Procurement Notices

Terms of Reference (TOR) for Health and sports

Office/Unit/Project Description 

Saudi Arabia has realized and sustained, for the last four decades, remarkable progress along the socio-economic development path. As a result of this, the Kingdom has been able to move to a high-income country. The GDP, for instance, increased from SR 156 billion in 1969 to SR 2,631 billion in 2018, putting the economy among the top 20 global economies in terms of size. Based on the annual ranking of the Human Development Index (HDI) of the Human Development Report, Saudi Arabia has steadily moved from the medium human development category in the 1990s to the very high human development category in 2018 at 0.857 value of HDI.

The Saudi Vision 2030 represents an ambitious resolve with long-term goals and expectations founded on the strengths and capabilities of the Kingdom. It covers the three themes of a vibrant society, a thriving economy and an ambitious nation. A thorough review of the three themes and their underlying issues of national concern would reveal a holistic approach to development that encompasses the three dimensions of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): the social, the economic and the environmental. Saudi Arabia recognises that achieving the SDGs requires rigorous, real-time and continuous monitoring, for which quality statistics is a must.  The General Authority for Statistics (GaStat) has gone through a major revision of its corporate strategy and vision in alignment with the Saudi Vision 2030 and the SDGs. The revised strategy revolves around five pillars:

• Usage of statistics and information
• Production of statistics and information
• Application of advanced technologies in collecting and analyzing datasets
• Communications and awareness towards statistical knowledge
• Governance of the statistical sector

Under the framework of the Institutional Support to Statistics project, UNDP provides technical support to the GaStat to strengthen the institutional and human capacities of the national statistical system to support evidence-based development planning and policy-making.

Within this context, UNDP is seeking to recruit an Economist to provide technical and advisory support to GaStat to enhance the management of financial accounts and support the improvement of the statistical business registers in compliance with SNA 2008. 

Scope of Work

The Health and Sports Statistics Expert will provide technical assistance related to producing essential statistics that meet the ministries requirements, including Health Status, Health Determinants, Birth, Death, and life expectancy statistics, Health Care System Statistics, SDG, WHO Core indicators, Mass Participation, Sports Venue and Employment, Human Capital, Health and Sports Expenditure, Epidemiological Indicators

That associated with the statistical products:

• National Health Survey
• Child Health & Well-being Survey
• Women’s Health Survey
• Health & Safety at Work Survey

The Health and Sports Statistics Expert will also implement capacity-strengthening activities, including training and mentoring for staff. He/ She will work under the supervision of the Director of Health and Sports Statistics.  Specifically, the responsibilities under this assignment include the following:      

Technical support:

• Designing, organizing, planning and managing the data collection, evaluation, analysis, compilation and dissemination of statistical data.
• Training and technical support on data collection for statistical products and other related information.
• Development or revision of standards on statistical concepts, definitions and classifications (technical & business meta-daya) by performing methodological research.
• Preparation of draft technical documents for methodologies.
• Revise and develop sampling techniques and calculations for National health survey samples.
• Designing methods for calculating weights for National health surveys data and estimating sampling errors.
• Support in Pilot and pre-tests of the National health surveys tools of the forthcoming surveys
• Support in executing National Health Surveys and advise on the application of methodologies to data processing, and data analysis to assure the quality of statistical outputs.
• Support in dissemination by determining the appropriate structure of press releases, statistical reports, and data visualization for statistical products.
• Support the team in responding to internal/external requests on questions related to health & sports statistics.
• Perform any other relevant tasks requested by the supervisor.

Capacity Development

• In addition to delivering the above-mentioned technical support, the Sports Statistics Expert will advise on principles and best practices in relation to Sports Statistics methodologies and frameworks.
• Contribute to capacity building in calculating and maintaining Health and Sports databases.
• Providing coaching and on-the-job training for the Health & Sports Statistics team as needed.

