International consultant to support the Centre for Legal Medicine (CLM) in accreditation to ISO/IEC 17020:2012 standard

Contract

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Background

The UNDP project “Strengthening Efficiency and Access to Justice in Moldova” (A2J) is a multi-year institutional development project designed to contribute to an increased efficiency of justice services and to improved access to justice of men and women in Moldova, in particular from vulnerable and marginalized groups, through enhanced capacities of forensic institutions to provide qualitative justice services, strengthened capacities of the justice sector actors in the selected pilot areas to provide coordinated response to men’s and women’s justice needs and strengthened civil society able to claim the respect of rights and engage in a constructive dialogue with the justice chain actors. Project interventions will offer and encourage equal opportunity for the participation of men and women.

Although important efforts have been deployed at national level during the last years to advance the efficiency, transparency, fairness and accessibility of the justice sector, improvement is further required to ensure coherent coordination among law enforcement, security and justice institutions for effective administration of justice, so that men and women, particularly from marginalized or minority groups, are able to claim their rights and access justice effectively.

The national forensic institutions are an integral part of the justice system, as the expert opinions provided by these institutions are critical for the objective and evidence-based delivery of justice. The quality and accuracy of forensic investigations and examinations have an extensive impact on the quality of justice and affect the overall perception of users about the justice system. Despite their importance for the administration of justice, forensic institutions benefited from limited assistance and support in their modernization endeavours as compared to other justice chain actors.

The forensic institutions are also in need of further ISO certification to strengthen the institutional management, confirm compliance with internationally recognized quality standards and demonstrate that they operate competently and generate valid results, thereby promoting confidence in their work both nationally and around the world. Thus, the laboratories of the National Centre for Judicial Expertise (NCJE) and the Forensic Centre of the General Police Inspectorate (Police Forensic Centre) have already obtained accreditation in line with ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standard with UNDP’s support, whilst this process at the Centre for Legal Medicine (CLM) is ongoing.

In 2018, CLM launched the process of accreditation to SM SR EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017 of a number of laboratory investigations within the Toxicology Laboratory and will continue with the process, with the support with a national consultant, engaged by UNDP Moldova. The work of the consultant transpired in line with the 2020 – 2021 Plan of Activities on accreditation to SM SR EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017 of the Toxicology Unit of CLM, which reached at the end of 2021 a 100% completion rate; all activities scheduled have been completed and CML management submitted the documents to MOLDAC (national accreditation body) in December 2021, whilst the accreditation audit visits are scheduled for the first quarter of 2022.

Furthermore, starting with 2020 UNDP also supported CLM in establishing a quality management system certifiable to ISO 9001:2015 Standards, which concluded with CLM obtaining certification in December 2021.

In addition to this, UNDP is providing assistance to CLM in accreditation of the Molecular Genetics Laboratory within the Forensic Biology Department of CLM to SM SR EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017.

To ensure that CLM is operating in line with the internationally acknowledged requirements in the field of forensic medical examinations and are thus competent to produce reliable products and/or services, UNDP will support CLM in the process of accreditation in compliance with standard ISO/IEC 17020:2012 in the field of forensic medical examinations.

In this regard, UNDP is seeking to hire an International ISO technical consultant to deliver technical assistance to the Centre for Legal Medicine (CLM) to achieve the international accreditation of its inspection activities in line with ISO/IEC 17020:2012 standard for its operations related to forensic medical examinations of living persons and dead bodies.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective is to assist and enhance the institutional capacities of the CLM in order to achieve the international accreditation of its operations, as inspection body conducting forensic medical examinations of living persons and corpses, in line with ISO/IEC 17020:2012 standard. The assignment shall focus on implementing and ensuring the functionality of the quality assurance mechanism. He/she is expected to ensure analytical support, facilitate the communication and cooperation with different stakeholders on forensic medical examinations related issues. The assignment shall be carried out in close cooperation with the CLM and National UNDP Consultant.

