International Consultant for conducting a study on Supporting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Towards Realising a Green and Digital Future

Consultant

Contract

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Background

GENERAL BACKGROUND

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and informal businesses have been at the receiving end of the adverse COVID-19 crisis impact. Several studies have shown that SMEs have been particularly hard hit by the economic shock due to the decline in demand for goods and services, the liquidity crunch, and disruption of global supply chains and investment flows. SMEs also represent the majority of businesses in sectors that are most affected by the pandemic (e.g. tourism, retail and professional services, and construction and transportation).

A healthy SME sector is vital in rejuvenating the economy. This is particularly true in developing countries as their business composition is mostly dominated by SMEs. According to the Asia Development Bank’s statistics, SMEs account for an average of 97% of all enterprises and employ 69% of the national labour force in Asia. SMEs’ smaller size allows them to be flexible and adapt to new environments. This gives them the opportunity to recover quickly if effective support and incentives are provided. Given the large share of jobs created by SMEs, their quick recovery can also generate huge positive social impacts in the longer term. Several studies have also identified SMEs as key players in driving green transition and digital transformation.

As many SMEs struggled with the adverse impact of the pandemic, governments in developing countries, and in the Asia-Pacific region in particular, responded by developing various policies and measures to help them weather the storm. At the same time, disruption has also forced business leaders to adopt or expedite digital transformation strategies or other solutions to strengthen their competitiveness. A review and analysis of these policies and practices will shed light on how to support SMEs with an aim to promote a green, resilient recovery driven by digital transformation in the Global South.

Duties and Responsibilities

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The purpose of this consultancy is to produce a report that will provide an analysis of the policy measures and good practices of both governments and SMEs put in place in developing countries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus in the Asia-Pacific region. By doing so, the report will support knowledge sharing among developing countries on how to develop effective and coherent SMEs policy and strategies with the aim to achieve a green and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study will be conducted through research and literature review as well as through the analysis of key policy measures and practices adopted by developing countries in the Asia-Pacific region on supporting SMEs in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

SCOPE OF WORK

The Consultant will work under the supervision of the Regional Coordinator for Asia-Pacific, UNOSSC. The study follows on a webinar convened on 22 July, 2020 by UNOSSC on the COVID-19 impact on SMEs and the discussions by intergovernmental organisations during the online conference on the sidelines of the UN Day for South-South Cooperation commemoration held on 14 September 2021, during which the panel discussion was moderated by an International Labour Office (ILO) staff member. The interested participants in the panel, including the moderator of the panel, will be enlisted as resource people to review the consultant’s work.

Specifically, the Consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Review and analyze existing literature to identify the challenges for SMEs in developing countries in the Asia-Pacific Region against securing a resilient recovery, as well as the opportunities in realising green transition and digital transformation in the Asia-Pacific region.
• Document/provide an inventory and summary of key policies, measures and practices adopted by developing countries and intergovernmental institutions in the Asia-Pacific region towards supporting SMEs in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Review and analyse good practices and policies with a highlight on digital and green solutions.
• Based on the above, formulate lessons learned for governments of developing countries on designing SMEs policies to help them adopt digital technologies and greener practices, in order to achieve a resilient recovery of the SME sector.

Expected Outputs And Deliverables

Deliverables/Outputs

Target Due Dates

Review and Approvals Required

1. Outline of the report submitted and approved.

10 January 2022

Reviewed and approved by UNOSSC

2.First Draft Report on research and findings

15 February 2022

Reviewed and approved by UNOSSC

3.Submit Second Draft Report

1 March 2022

Reviewed and approved by UNOSSC

4. Final report

8 March 2022

Reviewed and approved by UNOSSC

• Deliverable 1 should be prepared by the Consultant before going into the data collection exercise. It should highlight the Consultant’s understanding of what is to be assessed and why, showing how each task will be accomplished: proposed methods, proposed sources of data and data collection procedures. It should also include a proposed schedule of tasks, activities and deliverables. It should indicate intended length of report.
• All deliverables will be submitted to the UNOSSC Regional Coordinator per schedule under “target due dates” section and will be immediately reviewed by UNOSSC and its partners and approved by UNOSSC.

Institutional Arrangements

• All deliverables will be submitted to the UNOSSC Regional Coordinator per schedule under “target due dates” section and will be immediately reviewed by UNOSSC and its partners and approved by UNOSSC.

Duration of Assignment, Duty Station And Expected Places of Travel

• The assessment is expected to take place from January 2022 to March 2022 within a maximum of 45 working days.
• Travel is not required for this assignment.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNOSSC;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Technical Competencies:

• Analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to process, analyse and synthesize complex, technical information;

• Proven experience in the developing country context and working in different cultural settings.

  Communication:

• Communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.

  Professionalism:

• Capable of working in a high-pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;

• Excellent analytical and organizational skills.

  Teamwork:

• Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;

• Focuses on results for the client;
• Welcomes constructive feedback.

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• An advanced university degree (master’s degree) in business administration, political science, public policy, development, economics and/or social sciences is required

  Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of experience in developing and implementing projects/programs around SMEs or formulating SMEs development strategies and policies.

• Demonstrated experience in developing technical reports on SME related subjects is highly preferred.
• Experience on designing digital or green solutions in a business context is preferred.
• Prior experience consulting or working for UN agencies in the Asia-Pacific region is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written English

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments.

Interested individual consultants must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration.

Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages.

SL No.

Tasks

Percentage

Due date

1.

Payment on submission and approval of the outline of the work to be done

- Upon submission of deliverable 1

20%

10 January 2022

2

Payment on submission of First Draft Report on research and findings

- Upon submission of deliverable 2

30%

15 February 2022

3

Payment on submission of Second Draft Report

• • Upon submission of deliverable 3

30%

1 March 2022

4

Payment on submission and approval of the Final report

- Upon submission of deliverable 4

20%

8 March 2022

In general, UNDP shall 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

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Travel costs shall be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent. The provided living allowance will not be exceeding UNDP DSA rates.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology

The award of the contract should 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. Only top five candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the total technical points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

* Technical Criteria weight: 70% (100 points)

* Financial Criteria weight: 30% (100 points)

Criteria

Weight

(100 points, 70%)

Technical

• Criteria 1. Experience in developing and implementing projects/programs around SMEs or formulating SMEs development strategies and policies.

30

• Criteria 2. Demonstrated experience in developing technical reports on SME related subjects.

30

Criteria 3. Experience on designing digital or green solutions in a business context.

20

Criteria 4. Prior experience consulting for UN agencies in the Asia-Pacific region.

20

Documentation required.

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal using the template provided by UNDP (in USD, specifying the total lump sum amount as well as the requested amount of the fee per day).
• Curriculum Vitae/P11 form, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
• Proposal: Brief proposal explaining why you are the most suitable for this consultancy
• Two writing samples from previous experience, preferably on SMEs related subjects.

Incomplete proposals may not be considered. The short-listed candidates may be contacted and the successful candidate will be notified.

Annexes:

Annex I - ToR SME Consultant Annex II - General_Terms_and_Conditions_for_Contracts_Individual_Consultants Annex III - Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and financial proposal Annex IV - P11 Form_for_ICs_optional

All documents can be downloaded at: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=86132

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to procurement.th@undp.org under Subject: JobAds 103447- International Consultant for conducting a study on Supporting Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Towards Realising a Green and Digital Future

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Added 2 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: jobs.undp.org