Expected Deliverables and Outputs

By the end of the assignment, the consultant should deliver these outputs/perform these tasks:

Institutional Arrangement

• The expert will report monthly to his/her supervisor and the UNDP Programme Analyst about activities, outputs, performance indicators, challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations.

Duration of the Work

• The expected duration of this assignment is 60 working days over a period of 9 months.
• The anticipated starting date of the assignment is 26 March 2023, and the expected date of full completion of all tasks under this assignment is 28 December 2023.

Duty Station

The duty station for the sports Statistics Expert in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He/ She will be embedded within the Department for Health and Sports Statistics in GASTAT.

• UNDP will cover the around ticket to/from the duty station. 
• If unforeseen travel outside the consultant’s duty station city is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the consultant shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).

• Note: A written approval from UNDP and relevant authorities will be required to facilitate the consultant's travel to any locations than stated on this TOR on official missions where necessary.

Working Arrangements:

• All mission travels must be approved in advance and in writing by the Supervisor.
• United Nations Development of Safe and Security – BSAFE course must be successfully completed prior to the commencement of travel.
• The Consultant is responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director.
• The consultant is also required to comply with the UN security directives.
• The consultant is responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP.
• The consultant will be responsible for submitting his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies.
• The consultant is responsible for required health and life insurance related to work or travel.
• The consultant is expected to have his/her own Laptop/Computer.

Qualifications

Min. Academic Education

• Master’s degree in statistics, emphasizing Health & Sports or other related statistics.

Min. years of relevant Work experience

• At least 8 years of relevant professional experience with National Statistics Offices, International Organizations, or Governments in applying statistical theories and techniques or similar entities.
• Certification of Training courses/workshops related to the field of sports.
• Ability to provide statistical technical advice on different sectors/themes.
• Ability to work on any of the statistical packages to analyse data.
• Good understanding and practice of capacity development.
• Know how to design and calculate samples for national surveys.
• Knowledge & experience in working with constituents in the Arab States, particularly in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

 Competencies

• Excellent interpersonal skills, including establishing strong cooperative relationships with senior government officials.
• Ability to work on own initiative as well as a member of a team and to work under pressure.
• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards.
• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines, and achieving results.
• Display cultural, gender, religious, and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Language(s)

• The required languages are English and Arabic.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

All proposals must be expressed in a lump sum amount. This amount must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal.

Payments shall be made to the individual contractor upon successful completion and certification by UNDP that services have been satisfactorily performed, based upon the actual number of working days and accomplishments of each deliverable.

Payment shall be made as a deliverables-based lump upon the receipt of the deliverables and certification of satisfactory performance by UNDP.

The Expert will share a Certificate of Payment (CoP) where he/he needs to indicate achieved outputs. Then the certificate of payment must be verified by the UNDP Team and certified by UNDP top management. The Expert is advised to keep a detailed timesheet of the days worked and tasks performed throughout the consultancy assignment. A bi-weekly update of the timesheet will be requested, and such documentation will support the payment process as deemed needful.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

Recommended Presentation of Offer

For purposes of generating Offers whose contents are uniformly presented and to facilitate their comparative analysis, it is best to recommend the preferred contents and presentation of the offer to be submitted, as well as the format/sequencing of their presentation.  The following documents may be 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.
3. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per the 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 a 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. 

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Applicants are shortlisted based on the Required Skills and Experience stated in the TOR.

The selection of the best offer from the shortlisted candidates will be based on a Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70% and combined with the price offer, which will be weighted a max of 30%.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Step I: Screening and Desk Review

Technical Criteria (CV review and Desk Review/Interview optional) – maximum 70 points. Only candidates who obtained at least 70% of points from the CV desk review (who will score at least 49 points) will be considered for the next evaluation stage, i.e., financial evaluation.

Applications will be first screened, and only candidates meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

Technical Evaluation (70 Points, 70% weight)

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

1. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
2. A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.
3. The Professional Certificates mentioned above, as applicable.