UNDP Ukraine invites applications from highly qualified and experienced Ukrainian professionals for the post of the Expert of the Parliamentary Reform Office on Legislative Planning and Monitoring.

I. Background Information on the Project:

The EU-UNDP Parliamentary Reform Project (PRP) is aimed at strengthening the functioning of the Ukrainian Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, its working bodies, MPs and Secretariat (VRU), to become a progressively more effective, accountable and transparent institution in carrying out its constitutional responsibilities of legislation, oversight, and representation with positive influence on the overall process of EU-Ukraine Association Agreement implementation. The project strategy is aligned with the priorities of the EU’s Single Support Framework for Ukraine 2018 – 2020, the Government of Ukraine – UN Partnership Framework 2018–2022, and the UNDP Country Programme Document 2018 – 2022. It is built on achievements and lessons learnt of the EU-UNDP Rada for Europe project (2016-2018) and will continue to support parliamentary reform, including through promoting the implementation of the recommendations of the 2016 Needs Assessment Mission (NAM). For the continuation of parliamentary reform, top level leadership and political ownership is key, which will be assured through continuous high-level consultations with relevant stakeholders and full transparency of project implementation.

The project is an EU-funded initiative strongly connected to UNDP’s Democratic Governance Programme and comprises of three components. Component One, #Rada4Reforms, will focus on fostering the parliament’s role in the overall reform process with a particular emphasis on improvement of the legislative process and parliamentary oversight, by providing comprehensive expert support to the implementation of the VRU Roadmap for Internal Reform and Capacity Building, improving the quality draft law expertise and impact assessment, and enhancing parliamentary monitoring.

Component Two, #RadaPro, will support the professional modernization of the parliamentary Secretariat, through the finalisation and implementation of its strategic development plan and comprehensive human resource development, including in the Committee Secretariats, along the lines of broader public administration reform (PAR) and the law “On Civil Service”.

Component Three, #Transparent&Service-OrientedRada, by making use of new technologies for communications, civic education and participation in coherence will build stronger transparency and accountability links between parliament and citizens with special focus of increasing public trust to the Ukrainian Parliament.

To provide more targeted support to parliamentary reforms the Parliamentary Reform Office (PRO) is established within the EU-UNDP Parliamentary Reform Project, serving as an advisory group to the Leadership and Secretariat of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (VRU) under the general supervision of the VRU Chairperson. PRO operates based on the Resolution of the Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On Parliamentary Reform Office” and provides support to parliamentary reforms aimed at strengthening the functioning of the Ukrainian Parliament, including its Secretariat , as a progressively more effective, accountable and transparent institution in carrying out its constitutional responsibilities of legislation, oversight, and representation with positive influence on the overall process of EU-Ukraine Association Agreement implementation.

In this context, the United Nations Development Programme is recruiting an Expert of the Parliamentary Reform Office on Legislative Process and Legal Drafting with relevant experience and track record.

The Expert of the Parliamentary Reform Office on Legislative Process and Legal Drafting will be directly responsible for implementing PRO activities related to legislative and normative amendments within VRU Secretariat, including with special focus on amendments to the Rules of procedures related to legislative process, and legal drafting.

II. Duties and Responsibilities:

Under the coordination of PRO Deputy Head on Legislative Process and Parliamentary Oversight and operational supervision of the Project Specialist on Legislative Process and Parliamentary Oversight as well as in close cooperation with appointed officials of the VRU Secretariat, the incumbent will perform the following functions:

• Provide legal due diligence on draft laws on amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine, Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Ukraine, Rules of Procedure of the Cabinet of Ministers and other relevant to Parliamentary reform laws and secondary legislation;
• Develop policy recommendations and, where necessary, draft legislative amendments on parliamentary legislative process in line with the NAM recommendations and other related policy proposals;
• Provide appropriate expert advice to the leadership of the VRU and VRU Secretariat about adoption and implementation of developed recommendations, legislative amendments, Action plans, proposals, methodological recommendations;
• Provide overall high-quality legal drafting and, where necessary, drafting of legal amendments to ensure implementation of PRO-developed proposals;
• Contribute to the preparation of the project’s progress reports and related monitoring meetings.

