Procurement Notices

Project Title: Support Services to the K-12 Basic Education Program of the Department of Education of the Philippines

Background: 

The project intends to provide development support services to the Department of Education (DepEd), in the course of its implementation of their 2016 K to 12 Basic Education Program and is funded from the Philippine Government budget, based on the allocations of the General Appropriations Act (GAA) of 2016.  Within this project, UNDP will provide development and technical support services to DepEd in accordance with UNDP regulations, rules, policies and procedures as required by the Approved Procurement Plan and Budget agreed between UNDP and DepEd.   On 23 March 2016, UNDP and DepEd formally signed an agreement whereby UNDP will procure the following goods and services for DepED:

• Lot 1 : SHS Regular Package (Standalone) – supply and installation of 184  packages of ICT equipment (7 PCs, UPS, printers, AVRs, accessories etc.) for 184 public schools offering Senior High School which is 99% completed with the remaining school in ARMM for remote installation;
• Lot 2 : SHS Special Package (arts & design, technical drafting, illustration TVL, programming, medical transcription TVL) + Pen Tablet – supply and installation of 889 packages of ICT equipment (each consisting of 51 PCs and UPS, printer, AVTs, accessories, etc.) for 889 public schools offering specialized senior high school program. This lot is in its final stages of completion with all packages delivered on March 20, 2017. Installation is 77% completed and will be finished by April 17, 2017;
• Lot 3 : Division Offices IT Equipment – supply and installation of13,042 units of ICT equipment for 209 Division offices of DepEd nationwide completed in October 10, 2016; and
• Lot 4 : Package for Unenergized Public Schools – supply and installation of 4,401 solar power system to power laptops and tablets for 4,401 public elementary and high schools in areas without electricity nationwide. This package is currently under evaluation.

The signing of the supply contract for the 4th Lot is just about to commence in April 2017.   Once the contract comes into effect, UNDP will require the services of a Technical Expert to supplement the Country Office’s capacity to monitor the works that will be completed by the contractor.

Scope of Services:

Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Democratic Governance (DG) Programme Manager, and working closely with the DepED Project Manager, the Technical Expert is expected to provide technical advisory support to UNDP in the course of the implementation of Lot 4, including, but not limited to the performance of the following tasks:

• Conduct pre-shipment inspection and testing of the goods at the manufacturer’s sites, central and/or local consolidation warehouses, to ensure full compliance of the equipment sourced with the technical specifications and quality standards requested in the ITB and approved in the Purchase Order, and submit reports of findings on all such inspections;
• Conduct random supervision and spot checking of ongoing installation works, aimed at assessing the construction standards and practices of the contractor vis-à-vis the requirements under the contract;
• Identify concerns, risks or challenges that may be observed during the implementation of the project and communicate the findings and proposed risk mitigation measures / solutions to both the Contractor and the DG Programme Manager in a timely manner;
• Conduct the testing and commissioning of the completed Solar Power Systems installation at any and all location, prepare reports of any deviations found and make recommendations as to the proper rectifications that need to be undertaken, prior to confirming the final acceptance of the works, and authorizing the final payments;
• Participate in technical follow-up meetings and periodic coordination meetings that will be held between UNDP and DepEd, or UNDP and the contractor, as may be necessary, for purposes of tracking the status or progress of the contract implementation; and
• Provide UNDP with technical advice on ad hoc basis during the entire implementation of the project, especially during the installation phase as well as the Warranty and Technical Support period.

Estimated Start Date and Duration of the Assignment:

The Technical Expert is expected to be engaged by mid April 2017 through a non-exclusive Individual Contract (IC). The IC is intended for on-call intermittent engagement for a maximum of 60 working days spread over a period of 17 months, subject to extension based on satisfactory performance review. During this period, specific service requests (also known as call-offs) can be placed by UNDP at any time, in the form of issuance of Purchase Orders, indicating the total cost of the services for the duration of the call-off, which shall be based on the daily fee of the Technical Expert.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

Every time a request for services arises, UNDP will provide specific outputs and deliverables to the selected Technical Expert in line with the generic tasks outlined in Scope of services, and a Purchase Order will be issued to the Technical Expert to initiate the rendering of service, detailing the time frame, and the expected value of the services during the call-off.

Duty station:

The technical expert shall be home-based, except when called to attend meetings and/or conduct inspections, either within Metro Manila or in other regions within The Philippines where the Lot 4 implementation is ongoing.

Qualifications:

Education:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or Electrical Engineering.  Academic degree/course or special training with specific focus on Renewable Energy is definitely an advantage.

Work experience:

• Minimum five (5) years of professional relevant experience working in solar power systems, especially in the environment of developing countries;
• At least 3 years of experience working in large scale and institutional solar power or related development projects in the Philippines;
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience in the development and design of Solar Power Systems/solutions, technical specifications, as well as the national and international markets for solar technologies;
• Relevant experiences working with government agencies and financial institutions will be an asset.

Language requirements:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of the local language is an asset, but not strictly required, since the duty station is an English-speaking country.
• Communicates effectively to varied audiences, including during formal public speaking, and in writing reports using the English language.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The Technical Expert is to be compensated based on a daily fee payable upon satisfactorily completion of each Deliverable and submission of related reports during every call-off.  

Payments shall be made following certification by the DG Programme Manager that the services related to each Deliverable have been satisfactorily performed and the Deliverables have been achieved by or before the due dates specified in the call-off. 

The Technical Expert’s performance will be evaluated against the following criteria:

1. meeting TOR requirements,
2. timeliness of work completion and report submission,
3. work relations with contractors and other project counterparts,
4. dependability / reliability in carrying out the assignments.

Recommended Presentation of Offer:

Applicants are requested to submit/upload in one file the following documents:

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability that indicates professional fee only, as per template provided; If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP;
2. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references; 

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

The offers that will be received shall be evaluated based on the Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%.

Application requirements may be emailed to procurement.ph@undp.org on or before 16 April 2017, Midnight New York, USA time.

In view of the volume of applications UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.