National Evaluation Agenda Consultant for the NEDA-UNDP Strategic M&E Project

Project Title

Using Strategic Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) to Accelerate the Implementation of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022 (Strategic M&E Project).

Background and Description

On July 15, 2015, Joint Circular 2015-01 on the National Evaluation Policy Framework (NEPF) of the Philippines was issued by the National Economic and Development Authority and the Department of Budget and Management to provide support for evidence-based decisions and ensure program improvement and accountability. The NEPF aims to provide a framework for the purposive conduct of evaluations in the public sector in support of good governance, transparency, accountability and evidence-based decision-making.

Among the responsibilities of the Evaluation Task Force created to operationalize the Policy Framework was to provide overall policy direction and coordination on the evaluation of the public sector. This translates to the development of a National Evaluation Agenda, which spells out the evaluations to be commissioned. The evaluations to be commissioned by the ETF is supposed to focus on themes, sectors, or programs that concern multiple agencies; meta-evaluations of evaluations conducted by implementing agencies and other entities, and on specific priority programs that are critical to the success of the Philippine Development Plan and Public Investment Program. This is different but should be consistent with the evaluation agendas of specific implementing agencies, which are focused on agency-specific programs or projects.

In 2017, NEDA and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Philippine country office partnered to strengthen the conduct of evaluations in support of the NEPF. The Strategic Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Project, which is financed by NEDA and implemented with full UNDP country office support, aims to build the capacity of NEDA and select government agencies to conduct evaluations of priority programs, in turn supporting the achievement of the Philippine Development Program (PDP) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through the partnership, UNDP is supporting NEDA in a) commissioning evaluations; b) developing operational guidelines for the NEPF; c) pursuing initiatives to strengthen evaluation capacity; d) facilitating a community of practice on evaluation; and e) leveraging technology and innovation.

The Project requires the services of an individual consultant to formulate the National Evaluation Agenda Toolkit, and demonstrate how it can be used by drafting and validating the National Evaluation Agenda for 2017-2022.

Timetable of Deliverables

The consultant is expected to perform the abovementioned works according to the following schedule:

Governance and Accountability

• The Consultant shall be directly supervised by the Project Coordinator of the NEDA-UNDP Strategic M&E Project, with whom all outputs shall be submitted and through whom all communications shall be coursed or copied;
• The Consultant shall report progress, provide updates, or raise issues to the Project Coordinator on a regular basis. The Consultant is expected to be accessible to the UNDP Project Coordinator via phone, mobile, or internet, and may be asked to report physically to UNDP on an agreed schedule and when required.
• The Consultant may also be required to coordinate with the Strategic M&E Capacity Development Adviser, Institutions and Partnerships Programme Team  Lead, and other officials and staff of UNDP; and with the Undersecretary and Assistant Secretary for Investment Programming, the Director and staff of the MES, and other officials and staff of the NEDA but through the NEDA-MES;
• In performing his/her functions, the consultant is expected to coordinate, consult, and/or collaborate with members of the Project Management Team, external stakeholders

Expected Duration of the Contract

The Consultant will be hired for 90 person-days spread over a period of seven months from 19 October 2020 to 18 May 2021.

Duty Station

• In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and declaration of State of Public Health Emergency in the Philippines, all work of the Individual consultant shall be done within the guidelines and protocols set by the local and national government. During the quarantine period, the IC shall NOT ENGAGE in any meetings or activities OUTSIDE THEIR HOMES. Coordination/meetings shall be done through phone or online communication until such time that the quarantine is lifted, during which this will be STRICTLY a HOME-BASED assignment; NO TRAVEL IS REQUIRED for the IC to complete their abovementioned tasks.
• The Consultant will be based in Manila but should be able to travel to locations of learning activities, consultations, and other engagements within the country, as required, subject to community quarantine guidelines set by the local and national government.
• Similarly, once the community quarantine is lifted, the Consultant may be required to report physically to UNDP when physical participation in activities is necessary.

• The Consultant is expected to have his/her own workspace, computer, and other facilities.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Financial proposals must be expressed as a lump sum “all-inclusive” per-person day rate. The term “all-inclusive” implies all costs (professional fees, communication, etc.). The price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components.  Please follow the UNDP template with a breakdown of costs. Medical/health insurance must be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense, and upon award of contract, the consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during the contract duration.