III. Measurable outputs of the work assignment:

PRO deliverables on strengthening legislative process are timely achieved, with an emphasis on measurable results and quality, and properly reported, namely (but not limited to):

• Concept of end-to-end legislative process in cooperation with the VRU, CMU and other stakeholders developed – December 2019;
• Amendments to the legislation for implementation of end-to-end legislative process drafted – January 2020;
• Recommendations to ensure coherence of the VRU-CMU requirements for legislative drafting prepared – February 2020;
• Methodological support to the MPs and their assistants on updated requirements for legislative drafting provided – March – October 2020;
• Recommendations on enhancing cooperation on legislative development prepared with relevant legislative amendments to Rules of Procedure of VRU, Rules of Procedure of the CMU and other relevant laws and secondary legislation– April 2020;
• Methodological and expert support to the MPs and their assistants on new legislative development requirements provided – May-October 2020;
• Legal drafting for implementation of post-legislative scrutiny proposals properly provided – May 2020.

IV. Performance Indicators for evaluation of results:

• PRO activities on legislative process are implemented in a timely fashion with an emphasis on measurable results and quality, and properly reported;
• Number of policy papers, thematic briefs, pieces of legislation, amendments on Legislative Processes developed in cooperation with the VRU stakeholders (at least, 6 developed);
• Timely submission of the regular performance reports.

V.  Monitoring / reporting requirements:

Work-progress reporting/monitoring meetings will be held with the consultant on a regular basis. UNDP will be the final authority to control the quality and evaluate the work. No reports or documents should be published or distributed to third parties without approval of UNDP.

The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Project Specialist on Legislative Process and Parliamentary Oversight

The consultant will interact with UNDP Programme Coordinator and CO staff to receive any clarifications and guidance that may be needed. He/she will also receive all necessary informational and logistical support from UNDP Country Office and the Project. On a day-to-day basis, consultant’s work will be supervised by the Specialist on Legislative Process and Parliamentary Oversight.

The satisfactory completion of each of the deliverables shall be subject to endorsement of the Programme Coordinator.

The Consultant will duly inform UNDP of any problems, issues or delays arising in the course of implementation of assignment and take necessary steps to address them.

All reports and results are to be submitted to the UNDP in electronic form (*.docx, *.xlsx, *.pptx, and *.pdf or other formats accepted by UNDP).

VI. Experience and qualification requirements

Education

• At least Master’s degree or equivalent in law;

Experience

• A minimum of three years of professional work experience in legislative development process at the national and/or international level;
• A minimum of two years of legislative drafting (draft laws);
• Experience in cooperation with parliament structures would be an asset;

Languages

• Fluency in Ukrainian and working level in English is required

Skills

• Excellent writing, communication and organization skills;
• Mature judgment combined with a proactive approach to problem solving; excellent interpersonal and communication skills;
• Integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Strong organizational and time management skills;
• Ability to work in team;
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines;
• Familiarity with the parliamentary reform and good understanding of policy making cycle;
• Excellent analytical skills.

Corporate competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism;
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

VII. Documents to be included when submitting the proposals

Applicants shall submit the following documents:

VIII. Financial proposal

 Contracts based on daily fee

The financial proposal will specify the daily fee and payments will be made to the Individual Consultant based on the number of days worked.

Travel costs

Should any travel be necessary in connection to this TOR, UNDP will reimburse the expenses based on the duly authorized travel details, including travel and per diems.  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.

IX. Evaluation criteria

-          Educational background – 10 points max

{10 pts – PhD degree in law; 8 pts – Master’s degree in law};

-          Relevant professional experience (A minimum of three years of professional work experience in legislative development process at the national and/or international level) – 35 points max

{35 pts – 7 years and more; 32 pts – 5-6 years; 28 pts – 3-4 years);

-          Relevant expertise (A minimum of two years of legislative drafting (draft laws) – 16 points max

{16 pts – 6 years and more; 13 pts – 4-5 years; 9 pts – 2-3 years};

-          Prior experience in cooperation with parliament structures – 3 points max

{3 pts - 1 year and more, 0 pts – less than 1 year};

-          Language Skills – 6 points max

{6 pts – Fluency in English and Ukrainian, 4 pts – fluency in Ukrainian and working level in English};

Maximum available technical score - 70 points.

X. Evaluation method

 Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight: 70%

* Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.

Additional requirements for recommended contractor:

Recommended contractors aged 62 and older shall undergo a full medical examination, including x-ray, and obtain medical clearance from the UN-approved doctor prior to taking up their assignment. The medical examination shall be paid by the consultant.

The Basic Security in the Field II and Advanced Security in the Field courses must be successfully completed prior to commencement of contract.

This is a locally recruited position and no expatriation benefits will apply.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS 15 October 2019.

If you wish to apply for this or other positions with UNDP, please visit UNDP in Ukraine website, section Jobs and apply online:

https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=87845

UNDP will use a transparent and competitive screening process, though will only contact those applicants in whom there is further interest. Applications may only be submitted for specific vacancy. Qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply.