National Consultant - Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Expert

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Application deadline 1 year ago: Wednesday 1 Feb 2023 at 23:59 UTC

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Contract

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

Background

For the last four decades, Saudi Arabia has realized and sustained remarkable progress along the socioeconomic development path. As a result of this, the Kingdom has been able to move to a high-income country.

The Saudi Vision 2030 represents an ambitious resolve with long-term goals and expectations founded on the strengths and capabilities of the Kingdom. It covers the three themes of a vibrant society, a thriving economy, and an ambitious nation. A thorough review of the three themes and their underlying issues of national concern would reveal a holistic approach to development that encompasses the three dimensions of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): the social, the economic and the environmental.

The Umbrella Program for Socio-Economic Development is a partnership between the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) and UNDP that aims to mainstream social and economic development in the national policies, sectoral and regional plans.

It focuses on mobilizing technical assistance and capacity development to MEP to facilitate economic and social transformation, including economic diversification, inclusive and accelerated economic growth. Specifically, the program framework covers the following main areas:

  • SDGs monitoring and reporting.
  • Policymaking, policy analysis and regional development planning.
  • Producing the National Human Development Report

Within this context, the project seeks to recruit a consultant for SDGs Data to support the role of the Working Group responsible for data in the overall context of implementing the National Sustainability Roadmap.

Duties and Responsibilities

Technical support:

  • Conduct an SDGs Data Gap Analysis with government counterparts to categorize indicators developed codes. Therefore, write Saudi Arabia’s SDGs Data Gaps Report.
  • Draft a proposal for a National/Data Strategy to tackle data gaps in SDGs reporting
  • Work with SDGs department in other government (GASTAT – SDAIA – ADAA as stakeholders) and for Data and Monitoring covers two main sets of indicators:
  • SDG global framework
  • SDR
  • Define a methodology for data collection and define roles and responsibilities
  • Develop/ update metadata and sub-indicators for the SDGs (3 SDG Tiers) and the national indicators with manual for data production and roles and responsibilities /
  • Update the national indicators/ the SDGs indicators (continuously)
  • Develop/ implement a statistic capacity development action plan for the statistical system (entities outside GASTAT such as line ministries) in line with international standards. This can be done through creating national workshops
  • Provide support to the preparation of KSA SDG Annual Progress Reports
  • Develop simulation tools around performance as relates to reporting on SDGs and SDR indicators
  • Support in providing proposals for updating owners of data (from national entities)

Capacity Development

  • Internal working sessions for MEP linking the SDGs targets and indicators to the KSA National Development Plan highlighting data requirements and analysis.
  • Conduct on the job training for MEP staff, focusing on topics related to measuring and monitoring of SDGs data producers.
  • Conduct working sessions and on the job trainings with the relevant stakeholders which would include a presentation of a review of data gaps and discrepancies and highlighting possible solutions including components to be integrated in the KSA report on SDGs and indicators
  • Conduct National Workshops for which would include a presentation on guidelines to support data producers and data gaps analysis to ensure prompt report finalization.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Deliverables/ Outputs

Estimated Duration to Complete

Review and Approvals Required

Deliverable 1: upon submission of the Inception Report, including the following

tasks

• Conduct kick-off meeting with the ministry and the key stakeholders.

• Scan available documents and related data.

• Meet key stakeholders and solicit feedback on the current status.

2 months after the signature of the contract

Chief Technical Advisor and UNDP Programme Analyst

Deliverable 2: upon submission of the Interim Mission Report, Provide Technical Support to the ministry.

4 months after the signature of the contract

Chief Technical Advisor and UNDP Programme Analyst

Deliverable 3: upon submission of the Final Mission Report, including:

• Discuss and propose a profile of strategic opportunities in expanding services and accessing new partnerships for SDGs data

• Submission of final mission report.

6 months after the signature of the contract

Chief Technical Advisor and UNDP Programme Analysta

Institutional Arrangement

  • The expert will be reporting to MEP and UNDP. A detailed work plan for the expert’s duties and responsibilities will be formulated by MEP (in consultation with GaStat). She/he will be supervised by Assistant Sustainable Development Department and work in collaboration with the Chief Technical Advisor (CTA), other consultants and the relevant MEP technical staff as needed.
  • Reporting and follow-up Mechanism: The Expert will report on a monthly basis to his/her supervisor and to the Chief Technical Advisor. The Specialist will submit monthly reports to his/her supervisor, including activities, outputs, performance indicators, challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations.

Duration of the Work

  • The expected duration of work is 6 Months, with the possibility of an extension.
  • The anticipated starting date of the assignment is 20th of January 2023. And the expected date of full completion of all tasks under this assignment is 25th of July of 2023.