In order to achieve the stated scope of work, the Consultant shall perform the following tasks and activities:

1. Prepare the Inception Report and detailed work plan for the assignment;
2. Conduct review of inspection methodologies applied in CML in connection to the 17020:2012 standard requirements;
3. Conduct a review of CLM’s regulations relevant for the international accreditation in line with ISO/IEC 17020:2012 standard and propose amendments, where necessary;
4. Assess CLM`s policy documents in connection to international accreditation in line with ISO/IEC 17020:2012 standard and propose amendments, where necessary;
5. Develop an Assessment Report covering the findings of the review of inspection methodologies applied in CML, review and assessment of CLM`s regulations and policy documents, addressing the identified gaps and proposed recommendations for way forward in assuring the CLM readiness to accreditation in line with ISO/IEC 17020:2012 standard which will be subsequently transposed in an Action Plan for accreditation of CLM to ISO/IEC 17020:2012 standard;
6. Provide support, in close cooperation with the National UNDP Consultant, to development of applicable documentation required by ISO/IEC 17020:2012, such as, but not limited to:
   • Procedures on forensic medical examinations of living persons and corpses, as well as operation and calibration of identified equipment used in the inspection (for the scope of the assignment up to 6 procedures on forensic medical examinations of living persons and corpses are expected to be developed),
   • System Management Procedures in line with ISO/IEC 17020:2012 requirements (mandatory procedures required by the standard);
   • Other documentation identified as necessary in the context of accreditation to ISO/IEC 17020:2012 standard (for the scope of the assignment up to 7 documentation items are expected to be developed);
   • ISO 17020 System Management Manual.
7. Conduct a training needs assessment, develop a plan for capacity building activities with a focus on international accreditation of inspection bodies.

Two physical missions (if travel arrangements will be feasible/allowed) may be considered only when it is confirmed to be safe for staff, Consultant, stakeholders and if such missions are possible within the assignment’s schedule. The exact duration and period of the missions shall be coordinated with UNDP. For purpose of estimation of services’ costs, the expected duration of the mission, could be up to five working days, depending on the scope.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Competencies

• Excellent understanding of the forensic expertise and procedures area demonstrated by previous professional experience;
• Excellent understanding of correlation of forensic medical examinations with ISO/IEC 17020:2012 requirements;
• Excellent analytical and report-writing skills demonstrated by previous assignments;
• Demonstrated interpersonal and diplomatic skills, as well as the ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels and to present ideas clearly and effectively;
• Previous work with UNDP and/or other development partners will be an asset;
• Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations, in particular, respecting differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status.

UNDP Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees are particularly encouraged to apply.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Master’s degree (or 5 years university degree) in Medicine, Chemistry, Engineering, Science, or related fields of equivalent scope;

Work experience:

• At least 5 years of professional experience in implementation of management systems;
• At least 3 years of professional experience in working with the national forensic medicine institutions;
• Proven experience (at least 2 assignments of similar complexity) in supporting inspection bodies to obtain ISO/IEC 17020:2012 accreditation, including drafting relevant documents required for accreditation and post-accreditation assistance;
• Previous experience in working with/or within inspection bodies is an asset;
• Proven training/coaching experience (at least 2 assignments of similar complexity) in implementation of quality systems according to ISO/IEC17020 is an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in English. Knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian is an asset.

Application instructions:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Offeror’s Letter confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor assignment with financial proposal (LUMP SUM) (in USD, specifying a total requested amount per working day, including all related costs, including daily fee, travel expenses and per diems - quoted in separate line items). The travel costs to Moldova shall be indicated separately and will be covered only if the travel will be allowed in the COVID-19 context. Financial proposal template included in Annex 2;
• Duly updated CV with at least 3 references;
• Proposal, explaining why he/she is most suitable for the assignment, including past experience in similar assignments, providing a brief information on above qualifications, and brief methodology on how he/she will approach and conduct the work.

Note:

For complete information about this vacancy including detailed tasks and responsibilities, full and detailed description of the evaluation procedure which will be applied please refer to the Terms of Reference, the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice as well as the UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract, published at the UNDP Moldova website, Jobs Section:

https://sc.undp.md/jobdetails/2405/