Background

In 2009 Moldova associated with the Copenhagen Accord with an emission reduction target of no less than 25% of the base year (1990) level total national GHG emissions to be achieved by. However it is recognized that significant financial, technological and capacity building support will be needed to achieve this target. A very high priority for UNDP as an implementing agency with a climate and development mandate is to develop capacities of the countries to formulate, access finance and implement low-emission development strategies.

The EU-UNDP Climate Change Capacity Building Programme is in response to the need for capacity development at the country level, as well as to opportunities that have been identified for engaging Public Sector and Industry support and participation in addressing the issue of climate change.

Duties and Responsibilities

In view of developing a targeted and practical project proposal agreed by all stakeholders the international consultant will be responsible for:

• Formalising a systematic stocktaking exercise ensuring that that the project builds on the activities, studies, outcomes, experiences and institutional settings of existing policies and other interventions relating to climate change. 
• Under the leadership of the Ministry of Environment and UNDP, support the national stakeholder consultation process and stakeholder analysis and identify appropriate institutional and stakeholder roles and responsibilities, capacity constraints and strategies for stakeholder engagement during the implementation of the programme
• Based on the above identify priorities and key activities for the programme and draft the Project Proposal (following an annotated UNDP template)
• The international consultant will be assisted by one or more national consultants and will cooperate closely with the UNDP Moldova Country Office, the Ministry of Environment, National Climate Change Office, line Ministries and other stakeholders as identified by the UNDP CO.  
• Desk review of all relevant materials provided by the UNDP CO, and preparation of a work plan for the assignment, including expected inputs from the national team
• Undertake a stock-taking and context assessment exercise, based on review of analytical and country reports like the draft National Low Emission Development Strategy (LEDS) or National Communications (NCs), and a systematic analysis of past and ongoing climate change relevant work, including policies, assessments, research, projects and programmes
• Identify gaps, missing data and information, and identify new studies, assessments and areas of work, building on the assessments undertaken in preparation of the draft LEDS and 3^rd NC
• Guide the national team in undertaking a stakeholder mapping, identify current levels of involvement and assess capacities, and support the national stakeholder consultation process, including both public and private sector
• Identify and review shortcomings in capacity and assess capacity needs for implementing the programme activities
• Develop a strategy for stakeholder engagement during project implementation, including a description of the opportunities that will arise out of the project adequately articulated for different groups of stakeholders
• Based on the stock-taking and stakeholder consultations, identify and prioritize programme components and activities for Moldova related to LEDS implementation, MRV, NAMAs and GHG inventory management systems
• Prepare a context assessment and stocktaking report (which later will feed into the Project Document)
• Analyse and map existing institutional arrangements, implementation functions and regulatory frameworks and assess these arrangements for likely effectiveness of formulation and implementation of a LEDS, NAMAs, MRV and GHG Inventory system
• Prepare the full project proposal following the UNDP template, including
• Description of project’s context, including situation analysis 
• Scope of project, including areas of work (e.g. GHG inventory system, NAMAs, LEDS, MRV) and sectors (e.g. energy, industries, agriculture, etc.)
• Expected outcomes, including studies to be carried out
• Key activities for each outcome identified
• Proposed methodologies or approaches to be adopted for the implementation of the project
• Institutional arrangements and coordination mechanisms to be put in place for the implementation of the project
• Monitoring and Evaluation framework
• Proposed budget
• Workplan for the duration of the project
• Annex sections, including a the report on the stocktaking and stakeholder consultation
•  Deliverables and timeframe:
• The following deliverables will be produced by the consultant:
  
• Analytical desk review summary and work plan presented by 7 September 2012
• Undertake a mission to Moldova and undertake stakeholder consultations in direct collaboration with the national team week of 10 September 2012

Stocktaking and context assessment report presented, including:

• Description of the approach used
  
• Stakeholder and institutional mapping
• Results and findings of the stocktaking exercise
• Results and findings of the stakeholder consultation
• Identified priorities for the Project Proposal by 20 September 2012
• Stakeholder engagement strategy presented by 20 September 2012
• Draft full Project Document for consultation and comments by 27 September 2012
• Final Project Document with comments and suggested revisions addressed by 12 October 2012

Competencies

• Proven track record of project design and proposal coordination, participatory research and analysis, including capacity assessment and development;
• Strong technical skills related to climate change mitigation frameworks;
• Proven ability to collect, verify and analyze information, and to finish and present work with a high degree of accuracy and technical quality;
• Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing, in order to communicate complex, technical information to both technical and general audiences;
• Prior experience with UNDP and international donor organizations is advantage;
• Experience in working with government officials, civil servants and technical public administration agencies and authorities is desired;
• Proficiency in standard computer software (word-processing, excel, presentations, databases and internet)

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (at least MSc) in environment/natural resource management, environmental economics or closely related areas.

