cities must plan for them to earn a living while at the same time providing social services at the most affordable and convenient cost. Whereas the high rate of urbanization calls for use of digital technologies to deliver services by the cities; there is need to assess the existing institutional capacity to use e-governance in service delivery. It is important to create an enabling environment for city residents to appreciate the functioning and obligations of city life and services.

UNCDF has supported the cities in preparation of an e-governance strategy to set pace for positioning the city administration and re-orienting the mindsets of the citizens to realize their new identity and what goes with it in service-delivery using digital platforms and service-offerings. UNCDF is desirous of supporting the cities in the next steps to implement the e-Governance Strategy

Duties and Responsibilities

The essential objective of this assignment is to empower the cities to implement the newly developed city e-Governance Strategy for a transformed ICT driven city that will provide the kind of efficiencies and services that are required and needed by the city citizens, and to support the change leaders on how to effectively implement city e-Governance Strategic Plan.

Secondly the assignment will gather baseline information on the key indicators highlighted in the e-governance strategy per city which will be used to inform the starting point of these cities before implementation of the e-governance strategy

SCOPE OF WORK

The scope of work for this assignment involves the following components:

Empowerment

1. The Consultant will carry out a training needs assessment and develop a training curriculum that will empower the cities to implement the developed e-Governance Strategy.
2. The consultant will conduct a training to empower key city stakeholders to gain an understanding of the strategy and how the to implement the e-Governance strategy.
3. The consultant will support the city in preparing Stakeholder Engagement events as a strategy for mobilizing support and resources for the implementation of the city e-governance strategy.

Baseline data collection

1. Review the indicator list in section 4.2 and target list in section 4.3 of the E-governance strategy (Annex 1)
2. Conduct review of relevant documents on e-governance to establish baseline for the indicators
3. Conduct Key Informant Interviews with officials at the cities, MOICT, NITA and other relevant entities to collect baseline data
4. Conduct Focus Group Discussion with relevant officials to collect baseline data

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

The consultant will work in close collaboration with Ministry of Local Government and other relevant stakeholders including the new cities administration and UNCDF.

Key Expected Output and Deliverables:

Activity

Deliverables

Timeline from the starting signature date of contract

Payment % of total contract price

Conduct a training needs assessment and document review

Training Needs Assessment Report

5 days

20%

Develop a curriculum while drawing on existing materials from key institutes tasked with skills development for public employees

Training Curriculum addressing the needs identified in the assessment report

15 days

Conduct KII , FGD to collect baseline data and training to empower the key City Stakeholders including the City ICT Steering Committee to implement the e-Governance Strategy

Training Reports

40 days

40%

Conduct stakeholder engagement events for the 10 cities

Reports from the Stakeholder Engagement Events

20 days

40%

Prepare a final detailed Report of the project

Final report including the baseline values for the e-governance indicators in the strategy submitted and approved by UNCDF Project team

5days

Institutional Arrangement

Provision of Monitoring, Progress Controls & Payments:

• The Consultant will work under the supervision of the Digital Country Lead and work closely with the Governance Specialist
• Payments shall be made only upon satisfactory completion and UNCDF’s written acceptance of each deliverable duly approved by the Digital Country Lead and/or their designate.
• Disbursement of the Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Duration of the Work

85 working days spread over a period of 6 months.

Duty Station

The Consultant will be based in Kampala, Uganda.

Travel

Travel will be required Ministry of Local Goverment for the the 10 cities Arua, Gulu, Mbarara, jinja, Mbale, Fort portal, Hoima, Lira, Masaka, and Soroti and will be at the consultant’s cost. The consultant from his workplan will determine the frequency and number of days in each of the cities, as per deliverable 3 and 4 above

Competencies

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Excellent organizational, inter-personal and communication skills.
• Able to work effectively in a team and in an international environment.
• Excellent writing and data analysis skills, proven ability to extract actionable insights from data.
• Results-driven, problem-solver with structuring and analytic capabilities.
• Ability to establish strong working relationships with various stakeholder institutions in the public and private sector.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

• MSc. In Information Technology, Institutional Development, Physical Planning or other related field.

