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International Consultant to develop business plan for Green City Lab (GCL) in Moldova.

Vacancy Number: Pr18/01731

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	26 Jun 2018, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Starting date:	01 Jul 2018
Reference to the project:	Moldova Sustainable Green Cities - Catalyzing investment in sustainable green cities in the Republic of Moldova using a holistic integrated urban planning approach
Expected Duration of Assignment:	50 working days over a 2.5 months period
Submission Instructions: Proposal should be submitted online by pressing the “Apply Online”, no later than June 26, 2018.  Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail:  Alexandru.rotaru@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.
Supporting Documents: Terms of References Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Offeror's Letter confirming Interest and Availability Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Mr. Alexandru Rotaru.

Background

While still being the least urbanized European country with over 55% of the population residing in rural areas (as of 2014), the situation is rapidly changing in Republic of Moldova, with projected reduction of the share of rural population down to 50% by 2030 and close to 40% by 2050. The inflow of new residents has been particularly strong to Chisinau, not only from the rural areas, but also from other cities across the country. By 2030 Chisinau is expected to host over 50% of all urban population in Moldova putting even more pressure on city's infrastructure and services, while also creating considerable social and environmental challenges. Thus the management of the urbanization and rural-urban migration process has been gaining attention as one of the key national development priorities.

The objective of the project is to launch a Green City Lab that through its work will help to catalyse investments in low carbon green urban development based on integrated urban planning approach by encouraging innovation, participatory planning and partnerships between a variety of public and private sector entities.

As a vehicle for this, the project will support the design, launching, and establishment of the Green City Lab to become the leading knowledge management and networking platform, clearing house, an inter-mediator of finance  and a source of innovations and expertise to catalyse sustainable low carbon green city development in Moldova with a mission to transform Chisinau and other urban centres in Moldova into modern green and smart European cities with improved quality of life for their citizens, while also demonstrating opportunities for sustainable economic growth.

Before launching the Green City Lab it is first necessary to define the institutional structure, the business model and to elaborate the business plan for the Green City Lab so that it is clear how the GCL will earn revenues. Will it be through sponsorship? Will it be through advisory and consultancy work? Will it be through project financing and as a broker of investments? Or will it be as an investor and if so investing in what?  The Project document contains an draft business plan, which should be deeply revised. Also, the Smart city lab Moscow already provided inputs for the business plan. The reason that it is so important to develop the business model and the business plan is because it is expected over time that the Green City Lab will evolve into a self financing self sustainable organization, capable of continuing to operate after the project closes.

The inception workshop for the project was held in April 2018 in Chisinau, Moldova with UNDP, with the Municipality of Chisinau, and other key stakeholders. At the inception workshop it was agreed that more details about the Green City Lab including decisions about where it will be located, how it will be staffed initially, what the institutional structure will look like, and what its business model will look like as well as the development of a sound business plan are key priorities.

In the period of April-June 2018 an up-to-date horizon scanning and practical recommendations to the Project Team and key partners with regard to the analysed barriers and risks to a successful set-up and operationalisation of the Green City Lab within the Chisinau Municipality.

Scope of work

In order to support the development of the business plan, the project has decided to hire an experienced international consultant with experience in project finance, public-private partnerships, and writing business plans who could help with the finalization of a business plan which is acceptable to all stakeholders.

The international consultant to develop the business plan for the GCL shall prepare 4 main outputs as follows:

• Green City Lab Vison Statement and Detailed Institutional Set Up Report
• Draft GCL Business Plan
• Finalized Pilot Projects Report
• Finalized GCL business plan

The GCL vision statement will be a short 2-5 page document. All the other reports should be of 25 – 50 pages in length, not including annexes.

Requirements for experience

Academic qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Energy, Environment, Business Administration, Economics, Engineering, or other closely related field.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of private sector experience related to corporate financial advisory, corporate finance, and/or investment banking;
• At least 5 years of private sector experience working in the region (Eastern Europe or CIS country). Experience in Moldova or Romania is an advantage;
• Experience over the past seven years in developing business plans including experience with financial analysis and financial modelling;
• Experience working with public private partnerships in the past 10 years providing financial advisory services or relavant services;
• Experience of having worked with UN Agencies at some point in the past seven years or with other international organizations or development financial institutions;
• Demonstrated understanding of issues related to the municipal sector and green urban development (e.g – experience with municipalities as clients)
• Demonstrated experience and abilities to lead strategic planning, experience with adaptive management and multidisciplinary team coordination.
• Excellent communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to respond to donor requirements;
• Effectiveness and ability to achieve results and deadlines in a timely manner, maintaining a high standard throughout
• Writing and verbal skills in English, knowledge of Romanian or Russian would be an asset;

Language requirements

Writing and verbal skills in English, knowledge of Romanian or Russian would be an asset;

Documents to be included

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

1. Proposal: Brief proposal explaining why you are the most suitable for this consultancy including confirmation on availability to take up assignment for the whole period. 
2. Personal information (Personal History Form/P11) including past experience in similar projects.
3. Offeror's Letter confirming Interest and Availability.

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.

In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including all related costs e.g. fees, taxes, travel, phone calls etc.) and the number of anticipated working days. The consultant shall bare costs for all supplies needed for data collection and data processing including possession of his own personal computer.