Duty Station

  • The assignment will be in-country (Riyadh, Saudi Arabia). He/ She will be embedded within the Ministry of Economy and Planning.
  • If unforeseen travel outside the consultant’s home-based city is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the consultant shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).

  • Note: A written approval from UNDP and relevant authorities will be required to facilitate the consultant's travel to any locations than stated on this TOR on official missions where necessary.

Working Arrangements:

  • All mission travels must be approved in advance and in writing by the Supervisor.
  • United Nations Development of Safe and Security – BSAFE course must be successfully completed prior to the commencement of travel.
  • The Consultant is responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director.
  • The consultant is also required to comply with the UN security directives.
  • The consultant is responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP.
  • The consultant will be responsible for submitting his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies.
  • The consultant is responsible for required health and life insurance related to work or travel.
  • The consultant is expected to have his/her own Laptop/Computer.

Competencies

Required skills and competencies:

  • Ability to provide statistical technical advice on different sectors/themes.
  • Ability to work on own initiative as well as a member of a team and to work under pressure.
  • Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to establish strong cooperative relationships with senior government officials.
  • Good understanding and practice of capacity development.

Desired skills and competencies:

  • Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards.
  • Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results.
  • Display cultural, gender, religion and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Min. Academic Education

  • Master's degree or equivalent in statistics, Economics, Political Science, Gender Studies or related social sciences or relevant discipline

Min. years of relevant Work experience

  • A minimum of 7 years of responsible experience in the area of SDG, gender mainstreaming and social inclusion in UN programmers and projects is required.
  • Experience in the application of social and environmental standards.
  • Demonstrated proficiency in using office equipment with computer literacy in Microsoft Office, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations, and experience in financial management systems.

Required skills and competencies

  • Proven experience with national government counterparts, United Nations, International Organizations, ESCWA or multinational entities.
  • Proven experience in record-keeping and management of information
  • Experiences in programming and project management and SDGs.

Required Language(s) (at working level)

Excellent command of English and Arabic.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

All proposals must be expressed in a lump sum amount. This amount must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal.

Payments shall be made to the individual contractor upon successful completion and certification by UNDP that services have been satisfactorily performed, based upon the actual number of working days and accomplishments of each deliverable.

Payment shall be made as a deliverables-based lump upon the receipt of the deliverables and certification of satisfactory performance by UNDP.

The Expert will share a Certificate of Payment (CoP) where he/he needs to indicate achieved outputs. Then the certificate of payment must be verified by the UNDP Team and certified by UNDP top management. The Expert is advised to keep a detailed timesheet of the days worked and tasks performed throughout the consultancy assignment. A bi-weekly update of the timesheet will be requested, and such documentation will support the payment process as deemed needful.

Payment

Phases

Estimated Duration to Complete

Payment Percentage

1st payment

Deliverable 1: upon submission of the Inception Report, including the following

tasks

• Conduct kick-off meeting with the ministry and the key stakeholders.

• Scan available documents and related data.

• Meet key stakeholders and solicit feedback on the current status.

.

2 months after the signature of the contract

30%

2nd payment

Deliverable 2: upon submission of the Interim Mission Report, Provide Technical Support to the ministry.

4 months after the signature of the contract

30%

3rd payment

Deliverable 3: upon submission of the Final Mission Report, including:

• Discuss and propose a profile of strategic opportunities in expanding services and accessing new partnerships for SDGs data

• Submission of final mission report.

6 months after the signature of the contract

40%

Recommended Presentation of Offer

For purposes of generating Offers whose contents are uniformly presented and to facilitate their comparative analysis, it is best to recommend the preferred contents and presentation of the Offer to be submitted, as well as the format/sequencing of their presentation. The following documents may be requested:

  1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
  2. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
  3. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per the template provided. The terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the Proposal. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under the Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial Proposal submitted to UNDP.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Applicants are shortlisted based on the Required Skills and Experience stated in the TOR.

The selection of the best offer from the shortlisted candidates will be based on a Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70% and combined with the price offer, which will be weighted a max of 30%.

Applicants are shortlisted based on the Required Skills and Experience stated in the TOR.

The selection of the best offer from the shortlisted candidates will be based on a Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70% and combined with the price offer, which will be weighted a max of 30%.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Step I: Screening and desk review:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Technical Criteria (CV review and Desk Review/Interview optional) – maximum 70 points. Only candidates who obtained at least 70% of points from the CV desk review (who will score at least 49 points) will be considered for the next evaluation stage, i.e., financial evaluation.

