Overview : TERMS OF REFERENCE Location | Solomon Islands | Application deadline | 12th April 2019 | Consultancy Title | Solomon Islands National Provident Fund (SINPF) Insurance Expert | Type of Contract | Individual Contractor | Post Level | International Consultant | Languages required: | English | Duration of Initial Contract: | 35 days |
BACKGROUND The Solomon Islands shares similar climate and disaster characteristics with its Pacific neighbors who are prone to natural disasters such as flooding, earthquakes, cyclones and tsunamis. The availability of appropriate and affordable insurance cover in these situations can play an important part in helping people and businesses to increase their levels of resilience and safeguard life and property. However, according to the Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme’s 2015 Demand Side Study, Solomon Islands only has a 7% level of insurance penetration of the adult population, and this is lower than its main Pacific counterparts in the region. The Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme is part of the United Nations Capital development Fund (UNCDF). Through the country’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2016-2020, the Central Bank of the Solomon Islands (CBSI) plans to increase insurance penetration to at least 20%, via the introduction of new products such as microinsurance and by potentially issuing insurance licenses to new service providers. In response to this, the SINPF is looking at participating directly in the insurance market or via a partnership agreement or distribution agreement with an existing insurance company to provide insurance products and schemes to its members. The SINPF was established by the Solomon Islands Government under the National Provident Fund Act 1973 commencing its operations on the 1st October 1976 as a mandatory superannuation saving scheme, focusing primarily on employees in the formal employment sector. Recently the SINPF has set up a scheme that allows people in the informal employment sector to make contributions to the SINFP. The SINPF is headquartered in Honiara and has two branches - one in Auki, Malaita province and the other in Gizo, Western Province Being the custodian of members funds, the SINPF’s primary role is to manage, grow and invest member funds in the financial markets to meet retirement liabilities of its over 130,000 members (60,000 of whom are actively remitting monthly savings). In 2017, the PFIP supported SINPF in developing a voluntary savings scheme for the informal sector, known as “youSave”. From the pilot test success, youSave was integrated into g the SINPF’s standard offerings, and is now being scaled at national levels to reach all nine provinces of the Solomon Islands Insurance Concepts: A December 2017 actuarial report recommended that SINPF considers transferring its mortality and incapacity risk to an insurance company. Further, during the Parliament’s Bills and Legislation Committee sessions in November 2018 relating to the SINPF Act (amendment), it was recommended that the SINPF Board conducts a study for the possibility of establishing an insurance company, either on its own or in partnership with others, to provide insurance cover for health, life and other insurance products to its members and the general public. PFIP has been engaged by the CBSI to provide support in addressing this requirement. This TOR is designed to solicit for the services of an experienced and knowledgeable insurance expert to assess the options and mechanisms for the SINPF to provide insurance. This stage of the work will be limited to the provision of insurance to existing SINPF members and future members. The concept of looking at SINPF as a licenced insurance provider, supplying a range of insurances to the wider public, falls outside of this TOR, and will be considered at a later stage. |
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Scope of Work The following are the deliverables under this assignment; - Institutional and market assessment. Conduct an institutional and market assessment of SINPF and of the insurance sector players on the potential of SINPF to provide insurance cover and products to its members and the general community of Solomon Islands. Through this institutional assessment, and market assessment, the expert will consider the follow hypothesis with backed up with justifications;
- That SINPF is in position of setting up of its own Independent insurance company and sustainably manage its operations (to be accompanied with a proposed organization/management structure)
- That SINPF should consider partnership (for example shareholding) with an established insurance company legally operating in the Solomon Islands or within the pacific region (to be accompanied with leads and initial discussions to be picked up by SINPF senior management)
- That SINPF should consider working with an existing insurance company to provide insurance cover and products to its members.
- Through market engagement with existing members, SINPF staff and key stakeholders, conduct an insurance types and products assessment with recommendation to SINPF for appropriate insurance type and product mix offerings to provide to its members and potential wider community of Solomon Islands. This must be accompanied with a product development, evolution plan and operational mechanisms.
- For sustainability purposes, develop business cases for insurance provision based on each of the hypothesis scenarios provided in scope 1 (above)
- Based on the selected hypothesis, support the SINPF in designing an implementation plan of providing insurance cover and products to its members and possible wider community.
