Republic of Moldova

National consultant to develop the software for inputting and processing statistical data on air protection in regional perspective

Vacancy Number: Pr14/00485

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	17 Mar 2014, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	24 Mar 2014
Reference to the project:	Strengthening the National Statistical System
Expected Duration of Assignment:	March-May 2014
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than 17 March 2014. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: aurelia.spataru@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.
Supporting Documents: Terms of reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Annexes to Terms of Reference Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

Sustainable regional development is an imperative assumed by the Government of Moldova, which has also confirmed its commitment to equally distribute the opportunities/chances for regional development throughout the country. This is confirmed both at the legislative level and at the strategic planning level. Successful implementation of the regional policy will foster and accelerate the development of the country as a whole, where the ultimate goal is to improve the quality of life of the citizens, wherever they live on the territory of Moldova.

Moreover, to achieve these objectives, it is necessary to know in detail the intensity and depth of the problem, which cannot be achieved without complex and systematic investigation, following the evidence and data-based approach. Good, reliable regional statistics have to be available in order to provide an adequate basis for analyzing regional disparities, for identification of potential growth areas.

Improvement of regional statistics aimed to establish some concrete indicators of scope and of tasks, is one of the elements necessary to ensure strategic governance.

Continuous need to harmonize the statistical infrastructure and methodologies of the National Bureau of Statistics, and other data producers, with international and EU standards remains one of the priority areas of the Strategic Development of NBS 2012-2014. Respectively, adjustment of the statistical processes to the actual national context and in conformity with European requirements includes statistical toolkits and methodologies used for ensuring reliability, availability and timely statistics. Hereby the objective no. 21 from NBS Strategic Development Plan - development of information on enterprises’ activity in territorial perspective - will be partially implemented.

Joint UN Project on Strengthening the National Statistical System of RM (Statistics Project) is currently implemented by the National Bureau of Statistics in partnership with the UNDP, UN Women, UNICEF, UNFPA, ILO and the Government of Romania, and aims at improving data production, dissemination and use of statistical information with particular attention to national needs and overall conformity of official statistics with international standards.

The Project aims to respond to the urgent need to improve the availability and quality of regional statistics to ensure that the disadvantaged areas of the country are clearly identified and the exact nature of their problem is clearly understood. It identifies and gradually resolves these statistical issues by exploring various approaches and learning from advanced experience of other countries, and building capacities of Regional Development Agencies (RDA) to monitor the implementation of their regional development strategies.

Scope of work

The scope of work of the national consultant is to develop a software application for inputting and processing of statistical data on Atmospheric Air Protection in regional perspective.

The specific objective of the assignment is to provide the National Bureau of Statistics with the professionally designed software application and the related documentation which is to be applied by the statisticians and economists of the NBS to process the primary data reported by economic enterprises within the statistical report nr. 1-aer on Atmospheric Air Protection and to obtain aggregated data by country, in territorial aspect, by types of economic activity and by forms of ownership concerning air protection.

The expected software application will be a separate program and will be developed in accordance with the technical requirements of the software development (Annex 1), containing a general description of the program structure and operating principles; statistical questionnaire (Annex 2); output tables (Annex 3) by chapters of questionnaire, cross-tabulation rules, logical and arithmetic operations. The list of specific pollutant substances (Annex 4) and groups of actions on reduction of air pollutant emission (Annex 5) are also enclosed.

For detailed information on Tasks and Responsibilities, Expected Deliverables please refer to Terms of Reference and Annexes to it.

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualifications:

• University degree in computer science, statistics and/or other areas relevant for the assignment;
• Other formal education relevant for the assignment;

Experience:

• Minimum of 4 years of proven experience in designing and maintaining of software applications, including those based on contemporary web technologies, or other relevant professional experience;
• Experience in implementation of similar projects for other Government institutions/subdivisions;
• Experience in working with international organizations and UN agencies in particular would be an asset;

Competencies and Skills:

• Familiarity of ICT terminology and definitions, e-Statistics, as well as best international/EU practice applied in national statistics activities aimed at efficient integration of data collection, imputation, processing and dissemination;
• Knowledge of the peculiarities of statistical sector (e.g. data collection process, methodologies used in enterprises statistics, etc.) would be an asset;
• Good communication and writing skills;
• Good knowledge of Romanian and Russian (knowledge of English will be an additional asset);

Personal Qualities and other requirements:

• Good interpersonal skills, solid judgment/decision making, initiative and creativity;
• Availability to work with UNDP and Project’s national stakeholder during the indicated/approved period;
• Cultural and gender sensitivity.

Documents to be included

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

1. 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
2. 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;
3. Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total lump sum amount and the number of anticipated working days).

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 (including all related costs e.g. fees, phone calls etc.) and the number of anticipated working days.

Travel

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

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 and will be reimbursed.

During the contract period no travel is required.

 

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