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National legal consultant to develop the Regulation on conditions of individual disconnection from/reconnection to the Centralized Thermal Energy Supply System and its ex-ante assessment (emergency support).

Vacancy Number: Pr22/02510

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	14 Jul 2022, 16:30 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	22 Jul 2022, 16:30 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	18 Jul 2022
Reference to the project:	Energy Security/FPI
Expected Duration of Assignment:	31 September 2022
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Online" button, no later than 14 July 16:30 (Moldova local time). Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: veronica.lopotenco@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 Procurement Notice OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR (IC) ASSIGNMENT UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Ms. Veronica Lopotenco.

Background

Regulation on way of providing and paying the housing services, communal and non-communal services for housing, metering of apartments and conditions for disconnection from/reconnection to heating systems and water supply (GD nr. 191/2002[1]), Annex 7, established the conditions for individual disconnection from/reconnection to heating system. Pts. 8 - 8⁴ and 8⁶ establish the amount to be paid (considering different scenarios) for heating services by consumers that were disconnected from heating system. Particularly, it referred to the obligation of consumers to pay a predetermined percentage (5-10%) in case of complete disconnection made of the apartment from the district heating

On 3^rd March 2022, Constitutional Court (CC) of the Republic of Moldova adopted the Decision 4 as of 3 March 2022[2]. By this Decision, pts. 8 - 8⁴ and 8⁶ of Annex 7 of the Regulation mentioned above were declared unconstitutional. The Court also found that the immediate application of this judgment would allow for an unbalanced distribution of payments, including for common areas, in cases of full or partial disconnection from the district heating. For this reason, in order to avoid the consequences, the Court considered it necessary to apply its judgment starting with 1^st May 2022.

In this regard, the Court requested the Government to regulate a mechanism for the payment of heating services in the case of apartments disconnected from the district heating in accordance with the reasoning of the Constitutional Court Decision nr. 4 as of 3 March 2022.

Considering this Court’s request, Ministry had created a working group, approved through the Ministry’s Order no. 84 of May 26, 2022, which is responsible for drafting the Methodology for the distribution of volumes and the cost of thermal energy delivered between consumers of a residential block, as well as the draft Regulation on the conditions of individual disconnection / reconnection from / to the heating system. The working group consists of representatives from Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development, National Regulator, Public Property Agency, Energy Efficiency Agency, CHPs, Technical University of Moldova and Institute of Power Engineering.

Working Group decided the need of development of the following documents that will support the process of reviewing the regulatory framework related to the distribution of volumes and the cost of thermal energy delivered between consumers of a residential block:

1. the Study on the distribution of thermal energy consumption in residential blocks in which some of the apartments are disconnected from the Centralized Thermal Energy Supply System (CTESS);
2. the Methodology of distribution of the volume and cost of thermal energy among the consumers of a residential block;
3. draft normative act/draft Regulation on conditions of individual disconnection from/reconnection to the Centralized Thermal Energy Supply System and its ex-ante assessment.

For details, please refer to the Terms of Reference.

[1] https://www.legis.md/cautare/getResults?doc_id=130553&lang=ro#

[2] https://www.constcourt.md/ccdocview.php?tip=hotariri&docid=800&l=ro

Scope of work

The objective of the assignment is to provide support to the Government of Moldova/MoIRD to regulate a mechanism for the payment of heating services in the case of apartments disconnected from the district heating in accordance with the reasoning of the Constitutional Court Decision nr. 4 as of 3 March 2022, by drafting and support the promotion for adoption of the Regulation on conditions of individual disconnection from/reconnection to the Centralized Thermal Energy Supply System and conducting its ex-ante assessment.

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

Requirements for experience

I.Education: 

• Advanced degree (Master or equivalent, or Ph.D.) in law, energy, engineering or other related fields is required. 

II.Experience: 

• At least 4 years of proven professional experience in legal acts drafting;
• At least 3 years of relevant professional experience of engagement with a large variety of stakeholders (central public authorities, academia, CSO, private sector, etc.);
• Experience with proven records in the preparation of analyses of the impact assessment (RIA, ex-ante, or related) of legal acts, policies;
• Experience with proven records regarding the regulatory framework on the conditions of connection to/disconnection from the Central Heating System;
• Previous experience in development assistance or related work for a donor organization, development partners, UN Agencies.

III.Competencies: 

• Excellent facilitation, public presentation and diplomatic skills;
• Ability to achieve results and deadlines in a timely manner, maintaining a high standard throughout;
• 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;
• Computer proficiency, including knowledge of MS Office products (Word, Power Point) and electronic communication platforms such as Microsoft Teams, ZOOM, Google meet;
• Ability to work with Government representatives, demonstrated by previous assignments;
• Fluency in written and spoken Romanian is required for this assignment. Good level of English and Russian will be an advantage.

Documents to be included

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

1. Proposal, explaining why he/she is most suitable for the work, 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, considering the Constitutional Court Decision nr. 4 as of 3 March 2022 and its effects.
2. OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR (IC) ASSIGNMENT
3. CV, including information about experience in similar assignments with at least 3 references. 

Financial proposal

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).

Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal, if applicable. 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.