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National consultant to develop the National Digital Transformation Strategy of the Republic of Moldova for 2022-2030.

Vacancy Number: Pr22/02503

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	08 Jul 2022, 16:00 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	15 Jul 2022, 16:00 (GMT+2:00)
Starting date:	15 Jul 2022
Reference to the project:	Accelerating Digital Transformation in Public Sector in the Republic of Moldova
Expected Duration of Assignment:	July - October 2022, 30 working days
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online, by pressing the "Apply Online" button, no later than 08.07.2022, 16:00 GMT+3 Moldova time. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: serghei.botezatu@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 Reference-National Consultant on Digital Transformation Strategy Procurment Notice-National consultant on Digital Transformation Strategy OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR (IC) ASSIGNMENT UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Mr. Serghei Botezatu.

Background

The digital transformation is already a reality in Moldova, as the country has begun to transfer public, legal, social and civil service delivery online. Accelerated digitalization can be expected to create new business models and opportunities for digital leapfrogging in traditional industries and governance.

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the need for significant support and investments on digital transformation and effective digital governance, particularly to ensure the continuity and delivery of core government functions.

The pandemic has revealed the lack of preparedness of the public sector to quickly adapt policies and tools due to lack and low quality of data; to work remotely and online, including in delivery of social services in education, health, mobility and other sectors for specific population groups; and to adapt the performances of services for the economic sectors to the conditions induced by the crisis. 

In the past months, business continuity was severely hampered, and many government officials and staff had to continue working in their physical offices not only due to infrastructure issues, but also most importantly due to the presence and location of data and information in offline data files and paper-based systems.

While there has been much emphasis on digital tools and technologies in Moldova, digital transformation areas like policy, institutional coordination and trainings, as well as, leadership remains a significant challenge and continue to constrain effective digital transformation and economic growth. One of the underlying causes is the low digitalization of the public sector and its offer.

The Government of Moldova (GoM) remains committed to supporting political dialogue and will use this important forum towards our shared vision of developing a prosperous digital Moldova.

The new Government of the Republic of Moldova, through its Programme of actions, made digital transformation a one of the national priorities of Moldova.  The Governmental Programme acknowledges that in this period of technological change and digitalization, the state must be able to capitalize on the opportunities offered by the digital revolution and to manage the risks brought by this process. The digital transformation as envisaged by the programme aims at incorporating new digital tools in public administration to make the life of the citizens, entrepreneurs, public employees, and their communication with the state easier. As the first step, the Government initiated a large and comprehensive public consultation exercise on digital transformation, led by newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister on Digitalization. This exercise concluded the development of an Action Plan for short and medium priorities to be implemented within the scope of the mandate of the Deputy Prime Minister on Digitalization by December 2021 (as the first stage) and during the year of 2022 (as the second stage).

With Accelerating Digital Transformation in Public Sector Project (Digital Transformation Project or Project), UNDP Moldova aims to improve access to and quality of public services and business conditions through accelerated digital transformation of government processes and business model(s) and promote innovation, as well as collaborative experimentation within the Government, in the private sector, internally in UNDP Moldova, and in collaboration with external partners.

UNDP Moldova, through this Project is strategically positioned as an integrator of programmatic solutions with innovative mindset, including bringing forward digital components in supporting accelerated delivery of the SDGs.

The Project has the following objectives:

• Support transformative changes in the organizational and innovation culture in the public and private sectors and align all participants for the accelerated achievement of the Sustainable Development Agenda and national targets;
• Contribute towards streamlining innovation through engaging with the ongoing and prospective projects and seeking ways to maximize and to measure their social impact;
• Support the Digitalization of Moldova that will contribute to improved governance by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of government processes, increasing transparency and public access to governmental information – and therefore promoting accountability and public participation, and improving an innovative delivery of public services, as well as impact evaluation and strategic support to scaling-up of the successful solutions.

Scope of work

The purpose of this assignment is to support UNDP’s Digital Transformation Project and the Government in development of the National Digital Transformation Strategy of the Republic of Moldova under the Cabinet of the Deputy Prime Minister on Digitalization.

The consultant will coordinate the activity of the UNDP Expert Team and together with the Expert Team (1 local and 2 international experts) will carry out the following tasks (the specific tasks will be included in the TORs of all Expert Team members):

• Develop (together with the entire Expert Team) the first draft of the Moldova National Digital Agenda/Strategy for the period 2022-2030 in line with Government Decision 386, including but not limited to the following chapters:

o    Current digitalization situation description

o    Problem definition

o    General and specific (SMART) objectives

o    Actions to achieve the established objectives

o    Impact assessment and implementation costs

o    Expected outcomes and outputs

o    Implementation phases

o    Reporting and monitoring procedures

• Based on the strategy reviews received from other ministries, adjust (together with the entire Expert Team) the strategy and compile a synthesis of reviews and modifications. The consultant (together with the entire Expert Team) will provide all necessary explanations and links/notes to data sources.
• Assist (together with the entire Expert Team) the Government of Moldova in developing the Strategy regulatory impact assessment
• Assist (together with the entire Expert Team) the Government of Moldova in finalizing the strategy during the Government policy making procedure (including assistance before approval in the Parliament if needed).

Requirements for experience

Qualifications and Experience:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent in economics, social sciences, law or related areas. Additional training and certification in strategies design and development would be an advantage;
• At least 5 years of the senior level working experience in the design, elaboration, management and implementation of National level Strategies and roadmaps;
• Previous senior level working experience of at least 7 years in the field of digitalization, digital transformation and profound understanding of digital transformation is required;
• Experience in managing a high-level strategic teams;
• Previous senior level experience in development assistance or related work for a donor organization, governmental institutions, NGO or private sector / consulting firm is required;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.

Skills and Competencies:

• Proven capacity to produce roadmaps, transformation agendas, reports and analyses in English;
• Consistently ensures timeliness and quality of work;
• Innovative and creative thinking;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Excellent interpersonal and teamwork skills;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Ability to facilitate group processes, including when tensions arise.

Language:

• Fluency in oral and written English, Romanian and Russian.

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. Please mention in CV if you belong to the group(s) under-represented in the UN Moldova and/or the area of assignment.

Documents to be included

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

• CV, including information about past experience in similar assignments and contact details for at least 3 referees;
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• Offeror's Letter confirming Interest and Availability with financial proposal (in USD, specifying the total lump sum amount). Financial proposal template prepared in compliance with the template in Annex 2.

Important notice: The applicants who have the statute of Government Official / Public Servant prior to appointment will be asked to submit the following documentation:

• a no-objection letter in respect of the applicant received from the Government, and;
• the applicant is certified in writing by the Government to be on official leave without pay for the entire duration of the Individual Contract.

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