Experience:

At least 5 years of relevant experience in technical assistance and consultancy related to climate change mitigation and climate change capacity building;

• Extensive experience in developing analytical products and project proposals in the climate change field;
• Previous experience in developing or setting up Low-Emission Development Strategies, Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems, GHG Inventory Systems, Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), both the Public Sector and Industry, is a very strong advantage;
• In-depth familiarity with the UNFCCC and international climate change negotiations is expected.

Language:

• Fluent in written and oral communication in English;
• Knowledge of Romanian or/and Russian would be an asset.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Technical Proposal:

• Explaining how applicant responds to each of the qualification requirements and why he/she is the most suitable for the work;
• Describing a short vision on achievement of tasks.
• Personal information (as a detailed CV or as a Personal History Form /P11) including records on past experience in similar projects/assignments and concrete outputs obtained;
• Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total lump sum amount and the number of anticipated working days).

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP does 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.

 EVALUATION:

Initially, consultants will be short-listed based on the following minimum qualification criteria:

• Advanced university degree (at least MSc) in environment/natural resource management, environmental economics or closely related areas
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in technical assistance and consultancy related to climate change mitigation and climate change capacity building
•  The short-listed individual consultants will be further evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis:

The award of the contracts shall be made to the individual consultants whose offers have been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Provided that the evaluation panel decides to conduct the technical evaluation without interview the following evaluation scheme 1 shall apply:

•  EVALUATION SCHEME 1 (not involving interview):
• Technical evaluation (max 70 points) -70%
• Financial evaluation (max 30 points)- 30%

Technical evaluation:

• The technical part is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (ToRs)
• Advanced university degree (at least MSc) in environment/natural resource management, environmental economics or closely related areas (MSc-12 pts; PhD-15pts)
• At least 5 years of relevant experience in technical assistance and consultancy related to climate change mitigation and climate change capacity building (5 years-12 pts; 5-8 years-14 pts; >8 years-18 pts)
• Extensive experience in developing analytical products and project proposals in the climate change field (2 pts for each year of experience up to 4 years; >4 years-12 pts)
• Previous experience in developing or setting up Low-Emission Development Strategies, Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems, GHG Inventory Systems, Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), both the Public Sector and Industry (Yes-8 pts; No-0 pts)
• Strong experience in leading national and international teams (0.8 pts for each year up to 5 years; >5 years-6 pts)
• Working experience with the Government sector (1.3 pts for each year up to  4 pts; >3 years-6 pts)
• Proven experience in working with the international organizations (4 years-3 pts; >4 years-5 pts)
• Maximum total technical scoring: 70
• Maximum Financial scoring: 30

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula:

• S = Fmin / F * 30
• S – score received on financial evaluation;
• Fmin – the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;
• F – financial offer under consideration.
• Winning candidate
• The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical
• scoring + financial scoring).
• Provided that the evaluation panel decides to conduct the technical evaluation with interview the following evaluation scheme 2 shall apply:

 EVALUATION SCHEME 2 (involving interview):

• Technical evaluation (max 90 points) -70%
• Financial evaluation (max 38.5 points)- 30%

 Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 63 points for the technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

Technical evaluation: The technical part is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Terms of Reference (ToRs)

Advanced university degree (at least MSc) in environment/natural resource management, environmental economics or closely related areas (MSc-12 pts; PhD-15pts)

At least 5 years of relevant experience in technical assistance and consultancy related to climate change mitigation and climate change capacity building (5 years-12 pts; 5-8 years-14 pts; >8 years-18 pts)

Extensive experience in developing analytical products and project proposals in the climate change field (2 pts for each year of experience up to 4 years; >4 years-12 pts)

Previous experience in developing or setting up Low-Emission Development Strategies, Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems, GHG Inventory Systems, Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), both the Public Sector and Industry (Yes-8 pts; No-0 pts)

Strong experience in leading national and international teams (0.8 pts for each year up to 5 years; >5 years-6 pts)

Working experience with the Government sector (1.3 pts for each year up to  4 pts; >3 years-6 pts)

Proven experience in working with the international organizations (4 years-3 pts; >4 years-5 pts)

Interview (1) Demonstrated technical knowledge and experience; 2) Communication/interpersonal skills; 3) Leadership and self-management; 4) Creativity/resourcefulness –1 to 5 scoring method applies in the case of each identified competency) - maximum 20 pts

Maximum total technical scoring: 90

Evaluation of submitted financial offers will be done based on the following formula:

Fmin – the lowest financial offer out of all the submitted offers qualified over the technical evaluation round;

F – financial offer under consideration.

The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical