International Consultant – Software Development

The rapid development and ever-increasing availability of information technology have facilitated the conversion of civil registration and vital statistics processes from paper to electronic formats. However, success requires an elaborate design and implementation process.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) can provide transformational improvements in civil registration and vital statistics systems based on their ability to expand registration coverage, standardize, and streamline civil registration and vital registration processes, and integrate data from multiple systems into one and securely store data at any scale, all in real-time and cost-effectively. When used correctly, ICT can make a significant contribution to the achievement of universal civil registration, provide legal documentation on civil registration required to confirm identity, civil status, and subsequent rights, and compile accurate, complete, and timely statistics on these records and natural population movements.

Following the Concept of Development of the Digital Economy in Turkmenistan for 2019-2025, the Government of Turkmenistan in February 2021 adopted the State Programme of Development of the Digital Economy for 2021-2025. According to the Programme, it is planned to transfer public services to a digital format for all ministries and departments of Turkmenistan, as well as to actively introduce the principles of a single window in the provision of public services to the population and commercial enterprises.

Starting from July 1, 2020, a new edition of the Law of Turkmenistan “On acts of civil status” entered into force in Turkmenistan. The Law regulates the procedure for state registration of acts of civil status and determines the organizational, legal basis for the activities of bodies carrying out state registration of acts of civil status. Article 10 of this Law requires the creation of a unified register of civil status acts, with the date of entry into force from January 1, 2022.

Using the resources provided by the UNDP system within the framework of financing to overcome the consequences of the global pandemic (Rapid Financing Facility), a project has been initiated with the Ministry of Justice to digitize the civil registration system and create a pilot version of web-based Civil Registration System (further pilot project). International Expert will be assisting and complement the local software development team, act as a technical adviser and help UNDP project staff to ensure quality assurance of the pilot project.

The scope of the work to be done by the consultant is defined within the following:

In accordance with the above-mentioned objectives of the assignment and under the overall supervision of the Programmed Analyst and direct supervision of the Project Manager, the International Consultant (IC) will be tasked to perform the following duties and responsibilities:

• Activity one: Assist in preparing Terms of Reference (Project TOR) for the pilot project. Draft TOR will be prepared by the local team, and international expert must identify weak points, help to clarify requirements, enhance, and finalize TOR, including optimization of business  processes, identifying roles, and mapping them to the system functionality;
• Activity two: Prepare a work plan for the software development process. There is an interest in using agile methodology, such as SCRUM. An international expert will be expected to act as SCRUM Master, arrange sprints, access deliverables, and identify and point out weak points;
• Activity three: Support the installation and configuration of hardware procured for the pilot project. Support the installation and configuration of third-party software, such as operating system, virtualization software, and database management systems, required to support the pilot project;
• Activity four: Assist in assessment of local software development team members if needed. Local software development team, consisting of 3 web developers, will be recruited according to UNDP recruitment procedures;
• Activity five: Support deployment and testing of the pilot project, development and testing of an API for future system integration. Conduct regular meetings with local software development team (at least once in two weeks) to ensure that software development process is going as planned from timing and quality point of view;
• Activity six: Assist local software development team with selection of software testing procedures and methods. Software testing should ensure software quality from functionality, safety, and load point of view. Training and production of a manual on how to use the system. Prepare detailed documentation of the system deployed, including recommendations for maintenance, improvements, and security of the system.

Other activities needed for project to be completed.

Deliverables and timeframe:

Prepared through actions above:

• Deliverable 1: Project Terms of Reference and SCRUM project plan prepared with Project manager. Format of Project Terms of Reference and SCRUM project plan will be discussed with project manager and local software development team;  
• Deliverable 2: Bi-weekly progress report, covering interface design and database design. Report should be in short form to ensure that all work is done on time. In case there is some delay, or some potential delay is expected, necessary mitigation action should be proposed;
• Deliverable 3: Bi-weekly progress report, covering backend development. Report should be in short form to ensure that all work is done on time. In case there is some delay, or some potential delay is expected, necessary mitigation action should be proposed;
• Deliverable 4: Software testing plan prepared and testing exercise with local software development team is conducted. Testing exercise results should be reported and recommendations for system troubleshooting with a focus on the cyber security and resilience of the system to workloads provided;
• Deliverable 5: System quality assurance conducted, and Final reports submitted. Format of final reports will be discussed with project manager;

Location: Home based. Number of days: Up to 40 days.

