Consultant to Support the establishment of a “Delivery Unit”

Background

The Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia (hereafter – the Ministry) is in charge of regulating the healthcare system, social security system, labour and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)  issues in Georgia. Made up of different departments and agencies, the main functions of the Ministry are the following: the provision of good medical and public health services to the population; the regulation of medical and pharmaceutical activity in the country; the management of state pensions and social security; the protection of the rights of children, people with disabilities and other disadvantaged groups; the implementation of employment programs, carrying out labour inspections, the regulation of labour migration; the accommodation of IDPs and Eco-migrants, and the implementation of integration programs for returned migrants, IDPs, internationally protected persons and foreigners.

Regardless of the fact that the Ministry has been successfully implementing many reforms, there is a need to identify gaps and deliver results in the frames of reforms implemented. The brief description of its functions reveals that the Ministry’s areas of intervention are very diverse, and implements a multitude of programs  for beneficiaries with various needs.  Facing multifaceted challenges, the Ministry intends to prepare and implement additional reforms in the years to come in the sectors of healthcare, social assistance, labor relations and the integration of vulnerable groups.

Given the structural and functional diversity of the Ministry, it has been conceptualized that the creation of a model for delivering better public services (similar to a Delivery Unit used in different countries) will be instrumental to successfully and promptly implementing the planned reforms. For this purpose, the Ministry will be receiving the assistance of both an international and local expert, who will provide advisory services in the establishment of  a central Delivery Unit at the Ministry, by supporting the Minister in the process of delivering effective policy reforms in the areas which are Ministry priorities (Labor Rights and Employment, Child Welfare and Social Protection and Healthcare).  The local expert will provide a support in drafting of a background research, organizing meetings and translation assistance, and direct support in helping the international expert advisory efforts in the process of establishing the Unit. The preparatory phase of establishing the Unit includes the following main stages: 1) Situation analysis for establishment of the Delivery Unit in response to the requirements and needs of the Ministry 2) designing the institutional framework of the Unit and preparing its functional description based on the Ministry’s needs, and 3) elaborating the roadmap for establishing the Unit and 4) the development of the communication and monitoring capacity of the Unit. The Unit will focus on ensuring the delivery of a set of policy outcomes in the following priority areas: Labor Rights and Employment, Child Welfare and Social Protection and Healthcare.

During the implementation phase of setting up the Unit, the experts will be directly involved in operationalization of the Unit during its initial cycle of functioning.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objectives of this technical assistance are to (1) establish the institutional framework for improving policy implementation and the delivery of government priorities on Labour, health and social affairs, (2) facilitate high-level dialogue on the identification of priority outcome indicators and associated delivery challenges, (3) elaborate a monitoring system and indicators for tracking progress on policy reform; and (4) develop institutional capacities for monitoring and communicating with relevant stakeholders on progress. The Unit will focus on ensuring the delivery of a set of policy outcomes in the following priority areas: Labor and Employment (with a focus on youth and women employment), Labor Inspection and Labor Rights, Child Welfare and Social Services and Healthcare.  To that end the local expert will support the international expert in the facilitation of these goals.

The consultant will work under overall supervision of the Governance Reform Fund (GRF) Project Manager, in close coordination with the International Expert and respective personnel from the Ministry of IDPs from Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia.

The service provider will be directly responsible to, reporting to, seeking approval from, and obtaining certificate of acceptance of outputs from the above-mentioned persons. In addition, the respective GRF team will be responsible for sharing relevant documents, contact details and other necessary information with the service provider.

The scope of work for the Local Consultant will include, but may not be limited to, the following:

• Assisting the international expert with background research through desk review, organizing and conducting focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. The review findings and international good practices will be used for drafting an institutional framework and the function of the Delivery Unit
• Based on the situation analysis, providing an assistance in the creation of an outline of the Unit structure/functions and a timeline for its creation;
• Providing support to the international expert with the drafting of a description of the functions of the respective Unit members, and an outline of their qualification requirements;
• Providing additional technical input for developing the roadmap for establishing the Unit;
• Supporting the international expert with the development of the communication and monitoring capacity of the Unit with relevant stakeholders, by monitoring priorities and delivery challenges of reforms in progress;
• Assisting the international expert in translating the documents for high quality consultancy output, as required.

