NTS Survey Consultant (International)

UNDP has been supporting mine action initiatives for over 25 years in over 40 countries, and works in an open, impartial, and transparent manner, in line with the internationally recognized UN norms, values, standards and good practices.

In 1998, the Government of Azerbaijan requested UNDP to provide assistance to establish the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) as a non-military agency mandated to conduct humanitarian demining. UNDP brought in international experts to support the training of ANAMA staff, it helped mobilize resources, and broker international partnerships to support the agency and has been a partner ever since.

UNDP has been requested to increase its assistance to ANAMA to help further build internal capacities and expand its mine action programme. A UN assessment mission in December 2020 and UNDP Senior Advisor Report in February 2021 recommended that – as a first step – a systematic Non-Technical Survey (NTS) be conducted across all conflict-affected areas.

A survey of this nature will provide a standardized approach to obtain available information on the nature and extent of the ‘known’ or ‘suspected’ areas of contamination in order to support prioritization of mine action activities, resource mobilization and allow operational and strategic planning to target a better-defined problem. 

Deliverable 1: In consultation with ANAMA and other partners, the Survey Consultant will review past and present survey activities, draw on experience, identify good practices and define a baseline of existing knowledge of the target areas for the survey (10% of effort).

Deliverable 2: Obtain consensus on desired objectives, survey products (to support stakeholder requirements) and agreement on evidence-based criteria to be used for ‘Confirmed’ and ‘Suspected’ Areas of Contamination and other risk classifications schemes that categorize for communities, roads and access routes (10% of effort).

Deliverable 3: Assist ANAMA doing the desk top study to define a list of available information sources such as existing mine records, location of historic military installations and knowledge of mine laying strategies, recent and historic victim data locations, satellite imagery and other remote sensing data (including drones) and list of relevant contacts in military & police, civilian authorities and relevant commercial enterprises working in target areas (10% of effort).

Deliverable 4: Design survey approach, equipment requirements, team structures, training curricular and implementation arrangements – incorporating agreed survey forms, dataflow processes and QA/QC procedures (12% of effort).

Deliverable 5: Procurement of Equipment, recruitment of Staff and training, (15% of effort).

Deliverable 6. Survey implementation (25% of effort).

Deliverable 7: Pre-test forms, pilot survey approaches and contribute to an operational review (5% of effort).

Deliverable 8: Develop budgets for the above and draft proposals to address funding requirements. (13% of effort).

Deliverable 9: Other NTS survey related activities within UNDP mine action portfolio are addressed (throughout whole contract duration).

While executing his activities, the Consultant shall be guided by the following applicable information and papers:

IMAS 05:10         Information Management for Mine Action

IMAS 07:10         Guide for Land Release and Residual Contamination

IMAS 07:11         Land Release

IMAS 08:10         Non-Technical Survey

IMAS 08:20         Technical Survey

Publication:        A Guide to Non-Technical Survey (GICHD)

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity 
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment
• Self-development, initiative-taking
• Acting as a team player and facilitating teamwork
• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively
• Creating synergies through self-control
• Managing conflict
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others.
• Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member.
• Informed and transparent decision making
• Experience with Geographic Information Systems and applications is an asset
• Experience with Remote sensing including the utility of UAS/Drones in survey work
• Knowledge of armed conflict, military tactics and minelaying strategies is an asset
• Knowledge of the UN system and relevant work experience with the UN an asset is as asset
• Fluency in spoken and written English

Eduaction:

• Master’s degree, in natural sciences, social sciences, technology, GIS or related field. Military qualification may be considered.

Experinece:

• Minimum of 8 years of work experience with progressive responsibilities in mine action
• 6 years’ experience in field operations with knowledge of Non-Technical/Technical Survey, Community liaison, EORE and Information Management
• 4 years at the forefront of operational planning and implementation of successful survey projects

Laguage skills:

• Fluency in spoken and written English

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Combined scoring:

• Technical Qualification weight; [70%]

• Financial/Price Proposal weight; [30%]

6.1 Technical qualification evaluation criteria:

1. Master’s degree, in natural sciences, social sciences, technology, GIS or related field. Military qualification may be considered – 10 points
2. Minimum of 8 years of work experience with progressive responsibilities in mine action- 10 points
3. 6 years experience in field operations with knowledge of Non-Technical/Technical Survey, Community liaison, EORE, and Information Management – 10 points
4. 4 years at the forefront of operational planning and implementation of successful survey projects- 10 points
5. Experience in survey design and methodologies – 9 points
6. Proven knowledge of international standards concerning survey – IMAS 07:10, 07:11, 08:10, 08:20- 10 points
7. Experience in the Information Management System for Mine Action – IMSMA, IMSMA forms, and data entry – 10 points
8. Knowledge of current mobile platforms and applications for data collection – ideally with Survey 123 or other XLS form/Open Data Kit based applications with active authoring/designing forms and processes in conjunction with Information management staff – 8 points
9. Experience in supporting national capacity development and working successfully with established national institutions – 8 points
10. Experience in field mapping and navigation techniques – 8 points
11. Experience in developing training curricula – 7 points

Only the offerors who have attained a minimum of 70% of total points will be considered as technical qualified offerors.

6.2 Financial/Price Proposal Comparison:

Only the financial/price proposal of offerors who have attained a minimum of 70% score in the technical qualification evaluation will be considered and evaluated. The total number of points allocated for the price component is 100. Below is the formula used for this evaluation: Rating for Financial Proposal = (Lowest Priced Offer / Price of the Offer Being Reviewed) x 100

6.3 Selection Method and Award Criteria:

The award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

1. 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. The total score for each offeror will be calculated independently by this formula: Total Score = Technical Qualification Score x 70% + Financial Score x 30%. 

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

1. Proposal:

(i) Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work

(ii) Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work (if applicable)

2. Financial proposal- In the form of Offeror’s letter to UNDP confirming their interest and availability for the individual contractor (IC) assignment. Please see the link below to the form to download.

https://www.az.undp.org/content/dam/azerbaijan/docs/Legal_docs/undp-aze-PSU_%20Individual%20Contract_Offerors%20Letter%20to%20UNDP%20Confirming%20Interest%20and%20Availability.docx

3. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references

Note: If any of the required documents not provided UNDP reserves the right to disqualify.

The financial proposal will specify the daily fee, travel expenses and per diems quoted in separate line items, and payments are made to the Individual Consultant based on the number of days worked.

Travel: Frequent travel to the regions will be required

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  The consultant should take into consideration that the service fee/the offer should be inclusive of service fee, Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSAs) for in-country full consultancy days, regional trip and other related expenses.

Please note that the system accepts only one attachment, so please send both technical and financial offer as one document.