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International Consultant to perform a GAP analysis for the e-Governance Agency (EDMITE).

Vacancy Number: Pr19/01799

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	20 Mar 2019, 16:00 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	27 Mar 2019, 16:00 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	03 Apr 2019, 16:00 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	04 Apr 2019, 16:00 (GMT+2:00)
Starting date:	01 Apr 2019
Reference to the project:	Enhancing Democracy in Moldova through Inclusive and Transparent Elections
Expected Duration of Assignment:	April – September 2019
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR (IC) ASSIGNMENT UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Ms. Eva Bounegru.

Background

“Enhancing democracy in Moldova through inclusive and transparent elections” (EDMITE Project) is a project that sets the overall goal to achieve an enhanced transparency and inclusiveness of the electoral process in Moldova through a modernized IT system, improved legislation and intensified public participation, addressing the root causes of the current challenges hampering the further development of the democracy and the advancement of the electoral process in the Republic of Moldova.

One of the main objectives of the Project is to contribute to achieving a more accurate State Register of Voters, improving the quality and accessibility of data by re-engineering the Civil Status Acts System and Address Register Information System, and facilitating data exchange and interoperability between different central public institutions via the governmental platform for data exchange (MConnect).

To achieve these objectives, the Project is partnering with the Central Electoral Commission (CEC), the Public Services Agency (PSA) and the Electronic Governance Agency (eGA). These are different state actors with the support of which important population registration data sets necessary for fair and credible elections are exchanged and become interoperable. Specific Project’s interventions aim at improving the systems and processes in the partner institutions to ensure a reliable quality and timely data supply to the State Register of Voters, thus enhancing the integrity of the electoral process.

In the past years, the Electronic Governance Agency made significant progress in modernizing governance using ICT solutions and establishing a robust world-class core ICT infrastructure for electronic services. With the assistance of the MConnect Interoperability Integration Team, established in 2017 with the Project support, the eGA has further advanced the establishment of the necessary preconditions to ensure the broad availability of the MConnect Platform. As the electronic data exchange through MConnect started in 2014, to-date, 35 institutions already use it following the established normative, organizational and technological frameworks.

The adoption of the Law on data exchange and interoperability by the Moldovan Parliament (July 2018) is one of the major results achieved through the collaboration between UNDP and eGA, with a spill-over impact beyond the elections area, as it represents a future-oriented basis for the exchange of digital content among government institutions, including in the electoral field. The Law is regulating the electronic data exchange and the procedures of providing access to the registers and databases of national importance to all public entities.

To ensure work efficiency, the institutions that will use the electronic data exchange and interoperability platform, apart from being granted the access to MConnect and MCloud, will also need to get connected to certain electronic services, like MSign, MPass, MLog and MPay. These integrations will allow the institutions to modernize their services in accordance with their business processes and to supply better quality data. The Central Electoral Commission will be part of the integration, as the data held by many public institutions (Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, Agency for Public Services) supply data to the State Register of Voters, contributing to the inclusiveness and correctness of the electoral process.

In the context of the on-going public service reform, and as to further strengthen the efforts of developing and ensuring the sustainability of the MConnect Platform, the Project intends to support the eGA with the specialized international expertise required for the review of the existing infrastructures, platforms and centralized services in order to enhance them with new functionalities as well as extend them with additional reusable components and services. This effort will lead to more reliable platforms, efficient data exchange and efficient integration of data sources.

Scope of work

The Project intends to contract an experienced International Consultant (hereafter the Consultant) to perform a GAP (As-Is/ To-Be) analysis of the existing digital infrastructure of the Moldovan e-Governance framework. In his/ her assignment, the Consultant will evaluate the centralized and reusable electronic platforms owned or supervised by the Moldovan e-Governance Agency, including:

• MConnect – data exchange platform;
• MAccess – one-stop-shop for data access;
• MPass – governmental authentication and authorization service;
• MSign – governmental digital signature service;
• Mobile e-ID – mobile electronic identity infrastructure.
• MLog – governmental journaling service;
• MCloud – private governmental cloud computing platform;
• MPay – governmental payment service;
• Public Service Portal – governmental portal for public services for citizens and business.

With an emphasis on data exchange and interoperability, the Consultant’s support will be aimed at:

• improving the platforms and services by adding new features and optimizing business processes, as per international best practices and trends in e-Governance;
• complementing the existing e-Governance infrastructure with new components, which will optimize the electronic service development and delivery;
• streamlining internal business processes and increasing the efficiency of data exchange.

Specifically, the Consultant will:

1. analyze the Moldovan e-Governance Agency’s electronic services and platforms, covering the relevant technical, organizational (business processes) and operational aspects, by:
   • undertaking an As-Is analysis of the existing centralized electronic services and platforms;
   • undertaking a To-Be analysis and offering recommendations for adding new features to existing components and improving the business processes;
   • offering recommendations for additional reusable and centralized electronic services and platforms to be implemented, based on current trends in e-Governance, data exchange and interoperability;
   • drafting a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of the proposed improvements and new reusable and centralized electronic services and platforms;
   • developing a comprehensive Roadmap (including phasing and cost estimations) for the transition from the As-Is to the To-Be model;
   • developing comprehensive proposals for the adjustment of the legal framework based on European and other international best practices;
   • assisting the eGA management in presenting the results of the analysis to representatives of public sector organizations, including public service providers.
2. Analyze the Moldovan Government’s private cloud platform (MCloud), covering the relevant technical, organizational (business processes) and operational aspects, by:
   • undertaking an As-Is analysis of the MCloud Platform, including delivered services;
   • offering recommendations to improve the existing services and develop new MCloud services, based on international best practices on Government Cloud Platforms (especially shifting from Infrastructure-as-a-Service to Platform-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service).
   • offering recommendations for the MCloud extension strategy and Roadmap (including phasing and cost estimations), based on the business and technology trends in Government Clouds and data exchange;
   • assisting the eGA management in presenting the results of the analysis to representatives of relevant public sector organizations.

Note: for the purposes of the assignment, it is expected that the Consultant shall conduct on-site assessments and interviews with the representatives of the relevant public institutions, beneficiaries and other stakeholders.

 For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Master’s degree (or higher) in Computer Sciences, Telecommunications, Public Administration, or another relevant field;

Experience:

• At least 7 (seven) years of professional experience in providing consultancy (incl. GAP analysis) and developing processes and procedures in the field of e-Governance, data exchange and Governmental cloud platforms;
• At least 1 (one) similar project/ assignment, successfully completed in the past 3 (three) years, related to the improvement or implementation of e-Governance services and/ or associated governance processes;
• Previous professional experience with respect to the Moldovan e-Governance framework will be an asset;
• Experience in working with international organizations, including UN agencies, will be an asset;

 Competencies:

• Demonstrated interpersonal and diplomatic skills, as well as the ability to communicate effectively with all stakeholders and to present ideas clearly and effectively;
• Excellent research, analytical and writing skills;
• Responsibility, creativity, flexibility and punctuality, ability to meet deadlines and prioritize multiple tasks;
• Certification(s) in IT Governance (e.g. ITIL, COBIT, TOGAF, etc.) will be considered a strong asset;
• Knowledge of English language is a must. Knowledge of Romanian and/ or Russian will be considered an advantage;
• Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations, in particular respecting differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status.

The UNDP Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women and men, persons with different types of disabilities, LGBTI, Roma and other ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non‐citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.

Documents to be included

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

• Offeror's Letter confirming interest and availability;
• Technical proposal (incl. brief description of experience, approach and methodology for the completion of the assignment);
• Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total requested amount per working day, including all related costs, e.g. fees, phone calls etc.);
• Duly completed and signed Personal History Form (P11), personal CV and at least 3 references.

Financial proposal

• Contracts based on daily fee

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

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/ repatriation travel.  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.

 In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.