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

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 Parliamentary Oversight with relevant experience and track record.

The Expert on Parliamentary Oversight will be directly responsible for implementing PRO activities related to improving parliamentary oversight by the VRU and its committees, including with special focus on amendments to the Rules of Procedure related to parliamentary oversight.

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:

• Design proposals on development of parliamentary oversight model with regard, inter alia, to Needs Assessment Mission and OECD/SIGMA recommendations;
• Develop policy recommendations and, where necessary, legislative amendments on parliamentary oversight in line with the NAM recommendations and other related policy proposals;
• Provide appropriate technical advice to the leadership of the VRU, VRU Secretariat and SCMU with regard to adoption and implementation of developed recommendations and legislative amendments;
• Provide support to the VRU Committees on planning and implementation of their oversight activities;
• Contribute to the preparation of the project’s progress reports and related monitoring meetings.

III. Measurable outputs of the work assignment:

PRO deliverables on Parliamentary Oversight are timely achieved, with an emphasis on measurable results and quality, and properly reported, namely:

• Typical requirements to oversight plans for VRU Committees drafted – December 2019;
• Proposals to the concept of end-to-end legislative process with regard to enhanced parliamentary oversight mechanism, and necessary legislative amendments developed – January 2020; 
• Concept of implementation of developed mechanism of enhanced parliamentary oversight drafted in cooperation with the CMU, SCMU and other stakeholders – February 2020;
• Recommendations for the unified form for the executive reports developed in cooperation with SCMU and Ministries – March 2020;
• Typical oversight plans for VRU Committees piloted for at least 2 VRU Committees – January 2020 – July 2020;
• Recommendations for implementation mechanism of post-legislative scrutiny as a part of legislative oversight developed – March 2020;
• Legislative amendments for implementation of post-legislative scrutiny mechanism drafted – March 2020;
• Analysis of implementation of the oversight plans of the 2 pilot VRU Committees – August 2020;
• Typical oversight plans for VRU Committees piloted for another 6 VRU Committees – September – October 2020;
• Analytical and methodological support for implementation of post-legislative scrutiny is provided and piloted with 2 VRU Committees – April – October 2020.

IV. Performance Indicators for evaluation of results:

• PRO activities on Parliamentary Oversight 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 on Parliamentary Oversight developed in cooperation with the VRU stakeholders (at least, 8 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, public administration, international relations;

Experience

• A minimum of three years of professional work experience in government-parliament cooperation and/or parliamentary oversight at the national and/or international level;
• A minimum of two years of experience in legislative development;
• Experience in cooperation with parliament structures would be an asset;

Languages

• Fluency in Ukrainian and working level of 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 the relevant field; 8 pts – Master’s degree in the relevant field};

-          Relevant professional experience (A minimum of three years of professional work experience in government-parliament cooperation and/or parliamentary oversight 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 experience in legislative development) – 16 points max

{16 pts – 6 years and more; 12 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 of 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=87848

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.