Formulation of Kiribati National E-commerce Strategy
Procurement Process
IC - Individual contractor
Office
Fiji - FIJI
Deadline
16-Aug-21
Published on
29-Jul-21
Reference Number
81369
Overview
Reference No. | PN/FJI/055/21 |
Consultancy Title | Formulation of Kiribati National E-commerce Strategy |
Application deadline | 16th August 2021 |
Duty Station | Ministry of Commerce, Industries and Cooperatives (MCIC) – Betio, Tarawa |
Type of Contract | Individual Contractor |
Post Level | National Consultant |
Languages required: | English |
Duration of Initial Contract: | 4 Months (80 Working Days) |
- BACKGROUND
Kiribati consist of 32 atoll islands scattered in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a population of 119,438 (2020 Census)[1]. The country’s national development agenda is encapsulated in the 20-year Vision Development Plan known as the KV20. The KV20 is Kiribati’s long-term development blueprint for the period 2016-2036.The development blue print aims to transform Kiribati into a wealthier, healthier, and peaceful nation. The KV20 is founded on four pillars: Wealth, Peace and Security, Infrastructure, and Governance. The KV20 also recognizes Kiribati’s vulnerability to climate change as a key constraint to its development. Pillar 3 of the KV20, seeks to improve Information Communication Technology (ICT) access to facilitate connectivity and accessibility to economic infrastructure. Improving national ICT infrastructure is expected to support and enhance other drivers of sustainable economic growth. Better utilization of ICT in the public service, including through innovation and creativity, is recognised as a key ingredient to strengthening capability of public service to achieve high efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and productivity. The National ICT Policy adopted by government in 2019 has recognised ICT as a key enabler to improving economic and social developments and with innovative new technologies to filling the gaps in service coverage. It also maps out plan to develop E-government, E-commerce and digital infrastructure in line with the broader objectives of the KV20. The government through the KV20 vision has sped up ICT development response through enhanced mainstreaming of ICT and e-commerce in development plans, implementing a robust telecommunications sector reform, and reaching out to investors and development partners. Among other achievements, this resulted in increased voice/Internet (3G/4G) coverage, faster Internet speeds, value-added services, and increased awareness of the power of the Internet in breaking isolation from markets. The establishment of submarine cable in 2024 is expected to boost Internet connectivity and affordability. It is envisaged to enhance country’s readiness for a smart life and digital economy. The submarine cable is also expected to provide opportunities to leverage business innovations to increase exports and imports (in part through improvements in trade facilitation), enhance service delivery and improve access to information, all contributing to ease of doing business for the general public and for international traders. The development of digital economy and trade through enhanced infrastructure has the potential to enable Kiribati leapfrog certain technological barriers and rebalance the power relations in the supply chain to support the key economic sectors including SMEs in order to create economic growth, employment and sustainable economic development. While E-Commerce is significant in eliminating barriers between marketplaces and contributing to sustainable development, Kiribati does not have a policy and a legislative framework to facilitate effective development and utilisation of E-Commerce. Other challenges in respect of the E-Commerce regime include low percentage of internet penetration, especially on the outer Islands. The Investment Policy Framework (IPF), the ICT Policy 2019 and UNCTAD E-Trade readiness assessment has recommended the need to promote the use of E-Commerce by the business community, educate consumers on the utilisation of E-Commerce, build the capacity of policymakers on Trade and E-Commerce, develop and effectively implement E-Commerce Policy and legislative framework. It is against this background that the Government of Kiribati through this consultancy seeks to Formulate a national policy for e-commerce in line with the TPF as part of the current efforts to take advantage of ICT sector growth and needs. The overall policy is required, to put in place a strategy to optimize the benefits of e-commerce which includes enhancing competitiveness by improving productivity and service delivery. A holistic E-Commerce strategy would set the stage to have necessary regulatory framework and recommend appropriate laws to govern and facilitate e-commerce in the country.
This consultancy comes under the “Kiribati trade capacity development and institutional strengthening project Phase 2” funded by Enhanced Integrated Framework(EIF) Facility. This second phase of the EIF project commenced in July 2020. The objective is to strengthen the capacity of institutions and stakeholders to implement trade policies that support poverty reduction, inclusive economic growth, equitable sustainable development and wealthy economy in line with the Government’s 20-Year Vision development plan (KV20) 2016-2036). As part of the project, UNDP, as the Main Implementing Entity, is seeking the services of a qualified consultant with expertise and experience in Digital trade and E-commerce to provide technical support towards the formulation of National E-commerce Policy
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- DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The primary objective of the assignment is to formulate a National E-Commerce Policy /Blue print. The strategy is expected to promote sustainable growth of E-commerce, through public sector facilitation with the objective to improve e commerce business environment and through implementation of comprehensive action plan that pragmatically respond to the needs of the sector in Kiribati. The consultant is required to undertake the following specific key tasks to achieve the assignment objective:
The project will be implemented in Kiribati and consultations will be undertaken in Tarawa.
The consultant is required to produce the following outputs:
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- REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE
The consultant is expected to meet the following requirements;
Fluency of English language is required.
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 the technical assessment for shortlisted proposals.
The final evaluation method will be based on a cumulative analysis of both the technical and financial proposals. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
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:
The consultant must send a financial proposal based on a 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 duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the LC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs. 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. Incomplete and joint proposals may not be considered. Consultants with whom there is further interest will be contacted. The successful consultant shall opt to sign an Individual Contract or a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) through its company/employer with UNDP.
Annexes
For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to Mr. Dale Kacivi - procurement.fj@undp.org/dale.kacivi@undp.org All applications must be clearly marked with the title of consultancy and submitted by 5:00pm, 16th August 2021, 5pm (Fiji Time) online via UN Jobs website https://jobs.undp.org/ or etenderbox.pacific@undp.org
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[1] National Statistic Office, MFEP 2020 Data