International Expert on Consumer Arbitration

Mediation and Arbitration for Resolving Disputes is a joint project of European Union and United Nations Development Programme.

The project is built upon progress achieved in the course of implementation of the EU-UNDP joint initiatives – “Enhancing Access to Justice and Development of a Child-Friendly Justice System in Georgia” (2016 – 2018) and “Enhanced Mediation and Arbitration for Fairer and Faster Commercial Dispute Resolution (January 2019 – March 2021) (Project). The intended outcome of the project contributes to the social-economic development of Georgia by promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms for civil and commercial disputes through enhanced access to professional mediation and arbitration services.

In particular, the project is expected to deliver the following outputs:

1. Enhanced access to and efficiency of mediation and arbitration.
2. Access to professional mediation and arbitration services.

The project’s main stakeholders are Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Judiciary, High Council of Justice, Mediators Association of Georgia (MAG), Georgian Association of Arbitrators (GAA), Georgian International Arbitration Centre, Georgian Bar Association, education institutions, and CSOs working on ADRs, as well as the CSOs working on promoting legal profession.

The project’s main beneficiaries are mediators, arbitrators, judiciary; MAG, GAA, legal professionals including lawyers and law students, judges and court staff, small and medium enterprises, general public. 

The Expert will be expected to:

• Study the Georgian legislative, policy and institutional framework related to arbitration practices;
• Analyse existing frameworks of consumer dispute resolution on international scale;
• Closely cooperate with the Ministry of Justice, the Georgian Association of Arbitrators and other relevant stakeholders to obtain their input and feedback;
• Develop the recommendations to the national stakeholders on the legislative amendments based on Georgian legal and institutional landscape, including the guidelines and description of needed interventions for the successful implementation of the proposed amendments;
• Present the proposed guidelines and recommendations to relevant stakeholders;
• Based on the workshops/meetings take a final review and finalize the recommendations.

All documents shall be developed in English.

Payment Schedule :

100 % upon submission and clearance of the following deliverables, within two weeks upon completion of the assignment.:

Deliverable 1 – Draft report on recommended legislative amendments establishing distinctive regime for consumer arbitration in Georgia including guidelines for effective implementation of suggested amendments (including necessary desk review and stakeholder consultations as agreed with the project team);

Deliverable 2 – Presentation of the draft report to relevant stakeholders; 

Management Arrangements: 

The International Expert will work under the overall supervision of the Project Manager. The expert will have close working relations with the Ministry of Justice, the Georgian Association of Arbitrators and other relevant stakeholders during the implementation of the assignment under this ToR.The expert will be directly responsible for, reporting to, seeking approval from, and obtaining a certificate of acceptance of outputs from the Project Manager. In addition, the respective project team will be responsible to share relevant documents and other necessary information with the expert.The assignment is home-based, all kinds of communication including workshops/meetings will take place remotely. UNDP will ensure the interpretation where needed. The relevant institutions will ensure participation of the workshop/meeting participants.

Core Competencies

• Demonstrated commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
• Sensitivity and adaptability to cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age;
• Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.

Functional Competencies

• Excellent communication skills (spoken, written and presentational);
• Good interpersonal skills and ability to work in and with teams;
• Ability to set priorities and manage time effectively.

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualification:

1. Proposal explaining why they are the most suitable for the work, including their technical approach to the assignment (up to 500 words).
2. Detailed track record of assignments with a similar scope.
3. Financial proposal.
4. Personal CV Including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references.
5. Analytical study, legal opinion, guidelines, and/or recommendations on regulatory framework related to consumer dispute resolution elaborated by the applicant.

Education

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Law/ Commercial Law   (minimum requirement) –  5 points, Higher Degree in Law or LLM specifically in areas of Dispute Resolution – additional 5 points;

Experience

• At least 10 years of working experience in the field of legal services, consultancy services or advisory works on matters of dispute resolution with focus on arbitration  (minimum requirement)  – 10 points;

• Proven record of at least 5 years’ working experience in the matters of consumer dispute resolution with focus on arbitration and/or adjudication  (minimum requirement) – At least 5 years of experience – 10 points, More than 5 years – additional 5 points;

• Experience in developing policy documents; i.e., analytical studies, legal opinions, guidelines, and/or recommendations on regulatory framework related to consumer dispute resolution – at least one project (alone or in cooperation with other consultants), should be enclosed to the proposal  (minimum requirement) – At least one project  10 points;

• Experience of working as an arbitrator and/or for dispute resolution service provider will be an asset – additional 5 points;

Language requirements:

• Excellent English skills (both written and verbal).

Evaluation:

Individual Expert will be evaluated based on cumulative analysis method. Offerors will be evaluated against combination of technical and financial criteria. Maximum obtainable score is 100, out of which the total score for technical criteria equals to 70 (desk review: 50 points and interview: 20 points) and for financial criteria – to 30. Offerors not meeting any of the minimum qualification requirements will be automatically disqualified. Only offerors obtaining minimum 35 points as a result of the desk review will be considered as qualified offerors and invited for the interview. Those offerors passing 70% threshold of maximum obtainable scores as a result of interview; i.e., obtain minimum 14 points, will be shortlisted and requested to provide financial proposal.

Financial Proposal:

The financial proposal shall specify a daily fee. Payments shall be made to the consultant based on delivery; i.e., upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR approved by the Project Manager in line with the table ofdeliverables. Maximum 30 points will be assigned to the lowest price offer. All other price offers will be scored using the formula (inverse proportion): Financial score X = 30* the lowest price offer/suggested price offer x.