Procurement Notices

The Project Identification Form (PIF) titled ‘Effectively Managing Networks of Marine Protected Areas in Large Marine Ecosystems in the ASEAN Region (ASEAN ENMAPS) was approved by the GEF Council during its meeting in December 2021. A Project Preparation Grant (PPG) was approved to develop the project document and other requirements for GEF CEO endorsement.

Table 1: brief description of The Project’s objective, grant amounts, components, geographies and PPG team composition

UNDP seeks to engage a qualified National Team Leader cum National Marine Biodiversity Specialist in the Philippines to support the PPG team leader (International Specialist) as well as coordinate the national PPG team in aspects of the project design relating to national and sub-national policy, legal and institutional environment and engagement, marine biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries management.  S/he will act as the national counterpart for the PPG team leader.

The PPG will support all the preparatory work required to draft and finalize all the documentation required by the GEF for CEO Endorsement Request (CEO ER). The PPG phase will be underpinned by a participatory approach, with regular consultation and working meetings with all key PPG stakeholders throughout the PPG phase.

Institutional Arrangements

• The Consultant will be home-based and will report to, and be directly supervised by UNDP BRH, will coordinate closely with the UNDP-NCE Regional Technical Advisor (RTA) based in Bangkok and Climate Action Programme Analyst with whom all outputs shall be submitted and through whom all communications shall be coursed or copied.  
• The Consultant is expected to provide his/her own laptop for the work requirement.
• The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
• Given the virtual or face-to-face consultations to be undertaken during this assignment, the consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones;
• The Consultant shall consider at least 5 working days lead time for UNDP to review outputs, give comments, certify approval/acceptance of outputs delivered, etc.

Duty Station and Duration of the Work:

Duty Station is in Home-based. The consultant will be engaged for 60 working days spread 18 months from March 2022 to November 2023, unless revised in a mutually agreed upon timetable by UNDP and the Contractor. Changes in the duration of the contract will be implemented through issuance of a contract amendment.

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.

Travel:

• Missions to the Project sites and stakeholder consultations (TBD) with an estimated duration of up to 15 days might be required (subject to COVID-19 situation vis-a-vis travel restriction policy of the government);
• UNDP will cover the cost of the travel on actual basis once the travel is confirmed.  In general, UNDP could not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.
• In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel.

• The BSAFE course must be completed before the commencement of travel including any training on COVID-19 safety;
• Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
• Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payment:

1. The Contractor should send the financial proposal based on a lump-sum amount for the delivery of the outputs identified below. The total amount quoted shall be “all inclusive” (professional daily fees X number of days, communications, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor should be factored into the final amount submitted in the proposal. Travel, as deemed relevant by UNDP and compliant with government guidelines on community quarantine, will be arranged and paid for by UNDP and should not be included in the financial proposal.
2. Medical/health insurance must be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense, and upon award of contract, the Contractor must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during contract duration
3. The contract price will be fixed output-based price. Any deviations from the output and timeline will be agreed upon between the Contractor and UNDP.
4. Payments will be done upon satisfactory completion of the delivery by target due dates. Outputs will be certified by the UNDP BRH and Climate Action Programme Team Leader prior to release of payments.

Scope of the assignment

Role: The National Team Leader will provide overall technical oversight to the national PPG team in the Philippines. She will be responsible for the technical content of the Project Document (ProDoc) pertaining to the Philippines with a specific focus on marine biodiversity conservation. The technical content of the ProDoc should ensure linkages with climate change adaptation and provides details on appropriate governance mechanisms, policy interventions and knowledge management. S/he will lead the technical review of the assessment and reports that are existing in the country, as well as those that will be developed by the National Team. He/she will ensure that all requirements from the National Team, i.e., the CEO ER package, are compliant with GEF requirements and have been vetted by national and local key stakeholders He/She will directly liaise with the PPG Team Leader throughout the PPG process.

Due to the ongoing COVID pandemic it is likely that the bulk of the work might have to be conducted remotely, but costs site visits during the PPG phase has been included in the CO budget, if travel restrictions are eased.

Responsibilities: Below are details of the overall responsibilities and deliverables that will be expected from the National Consultant. The UNDP PPG Initiation Plan (IP) provides further guidance regarding the tasks and responsibilities of the PPG team and must be followed accordingly.

• Coordination of the national PPG team together with the International Consultant:

1. Support the PPG Team Leader in consultatively developing the detailed PPG work plan, work breakdown structure, including necessary contributions from the other National Team members, from the perspective of the country he/she is covering;
2. Act as the primary contact point for the National PPG Team;
3. Generate the required site maps for the ProDoc;
4. Support the PPG team leader in verifying and ensuring that all project outputs are technically sound and cost effective.
5. Provide support for the PPG kick-off meeting and Inception workshop;
6. Consolidate inputs from the National PPG Team, including providing inputs to the Inception Workshop Report and integrating stakeholders' recommendations for the Project Document design, Project Results Framework, Theory of Change, management arrangements, risk analysis and appropriate mitigation measures;
7. Ensure that the PPG Outputs of the national PPG team members are in line with the requirements and time and budget are well allocated and adhered to; and
8. Lead the technical discussions with partners, including the Technical Working Group (TWG) meetings, National Inception Workshop, the National Validation Workshop and, other national and local stakeholder consultations.