Skills & Experience:

• Expertise in the national planning and strategy.
• Experience working with local governments and related stakeholders.
• 5 years + working on digital-related projects with or within the Government of Uganda.
• Experience in data management, analysis and report writing.
• Experience working with Central and Local Governments

Language requirements

Fluent command of written and spoken English is mandatory.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Interested individuals must submit the following documents as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications. (NOTE: The system does not allow multiple uploads of document. Applicants must make sure to upload all documents in one PDF file.)

The application must contain the following:

(a) Personal Profile:

• Cover letter demonstrating the Approach/Methodology on how the assignment will be executed (1 page).
• Duly accomplished?Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability

• A Curriculum Vitae (CV) or P.11 Personal History Form (available at http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc), stipulating applicant’s official name the qualifications and professional experiences (with similar projects) relevant to the assignment/TOR and the contact details (email address, telephone numbers) of 3 professional references.

  (b) A signed financial proposal for the assignment:

Completed and duly signed Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability quoted in US dollars, outlining the all-inclusive fee, supported by a breakdown of reimbursable – direct and indirect – costs such as travel, lodging, per diem (if applicable)

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested documents.

Proposal should be submitted at the following email [email protected] no later than 22nd June 2022.

EVALUATION METHOD

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

* Technical Criteria weight; 70%

* Financial Criteria weight; 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) will be considered as technically qualified and will be reviewed further for the Financial Evaluation

Technical Criteria –70 %

Criteria

• Relevant Qualification – 15%

• A minimum of 5 years’ relevant work experience – 15%

• Substantial experience working with Government Ministries in Policy planning – 20%;

• Description of approach/methodology and its appropriateness to the assignment- 20%

Financial Criteria – 30%

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

• Lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30.

Cumulative analysis:

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. Example 70%-30%.

Individual consultants and persons employed by a company or institution are invited to apply.

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a Procurement Notice for individual consultant must do so in their individual capacity by providing a CV so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly.

Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.

UNCDF is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to the address or email indicated above. UNCDF will respond in writing or by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants.

References

UNDP’s Individual Consultant’s General Terms and Conditions are provided here: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf

4.1****The City e-Governance Strategy Framework

This section lays out the proposed strategies for city e-Governance in Uganda. The Key considerations include the current e-Governance status, key critical success factors and possible risks that will need to be mitigated in order to achieve the following strategic objectives:

1. To Support, Maintain, and Secure Critical Infrastructure
2. To Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness of City Operations
3. To unlock city potential through Partnerships and Collaborations
4. To Increase Access and Transparency to Cities

Strategic Objective 1: Acquire, Support, Maintain and Secure Critical e-Governance Infrastructure

The City’s technology infrastructure is the basic set of systems which support city operations and services. Similar to capital infrastructure and construction costs associated with maintenance of roads and buildings, technology infrastructure requires continual investment to ensure mission critical systems are available at all times, 24/7. The Cities should commit to acquire, maintain and secure technology that supports all city services, systems, and datasets.

The City’s goal to support, maintain, and secure critical infrastructure is supported by several key objectives. The following objectives are led by different ICT departments in the Cities, with individual strategy that support the City’s overall technology efforts and strategic plan.

Strategic Objective 2: To Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness of Operations in Cities

Integrating technology into existing processes and workflows (while streamlining these processes) will allow staff to deliver the highest standard of care to the community. This can also make it easier to collaborate across departments, cities, MDAs and drive future innovations. In addition, leveraging technology can allow for better management of the services, facilities for a safer, more sustainable and resilient city.

Technology can help make it easier to manage work across and within departments. Cities are able will develop software solutions for Revenue Management, Asset management, Human Resource Management, Treasury Service solutions, Waste and public health Management, Gender solutions, Education solutions, Engineering and Traffic Control solutions among others as demanded.

