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International Expert to support the CEC in the conceptualization of an electoral data warehouse and business intelligence solution (EDMITE II).

Vacancy Number: Pr21/02210

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	22 Apr 2021, 16:30 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	29 Apr 2021, 16:30 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	01 Jul 2021
Reference to the project:	Enhancing Democracy in Moldova through Inclusive and Transparent Elections
Expected Duration of Assignment:	July - December 2021 (47 working days)
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice P11_Form_UNDP 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

Electoral support and capacity development are part of UNDP’s democratic governance assistance worldwide, through which UNDP helps nations build democratic frameworks to improve representation, accountability, and transparency for the benefit of citizens.

UNDP has a long-standing partnership with the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) aiming at advancing the democratic electoral processes in Moldova by consolidating the transparency and efficiency of elections’ management, modernization of electoral IT solutions and enhancing the inclusiveness and participation of voters. This partnership, which spans over 10 years, resulted in the establishment of a strong professional institution, development of a modern State Automated Information System “Elections” (SAISE), the enhancement of the State Register of Voters’ accuracy and the design and implementation of effective long-term civic and voter education instruments.

Since 2017, the Project "Enhancing democracy in Moldova through inclusive and transparent elections” supports the Central Electoral Commission to enhance the transparency and inclusiveness of the electoral process in Moldova by ensuring a more independent and credible electoral administration and better informed and pro-active citizens. With the continuous UNDP assistance, the CEC demonstrated a high capacity of carrying out transparent, safe and “well-administered” elections (as attested by OSCE/ODIHR Observation Mission) throughout challenging electoral cycles, particularly the 2020 Presidential Elections, organized in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Building on the sustainable results achieved during its first phase of implementation (2017 – 2020), the objectives of the current Project phase (2020 – 2023) are:

• Enhance the inclusiveness of the electoral process by increasing the functional and technical capacities of the State Automated Information System “Elections” (SAISE);
• Enhance the political participation of citizens by setting up and implementing the voters’ information and civic education programs;
• Improve the legal and regulatory framework to respond to the EOM recommendations; and
• Strengthen the capacity for effective and coherent oversight and monitoring on political party financing.

Since 2014, UNDP’s support for the CEC informational ecosystem was aimed at enhancing IT structures and processes, particularly of the Commission’s core informational platform for elections management - SAISE.

For the past decade, the CEC and UNDP have come up with new useful tools for voters and electoral officials, but also for a smooth running of the electoral process. The long-term strategic IT expertise, provided by the Project, contributed to the expansion of the SAISE, currently a complex system with multiple modules that continuously collect valuable electoral data from multiple sources.

The historical and temporary datasets aggregated by the SAISE represent a valuable asset for the electoral management, forecasting and decision-making process, as well as for academic research of electoral trends and big data analytics.

In this sense, the UNDP Project will support the CEC in the conceptualization, design and implementation of an electoral data warehouse, aimed at delivering enhanced business intelligence, as well as increasing the quality, consistency and accessibility of electoral data and reporting

Scope of work

UNDP intends to contract an experienced International Expert (hereinafter “the Expert”) to support the Central Electoral Commission in the conceptualization of an electoral data warehouse and related business intelligence solution that is sustainable across all electoral cycles and fully compliant with international standards.

Overall, the Expert shall have the following responsibilities:

• Consult the CEC and relevant public institutions (e.g. Public Service Agency, e-Governance Agency and Information Technology and Cyber Security Service) and elaborate an As-Is / To-Be report on the CEC’s inventory of electoral data sets, key performance indicators and statistical reporting options;
• Offer expertise and recommendations for the optimization of the CEC’s data inventory, interoperability, and reporting, based on international best practices and technology trends in data analytics and business intelligence.
• Conceptualize an electoral data warehouse model, based on assessment findings, feasibility options and requirements of the CEC, with due consideration to data security and the transparency of the electoral process;
• Elaborate technical specifications documents required for the implementation of the CEC data warehouse and business intelligence solution, with due consideration to feasibility options and the “value-for-money” principle; The Technical Specifications shall include (but are not limited to):
• the architecture of the Relational Database System and Operational Data Store;
• the format of the metadata repository, data warehouse and data marts components;
• the requirements for the Extract - Transform - Load (ETL) transfer mechanism.
• Present the options for the new technical solutions to the representatives of the Central Electoral Commission, UNDP Project, e-Governance Agency and Information Technology and Cyber Security Service, as well as other key stakeholders.

The CEC and UNDP Project will provide the Expert the necessary information (incl. core data) and materials for the fulfillment of the assignment. The data to be provided to the Expert will include core information related to the current SAISE status, including of its (a) ICT governance framework, (b) application/data/technological architecture and management practices, (c) technical concept of SAISE and (d) information security management.

Note: for the purposes of the assignment, it is suggested that the Expert conducts on-site assessments and interviews with the representatives of the CEC, UNDP Project, relevant public institutions and other stakeholders. In this sense, the Expert is recommended to undertake 1 (one) mission to the Republic of Moldova, tentatively in August – September 2021 (up to 5 days).

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

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Master’s degree or equivalent (University degree with at least 7 years of experience) in Computer Sciences, Data Analytics, Applied Statistics, Engineering or another field relevant for the current assignment.

Experience:

• At least seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience related to data analysis, database design and implementation of data warehouse and business intelligence software solutions;
• At least three (3) business analysis documents elaborated for governmental or corporate IT systems (examples should be explicitly detailed in his/her CV);
• At least three (3) technical specifications documents elaborated for the implementation data warehouse and/or business intelligence solutions (examples should be explicitly detailed in his/her CV);
• At least 1 (one) similar assignment, successfully completed in the past 3 (three) years (examples should be explicitly detailed in his/her CV);
• Previous professional experience of working with electoral informational systems will be an advantage;
• Previous professional experience of working with Moldovan public institutions will be an advantage;
• Previous professional experience of working with international organizations, including UN Agencies, will be an advantage.

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;
• Certification(s) in IT Governance (e.g. ITIL, COBIT, TOGAF, etc.) or Business Intelligence (e.g. MCSA: BI Reporting, MCSE: Data Management and Analytics) will be considered a strong asset;
• Knowledge of English language is a must. Knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian will be considered an advantage.

Personal qualities:

• 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;
• Responsibility, creativity, flexibility and punctuality, ability to meet deadlines and prioritize multiple tasks.

The 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:

• Offeror’s Letter confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor assignment;
• Duly updated CV with at least 3 references;
• Proposal, explaining why he/she is most suitable for the assignment, including past experience in similar assignments, providing a brief information on above qualifications, and methodology on how he/she will approach and conduct the work;
• Financial proposal (LUMP SUM) (in USD, specifying a total requested amount per working day, including all related costs, including daily fee, travel expenses and per diems - quoted in separate line items). The travel costs to Moldova shall be indicated separately and will be covered only if the travel will be allowed in the COVID-19 context.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Financial proposal

Lump sum contracts

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables.

Payment will be made upon the successful completion of the tasks assigned and submission of the assessment report. 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 shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including fee, taxes, communication costs, travel, per diems, 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.

The travel costs to Moldova shall be indicated separately and will be covered only if the travel will be allowed in the COVID-19 context.