Devlierables and payment modality:

The payment schedule is given below and will be made upon satisfactory completion/submission and approval of the deliverables by the supervisor:

1. Input on the situation analysis report including descriptions of international good practices (by the end of June 2019)
2. Inputs on Institutional framework and the functions of the Delivery Unit ((by the end of June 2019)
3. Input on the roadmap for establishing the Unit (containing risk analysis) (by the end of July 2019)
4. Input on the outline of the monitoring system (by the end of August 2019)
5. Input on guidelines for elaborating policy reform progress tracking indicators (by the end of August 2019)
6. Input on guidelines on approaches to effectively facilitate high level dialog (mid of August 2019)
7. Input on report on monitoring and coaching sessions of Delivery Unit Staff (November 2019, January 2020, April 2020)
8. Field report including accomplishments undertaken during the consultancy period and a set of recommendations for further operation of Delivery Unit. (by the end of April 2020)

Payment Schedule:

• Deliverables 1-2: 30% of the consultancy
• Deliverables 3-5:30 % of the consultancy
• Deliverable 6: 20 % of the consultancy
• Deliverables 7-8: 20 % of the consultancy

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

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

Functional competencies:

• Strong communication and analytical skills;
• Demonstrated skills in drafting reports;
• Ability to work under pressure with several tasks and various deadlines;
• Actively generates creative, practical approaches and solutions to overcome challenging situations;
• Excellent writing, presentation/public speaking skills;
• A pro-active approach to problem-solving;
• Computer literacy.

Leadership and Self-Management skills:

• Builds strong relationships with the working group and with the project partners; focuses on impact and results for the project partners and responds positively to feedback;
• Cooperates with working group effectively and demonstrates strong conflict resolution skills;
• Consistently approaches work with energy, positivity and a constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates strong influencing and facilitation skills;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored under pressure;
• Demonstrates openness to change, new ideas and ability to manage ambiguity;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates ability to transfer knowledge and competencies;
• Is able to work independently and hurdle competing priorities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in statistics, social sciences, public policy, public health policy, health management or other related fields (minimum requirement: Bachelor's degree - 6 points, Master's degree - additional 4 points).

Experience

• At least 5 years of experience in supporting the development of the capacities and mechanisms of Government institutions to efficiently deliver institutional reforms (minimum requirement: 5 years - 12 points, more than 5 years - additional 3 points);
• At least 3years of experience conducting research related to public health policy, implementing institutional reforms, public administration, or other related fields (minimum requirement: 3  years - 12 points, more than 3 years - additional 3 points);
• Strong experience of multi-sectoral policy management at national governmental levels, in particular policy planning, implementation and coordination systems and procedures;
• Strong experience in the development of performance measurement and monitoring for setting objectives, targets and indicators;
• At least 2 years of demonstrated experience in trainings/couching and capacity development (minimum requirement: 2 years - 5 points, more than 2 years - additional 5 points);
• Experience with the UN organization is an asset.

Language requirements:

• Excellent command of written and spoken Georgian and English.

Evaluation:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis method, against combination of technical and financial criteria. Maximum obtainable score is 100, out of which the total score for technical criteria equals to 70 (desk review: 50 points, interview: 20 points) and for financial criteria – to 30. Offerors that do not meet Minimum Qualification Criteria will be automatically rejected, while the rest will form up the long list. The offerors who obtain minimum 35 points as a result of the desk review will be invited for the interview. Offerors who pass 70% threshold, i.e. obtain minimum 14 points, as a result of the interview will be requested the financial proposal.

Financial proposal:

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the ToR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount. Maximum 30 points will be assigned to the lowest price offer. All other price offers will be scored using the formula (inverse proportion):  Financial score X = 30* the lowest price offer/suggested price offer. All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal as well.