Review of PIPSO BCP Guide to incorporate impacts of COVID 19

Reference No.

PN/FJI/046/21

Consultancy Title

Review of PIPSO BCP Guide to incorporate impacts of COVID 19

Location

Home based

Application deadline

11th June 2021

Type of Contract

Individual Contractor of Consultancy firm

Post Level

International Consultant 

Languages required:

English

Duration of Initial Contract:

60 working days (June – November 2021)

The COVID-19 ‘Great Lockdown’ has plunged the global economy into a recession and created a jobs and livelihoods crisis of historic magnitude. In Asia-Pacific, the crisis is projected to wipe out ten percent of working hours – equivalent to 175 million full-time workers – in the second quarter of 2020 alone, with informal sector workers most impacted. Asia-Pacific is expected to have its lowest growth since the 1960s, and the economic fallout could push 370 million additional people in the region into poverty.

The most widespread impact of the economic slowdown has been a loss of income. As it is, informal employees are more prone than their formal sector counterparts to poverty. Moreover, the overall burden of any illness, accident, or disability tends to be high for informal workers, given the nature of their work and where it takes place. Those that continue to work during the current pandemic face high exposure to the virus itself.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an upheaval in social and economic life across the Asia-Pacific region. With many major cities and entire countries in lockdown, many businesses that rely on “foot traffic” and in-person transactions are struggling to stay afloat. Moreover, global and regional supply chains have been severely disrupted, hampering the ability of many suppliers to move materials and products to vendors, even where demand has remained strong.

In the Pacific, the joint UN Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) has found that in the post-COVID context it will be of paramount importance to focus on stimulating the economy and employment and supporting enterprises, jobs and incomes. Widespread unemployment and loss of income due to mass redundancies and reduced hours, closure of businesses, particularly women and youth owned micro enterprises and lack of social security have been observed across the region.

Business continuity planning is a component of building business resilience in normal times and is especially critical in cases of large disasters. For businesses to survive, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), they must be able to adapt their operations to the new environment. 

As part of the joint UN COVID-19 Response and Recovery Multi-Partner Trust Fund project between ILO, UNESCO, IFAD and UNDP titled “Informal sector led inclusive economic recovery through sustainable enterprises in Fiji, Vanuatu, Tonga and Palau “, UNDP is supporting the Pacific Islands Private Sector Organization (PIPSO) to review the PIPSO BCP guidelines that were developed in partnership with the Pacific Community (SPC) to incorporate appropriate exigency measures to mitigate against the economic and health impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic. In this regard, UNDP is looking to recruit a suitable consultant or private company to review the PIPSO BCP guidelines to assist small and micro enterprises in the Pacific in the following context:

• Protect their employees and customers from contracting and passing COVID-19.
• Rapidly take measures that can protect their businesses from the incoming disruptions, especially in countries that have not yet been severely impacted by COVID-19. 
• That have been impacted by COVID-19 to utilize all resources that might be available to them to remain solvent and operational. 
•  

The process of reviewing and revising should take into account the following considerations:

• The “six-steps for COVID-19 Business Continuity Planning for SME’s” developed by ILO, which include:

1: Identify your key products or services

2: Establish the objective of your BCP

3: Evaluate the potential impact of disruptions to your enterprise and workers

4: List action to protect your business Use the 4Ps framework to do this. Actions to minimize risk to your: People, Processes, Profits and Partnerships (the “4Ps”)

5: Establish contact lists

6: Maintain, review and continuously update your BCP

• Inclusion in revised BCP guide and template, case studies of businesses from different industries that have developed and used their BCPs on a consistent basis as well as those presenting the consequences for businesses in situations where BCP’s were not developed or used. Examples of this approach: is here
• Support to NPSO’s to tailor National BCP guides and templates based on the revised PIPSO BCP guideline. This would involve communicating the revised PIPSO BCP guide to NPSO’s and presenting on how the BCP guide could be used to tailor country BCP guides to mitigate against the impacts of COVID 19 as well as the process to follow of tailoring their BCP guides.  
• Layout and graphic design of the revised PIPSO in a format that can be easily edited further, printed and used for training small and micro enterprises in BCP.

