Senior Consultant for Corruption Proofing of Legislation

The Negotiation Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights is one of the most challenging and complex chapters, and dynamic and duration of the negotiation process in this area directly affects progress in other aspects of negotiations with the European Union. It is divided into four main and interrelated areas: judiciary, fight against corruption, fundamental rights and the rights of EU citizens, which can be further subdivided into a number of sub-areas.

The Member States must effectively combat corruption, which threatens the stability of democratic institutions and the rule of law. A strong legal framework and credible institutions are needed to support a coherent policy of prevention and deterrence corruption. This area has been a particular focus of the European Union since the opening of negotiations. The acquis in this area consists of UN and the Council of Europe conventions, as well as decisions and recommendations of the European Council. The candidate country must fully align with the acquis in this area, but also show a willingness to achieve visible results in both, prevention and fight against corruption. The most sensitive issues in this area are areas particularly vulnerable to corruption (public procurement, privatization, urbanism, education, health, local government and police), as well as financing of the political parties.

Based on Article 78 of the Law on Prevention of Corruption, the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption:

• gives initiatives for amendment of laws, other regulations and general acts, in order to eliminate possible risks for corruption or their harmonization with international standards in the field of anti-corruption;
• gives an opinion on draft laws and other regulations and general acts for the purpose of harmonization with international standards in the field of anti-corruption.

According to Article 79 of the Law, the Agency may on its own initiative or upon the request of government authorities, companies, legal entities, entrepreneurs or individuals, give an opinion which contains an analysis of the risk of corruption, measures to eliminate the risk of corruption and prevent corruption. 

In 2017, through the support of the Regional Anti-Corruption Initiative, the Methodology for Corruption Proofing in Montenegro was developed. Since its establishment in 2016, the Agency submitted to the line ministers 21 non-binding legal opinions on draft legislative acts in the areas of its competence. Its opinions were taken into account for 4 legislative acts, 4 legislative processes are currently ongoing, and in in eight cases, the Agency’s recommendations were not reflected in the final version of a legislative act. The corruption proofing of legislation system would gain in efficacy and produce greater results if it were placed within the legislative process.

The project “Strengthening capacities for the acceleration of EU accession of Montenegro” is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by UNDP in partnership with the European Integration Office and General Secretariat of the Government. The general objective of this action is to assist, advise and support EU accession negotiations through strengthening the capacities of the Government in responding to the demands of the new phases of accession.

Objectives of the assignment: The objective of the assignment is to prepare an Analysis on the need for and importance of introducing the corruption risk assessment as a mandatory part of the legislative process. The Analysis should also include the checklist for draft laws to eliminate the risk of corruption and recommendations for the improvement of the Methodology on anti-corruption assessment of laws, especially in parts related to the identification of priority legislation for the special risk of corruption. Such Analysis would support the Government’s efforts in effectively combating corruption and making progress in EU Accession Negotiation within the Negotiation Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights.

Job content: 

Under the supervision of the UNDP Programme Manager, the consultant will perform the following tasks:

• Conduct a desk research of the anti-corruption legislative framework in Montenegro, EC Montenegro Progress Reports, the Methodology for Corruption Proofing in Montenegro, the annual reports of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and issued corruption proofing opinions. Organise online consultations with the representatives of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, Parliament, Secretariate for Legislation, Ministry of Justice, Human and Minority Rights, Deputy Prime Minister’s Office and General Secretariat of the Government to identify the state of the play and challenges.
• Prepare a comparative analysis of the good practices for corruption proofing of legislation in selected EU member states, countries in the Western Balkans region and others, including the experiences of countries that have corruption risk assessment as mandatory parts of the legislative process, such as Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Ukraine, Albania, Russia and South Korea.
• Prepare an evidence-based argument on how the introduction of a mandatory corruption risk assessment as part of the legislative process in Montenegro would be beneficial and how it could be introduced for draft legislation. Identify the necessary legislative amendments, procedures and capacity building needs in order to implement the recommendations.
• Develop a checklist and template for draft legislation on how to eliminate the risk of corruption and accompanying procedure for introducing the checklist as mandatory part of the legislative process.
• Prepare recommendations for the improvement and alignment with beneficiaries’ demands of the Methodology for Corruption Proofing in Montenegro, especially in parts related to the identification of priority legislation for the special risk of corruption (Part 3: Procedural guidelines, 4. Prioritising Laws).
• Develop a draft Analysis which will include all above mentioned elements and share it with the Agency, relevant stakeholders and UNDP for comments.
• Organise consultations with relevant stakeholders, incorporate comments and suggestions in order to finalize the Analysis.
• Present the key findings of the Analysis to the relevant stakeholders.
• Prepare the Final report on undertaken activities to the UNDP Programme Manager. It should contain sufficient details and information that would allow for the appraisal of the effectiveness to date of the assignment’s activities.

The expected results: Under the supervision of the UNDP Programme Manager, the consultant is expected to deliver the following results:

• Analysis of the need for and importance of introducing the corruption risk assessment as a mandatory part of the legislative process, including the checklist and template for draft legislation to eliminate the risk of corruption and recommendations for improvement of the Methodology on anti-corruption assessment of laws, especially in parts related to identification of priority legislation for the special risk of corruption. 
• The Final report on undertaken activities including recommendations for potential donor support.

Timing and reporting: The international consultant is expected to work homebased and in Montenegro during the assignment duration from 21 July – 15 October 2021. The consultant will be responsible to prepare and submit the final report to the UNDP Programme Manager, and it should contain sufficient detail and information that would allow for the appraisal of the effectiveness to date of the assignment’s activities.

Time duration and travel: The consultant will be engaged under individual contract, for total of 25 consultancy days, during the period 21July – 15 October 2021. The consultant will work homebased and will have an obligation to travel to Podgorica for three days at the end of September 2021. The travel costs and Daily Living Subsistence Allowance costs should be included in the lump sum figure.

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN/UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Excellent communication skills, facility in working with teams and capacity to compose clear and readable narrative reports;
• Demonstrates ability to manage complexities and work under pressure, as well as conflict resolution skills;
• Excellent organizational and time management skills;
• Knowledge Management and Learning;
• Shares knowledge and experience;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.
• Ability to perform a variety of standard tasks related to Results Management, including collecting of documentation, data entering, preparation of revisions, filling, provision of information;
• Ability to provide input to business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems;
• Ability to work independently and in a team. 

Education:

• University degree in law, advanced degree would be considered an asset;

Experience:

• At least 10 years of experience on anti-corruption, in the legal profession, either in public institutions or private practice, the judiciary or for an international organization;
• Demonstrated experience in drafting and assessment of anti-corruption legislation, strategies and methodologies and drafting analytical reports;
• Demonstrated expertise in delivering trainings on corruption proofing of legislation;
• Proven ability to think strategically, to work both independently and in teams;

Language:

• Excellent command of spoken and written English language;
• Proficiency in the Montenegrin language would be considered as an asset.

Other:

• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; organizational skills; attention to detail;
• Excellent computer skills;
• Excellent communication and presentation skills;

Criteria for selection:

Combined Scoring method will be used. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: (i) responsive, compliant, acceptable, and (ii) having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

• Technical criteria weight – 70% (Background and education 10%; Relevant previous experience 20%; Substantial knowledge/Required competencies 30%; Required language 10%);
• Financial criteria weight – 30%.

Only offerors obtaining a minimum 490 points for technical criteria will be considered for the financial evaluation. For more information on procurement methodology for Individual Contractors, please refer to Procurement Notice.

Application procedure:

Interested applicants are requested to submit their applications by July 11, 2021 by using the Apply now button. The application should contain CV or P11 that can be downloaded at https://www.me.undp.org/content/montenegro/en/home/jobs.html. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file.

Only the short-listed applicants will be contacted and requested to submit a letter of interest including a price quotation indicating the lump sum (in EUR) requested for the work envisaged in the section “Description of Responsibilities”.