Procurement Notices

A.      Project Title:   BIODIVERSITY FINANCE INTIATIVE

B.        Project Description 

Since 2014, The United Nations Development Program through its Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) Project, has been supporting the Philippine Government in articulating the financial resources it needs to maintain a healthy biodiversity portfolio in-country. In particular, BIOFIN in collaboration with Department of Natural Resources Biodiversity Management Bureau has conducted the following assessments:  1) Policy and Institutional Review (PIR); 2) Public and Private Biodiversity Expenditure Review (PPBER); 3) Assessment of financial needs (cost and gap analysis of implementing Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP)).  These assessments significantly contributed to the development of a Biodiversity Finance Plan.

Based on insights gained from the results of the three BIOFIN assessments, this Plan acknowledges the importance of tapping additional financing to support the biodiversity agenda of the Philippines, mainly through its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP), referred to henceforth in this Plan as the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP). This Plan is cognizant of the parallel challenges that could not be addressed by generating financing alone: thus, the Plan transcends the focus on generating additional resources and also identifies a range of “finance solutions” that leverage finance, fiscal and economic tools and strategies to improve the outcome of biodiversity objectives in the country. Financing solutions include a range of transformative actions: generating more financing to fund the PBSAP or associated planning documents; appropriate attribution of biodiversity expenditures in the budget; attaining cost effective budget execution by eradicating overlaps in biodiversity functions; eradicating expenditures that continue to or aggravate dissipation of biodiversity resources; and paving the groundwork for a responsive policy environment through greater awareness on biodiversity and biodiversity financing and enhancing institutional support towards monitoring of PBSAP.

One of the strategies of BIOFIN is tapping biodiversity financing from the private sector. According to the UNDP, more than 40% of people around the world are now affected by water scarcity.  This is projected to increase with the rise of global temperatures as a result of climate change.  Further, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and are now more than 50% higher than their 1990 level.  Businesses are now seen as a leading catalyst for social and environmental progress as they have the capital, platform, technology and resources needed to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions at scale.  The restoration of water ecosystems including the efficient management of resources and the reduction of waste and pollutants – all these challenges are now being addressed by the private sector and have even become integral business targets for some companies.

Relatedly, BIOFIN’s private sector finance solutions are aimed at contributing to UNDP Country Office’s (CO) private sector strategy. To date, UNDP CO is yet to develop its private sector strategy. Outputs from this engagement will feed into the biodiversity financing pillar of the CO’s private sector strategy.

 C.        Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Project Manager and the Senior Technical Advisor, the Sustainable Financing Specialist shall:

1. Undertake a review of BIOFIN’s private sector strategy and recommend priority private sector finance solutions that can be strengthened and/or scaled-up given the remaining project timeline and resources
2. Undertake a comprehensive assessment of private sector-related biodiversity financing landscape in the Philippines, including:
3. Map-out existing private sector biodiversity investments, including but not limited to:
4. initiatives undertaken by international funding organizations, e.g., World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB) and International Finance Corporation, among others;
5. characterize biodiversity financing products/portfolios of commercial and development finance institutions, including ratio of BD finance products to total portfolios;  and existing clients of these financing products/portfolios;
6. current/existing private sector biodiversity financing initiavies, specifying nature and scale of engagement and funding sources of the private sector in biodiversity financing, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and  corporations;
7. Extent of biodiversity financing by private sector in relation to total portfolio, e.g., bank portfolios;  
8. Assess facilitating and prohibiting factors for finance  sector participation in biodiversity financing, i.e., determining (i) why they are investing and/or why not;  (ii) reasons why they are not investing as much; (iii) kinds of programmes/activities most attractive to private sector and reasons for these; and (iv) factors that will motivate the private sector and financing institutions to increase their investments.
9. In collaboration with the Policy Specialist, assess policy architecture of biodiversity financing among commercial and development finance institutions in the Philippines, including:  (i) identification of existing frameworks such as UNEP’s Principles for Responsible Banking, UNDP’s SDG Finance Framework (https://v2.sdgfin.org/our-offer/),  policies, guidelines and Department Orders, among others, that support leveraging biodiversity financing from commercial and development finance institutions; (ii) determination of policy gaps, including incentive systems and institutional landscapes, that prevent commercial and development finance institutions from developing and deploying biodiversity-related financing instruments and also those that discourage related sectors from accessing these financing instruments, e.g. MSMEs who value chains involve nature-based inputs and/or scaling-up investments on biodiversity conservation along the value chain streams; (iii) development of policy recommendations that will help in de-risking biodiversity financing-related instruments and increase uptake of said instruments;
10. In collaboration with the Policy Specialist, assess policy and institutional landscapes related to biodiversity-related Public-Private Partnerships, impact investments and blended finance. Through this work, the Sustainable Finance Specialist will identify existing policies that provide opportunities for PPP, impact investments and blended finance to achieve PBSAP targets.
11. Undertake a review of international best practices of finance sector biodiversity financing, cull-out lessons learned from the development and implementation of these private sector-related biodiversity financing and recommend applicable strategies and interventions that can be implemented in the Philippines to improve biodiversity financing;
12. Provide recommendations on how private sector biodiversity financing can be improved within the Philippine context, specifying: (i) menu of options on biodiversity project ideas that will attract private sector financing, given the PBSAP targets, under the different private sector participation modalities, e.g., Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), PPP, impact investments and blended financing, among others, and taking into account different resource use types; (ii) types of private sector entities where there is high potential of participating in biodiversity financing; and (iii) appropriate biodiversity financing instruments that can be developed and/or promoted, if already existing, by commercial and development financial institutions;  
13. Taking-off from the results of the biodiversity financing landscape assessment, develop the shared language for SDGs 14 (life below water) and15 (life on land) in relation to increasing biodiversity financing, reporting and standard framework through:
14.  Articulation of country-level SDG 14 and 15 targets based on PBSAP priorities, benchmarks/baselines and targets
15. For key business industries and sectors that that have the biggest potential to contribute to BD financing, develop Key Result Areas (KRAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)  of specific businesses and standard translation of performance metrics into SGD 14 and 15 and PBSAP contributions to provide verified evidences to shareholders, prospective investors, regulatory agencies and other interested parties; and
16. Creation of a robuts M and E mechanism for the consolidation of the company contribution data based on the agreed KRs and KPIs
17. Review BIOFIN’s private sector strategy and recommend necessary necessary enhancements or recalibration, if any.
18. Lead stakeholder engagements and consultations, as applicable;
19. Based on the Lead Consultant’s impact investment study with the Development Bank of the Philippines, develop a financial product design/portfolio appropriate for the Bank’s clients;
20. Attend relevant project meetings and workshops/exercises; and
21. Submit report/s as may be required by UNDP and BMB

