Short Term Consultancy to Conduct a Cost Benefit Analysis of Remote Monitoring Solution for Medical Equipment Management Tool to inform decisions on viability of national scale-up

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TERMS OF REFERENCE

Background and Justification

To address bottlenecks related to the availability and functionality of maternal, newborn and child health and support the improved management and availability of medical equipment within public health facilities in Kenya, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and UNICEF Kenya (KCO) have been implementing a project entitled the Remote Monitoring and Management of Medical Equipment (RMX3) Project for improved availability and functionality of medical equipment in Health Facilities in Kenya with financial and technical support of Philips Foundation. Phase 1 of the project has been implemented within 100 selected public health facilities in Kakamega and Kisumu Counties from January 2019 to June 2022, while phase II shall start in July 2022 to January 2024. The RMX3 project’s goal is to improve medical equipment's availability and functionality through enhanced placement, management, and maintenance within the selected public health facilities. As part of the RMX3 project the Philips MEL-Remote Monitoring software solution was developed and rolled out, that makes it possible for the health managers at all levels to monitor their health facilities’ medical equipment status and maintenance needs in a near real-time mode.

Scope of Short-Term Consultancy Work The Remote Monitoring and Management of Medical Equipment (RMX3) Project has been implemented for nearly three years, and the government needs to consolidate all the information through a cost benefit analysis to assess the viability of investing in the national roll out of this system by evaluating the effectiveness and costs for national scale-up. A Cost Benefit Analysis Technical Working Group has been convened comprising the Ministry of Health, UNICEF, and Philips Foundation to complete this assessment. The consultant will support the working group to assess the total costs of the pilot (both direct and indirect, including set up costs); evaluate the effectiveness of the pilot, to identify key reasons for success & risks; and examine the feasibility of scaling up the pilot (including determining associated scale up costs), with a focus on affordability, capacity to roll out, stakeholder buy-in and National Budget The TWG has articulated the specific questions that need to be addressed to inform the final decision-makers deliberation’s, as follows: • Assess the effectiveness of the Remote Monitoring (RM) Solution in improving the availability and functionality of medical equipment and articulate the success factors and risks of implementing the system • Assess the costs of implementing the RM solution for medical equipment management and develop a profile of scale up costs • Determine the financial viability or impact of scaling up the RM solution for medical equipment management across the country • Determine an affordable cost for the Government of Kenya to consider adaptation and scale up of the RM solution

Timeline and Deliverables Overall Deliverable: Develop a cost benefit analysis and determine the cost of scaling up the Remote Monitoring Solution across all public health facilities in Kenya (All facilities providing maternal care services).

Specific tasks and Deliverables:

Activity Method

Deliverable Work

Work Method

Duration (days)

% of Total Payment

Refine the draft methodology developed by a former Economics Consultant to address the articulated questions, and to fit the country context in terms of system improvement objectives and monitoring framework to support data collection

Report on refined/ finalized methodology

Preliminary meeting to discuss context and methodological concerns Refine methodology and tool and have consensus meeting to guide data collection (remote) Primary data collection anticipated to take 3 weeks and will be done by government leads. Weekly meetings with consultant to review data collection required. Consultant will conduct secondary data collection (remote)

10 days

10%

Analyze the data and present the findings through a presentation and report to both the CBA Technical Working Group (TWG) and the Project steering committee

Report and PowerPoint presentation on analyzed data

In person presentation of data analysis, and revisions based on comments from working team, and from the validation session with the CBA TWG (in person) and Project Steering committee (Virtually)

10 days

25%

To complete the deliverables, the consultant will:

✓ Conduct a Cost Benefit Analysis to evaluate the value of the RMS for medical equipment management system to the overall health system

✓ Conduct a Budget Impact Analysis to predict and understand the potential financial impact of introducing the system at the proposed cost

✓ Determine the financial viability of scaling up the medical equipment asset management tool in consultation with the planning and budgeting department facilitated by the MOH Economists

✓ Conduct a Cost Comparison of Similar Solutions across the country to determine an affordable cost for the Government of Kenya to consider adaptation and scale up of the solution.

Report and PowerPoint presentation on cost effective analysis, budget impact analysis, financial viability for scaling, and cost[1]comparison for similar solutions

Report drafting, revisions and validation may be completed remotely.

20 days

35%

Final Report

Remote

10 days

30%

Total

100%

Work relationships 1. The individual consultant will work under the overall guidance of the UNICEF Health Specialist (Innovations) based at the Kisumu Zonal Office with specialized technical oversight/support from the UNICEF Regional Office Heath Economist(Health). 2. The consultancy will be for a period of 50 days 3. The consultancy will employ a hybrid approach comprising remote and field-level work (further outlined in bullet 4 below and in the table on specific tasks and deliverables) to ensure the assignment is implemented as per the scope of work. This will require the consultant’s daily check ins with the UNICEF’s consultancy lead (the health specialist innovation), bi-weekly check ins with both the Health specialist Innovations and the UNICEF Regional Office Heath Economist , and participation in the virtual CBA TWG meetings. 4. Method of work: The consultant will be required to refine the CBA tool, which will guide the data collection needs. This will be done remotely. Once the methodology and tool are agreed upon, primary data collection will be conducted by the government leads while the consultant will be required to conduct secondary data collection. There will be a two-week window for data collection anticipated, with one additional week for data completion. However, weekly calls will be organized to ensure any bottlenecks in data capture are addressed, and additional data needs required for the analysis are collected during the same data collection window. Data collection is anticipated to take three weeks. The consultant will be expected to present the data analysis findings in a series of meetings, first to the CBA Technical Working Group (in person, for an estimated 5 days), then in a validation session with both the CBA TWG and project steering committee (in person, for an estimated 1-2 day’s meeting). Upon receipt of comments, the consultant will be required to complete the analysis and report, which may be conducted remotely.

Desired Competencies, technical background, and experience Essential • Advanced university degree in Health Economics, Health Policy, Economics, Financing, or a related field. • A minimum of 5 years in relevant field including cost benefit and cost effectiveness analysis. • Experience with designing and implementing financial and economics modelling in developing countries. • Experience and or knowledge in economic evaluation of public health interventions, including for health innovations • Experience pricing health interventions • Strong communications, analytical, writing, and interpersonal skills to coherently present results. • Experience collecting economic data (in any setting) and/or working with costing tools. • Experience working with large analytic datasets and prior experience with data management. • Demonstrated experience with data analysis, including techniques necessary for data derived from surveys using complex sampling. • Demonstrated comfort and fluency in quantitative analysis, and proficient with statistical analysis and data presentation software programs • Professional proficiency in written and spoken English (required). • Self-driven and able to work independently with minimal supervision

Desired Profile: • Experience working with the Government of Kenya and counties • Good analytical, negotiating, communication and advocacy skills. • Experience with research, policy or implementation of maternal and child health service delivery • Demonstrated ability to work in a team collaboration, multi-cultural environment and establish harmonious & effective working relationships both within and outside the organization. • Ability to quickly build rapport with individuals and groups; maintain an effective network of individuals across organizational departments.

Payment Schedule The fee is payable in instalments upon certification of satisfactory performance at each phase as per the deliverables and submission of corresponding invoices

How to Apply Interested candidates should apply online using the button below. As part of their application, candidates should provide: 1. A cover letter that specifies how you meet the desired competencies, technical background and experience (no more than 2 pages) 2. A short CV (no more than 4 pages) 3. A financial proposal that should include the daily rate and total fees for the assignment which includes travel/administrative/per diems, if applicable 4. 3 Referees.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.