Procurement Notices

Consultancy Title:     Baseline Assessment Consultant

Project Name:  Addressing Climate Vulnerability in the Water Sector (ACWA) Project

Duty Station:  Remote support from Home Base.

Duration of the Contract: 40 days. Consultancy commencing no later than 19 October  2020 and completion by 11 December 2020.

Consultancy Proposal (CV & Financial proposal Template ) should be sent via email etenderbox.pacific@undp.org no later than, 7th  October 2020 (Fiji Time) clearly stating the title of consultancy applied for. Any proposals received after this date/time will not be accepted. Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to procurement.fj@undp.org. UNDP will respond in writing or by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants. Incomplete, late and joint proposals will not be considered and only offers for which there is further interest will be contacted. Failure to submit your application as stated as per the application submission guide (Procurement Notice) on the above link will be considered incomplete and therefore application will not be considered.

NOTE:

Proposals must be sent through UNDP job shop web page. Candidates need to upload their CV and financial proposal -using UNDP template

1. Daily rate to be inclusive of Medical insurance cost for the duration of the contract

1. Selected Candidate will be required to submit a proof of medical insurance prior to issuance of contract

1. If the selected/successful Candidate is over 65 years of age and required to travel outside his home country; He/She will be required provide a full medical report at their expense prior to issuance to contract. Contract will only be issued when Proposed candidate is deemed medically fit to undertake the assignment.
2. Failure to submit all the mandatory documents to the designated email (etenderbox.pacific@undp.org) will result in disqualification.

Objective:

The objective of this consultancy is to provide technical support in the preparation and conduct of the survey, analysis of survey data and writing the report to validate the project baselines set out in the project document.

Background:

The ACWA project supports the Government of Republic of the Marshall Islands (GoRMI) in adapting to increasing climate risks, particularly more frequent and extreme droughts, which impact the country’s drinking water supply.  Communities and the households in RMI primarily rely on a single water resource and supply system, which makes them highly vulnerable to risks of water shortages and drought.  Despite previous water related investments, the people of RMI still do not have year-round access to safe freshwater supply for drinking, cooking hygiene and sanitation, particularly under droughts lengthened through climate change impacts. 

The project will improve household and community rainwater harvesting and storage structures to increase resilience of water supply in all outer islands and atolls accounting for approximately 28% of RMI’s population, including 7,630 (49%) women, currently at risk. The project will also secure groundwater resources from contamination due to inundation caused by wave overtopping of seawater.

The project will strengthen the technical capacities of national and subnational institutions and key stakeholders for sustaining and replicating project results.  

The proposed project leverages domestic financing (USD 6.12 million in cash) to meet baseline water requirements to provide an essential though non-revenue generating public good. The project aligns with GoRMI’s key climate change and specifically with water sector policies and strategies and has been developed through extensive consultation with the national and local government units, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and beneficiary communities. The proposed project is aligned with RMI’s NDC and country work programme to the GCF.  The project will be implemented following UNDP’s direct implementation modality (DIM) with GoRMI’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) as the lead executive for the project.

The GCF funds will be used to improve existing rainwater harvesting systems for 158 community buildings and 2,529 households across 77 rural communities in the 24 local government jurisdictions in the outer atoll and islands. The water gap will be closed by installing new community storage tanks, new community roof catchment systems and improving existing rainwater harvesting systems for community buildings and households. Rainwater harvesting system improvements will increase the RWH system efficiency to at least 70% at households and 80% at community buildings. Existing gutters and downpipes will be renewed with high quality materials including larger round pipework 150mm in diameter. The improvements will include first flush diverters and insect screens, for improved water quality. These improvements will provide an additional 11,302m3 of water to achieve the baseline drought, as well as 9,161m3 of water to meet the climate change induce drought.

The international consultant will work with the RMI Environment Protection Agency (EPA) in developing the study approach and provide support through the conduct of the study.

Scope of work/Expected Output:

The project will hire an international consultant to provide technical support in the validation of the baselines for the project. Due to the travel ban, the consultant will be working from home base and will provide support remotely. The consultant is expected to deliver on the following:

Deliverable 1: Design a methodology including survey questionnaire that will be used in the ground survey that will be undertaken in all the 77 villages in the 24 islands.

Deliverable 2: Provide guidance to the team during the conduct of the survey, including pre-survey, during survey and post survey reviews/discussions.

Deliverable 3: Assess and analyze the survey results and provide a report on the baselines (as indicated in the project document) and to clearly articulate the new baselines based on the survey outcome.

Expected Output and Deliverables:

The expected deliverables from this consultancy are outlined in the table below:

Supervision/Reporting

The incumbent will work under the supervision of the Project Manager and RSD Team Leader at UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji. All deliverables will be approved by the National Designated Authority, RMI EPA and Project Manager before payment is made to the consultants. The consultant will be operating remotely from home and is expected to provide own resources during the assignment period.

Requirement for Qualifications & Experience

Qualifications:

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree in Water Engineering (preferable), Development Studies, environmental science, natural resource management or related field and/or at least 5 years of relevant experience.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of demonstrable experience in project management, especially in undertaking project formulation and project support;  
• Proven experience in undertaking similar work in developing countries, particularly in small island states with similar challenges to the Pacific island contexts.
• Have practical experience working in atoll, especially water security/resource management in island communities in the Pacific Islands;
• Good understanding of water security issues in the Marshall Islands.
• Proven experience in establishing good working relationships with a broad range of stakeholders (local communities, government, private sector, financial institutions, civil society, NGOs, etc.)
• Previous experience in supporting community-based development and participatory processes is desirable.
• Previous experience in water resource management is essential 
• Knowledge on and work experience in the RMI is advantageous.
• Demonstration of Strong networks amongst government, NGO’s and other stakeholders
• Previous experience undertaking similar consultancies for development agencies including UNDP
• Ability to operate in different cultural settings and with variety of stakeholders who are culturally sensitive.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English - both written and oral.

Compliance with UN Core Values:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling UN values and ethical standards
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goal of UNDP
• Displays cultural, gender, race, nationally and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Treats all people fairly and without favoritism

Evaluation

Cumulative analysis

The proposals will be evaluated using the cumulative analysis method with a split 70% technical and 30% financial scoring. The proposal with the highest cumulative scoring will be awarded the contract. Applications will be evaluated technically, and points are attributed based on how well the proposal meets the requirements of the Terms of Reference using the guidelines detailed in the table below:

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract may be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

1. responsive/compliant/acceptable
2. having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weighting; 70%

* Financial Criteria weighting; 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the Technical Evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation. Interviews may be conducted as part of technical assessment for shortlisted proposals.

No.

Deliverables/Outputs

Estimated Timeline

Amount (%)

1

Signing of contract and submission of workplan

20%

2

Submission of questionnaire tool/Completion of the survey

40%

3

Analysis of questionnaire and submission of report of updates baselines.

40%