Expected Outputs and Deliverables The expected deliverables from each of the aforesaid activities are shown below. Activity | Deliverable | | Level of Effort | Phase 1: Data Collection and Diagnostic | Planning Project orientation and kick off meeting. Hold initial discussions with PFIP | Agreed workplan submitted PFIP | | 2 days | Data collection Perform desk research. Conduct an in country institutional and market assessment on how SINPF could provide insurance products and schemes to its existing members’ based on the three concepts stated within the project scope. | Data collection on the SINPF, insurance companies and other entities, to support a the institutional and market assessment. Collation of statistics, Stakeholder interviews. | | 15 days | Phase 2 Concept Evaluation | Business Case Assessment Assessment of each concept and production of business case scenarios and recommendations. This is to be done on the basis of evidence- based approach once types of products suitable for the market are identified (minimum 3 products) The assessment is to include technical, operational and economic aspects and comment on strategy, product, distribution, marketing, administration, governance, financials and staff resources. | Draft report to PFIP. Follow up discussions with PFIP and SINPF. | | 15 days | Reporting Production of final report. Make report edits as needed incorporating verbal and written feedback from PFIP and SINPF. Production of final report.. | Final report to PFIP. Presentation of project findings and recommendations to a joint audience of PFIP, SINPF and other country stakeholders | | 3 days | |
Institutional Arrangement The consultant will report directly to the Financial Inclusion Specialist – Solomon Islands, PFIP The Financial Inclusion Specialist will be responsible for approval of outputs after consulting the Regional Inclusive Insurance Specialist The consultant will work closely with designated officers from SINPF and liaise with the PFIP Regional Insurance Technical Specialist (based in Suva) as needed. Duration of the Work The assignment is planned for a total of 35 working days covering both in-country and home based Duty Station The Duty Station will be Honiara, Solomon Islands |
COMPETENCIES - Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
- Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities skills;
- Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
- Excellent report writing skills
- Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
- Proficiency in the use of office IT applications and internet in conducting research;
- Outstanding communication, project management and organizational skills;
- Positive, constructive attitude to work;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
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REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE Educational Qualifications: The consultants should at the minimum possess the following: - 1. Insurance certification at Associate level of the UK Chartered Insurance Institute, or equivalent
- 2. A Master’s qualification in business, finance, insurance, economics or a related discipline is desirable
- 3. Knowledge and experience of core technical insurance subjects, product development, insurance distribution channel management and leading cross-functional teams
- 4. Experience of conducting institutional capacity assessments, partnerships.
- 5.Good English language ability, analytical and reporting skills
- 6. Must be able to bring strategic and operational thought leadership whilst working with the local SINPF team.
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Language requirements - Fluency of English language is required;
Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages: - Deliverable 1: Signing of contract by both parties, draft inception report with workplan: 20% of total contract amount
- Deliverable 2: Document reviews, stakeholder interviews/consultations, in-country meetings, report on market assessment and recommendations on the most appropriate route for SINPF: 30% of total contract amount
- Deliverable 3; Business case analysis for three products developed: 30% of total contract amount
- Deliverable 4 Final report covering all the outputs/deliverables from 1 to 3: 20% of total contract amount
In general, UNDP shall 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 event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. Evaluation Method and Criteria Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology… Cumulative analysis The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment. Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points) Criteria 1: Master’s qualifications – 5 points - Criteria 2: Insurance Diploma, Certificate- 5 points
- Criteria 3: 5 years of working experience in insurance industry at managerial levels: 20 points
- Criteria 4: Minimum 3 years or 2 projects for conducting institutional assessments related to insurance, product development, distribution channel management: Max 20 points
- Criteria 5: Sound well-researched methodology covering required business case analysis and strategy planning to SINPF management- Max 20 points
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation. Documentation required Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document: - Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex II.
- 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.
- Technical proposal, including a) a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; and b) a methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment.
- Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II. Note: National consultants must quote prices in United States Dollars (USD).
Incomplete proposals may not be considered. Annexes - Annex I - Individual IC General Terms and Conditions
- Annex II – Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual IC, including Financial Proposal Template
Proposal Submission For further information concerning this Terms of Reference, please contact: Krishnan Narasimhan, Deputy Programme Manager - PFIP, UNDP Pacific Office Fiji, Suva, on e-mail krishnan.narasimhan@uncdf.org / telephone (679) 3227520. Completed proposals should be submitted to etenderbox.pacific@undp.org no later than 5pm (Fiji Time) 12th April 2019. Incomplete applications will not be considered, and only candidates for whom there is further interest will be contacted |
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