National Consultant to develop an invitation to bid (ITB) for refurbishment of government buildings and selling centres

Consultant

Contract

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Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women’s rights at the center of all its efforts, UN Women leads and coordinates the United Nations system’s efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It provides strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States’ priorities and efforts towards building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

The 30-year armed ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka brought about a significant transformation in women’s roles in society. With the large loss or disappearance of spouses, over 1.2 million women became heads of households. These female heads of households must now sustain a livelihood for their families and take on roles not traditionally held by women in their communities. Carrying out a new role as the ‘head-of-household’ in a post-conflict climate has resulted in multiple intersectional vulnerabilities and exploitation of women. Poverty, gender-based discrimination, limited support structures, insecurity, vulnerable forms of employment, indebtedness, limited access to basic services, goods and resources, and the extent of trauma undergone by widows converge to increase the likelihood of exploitation and re-victimization, particularly through sexual exploitation and sexual bribery.

Financial instability is foremost amongst the vulnerabilities identified, together with concerns over physical health, children’s education and personal (in)security. As traditional labour participation methods are not applicable to this specific beneficiary group, many opt for home-based self-employment and microenterprises. Even in cases where female heads of households have undergone skills training, their limited access to resources continue to hinder and constrain any available opportunities. According to recent research, a number of women have expressed a strong desire to access some credit in order to start their own businesses.

In addition to being a basic right, women’s economic empowerment under gender equality has long been recognized as “smart economics” as its impact permeates throughout individual, community and national levels. At the individual level, women’s entrepreneurship provides not only employment opportunities based on women’s own ideas, innovation and resources, but also economic empowerment, which is an essential building block for women’s dignity and self-worth as well as social recognition. The effect of women’s economic empowerment expands to the community level, as multiple studies have proved that women are more likely than men to invest a higher proportion of their household income in the education and health of their children. Moreover, through the empowerment of women, they gain a stake in negotiating and sustaining peace.

It was shown that in emerging markets, women reinvest 90 per cent of their earnings in their families and communities. Their accumulated assets and enhanced economic security prove that women can contribute to breaking inter-generational poverty and foster economic growth of Sri Lanka by creating new jobs and expanding the pool of available human resources and talents.

Likewise, women’s entrepreneurship will not only facilitate social cohesion and reconciliation but become increasingly significant in Sri Lanka’s development trajectory to reach an upper-middle income status.

With generous support of the Government of Japan, the UN Women project on Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Sri Lanka aims to focus on empowering vulnerable groups of women from different ethnic and faith groups, including Female Heads of Households (hereinto referred to as FHHs). The project will empower target groups of women on entrepreneurial skills to support sustainable income generation, to relieve dependency and indebtedness, and enable resilience against re-victimisation by enabling them to establish sustainable, long term self-employment. It will further encourage women to play a key role on social cohesion and peacebuilding, as evidence across the region establishes that women’s individual and collective roles in promoting peacebuilding extend beyond their family roles to civil society and religious settings where they can shape the decisions of community members to refrain from violent activities. In particular, it aims to address the specific limitations faced by vulnerable groups of women, including FHHs in accessing the necessary knowledge and information regarding markets and value addition of products, as well as access to financial resources.

The project aims at refurbishing the key government buildings occupied by the development officers, counselling officers that provide support for women in three districts; Ampara, Vavuniya and Monaragala. This is to ensure that government premises are better equipped to serve women who require services, information and support from the relevant government officers such as women development officers (WDOs), counselors etc. for social, economic empowerment. The project expects to refurbish the government-owned selling centres that provide access to women entrepreneurs and businesses to ensure they are better facilitated to run their own businesses in the selling centres. As part of empowering women entrepreneurs, the project looks at provision of mobile selling centres for selected beneficiaries to ensure they have access to markets, equipped with navigable selling centres to tap into varying market demands and selling spaces.

Meanwhile, COVID-19 has called for more attention on addressing some of the Sexual and Gender Based Violence issues encountered by women and particularly women migrant workers. The nation-wide curfew and the lockdown that was administered as a precautionary measure to curtail the spread of the coronavirus gave rise to a number of SGBV complaints/cases, which in return called for increased capacities at safe houses supported by the Government, especially ithe districts of Rathnapura, Batticaloa, Mullaitivu and Jaffna. The situation was further aggravated with the repatriation of migrant domestic workers from the Middle East. Recently, the MWCA was requested to provide safe house facilities to 80 single, pregnant women repatriated from the Middle East. This assignment includes assessing the needs for increasing the existing safe house capacity to ensure women’s safety and security in four districts; Rathnapura, Batticaloa, Mullaitivu and Jaffna.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision and guidance of the UN Women Programme Analyst, Sri Lanka, the consultant will undertake the following tasks. The consultant will remain accountable for the timely submission of the deliverables as per the timeline given below.

1. Developing a tentative budget for refurbishment of government buildings, selling centres, mobile selling centres in three districts and expansion of safe house capacity in safe houses in four districts

• Develop a tentative budget for the refurbishment requirements, expenses for procuring mobile selling centres and expansion of safe house capacity
• Submit the tentative budget for feedback with UN Women for approval and identification of most urgent needs

2***.* **Develop an ITB with refurbishment specifications

Develop an ITB with refurbishment specifications of government buildings, selling centres, mobile selling centres and expansion of safe house capacity in safe houses in four districts

• The consultant is expected to develop the ITB (Based on UN Women Template and regulations) taking the necessary specifications of refurbishment requirements of the three districts.
• Accommodate the varying requests from the three districts only limited to refurbishment of buildings
• Ensure the buildings are government-owned
• Liaise with the engineers based at the District Secretariats
• Include expansion of safe house (owned by State Ministry of Women and Child Development, Preschools & Primary Education, School Infrastructure & Education Services) capacity in four districts

Field Visits

• The consultant is expected to conduct field visits to Ampara, Vavuniya and Monaragala, Rathnapura, Batticaloa, Mullathivu and Jaffna to understand the nature, specifications of the requests
• Liaise with Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, WDOs, District and Divisional Secretariats for the field visits (UN Women will introduce the consultant to relevant officers)
• Choose the most urgent needs consulting the government officers and UN Women

Finalized ITB

• Share the draft version of the ITB with UN Women team – project and procurement teams for feedback
• Finalize the ITB to be advertised

3. Selection of bidders from shortlisted companies

Selection of bidders

• Consult with the relevant divisional and district secretariats and the State Ministry of Women and Child Development, Preschools & Primary Education, School Infrastructure & Education Services for bidders that are capable of carrying out the tasks to make recommendations on potential bidders
• To act as a member of the Evaluation Committee to select bids that are compatible with the requirements, assess their financial reports and feasibility

4. Identify a reasonable mobile selling centre modality for women entrepreneurs

Identify and recommend a mobile selling centre modality that is compatible with requirements of the women entrepreneurs giving priority to safety, navigability etc.

• Identify a navigable mobile selling centre modality for women entrepreneurs with the consultation of the relevant government authorities
• Develop the ITB and share the finalized draft with UN Women
• Identify recommended bidders and inform UN Women
• To act as a member of the Evaluation Committee to select bids that are compatible with the requirements, assess their financial reports and feasibility

Expected Deliverables

No.

Tasks and Deliverables

Target Submission Date

1

Develop a budget for the refurbishment requirements, procurement of mobile selling centres and expansion of safe house capacity

Deliverables:

Share a tentative budget with UN Women required for the given tasks

2 October 2020

2.

1. Develop the ITB for refurbishment of government buildings, selling centres and expansion of safe houses
2. Share the list of contacts of potential suppliers recommended by the District Secretariat or the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs

Deliverables:

Submission of the finalized ITB for refurbishment of government building and selling centres and the expansion os safe houses

7 October 2020

3.

1. Develop the ITB to procure mobile selling centres
2. Share the list of contacts of potential suppliers recommended by the State Ministry of Women and Child Development, Pre?schools & Primary Education, School Infrastructure & Education Services or the DS

Deliverables:

Submission of the finalized ITB for mobile selling centres

7 October 2020

4.

Provide assistance to UN Women in evaluating the vendors under both ITBs

Deliverables:

Finalize the procurement process and evaluation report of both ITB

30 November 2020

Payments will be made upon installment basis upon the submission of each deliverable subjected to approval of the UN Women Programme Analyst, Sri Lanka

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Required Skills and Experience

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Structural and Construction Engineering with 5 years of experience or a Bachelor’s degree in Structural and Construction Engineering with 10 years of experience and technical expertise in remodeling buildings
• Demonstrable ability to refurbish existing buildings, liaise with the government offices, coordinate field visits, develop bids and work with vendors
• Similar experience working with government sector, remodeling and refurbishing existing buildings
• Experience in developing budgets, monitoring the progress of the construction work, carrying out procurement tasks
• Prior experience in liaising with government officers, district and divisional secretariats
• Excellent grasp in developing bids, identifying technically and financially sound vendors
• Adaptability to UN procurement guidelines
• Ability to monitor the work of vendors, deliver on best value for money
• Proficiecy in English and official language of Sri Lanka.

Evaluation

Applications will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis.

• Technical Qualification (100 points) weight; [70%]
• Financial Proposal (100 points) weight; [30%]
• Total number of points: 200 points

A two-stage procedure is utilised in evaluating the applications, with evaluation of the technical application being completed prior to any price proposal being compared. Only the price proposal of the candidates who passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the technical qualification evaluation will be evaluated.

Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

The total number of points allocated for the technical qualification component is 100. The technical qualification of the individual is evaluated based on following technical qualification evaluation criteria:

No.****Evaluation Criteria****Points obtainable1Education 302Experience 70 [70%] of 100 pts = 70 pts needed to pass technical 100Only the candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technically-qualified candidates who may be contacted for validation interview.

Financial/Price Proposal evaluation:

• Only the financial proposal of candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation will be considered and evaluated.
• The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100.
• The consultant to incorporate the transport and accommodation cost to the financial proposal.
• The maximum number of points will be allotted to the lowest price proposal that is opened/ evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical evaluation. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price.

Submission of application

Interest candidates are encouraged to submit electronic application to hr.bangkok@unwomen.org, not later than 17 September 17.00 hrs, Bangkok Time.

Submission package includes:

• Updated CV
• 3 reference checks
• Personal History Form (P11). The P11 form can be downloaded from ttps://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-p11-personal-history-form.doc?la=en&vs=558.
• Financial proposal as template below:

No

Deliverables

Amount (LKR)

1

Share a tentative budget with UN Women required to complete the refurbishment tasks of the government buildings and selling centres and the cost of the mobile selling centres

2

Submission of the finalized ITB for the refurbishment requirements of the government buildings and mobile selling centres

3

Submission of the finalized ITB for mobile selling centres

4

Finalize the procurement process and evaluation report of both ITB

5

Travel and field visit related expenses

Total Financial Proposal

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Added 3 years ago - Updated 3 years ago - Source: jobs.undp.org