Applications will be first screened, and only candidates meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

Technical Evaluation (70 Points, 70% weight)

Requirements

Criteria

Max 10 points

Education

  • Master's degree or equivalent in statistics, Economics, Political Science, Gender Studies or related social sciences or relevant discipline

15

Relevant professional experience

  • A minimum of 7 years of responsible experience in the area of SDG, gender mainstreaming and social inclusion in UN programmers and projects is required

25

Work experience in similar contexts

  • Experience in the application of social and environmental standards.
  • Proven experience with national government counterparts, United Nations, International Organizations, ESCWA or multinational entities.
  • Experiences in programming and project management and SDGs

30

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Weight Per Technical Competence

5 (outstanding): 96% - 100%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated an OUTSTANDING capacity for the analyzed competence.

4 (Very good): 86% - 95%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated a VERY GOOD capacity for the analyzed competence.

3 (Good): 76% - 85%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated a GOOD capacity for the analyzed competence.

2 (Satisfactory): 70% - 75%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated a SATISFACTORY capacity for the analyzed competence.

1 (Weak): Below 70%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated a WEAK capacity for the analyzed competence.

Step II: Financial Assessment:

Financial Proposal – Maximum 30 points

  • Duly accomplished Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II)

PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

The contractor shall submit a price proposal as below:

The total professional fee shall be converted into a lump-sum contract and payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance of deliverables under the contract in accordance with the schedule of payment linked with deliverables. The financial Proposal should include all relevant costs (consultancy fees, all envisaged travel costs, living allowances, etc.).

UNDP applies the “Best value for money approach” – the final selection will be based on the combination of the applicants’ qualification and financial proposal.

Financial proposal – Maximum 30 points

  • Duly accomplished Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II)

PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

The contractor shall submit a price proposal as below:

The total professional fee shall be converted into a lump-sum contract and payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance of deliverables under the contract in accordance with the schedule of payment linked with deliverables. Financial proposal should include all relevant cost (consultancy fees, all envisaged travel costs, living allowances, etc.).

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Weight Per Technical Competence

5 (outstanding): 96% - 100%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated an OUTSTANDING capacity for the analyzed competence.

4 (Very good): 86% - 95%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated a VERY GOOD capacity for the analyzed competence.

3 (Good): 76% - 85%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated a GOOD capacity for the analyzed competence.

2 (Satisfactory): 70% - 75%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated a SATISFACTORY capacity for the analyzed competence.

1 (Weak): Below 70%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated a WEAK capacity for the analyzed competence.

Step II: Financial Assessment:

Financial Proposal – Maximum 30 points

  • Duly accomplished Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II)

PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

The contractor shall submit a price proposal as below:

The total professional fee shall be converted into a lump-sum contract and payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance of deliverables under the contract in accordance with the schedule of payment linked with deliverables. The financial Proposal should include all relevant costs (consultancy fees, all envisaged travel costs, living allowances, etc.).

UNDP applies the “Best value for money approach” – the final selection will be based on the combination of the applicants’ qualification and financial proposal.

Financial proposal – Maximum 30 points

  • Duly accomplished Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II)

PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

The contractor shall submit a price proposal as below:

The total professional fee shall be converted into a lump-sum contract and payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance of deliverables under the contract in accordance with the schedule of payment linked with deliverables. Financial proposal should include all relevant cost (consultancy fees, all envisaged travel costs, living allowances, etc.).

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate the financial proposal:

p = y (µ/z), where

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal

µ = price of the lowest-priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Instructions for on-line submissions

Step 1: Please prepare all required documents electronically.

Step 2: Combine all documents in ONE SINGLE FILE (preferably in PDF however, Word format can also be accepted) and upload to the UNDP Jobs links

Step 3: After that, you will receive an auto-reply from the UNDP jobs if your offer is received successfully.

Interested applicants are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described.

Given the volume of applications that UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.

UNDP reserves the right to reject any incomplete applications.

Please be informed that we don’t accept applications submitted via email.

Interested Offerors are required to submit an application via UNDP Jobsite system as the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP Jobsite system. Please note that UNDP Jobsite system allows only one uploading of application documents, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your online application submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an email acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application if necessary. Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows you to upload a maximum of one document.

Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email mohammed.abbas@undp.org with a copy to huda.alsaud@undp.org the Procurement Unit would endeavor to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 3 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. The UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain updates related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice

UNDP 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.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Interested applicants are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described.

The interested offeror must read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=97465 for more detailed information about terms of references, instructions for the offeror, and to download the documents to be submitted in the offer online.

UNDP 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.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Annexes to the TOR

N/A

Approval

This TOR is approved by:

Signature

Name and Designation

Date of Signing

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