Procurement Notices

Terms of Reference for Individual Contractor

A.Project Background:  

This project represents the third phase in a strategic partnership focusing on promoting surveying works and geospatial capabilities and a myriad of actions and products stemming from these two areas of work. The key objective of this intervention is to maintain the provision of advisory services in developing the national capacities for effective geo-spatial surveys, generating the national geo-spatial data infrastructure, and generating multi-purpose knowledge from such surveys to efficiently boost national efforts in achieving the key directions provided by 2030 Saudi Vision, as well as promoting the national implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This position will be responsible for Implementing Machine learning Techniques in the Remote sensing department which will improve productivity in producing digital Orthophoto maps, Remote sensing data analysis and as well as Dissemination of maps.

The required services will improve knowledge-based equitable, and sustainable development, underpinned by innovation and improved infrastructure.

This position will work in the General Directorate of Map Production (GDMP) –Remote Sensing Dept., brief about GDMP mandates are listed below:

The mission of the General Directorate for Map Production (GDMP) involves data capturing and classification of all-natural, infrastructure and industrial features, building geospatial databases and producing maps at different scales according to national and international standards, using the latest technology.

B.Scope of Work

The objective of the assignment is, within the Framework of the UNDP KSA Country office, to support Advisory Services to the General Authority for Survey and Geo-spatial Information. The assignment intends to provide a high-level service focusing on the following Duties and Responsibilities- Outputs & Tasks.

This includes the following:

• Designing and Creating a dynamic database management system (DBMS) within in the GDMP and to support and implementing large (enterprise) geospatial database systems.
• Design and implement Backup, Network Security and Disaster Recovery strategies.
• Review project requirements and recommend appropriate hardware and/or software configurations
• Identifies, defines, and assesses the properties and specifications necessary for the database management system (DBMS) to meet current and future needs of the organization.
• Defines a logical database structure for application development based on the organizational structure of the company.
• Defines and executes procedures for testing and implementing new applications in the database environment.
• Enhanced knowledge & experience in GDBMS (SQL Server, Oracle, MySql)
• Working with Geodatabase admin and other technical team to enhance GDBMS (SQL Server, Oracle, MySql) to support ESRI suite of GIS software at version level 10.2.x or above including ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Server, ArcSDE.
• Assesses current and projected database performance, and recommends changes and enhancements.
• Manage a team of professionals to design, develop and enhances the effectiveness of database system tools and services.
• Identifies, defines, and assesses the properties and specifications necessary for the database management system (DBMS) to meet current and future needs of the organization.
• Provide guidance to database team on database structures and features.
• Monitors database performances and improves technologies.
• Identify and resolve database issues related to performance and capacity.
• Develop best practices for performance and operational efficiency.
• Develops and implements policies and procedures
• Develops, implements, and monitors access policies, limiting database access on related to data security and integrity.
• Develops, maintains, and controls additional corporate data libraries specific to the organization.
• Assesses current and projected database performance, and recommends changes and enhancements.
• Resolves data conflicts for matters such as naming conventions, data privacy, and data ownership.
• Maintains knowledge of trends, developments, and best practices in DBMS and related technology.
• Perform regular audits to ensure data integrity and quality.
• Provide regular updates to management on database project status.
• Stay updated with new database technologies and analyze such technologies to bring into scope of existing infrastructure.

C.EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

D.Institutional Arrangement

Database manager has a dual reporting line to the director of the General Authority for Survey & Geospatial Information (GASGI)-the General Manager GIM, and the UNDP chief technical advisor, who reports to the Programme Analyst.

E.Duration of the Work:

• The contract duration will be for an initial period of 12 months.
• The anticipated starting date of the assignment is 1st of March 2023. And the expected date of full completion of all tasks under this assignment is 1st of March 2023.

1. Duty Station

The assignment will be based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at Head Office, The General Authority for Survey and Geo-spatial Information (GASGI).

Travel:

• UNDP will cover the cost of travel of the individual to the duty station, as well as their return to their home upon completion of their services. Travel costs are covered only if the function will be undertaken physically in the duty station and excluding working-from-home arrangements.
• Include any official travel expected to be associated with performing the functions.
• Any change to the preliminary travel plan/schedule above, in such cases, UNDP will cover travel costs in accordance with corporate regulations and rules.
• If unforeseen travel outside the assigned duty station 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.

G.Qualifications of the Successful Individual Contractor Education Qualification:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Mathematics, or related field required (Preferred GIS)..

Work experience

• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in Database management and administration.
• 2-4 years of experience designing, developing, and producing reports from a database application
• At least five years of related experience required with at least one year of supervisory experience preferred.
• Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite or related software.
• Ability of dealing and managing communication channels (mass-communication, social media).
• Demonstrated ability to proficiently and effectively guide and manage interdisciplinary teams comprised of staff with diverse backgrounds and varied skill sets
• Comprehensive record of successfully completed projects
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Excellent leadership and influence skills

Required Language(s):

• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills in English

Required Technical Skills:

• Very strong experience with Python development, including key libraries such as Numpy, Pandas, TensorFlow, Pytorch and SQL is a minimum requirement. More advanced professional software development experience will be a significant advantage.
• Demonstrable experience in training, calibrating, and testing.
• Experience working with and collaborating well with other developers in your team to build products together. You champion clear maintainable code, diligent version control, clean documentation, code reviews, and merge requests.
• Experience writing reports, presentations and data visualizations to clearly and concisely convey
• the results of your work to a wide audience.
•  Proven experience working in data science and software development teams.
• Expertise in standard remote sensing and image processing workflows and software such as ERMapper, Erdas Imagine, PCI Geomatica, and/or as well as open-source alternatives and libraries.
• Expertise in ArcGIS, QGIS and other commercial and/or open-source geospatial software.
• Knowledge of basic principles of remote sensing, image processing, spectral analysis, photogrammetry, and image understanding.
• Practical experience handling and processing either optical, multi-/hyper-spectral and/or SAR image data to undertake analyses.

Competencies:

H.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.

I.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:

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
• 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;
• Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per the template provided. The terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts 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 the 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. 

J.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 methodologies:

Step I: Screening and desk review/ (Interview optional):

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

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: