Service Center Page, Jobs

National Consultant to provide coaching of parliamentary staffers on post-legislative scrutiny (SPGM).

Vacancy Number: Pr19/01893

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	30 Sep 2019, 16:30 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	07 Oct 2019, 16:30 (GMT+2:00)
Starting date:	04 Oct 2019
Reference to the project:	Strengthening Parliamentary Governance/Parliament II
Expected Duration of Assignment:	October – December 2019 (up to 20 days)
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

Background

The UNDP “Strengthening Parliamentary Governance in Moldova” (SPGM) Project works with the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova (PRM) to strengthen its law-making, oversight and representation functions with a specific focus on the EU integration and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The project directly assists standing committees and the Secretariat of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova in the implementation of their mandate. Project interventions include training, technical assistance, easy-to-read publications, exchanges and opportunities for learning from other parliaments, as well as the provision of specialized technical equipment. Through this support, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova is improving its capacity to strengthen the legal framework and successfully engage in oversight through multi-stakeholder action involving civil society, professional associations and the public. The activities will offer and encourage equal opportunities for male and female participation and gender is mainstreamed throughout the project interventions.

In 2018, the Project commissioned the preparation of the “Assessment Report on Parliamentary Oversight in Moldova”. It concluded that the PRM has made steps towards improvement of its oversight function by organizing public hearings and consultations on a more regular basis over the past years. Importantly, oversight was made a key priority by the current leadership of the Parliament in 2017 and all parliamentary standing committees stepped up to organize more public hearings and fact-finding field visits.  However, the same assessment also pointed out that the efforts on oversight are still insufficient both on the side of the MPs, as well as staff members. Despite having an array of oversight tools, the legislature does not fully use them.

Subsequently, a methodology for ex-post assessment of legislation was developed and approved by the Standing Bureau in February 2018.  The methodology distinguishes between two types of ex-post scrutiny: ex-post legal assessment and ex-post impact assessment. In 2018, the Secretariat applied this methodology and produced over 40 ex-post legal assessment reports of laws identified based on the parliamentary oversight action plan. Additionally, two ex-post impact assessments were developed for the Standing Committee on Social Protection, Health and Family with the support of a national consultant.

The findings of the evaluation workshop organized by the project team on piloting of the methodology,  as well as on the recommendations of the Assessment Report on Parliamentary Oversight, noted that the PRM requires additional human resources to prepare ex-post scrutiny reports.

Additionally, the Strategic Development Plan for 2017 – 2019 of the Secretariat of the Parliament identified the capacity building and professional development of the parliamentary staff members as a top-priority for the institutional development.  In particular, training on ex-post scrutiny for staff members of the legal department and parliamentary committees is of high importance. The overall goal is to ensure that the personnel has the knowledge and skills to provide support in the context of law-making and oversight, so that they can perform their responsibilities and tasks more efficiently.

To ensure that the staffers in the Secretariat of the PRM have enhanced capacities to engage efficiently in ex-post scrutiny of legislation, the project is seeking a national consultant to provide coaching of parliamentary staffers and advisory support to the Secretariat to enhance its role in providing timely and efficient support to MPs to carry oversight activities.

Scope of work

The expected output for the national consultant’s assignment is to provide support to the PRM Secretariat in undertaking more efficiently its functions on post-legislative scrutiny by means of coaching of parliamentary staffers and providing advisory support on improving the reporting mechanisms and regulatory framework related to post-legislative scrutiny. The assignment shall be carried out in close cooperation with the General Legal Department of the Parliament of Moldova.

In order to achieve the stated objective, the consultant will have the following responsibilities:

• Prepare a detailed work plan and inception report describing the methodology and approach to be applied for this assignment.
• Undertake a comprehensive desk review of the relevant legal framework, policies and regulations related to the Parliament’s oversight function.
• Develop the outline, curriculum, agenda, background readings, training aids and case studies for two coaching sessions, each having a 3-day duration, for parliamentary staffers on post-legislative scrutiny. In conducting this task the consultant shall observe the provisions of the national legislation and PRM regulations, ensuring that the materials used during the coaching, as well as the practical exercises and case-studies used in the coaching, support the analysis from gender equality perspective;
• Organise and deliver two (2) 5-day coaching sessions for the delegated parliamentary staffers, i.e, consultants in the parliamentary standing committees, staffers in the General Legal Department and Informational-analytical Department of the Secretariat of the Parliament. The coaching sessions shall be conducted in an interactive manner, including practical exercise, simulations and case studies. The consultant shall also provide debriefing on the results of the practical exercises by providing comprehensive feedback that will improve further application of the trainings’ knowledge.
• Develop a briefing note on the practical implementation of the PRM’s methodology for ex-post assessment of legislation and provide recommendations for enhancing the reporting mechanisms and internal regulatory framework related to post-legislative scrutiny, providing written suggestions on the amendments to the regulatory framework;
• Develop a final report describing the tasks carried out as part of the assignment, providing recommendations for further actions aiming to strengthen the capacities of the Secretariat to support parliamentary oversight.

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

Requirements for experience

The contractor’s performance will be evaluated against the following criteria: timeliness, professionality, proactiveness, communication, accuracy, and quality of the products delivered. Any person applying for this Bid shall have a certain profile in terms of qualifications, skills and special professional experience required to carry out the assignment. The candidates shall have the following relevant skills, qualifications and experience:

 Academic qualifications

• Master’s Degree (or 5 years university degree) in in Law, Public Administration, Political Science, Economic field or any other relevant fields;

 Years of experience

• At least 5 years of experience in providing trainings and capacity building on regulatory impact assessment to public institutions;
• Proven experience in preparing and carrying out at least 3 training programmes on ex-post legislative scrutiny;
• Proven previous professional experience related to parliamentary assistance and oversight;
• Experience in working with UN agencies is an asset.

 Competencies

• Ability to analyse, plan, communicate effectively orally and in writing, draft reports, organize and meet expected results, provide strategic advice in her/his area of expertise, adapt to different environments (cultural, economic, political and social);
• Ability to mentor staff and facilitate learning by doing;
• Organisational and communication skills, capacity for teamwork, mediation of conflict situations;
• Fluency in Romanian. Knowledge of Russian and/or English is an asset;
• Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations respecting differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status.

UNDP Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic 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:

• A Letter of Intent, comprising mandatorily the following data:

1. Explanations of the motivation to apply for the respective position;
2. Detailed information on criteria that allow the Applicant to considered him/herself the best for performing the assignment;

• Methodology for carrying out the assignment and structure of deliverables, that should contain:

1. A brief methodology of the applicant vision on carrying out the assignment and structure of deliverables;
2. Explain why they are the most suitable for the work including experience in similar assignments and the relation to the above-required qualifications.

• Financial proposal (in USD), specifying a fee per day and total requested amount including all related costs, e.g. fees, per diems, travel costs (if inquired), phone calls etc.;
• Duly filled in and signed Personal History Form (P11), and at least 2 letters of reference from previous beneficiaries confirming successful completion of services which he/she was contracted.

Financial proposal

• Lump sum contracts – please delete once the mechanism has been selected

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 fees, taxes, travel costs, accommodation costs, communication, and number of anticipated working days).  

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.