The review process should include comprehensive consultations at the regional and country level with stakeholders including but not limited to –  national chamber of commerce’s; Employers Federations, Small and Micro Enterprise Associations; Women and Youth in business associations and councils; business development training providers; BCP training service providers, etc. 

Expected deliverables

Institutional Arrangements:

The consultant will be guided by the UNDP Country Office throughout the assignment period, working closely with the country economist as well as experts from the Finance Sector Hub from the regional bureau and global level.

A technical working group should be established to:

• review the various draft revisions of the Regional BCP and country BCPs and also provide comment/guidance on the formulation and consultation process;
• review and draft a regional strategy for advocacy and support to NPSO members for the deployment of this and related tools;

Duration of work:

The expected duration of this assignment is 60 days with a start date of 21st of June, 2021 and planned to be completed by 30 November 2021.  The timeframe and expected deliverables are shown in the table under section D above.

Duty Station:

The selected consultant will be home based for the majority of the assignment. To the extent that travel is possible, there may be two to three missions to Vanuatu through the process.

Competencies:

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity. 
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
• Self-development, initiative-taking.
• Acting as a team player and facilitating team work.
• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
• Creating synergies through self-control.
• Managing conflict.
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member.
• Informed and transparent decision making.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modelling the UN/UNDP’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN/UNDP; and
• Displays cultural, gend0er, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Academic Qualification

• Minimum Master degree in the field of Business Resilience, Business Administration, Sustainable Development, Social Policy, Gender, Environmental Sustainability, Finance, Economics or other relevant fields.

Professional Experience

• At least 5-7 years of experience in the field Business Resilience, Business Administration, Sustainable Development, Social Policy, Gender, Environmental Sustainability, Economics or other related fields. Previous experience with a development partner or government is a very strong advantage.
• Research experience in areas of public or private financing policy for sustainable development is required.
• Experience in country level work rooted in public policy reforms in close collaboration with government.
• Excellent writing skills required, as demonstrated by previous research/analytical reports on relevant topics.
• Proven ability to lead consultations and facilitate dialogue among senior government officials and other senior stakeholders required.
• Sound grasp of substantive policy issues in the key areas of public and private financing.
• Excellent knowledge of data collection, analysis and statistics tool are essential.
• Advanced quantitative skills and experience with related data analysis tools are an advantage.
• Demonstrated ability to engage in strategic analysis, and sectoral analysis.
• Understanding of and experience in working in Vanuatu will be an advantage.

 Language requirement:

• Fluency in English (written and spoken), and an ability to summarise and present information effectively.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

• Deliverable 1: Consultations report
• Deliverable 2: Draft BCP Guide
• Deliverable 3: Final BCP Guide
• Published version of the revised BCP Guide

In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

• Criteria 1: Relevance of Education – Max 5 points
• Criteria 2: Relevance of language and Key competencies – Max 5 Points
• Criteria 3: Relevance of experience in area of specialization – Max 25 points
• Criteria 4: Relevance of experience in key areas of specialization – Max 25 points
• Criteria 5: Quality of Assessment of approach/methodology to assignment – Max 10 Points

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

Documentation required

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex II.
• Personal CV, 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.
• Technical proposal, including a) a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment
• Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II. Note: National consultants must quote prices in United States Dollars (USD).

Note: Successful individuals will be required to provide proof of medical insurance coverage before commencement of contract for the duration of the assignment.

Incomplete and joint proposals may not be considered. Consultants with whom there is further interest will be contacted. The successful consultant shall opt to sign an Individual Contract or a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) through its company/employer with UNDP.

Annexes

• Annex I – Individual IC General Terms and Conditions
• Annex II – Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual IC, including Financial Proposal Template

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to Mr. Dale Kacivi – [email protected]/[email protected]  

All applications must be clearly marked with the title of consultancy and submitted by 5:00pm, 11th June 2021 (Fiji Time) online via UN Jobs website https://jobs.undp.org/ or [email protected]