D.        Expected Outputs and Deliverables

E.    Institutional Arrangement

The Project Manager shall directly supervise the Sustainable Financing Specialist and approve his/her output.

The Sustainable Financing Specialist is expected to liaise/interact/collaborate/meet with the national and global (as necessary) BIOFIN project team, DENR BMB and UNDP.  As needed, the project staff shall provide administrative assistance to her/him in order for her/him to accomplish all requirements.

Based on the table above, outputs will be submitted to UNDP and BMB through the Project Manager in the dates indicated. 

F.            Duration of the Work

The expected duration of work is estimated at 125 person days spread over 6 months.  The target date for the start of work is September 1, 2020 and the completion date is March 2, 2021 

G.    Duty Station

The Sustainable Financing Specialist is not expected to report on a daily basis to the Project Management Office based in BMB in Quezon City but shall be available on an on-call basis.  

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and declaration of State of Public Health Emergency in the Philippines, all work and travel of the Individual consultant shall be done within the guidelines and protocols set by the local and national government. Field work, trainings, meetings, and coordination shall be done in compliance with community quarantine policies.

Corporate competencies

• Preferably with sufficient knowledge of UNDP and BMB and some level of familiarity with its operations

Functional and technical competencies

• Leading and supervising
• Formulating strategies and concepts
• Relating and networking
• Persuading and influencing
• Applying technical expertise

Required Skills and Experience

         Only those who will pass each minimum criterion and obtain 70 out of 100 obtainable points will be shortlisted and considered qualified. Please make sure your CV reflects the following minimum qualifications.

The combined scoring method where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted 30% shall be adopted.

I.    Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The financial proposals from possible candidates should be expressed in lump sum amount inclusive of all financial costs related to this engagement (daily fee X number of working days, insurance, communication and internet expenses, supplies & materials, reproduction, etc.).  Travel expenses to project-related meetings and workshops outside of Metro Manila shall be paid for by the Project based on UNDP guidelines, and subject to national and local government guidelines on quarantine and travel.

Medical/health insurance must be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense, and upon award of contract, the consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during contract duration.

The Payment terms are as follows:

J. Recommended Presentation of Offer

The following documents are requested:

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by 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; and
3. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs (see I. Scope of Price Proposal), 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. 

Offerors must upload in one (1) file the aforementioned documents (see J. Recommended Presentation of Offer) on the following website:

https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=93399

Templates for a) P11 Personal History Form and b)  Offeror's Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability are available through the link below. UNDP General Terms and Conditions for Individual Contractors  are also available:

http://gofile.me/6xdJm/bE9TCw8fU

Incomplete submission of required documents may result in disqualification.

Please see deadline of submissions above.

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