National Consultant on Civil Service Reform in the National Assembly of the RA

Contract

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

Background

The “Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia” Project (MAP Project) is designed to strengthen the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia (RA NA) in its new and fundamentally enhanced role within the governance system in carrying out its key functions - legislation, oversight, and representation. With a long-term goal of enhancing the overall effectiveness of the RA NA as a policy-making institution, the Project is designed to support the RA NA in taking advantage of modern governance tools and mechanisms with a focus on improved operational quality, transparency, and inclusiveness of parliament and enhanced parliamentary capacity for gender-responsive policymaking.

The Project has a three-stage approach in addressing the enhancement of capacity, transparency, and responsiveness: (i) a catalytic stage of a needs assessment, strategic agenda-setting, and piloting of designed approaches; (ii) full-fledged implementation of the strategic agenda, tested approaches and activities; and (iii) evaluation of the implementation, policy recommendations, and Project closure.

UNDP MAP Project is supporting the RA NA to enhance its role and functions in law-making, policymaking, and oversight, in particular: enhancing capacity in law-making, policymaking, and oversight; increasing the transparency and inclusiveness of the legislature; and responding to the needs of constituents and strengthening interaction with them.

Within its scope of activities, the UNDP MAP Project is collaborating with the Standing Committees (SC) and the Staff of the National Assembly and supports those with analytical and research capacities, enhances their capacities through various interventions based on an approved needs analysis, which provide for improved and informed policy making with independent research expertise. Facilitation of activities identified by the SCs and the Staff through technical expertise, workshops, CSO involvement are within the context of the approved MAP Project Action Plan.

The acting legislation that defines the status of the public servants in the RA NA is ambiguous and lacking flexibility and effectiveness of human resource management.[1]. UNDP mobilizes a qualified consultancy support for reviewing the regulatory framework on the status of public servants in the RA NA (currently regulated under civil service legislation), and providing recommendations to consolidate and enhance the service in the RA NA.

UNDP seeks for a National Consultant on Civil Service Reform in the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia (hereinafter referred to as a Consultant). The Consultant will conduct a thorough review of the international practices and the national regulatory framework in this area targeting the service in the Staff of the RA NA including the Budget Office, and will provide analysis of gaps and recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the RA NA, as a policy-making institution and contributing particularly to enhancing capacity in law-making, policymaking and oversight, through civil service reform in the RA NA.

[1] According to the Functional Analysis of the RA NA Administration implemented by the MAP Project in 2021, a concomitant aspect of parliamentary autonomy is the independence of recruitment and staffing. This is partly because, as set out in Section 1.1 of Parliament’s Purpose and Function (above), the competencies required for parliamentary support differ from those required in executive government and elsewhere. It is also important to have a sense of being responsible for its own employees, and not subject to control by the Executive.[1] The acting laws on public service and civil service have had a certain level of advancement in terms of open competition for staff selection and appointment. Nonetheless, constraints remain, for example, limitations in the civil service rules for training, and the civil service competency framework – instituted through the Deputy Prime Minister’s decision N 3-N– reflects the competencies required in the executive civil service, rather than being bespoke for the needs of the RA NA.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant shall:

• Overview of the relevant international experience and best practice in comparable context referring to the status of state servants in parliaments and relevant regulations thereof, and consolidating the overview into a report on regulatory frameworks of parliamentary service in successful parliamentary democracies
• Review of acting regulatory framework on state service in the RA NA and prepare a report identifying gaps, contradictions, and overlaps, as well as recommendations to address those.
• Consult, present and validate the recommendations with the key stakeholders in the RA NA and the MAP Project;Prepare a package of draft ameliorations and amendments in the RA Law on Public Service, the RA Law on Civil Service and the RA Law on State Service in the National Assembly and RA Law on Compensation of Persons Holding the State Positions and Positions of Public Service, RA Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly and other relevant acts regulating the status of state servants in the Staff of the RA NA.
• Discuss and validate the recommendations with the key stakeholders in the RA NA and the UNDP MAP Project.

