Consultancy – Consultant to support events/meetings organization, travel and logistics/admin functions for the Rule of Law, Justice, Security and Human Rights team

With an in-country presence before, during and after a conflict, UNDP is increasingly expected to assume a substantive role in providing rule of law, justice, security and human rights assistance to countries threatened or affected by crisis and fragility. In order to meet these demands, UNDP’s Global Policy Network (GPN) has made rule of law a priority area for programming.

To this end, UNDP Rule of Law, Security and Human Rights (RoLSHR) team in UNDP’s Crisis Bureau has bolstered its capacity to provide support to the field and articulated a Global Programme for Strengthening the Rule of Law and Human Rights for Sustaining Peace and Fostering Development for Strengthening the Rule of Law and Human Rights in Crisis-Affected and Fragile Situations. UNDP’s Global Programme has been the main operational and financial instrument for UNDP globally to engage on rule of law in crisis-affected countries. Drawing on some of UNDP’s most innovative rule of law programmes, it seeks to expand such experiences to assist UNDP Country Offices to develop multi-year, comprehensive rule of law programmes that respond rapidly and effectively to the needs on the ground.

The RoLJSHR programme and team now directly provide support to about 40 countries and has increasing responsibility to lead and support policy development and guidance in rule of law related areas, especially in the context of the SDG and Sustabbining Peace agendas. The RoLSHR team also leads UNDP’s engagement with DPKO, as the Global Focal Point of Justice, Police and Corrections (GFP), which was established in 2012. The ROLJSHR programme also engages with the Team of Experts (TOE) on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict.

UNDP will engage a Consultant to support the operations and logistics, administrative, events/meetings organization and travel functions within the Rule of Law Team, GFP, and TOE. The Consultant will work as part of the Rule of Law, Justice, Security and Human Rights team within the Crisis Bureau at UNDP Headquarters in New York and will report to the Rule of Law Team Leader. The consultancy is planned for a period of 6 months initially, with the possibility of extension pending performance and availability of funds.

SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ANALYTICAL WORK

Expected outputs and deliverables:

• Provide operational support to the Rule of Law team members, GFP, TPP, and TOE (staff and consultants/secondees), as well as non-UNDP meeting/workshop participants, liaising closely with a UNDP-contracted travel agent and follow-up to ensure that all funded participants receive airfare and DSA, and required visas, well in advance of meeting/mission dates; coordinate and facilitate changes and/or emergency provisions between the traveler and travel agent;

• Process travel claims (F10/ER) of all above-mentioned UNDP and non-UNDP travelers; follow-up with appropriate HQ operations and travel support units to ensure that post-meeting claims and expenditures are processed correctly and on a timely basis;

• Follow-up with HQ operations and travel support units to ensure that approvals of all related requisitions, POs and vouchers from HQ, RH and Country Offices are issued in a timely basis, including compiling all necessary information to facilitate the authorization process;

• Maintain an updated and shareable mission plan in the relevant corporate format to be submitted on a bi-weekly basis to the Team Leader and Programme Associate, as well as a Travel Finances Tracking table, also to be submitted on a bi-weekly basis to the Rule of Law Programme Associate.

• Manage operations (catering, A/V, printing, etc.) and logistics for set-up, execution of events and meetings for the RoLJSHR, GFP; TPP; and TOE;

• Assist the ROLJSHR team with any additional responsibilities as required.

• Functional

• Strong organizational and administrative skills;

• Excellent communication, interpersonal and record-keeping skills;

• Experience working collaboratively in a team structure in a multicultural environment; and

• Ability to work under minimum supervision and tight deadlines.

Corporate

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modeling the UN / UNDP’s values and ethical standards;

• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of the UN / UNDP; and

• Displays sensitivity and adaptability when working with a diverse array of cultures, genders, religions, races, nationalities and ages

Academic qualifications:

• Completion of secondary school, preferably supplemented by administration and accounting studies is required

Experience:

• A minimum of five years of administrative and operational management experience, with procurement and finance and travel management duties, preferably within the UN organization and agencies.

• Demonstrated client-facing roles and strong communication skills required;

• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel etc.) and web-based management systems required;

• Familiarity with and knowledge of Atlas systems or any UN ERP System that handles travel functions similarly to the ATLAS ERP system;

• Basic experience with UN and UNDP operations and procurement processes is an asset and highly preferred.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English required; and

• Working knowledge of another official UN language is an asset

Duty Station, Travel and Institutional Arrangements:

• Duty station: UNDP New York Offices;

• The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;

• UNDP will provide the consultant with a laptop, internet, phone, etc.;

• No travel is expected for this assignment;

• The consultant will be supervised by the ROLHR Team Leader;

Payments will be made upon satisfactory delivery of outputs, certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Task Manager on outputs satisfactorily delivered

Application Procedure

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• A cover letter with a brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment;

• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references;

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee (based on a 7 hour working day – lunch time is not included – and estimated 21.75 days per month).
• ?In line with the UN flexible work arrangement?due to the Covid 19 Pandemic ?the consultant is expected to telecommute (from the country of residence at the moment ) until the situation allows for the deployment in New York HQ Offices. As such, shortlisted candidates will be asked to submit two different all-inclusive professional daily fees: home-based and office-based (based on a 7 hour working day – lunch time is not included – and estimated 21.75 days per month).
• In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should 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.

• If the Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

• The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below.? Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring.? When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Being responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation where technical criteria weighs 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical evaluation – Total 70% (70 points):

• Criteria 1. A minimum of five years of administrative and operational management experience, with procurement and finance and travel management duties, preferably within the UN organization and agencies is required.? Maximum Points: 20;

• Criteria 2. Demonstrated client-facing roles and strong communication skills required Weight = Maximum Points: 10;

• Criteria 3. Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel etc.) and web-based management systems required Maximum Points: 10;

• Criteria 4. Familiarity with and knowledge of Atlas systems or an UN ERP System that handles travel functions similarly to the ATLAS ERP system Maximum Points: 15;

• Critera 5. Basic experience with UN and UNDP operations and procurement processes is an asset and highly preferred Maximum Points: 15.

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial?evaluation – Total 30%?(30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

p = y (µ/z), where

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Payment modality

Payment will be made on a biweekly or monthly basis and will be produced after the submission of a UNDP Certification of Payment and signoff by supervisor on the quality of work provided.

• Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.

The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7 hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

Annex 1 – UNDP P-11 Form for ICs

Annex 2 – IC Contract Template

Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions

Annex 4 – RLA Template

IMPORTANT NOTE:This position is located in UNDP Headquarters (New York City) and is only opened to consultants who are either US citizens, US Permanent Residents, those with a valid G4 visa.

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to [email protected]

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by email and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.