But, as with any technology, Cities must plan for the inevitable. We want to know that if power goes out or servers go down that the city does not grind to a halt. It is important to think through how back-up systems and alternative means of delivery will support the occasional technology failure. Understanding how a system works and breaks can better prepare the city for adapting to change and responding to catastrophes.

Strategic Objective 3: To unlock city potential through Partnerships and Collaborations

Government plays a critical role as a convener, bringing together many different interests and working towards shared outcomes for communities. Cities should facilitate the development of new partnerships and collaborations that are multi-disciplinary and measurable to continue moving forward in meeting their vision and strategic goals. Technology is a tool in the toolkit, however, and not a cure-all. Therefore, cities should consider what policies and processes are necessary to complement new technologies and solutions.

Technology should help make it easier to work together, both within the city, with other agencies and jurisdictions, and with the general public. raise the bar for a great user experience while ensuring that technology does not take away from the “personal touch” of great service. These strategies focus on enhancing existing workflow, connecting more effectively with each other, and exploring new alternatives to service delivery through experimentation. A city government cannot build a modern, technology driven city by going it alone - all stakeholders need to work together.

Strategic Objective 4: To Increase Access and Transparency to Cities

Government highly prioritizes ICT in NDP III to improve and deliver public services. The Cites are no exception and should highly prioritize ICT projects that improve access to City services and promote city transparency. This goal is especially important since the City uses public money and is accountable to taxpayers. Towards this end, technology has the potential to make city services more inclusive and accessible.

An increasingly important avenue to access City services is through city websites. The residents expect the Internet to be a resource on City information and increasingly expect online services such as filling out forms or receiving notifications to be available.

“Imagine a city where a youth in Gulu could log on and search for an internship from his cell phone, allowing him/her to gain valuable job training for a future career. Or a family on tour could apply for affordable housing from a computer at their local library. Or an aspiring restaurant owner could apply for and track every permit for his/ her business online on a City website”

The Cities will actively train and expose residents to digital tools. As more and more of City services use technology, the City has a responsibility to make sure all residents have the tools and the access to all services. The focus is to create citizen or resident centered digital programs and services

4.2 e-Government Strategy Key Performance Indicators

The Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for each of the four objectives is listed in Table 1, below. These KPI’s will help cities to be accountable for their e-Governance investments and efforts, as they will provide the means to evaluate e-Governance both quantitatively and qualitatively. The entire e-Governance implementation roadmap is depicted in Figure 1. The objectives and their associated implementation strategies and targets (outputs) are summarized in Table 2 and are thereafter discussed.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

To Support, Maintain, and Secure Critical Infrastructure

• Stable and reliable City network connectivity
• No of City Hotspot sites installed
• No of City Data Centers established
• Number of city users connected per city per year
• City ICT Governance Policy
• No. of networked Public facilities like schools, hospitals etc in the city

To Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness of City Operations

• Number of City Processes workflows documented
• Number of Processes improved
• Number of self-service processes automated
• % of e-services implemented
• % of e-services Integrated
• % of e-services accessible through the different e-Governance channels
• Number of Staff Trained in ICT (technical and end user skills)
• Number of handheld devices for senior and field staff

To unlock city potential through Partnerships and Collaborations

• Stakeholder Engagement Plan developed
• No of MoUs signed between the city (ies) and partners
• % of Innovations implemented
• Number of Partnerships and collaborations
• Number of innovations implemented
• % of Resources fundraised
• Number of innovations supported

To Increase Access and Transparency to Cities

• Interactive and response city portal
• Citizen engagement platform/CRM implemented
• % of citizens aware of availability of e-services
• % Increase of visits to e-Government portals
• % Increase of usage for e-services

4.3****e-Government Objectives, Cost and Implementation Roadmap

Implementation of the City e-Governance Strategy will require dedicated staff with a positive mindset. This staff will develop the city e-Governance Program and collectively manage city-wide complex projects across cities and relationships required for a technologically driven-City. The cities shall embrace partnerships and collaborations including consortiums between cities to collectively raise financial resources for projects implemented across cities, partnerships with MDAs to improve service delivery and bring services closer to the city residents and development partners as well as public-private partnership models the required financial resource will be identified through the indicative and each city’s Annual Budget process.