Under the overall guidance of the UNDP Senior Adviser, the UNDP Institutions and Partnerships Outcome Lead, and the NEDA Monitoring and Evaluation Staff (MES) Director, and reporting directly and regularly to the Strategic M&E Project Coordinator, the National Evaluation Agenda Consultant shall implement appropriate methodologies to address the following questions

1. How can the Task Force be guided in prioritizing what should be included in the National Evaluation Agenda? What will a toolkit look like, and how can it be used?
2. How consistent is this toolkit with how individual agencies craft their respective Evaluation Agendas?
3. What are the resource requirements for carrying out specific evaluation agenda? What are resource gaps?

n doing so, the Consultant shall undertake the following:

• Submit an Inception Report, which shall include the following: the Consultant’s understanding of the TOR, the proposed data collection and analysis methodology for all the identified deliverables. It shall also include a workplan that accounts for all the deliverables and activities under the TOR. The Inception Report should also include an inclusivity strategy which details how the activity can ensure that it is gender inclusive. It should also provide a statement about how, to the extent possible, the activity can promote environmental sustainability.

• Develop a Toolkit for Developing the National Evaluation Agenda
  1. As the National Evaluation Agenda is expected to be aligned with the PDP and PIP, it is expected to be revised every six years. However, as guidance to the development of the National Evaluation Agenda, the Toolkit should outlast the Agenda, and provide enough support for identifying how to prioritize what should be included in the Agenda. While the Toolkit should be able to assist with prioritization at the National level, it is also expected to likewise be translatable to prioritization at the Agency-level. The Toolkit should also be designed to assist in identifying resource requirements and resource gaps.
  2. In developing the Toolkit, the Consultant should take into account themes, sectors, or programs that concern multiple agencies; evaluations conducted by implementing agencies and other entities that can be subjected to meta-evaluations, and emerging priority programs that are critical to the success of the PDP and PIP.
  3. The Consultant is expected to focus on an initial set of agencies covered by the Project’s capacity building efforts.

• Demonstrate the use of the Toolkit by drafting a National Evaluation Agenda for 2017- 2022
  1. To demonstrate how the Framework can be utilized, the Consultant is expected to draft a National Evaluation Agenda for 2017-2022. Although this can no longer be implemented in full, it will provide a good starting point for the crafting of the Agenda for the next PDP.
  2. S/he should also document the use of the Toolkit, and articulate issues and concerns that may be of note.

• Validate the Toolkit and National Evaluation  Agenda for 2017- 2022
  1. The Toolkit for formulating the National Evaluation Agenda and the Draft 2017-2022 Agenda should be assessed and refined in terms of how consistent it is with the agency agendas, and vice versa. While ultimately, the National Evaluation Agenda should set the tone for agency agendas, it should likewise be cognizant of and grounded on actual agency concerns. In this way, the relationship between the National Evaluation Agenda and the agency agendas should be sufficiently iterative.
  2. The Consultant is expected to write an Assessment Report that details observations and key recommendations about how the National Evaluation Agenda and Agency-level Agenda can be better aligned. The assessment is expected to include a review of the available documents, such as the evaluation agenda of the initial set of agencies covered by the Project’s capacity-building efforts, consultations, and workshops where possible.

In performing the abovementioned functions, the Consultant shall be guided by the National Evaluation Policy Framework and the draft Guidelines of the NEPF. Other resources and instruments may also be used as relevant.

Annexes and other References

Philippines National Evaluation Policy Framework (hyperlink here)

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.

Functional and technical competencies

• Ability to work in a diverse and multi-cultural environment;
• Self-motivated and ability to work under pressure and to meet strict and competing deadlines;
• Displays analytical judgment and demonstrated ability to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;

Candidates will be evaluated based on the Combined Rating methodology:

• Technical qualifications = 70%
• Financial Proposal =    30%

For the evaluation of the Technical Proposal, the selection of the successful consultant must be based on the following qualifications (with the appropriate obtainable points):

Applicants who will only receive 70 points from the assessment of the CV and interview will be qualified for the assessment of the Financial Proposal. 

Recommended Presentation of Offer

Interested applicants 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. 

1. Personal CV or P11, 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; and
2. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP; ?Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided.  If an 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 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. 
3. Portfolio of Prior Research Work and other Relevant Projects. A list with hyperlinks to publicly accessible websites or shared cloud storage for sample research output is required. Include information on contract cost, duration, and key results achieved through the work;

Interested applicants to note that personal Medical/health insurance (to be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense) is mandatory for the issuance of contracts. Upon award of the contract, the consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during the contract duration.

The following templates / Annexes and IC General Terms & Conditions can be downloaded from http://gofile.me/6xdJm/bE9TCw8fU:

• General Terms and Conditions for Individual Contract
• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability
• P-11 form

In view of the volume of applications, UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.