Expected Outputs and Deliverable

Deliverables/Outputs

Target Due Dates

1. Inception report/detailed workplan is developed

Two weeks after awarding the contract

2. Report on regulatory frameworks of parliamentary service in successful parliamentary democracies is developed

Three weeks after the acceptance of the Inception report

3. Report on acting regulatory framework on state service in the NA with gaps, contradictions and overlaps is developed, and recommendations are prepared and validated by key stakeholders in the NA

Eight weeks after the acceptance of the Inception report

4. Package of draft ameliorations and amendments in relevant regulatory acts is prepared and validated by key stakeholders in the NA

Two weeks after the acceptance of the Deliverable 3

5. Final implementation report on acting regulatory framework on state service in the NA is submitted

14 weeks after awarding the contract

Payment Terms and Deliverables:

The payment will be made upon successful completion of the tasks, submission and duly acceptance of the deliverables by the UNDP country office and MAP Project team. Payment will be made in lump sum based on submitted and approved deliverables by the UNDP MAP Project Team:

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner in the following instalments:

• Deliverable 1,2: 30 % of the contact amount
• Deliverable 3: 40 % of the contract amount
• Deliverable 4,5: 30 % of the contract amount

All the deliverables shall be cleared and approved by the UNDP according to the following criteria:

• Quality of the documents delivered
• Technical competence
• Validation by the key stakeholders
• Timeliness of the delivery

Languages for Deliverables:

Deliverables will be prepared in Armenian language. The brief final implementation report on the activities and results is required to be submitted in English.

Institutional Arrangement

• The Standing Committee of State and Legal Affairs of the National Assembly of RA and the Staff of the National Assembly of RA will directly supervise the Contractor and the latter will be reporting and seeking approval/acceptance of outputs of the assignment from them.
• The Contractor will liaise with the UNDP MAP team and the Head of the Standing Committee of State and Legal Affairs of the RA NA, as well as with the Head of Staff of the RA NA while performing the work.
• The UNDP MAP Project will provide support services for organization of meetings and any other logistical support if needed for arrangement of discussions and debriefings within the assignment.

Competencies

• Knowledge and expertise in public administration, civil service.
• Solid knowledge of RA legislation related to Civil Servants.
• Knowledge of how to contribute to building national capacities.
• Strong interpersonal skills, ability to establish and maintain effective work relationships with people of different social and cultural backgrounds.
• Strong analytical judgment and a demonstrated ability to handle confidential and sensitive issues responsibly and maturely.
• Demonstrates strong intellectual and operational capacity in providing advisory services to the relevant Standing Committee related to the topic.
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
• Excellent knowledge of the field of civil service, public service in the RA and public administration reform agenda
• Excellent knowledge of the types of services in the parliaments and differentiation of state services.
• Excellent team working skills; aptitude in consulting and involving others, as well as building trust, among others.
• Demonstrated ability to multitask under pressure and to meet strict deadlines often under challenging conditions.
• Ability to deliver and reach the planned targets without undermining proper operational processes.
• Creativity, flexibility, and an innovative approach to problem-solving
• Excellent skills in the use of computers and office software packages, good knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) preferably in Public Administration, Political Sciences, Law, or other related field or a combination of professional training and certification and experience in relevant areas. A first-level university degree, in conjunction with qualifying experience, is accepted in place of an advanced University Degree.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of work experience in the civil service regulating body
• At least 5 years of work experience with engagement into civil service legislative drafting
• Experience in working with parliaments, and specifically with the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia, is an asset·
• Experience in providing practical advice to policymakers

Languages:

• Written and oral fluency in English and Armenian.

CANDIDATES WILL BE EVALUATED BASED ON THE FOLLOWING METHODOLOGY:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' technical qualifications, experience and financial proposal.The contract will be awarded to the candidate whose offer has been evaluated and determined as technically responsive/compliant/acceptable to the requirements of the ToR and received the highest cumulative (technical and financial) score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation - max. 70 points

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation - max. 30 points.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION.

• Financial Proposal and Availability form: OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP (A total lump sum option is applicable for this assignment)
• CV shall include Education/Qualification, Processional Certification, Employment Records /Experience

General Conditions of Contract is available here: GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

Note: Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents that should be included in the application in one single PDF file and upload it).