Innovation Challenges will also require a small innovation fund to ensure that adequate resources are available to contribute to the co-creation or innovation of the challenge. Innovation Challenges and pilot projects will be public procurements at a small scale.

The table below presents the e-Governance Strategic Objectives, Implementation Strategies, targets, costs and implementation timelines (roadmap). The indicative budget is the cost of each city.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES

TARGETS

Cost USD (000)

Timeline

To Develop, Support, Maintain, and Secure Critical Infrastructure

• Develop a secure and robust City Network Architecture and Data Center

• 100% staff access to the LAN at city hall and divisions

200

2022-2025

• Stable Internet Connectivity

10

2021-2022

• Primary City Data Center

2,500

2022-2024

• Information Security Management Plan.

30

2022

• 5 Internet hotspots in each city public places like parks, markets etc.

300

2022-2026

• Provide Staff Working Equipment/gadgets

• Maintain a 1:1 computer staff ratio

112.5

2022-2026

• 100% provision of Handheld devices for council and field staff

11.3

2022-2026

• All staff provided with relevant ICT Tools including specialized software like GIS

10.3

2022-2026

• Broadband Internet Access

• Stable and reliable internet connection.

5

2022-2024

• A redundant internet connection link deployed per city

15

2022-2025

• Develop internal ICT Governance and Technical Expertise.

• Empowered ICT Function/Department

0

2022-2023

• 80% of technical Staff recruited

54

2022-2026

• Formulate and adopt an IT standard for IT service management across cities.

• IT Service Management Standard operationalized in all cities

10

2022-2026

To Improve Efficiency and Effectiveness of City Operations

• Reengineer and Redesign key Business processes in cities.

• 95% of all processes optimized redesigned

200

2022-2023

• 80% 0f city processes document and process workflows and designs completed

100

2022-2024

• Automate and Integrate redesigned city business processes.

• 100% of client self-service processes automated

2022-2025

• 85% of e-services integrated

80

2022-2025

• Develop an integrated city e-services platform

• 75% of services accessible on a mobile platform

80

2022-2025

• All services accessible online

25

2022-2026

• Build staff capacity to use and support ICT services.

• City ICT Training Center equipped

36.3

2022-2023

• 90% improvement in Staff ICT Skills

25

2023-2026

• Provide Intranet /network services.

• 100% staff access to Intranet services

0

2022

To unlock city potential through Partnerships and Collaborations

• Create a city consortium

City consortium

0

2022

City data sharing policy and platform

10

2022

• Create partnership with MDAs

One Stop City Services Center

10

2022

• R&D to improve city service innovations.

-studies per year

-Innovations funded

50

2022-2026

• Enhance development partners’ relationships for resource mobilization.

Raise 65% of the e-Governance budget.

0

2022-2026

• Identify, Implement and Support ICT Innovations.

A city innovation framework.

10

2022

> 2 public-private partnerships created per year.

1000

2023-2026

To Increase Access and Transparency to Cities

• Digital Literacy

45% of the community engaged in ICT skills.

50

2023-2026

• Develop citizen centric platforms for client engagement.

20% of city residents using the platform through web, mobile and USSD features.

10

2023-2026

100% city services digitalized and offered online.

30

2022-2026

• Engage with citizens and key stakeholders in the sourcing, and implementation new technologies.

Open data dashboard for all cities

10

2022-2026

• Enhance communication of the City e-Governance Agenda.

Bi-annual e-Governance dialogue between the cities, CSOs, private sector and citizens.

25

2022-2023

4.4****Channels of e-Government Services

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Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: jobs.undp.org