• Preparatory National Technical Studies and Reviews: Lead the preparation of required national  analyses/studies, as agreed with the PPG Team Leader, including:

1. Review of national and local policy and legislative frameworks as well as assessments/studies related to marine biodiversity conservation and sustainable fisheries management;
2. Review of relevant past and ongoing initiatives for lessons learnt and synergies with the proposed project;
3. Review and development of the selection criteria for prioritizing and finalizing MPA sites;
4. Profiling of the project sites, including working with the national and local governments, e.g., mapping current resource users, resource uses and, current and pipeline natural resource management (NRM) initiatives;
5. Undertake capacity development needs assessment and prepare a capacity development plan (template to be provided);
6. Support the conduct of Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT);
7. Coordination of overall site selection process for all on-the-ground or on-site interventions (with other PPG team members and in consultation with stakeholders)
8. Support the Team Leader in defining and identifying the Project’s activities using a result-based management approach;
9. Provide guidance to the Stakeholder Engagement and Gender Specialist on the stakeholder consultations, i.e., ensuring that these are complete and comprehensive;
10. Provide guidance to the National Environmental and Social Safeguard Specialist to ensure action points, including risk assessments, from the UNDP Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP) at the PIF stage (‘pre-screening”) are fully implemented during the PPG, and update the SESP matrix iteratively throughout the PPG phase, as appropriate; and
11. Support the Team Leader and National PPG Team to ensure completion of any additional studies that are determined to be needed for the preparation of the ProDoc and all other final outputs.

• Contributions to the Formulation of the ProDoc, CEO Endorsement Request and Mandatory and Project Specific Annexes (Component B):

1. Provide relevant inputs for the ProDoc and GEF CEO ER, as requested by the PPG Team Leader, including support to the following: (i) development of results-based framework in line with UNDP-GEF policy; (ii) development of a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan and budget; (iii) preparation of the required GEF tracking tool and Core Indicator Worksheet;
2. Support the Team Leader to synthesiza all analyses, studies and assessments, among others, that are prepared under Components A and B to produce the draft UNDP-GEF ProDoc, GEF CEO Endorsement and, all mandatory and project specific Annexes, using the required templates; and
3. Review and comment on iterative drafts of the project documentation prepared by the Project Team Leader.

• Validation Workshop (Component C):

1. Take the lead in presenting the national-level results at the validation workshop, including discussion and validation of the final draft ProDoc and mandatory and project specific Annexes, with a special focus on the SESP and management plans, including Stakeholder Engagement Plan and Gender Action Plan, among others;
2. Support all necessary revisions that arise during the workshop, as appropriate; and
3. Technical support to ensure completion of a Validation Workshop Report.

• Final Deliverables:

1. All technical reports, technical inputs and mandatory annexes for the final project documentation, as explicitly identified in the project PPG work plan; and
2. Technical recommendation to consolidate all technical and consultation inputs, including from national stakeholders, UNDP, GEF Secretariat, STAP and GEF Council, into a well written and concise UNDP ProDoc with all required sections and Annexes, in line with the standard UNDP-GEF ProDoc template and annotated guidance  (technical advice, guidance and quality assurance will be provided by the Team Leader).

Table 2: Required deliverables, estimates duration, fee percentage and required approvals

*Please refer to the PPG Initiation Plan for the deadlines

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability; and
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;

Functional Competencies

• Able to communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner;
• Capable of working in a high- pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills;
• Exercises the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.
• Works well in a team;
• Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
• Focuses on results for the client;
• Welcomes constructive feedback; and
• Fluent English language (both oral and written) and excellent communication and presentation skills, particularly in the preparation of written documents.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree or higher in a relevant field, such as Marine Biology, Marine/Fisheries Sciences, Environmental Management and a relevant Natural Sciences, etc.
• Minimum 10 years of demonstrable experience in relevant fields such as environmental management, sustainable fisheries, marine biodiversity conservation, natural resources management etc.
• Minimum 5 years of demonstrable experience in the technical area of sustainable fisheries;
• Minimum 3 years of demonstrated experience in GEF and LDCF rationale and procedures, and demonstrated experience in formulation of GEF-funded project proposals, using the logical framework and the results-based management approaches;
• Previous working experience with GEF project agencies, such as UNDP, and familiarity with GEF and UNDP policies, procedures and practices is an asset;
• Experience working with the government agencies as well as communities in the Philippines is an advantage.
• Ability to conduct independent research and facilitate consultation and workshops.

• Ability to deliver results, while remaining flexible and adaptive in light of challenging circumstances due to the evolving COVID-19 situation;

• Experience working in the Philippines and the Asia region on related initiatives highly desired;
• Good working knowledge of national policy and regulation related to land use and landscape.
• Excellent coordination and leadership skills, as well as relationship management skills; and
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English language and Filipino.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer and Qualifications of Successful Candidate

The Offers received will be evaluated using a combined scoring method - where technical proposal will be weighted 70 points and combined with the price offer which will be weighted 30 points.  

The CV will be reviewed using the criteria in the table below. Only offerors who will obtain a minimum of 70% or 49 out of 70 obtainable points will be shortlisted and considered for evaluation of financial proposal. 

Recommended presentation of offer

Interested applicants 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 of a maximum of one document.

1. Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability with Financial Proposal (in PHP) using the template provided as Annex III 

[Financial proposal: Consultant shall quote an all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided for the entire assignment. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc. and travel cost) that could be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment are already factored into the proposed fee submitted in the proposal]

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.  P11 / Personal CV, 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.

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Interested applicants to note that personal Medical/health insurance (to be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense) is mandatory for the issuance of contracts. Upon award of the contract, the consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during the contract duration.

The following templates / Annexes and IC General Terms & Conditions can be downloaded from http://gofile.me/292aN/tdqWqwpqK

• General Terms and Conditions for Individual Contract
• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability
• P-11 form

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