Payment conditions:

This is an installment-based contract that should cover the costs of consultancy required to produce the above deliverables. The final schedule of payments will be agreed upon in the beginning of consultancy. Payment will be released in four installments:

• 1st installment: 20% after deliverable1;
• 2nd installment: 15% for deliverable 2;
• 3rd installment: 25% for deliverable 3;
• 4th installment: 10% for deliverable 4;
• 5th installment: 30% for deliverable 5;

All deliverables must be timely submitted and accepted by UNDP Turkmenistan.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment;

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge of and work experience in the field of software development, and/or digitalization of public services and/or business processes;
• Excellent facilitation skills and experience in conducting briefing sessions and workshops;
• Good interpersonal and communication skills and capacity to liaise with parties concerned;
• Results driven, ability to work under pressure and to meet required deadlines;
• Leadership skill to manage local software development team remotely;

Education:

• University degree (technical) in the field of IT, Software Engineering, Telecom, Computer Science or relevant field;
• Project Manager or SCRUM Master certificate will be considered as an advantage;

Experience:

• A minimum of 7 years of work experience in system design and web application development;
• Experience in digital civil registration systems or similar systems is considerable advantage;
• Experience in SQL Database Administration, particularly MySQL;
• Experience in Systems Integration (API development);
• Experience in development of USSD and SMS Applications and Gateway Administration Knowledge;
• Programing experience in PHP programming with Laravel framework is consider advantage;  
• Unix-like systems administration experience;
• Experience in web application development, client-side programming tools (grids & sub grids, dropdowns, popups, tree controls, experience of latest technology and tools such as JQuery, JSON and JavaScript);
• Highly proficient with relational databases, complex queries and stored procedures writing;
• Good knowledge of software development procedures and project management, with focus on AGILE project management methodology;
• Knowledge and experience of work in the CIS or Central Asia is an advantage;
• Previous relevant work experience with government agencies and/or UN and other international organizations is an asset.

Language requirement:

• Fluent Russian, English is an advantage.

Submission of applications:

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

All experts applying for this position are required to provide:

• Financial Proposal with the references to (1) the daily rate for the assignment and within the timing scale indicated in the present TOR, and (2) any other expenses (including transportation costs, accommodation costs, the possibility of vaccination and etc.). Template of the form can be found at: http://www.tm.undp.org/content/turkmenistan/en/home/procurement.html. The UNDP will enter into an Individual Contract based on a lump sum amount. The financial proposal shall represent a detailed, justified and “all inclusive” amount. In order to assist UNDP in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount, including: a daily fee for the tasks and an estimated duration as specified in this announcement, travel (to and from the missions), per diems, any other possible costs (including vaccinations, dwelling, communication etc.).
• Cover letter explaining why they are the most suitable candidate for the assignment and Resume.
• Filled P11 form including experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc.

Evaluation of proposals:

Individual Consultants will be evaluated based on the combined scoring methodology. When using this method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant and having received the highest score – out of 100 points

Out of the maximum score, the score for technical criteria equals 70% – maximum 100 points, and for financial criteria 30%.

The technical evaluation will consider the following as per the scoring provided:

• Education field of IT, Software Engineering, Computer Science, or relevant field – 20 pts;
• The technical and managerial experience (7 years) in the software development – 40 pts;.
• Previous relevant work experience with the UN or any other international organization and in the CIS or Central Asia – 5 pts;
• Interview – 20 pts;
• Fluency in Russian – 10 pts;
• Fluency in English – 5 pts;

Financial proposal – 30% of total evaluation.

Additional requirements for recommended contractor:

Recommended contractors aged 65 and older, and if the travel is required, shall undergo a full medical examination including x-ray, and obtain medical clearance from the UN-approved doctor prior to taking up their assignment. The medical examination is to be cleared by the UN physicians and shall be paid by the consultant.