Republic of Moldova

National consultant to develop the software for processing of the Industrial Turnover Index in regional perspective

Vacancy Number: Pr14/00486

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 Annex 1 to Terms of Reference Annex 2 to Terms of Reference Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

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. One of the intended outcomes of the Statistics project is to improve the National Bureau of Statistics capacity and other ministries involved in the production of information to produce timely, multi-dimensional disaggregated data of appropriate quality.

This project responds to the urgent need to increase the availability and quality of regional statistics used to ensure that disadvantaged areas of the country are clearly identified and the nature of their problems to be understood clearly. These statistical problems can be identified and resolved gradually by exploring different approaches and learn from the advanced experience of other countries and by strengthening the Regional Development Agencies to monitor the implementation of regional development strategies.

The current Strategic Development Program (SDP) of NBS was designed to focus on the harmonization of national statistics with international standards, an essential part of the policies and the state aspiration to align with international standards and EU accession. Accordingly, the adjustment of statistical processes to current national needs and in accordance with European statistics system envisages the use of appropriate tools and methodologies designed to ensure reliable, relevant and timely statistical data. The 21st objective of the NBS SDP, preparation of the information on business activity at territorial level, will be partially realized.

The project aims to improve the quality of regional data and making them available to policy makers and planners within government bodies at central / regional and local levels, so that government policy and planning regarding the regional development at all levels to be informed properly.

The successful achievement of the given project objectives should lead to the improvement of the:

1. Socio-economic statistical indicators system at regional level and the calculation methodologies;
2. Information flows, resulting in increased use of administrative and statistical sources of the information to produce reliable and disaggregated statistical data necessary for the Local Public Administration operation.

For more info on the assignment’s context please see the Terms of References.

Scope of work

The scope of work of the national consultant is to develop the software application for inputting and processing the statistical data for calculation of regional Industrial Turnover Index (ITI).

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 for the disaggregated processing and calculation of the Industrial Turnover Index by development regions, drafting of output tables, as well as automatic upload the data into the NBS database.

The software application will be designed as an additional module to the computer program used for inputting and processing of data from the Short-Term Business Statistical Integrated Survey (component IND-TS) and should be developed in accordance with the generic Technical Specifications on expected software application (attachment 1, including 4 appendixes) and the Guidelines of Short term Business Statistical Integrated Survey soft (attachment 2), which contain the description of overall structure of the program, the basic principles of its functioning, data input and output requirements applied, the feasible operations on data, verification and control modules, etc.

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

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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