Republic of Moldova

National Consultant to develop a Methodology for developing opinions on draft legislation

Vacancy Number: Pr14/00491

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	30 Mar 2014, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	18 Apr 2014
Reference to the project:	Programme for Improving the Quality of Moldovan Democracy through Parliamentary Support
Expected Duration of Assignment:	30 days within a 3 months assignment
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than 30 March, 2014. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: sergiu.galitchi@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.  Important notice The applicant who has the statute of Government Official / Public Servant, prior to appointment will be asked to submit the following documentation: a no-objection letter in respect of the applicant received from the government, and; the applicant is certified in writing by the government to be on official leave without pay for the duration of the Individual Contract. A retired government official is not considered in this case a government official, and as such, may be contracted.
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Contacts:

Mr. Sergiu Galitchi.

sergiu.galitchi@undp.org

Background

Drafting of legislation represents a complex and responsible process, which involves several specific phases. These phases are determined by constitutional and legal rules, drafting techniques and procedures. The progress in the negotiations of the Association Agreement and DCFTA between the Republic of Moldova and EU has taken the Republic of Moldova to the stage of the implementation of these documents, which means that the Republic of Moldova is expected to transpose and to absorb the extensive EU legal standards (Acquis Communautaire) in relatively short timeframe. The role of the Parliament in this ambitious task is of a crucial importance.

The existing cycle of a draft legislative act is described in the Parliamentary Rules of procedure act No.797 from April 2, 1996, starting from the right of legislative initiative and up to the phase of promulgation of the legal act by the President of the Republic of Moldova. According to the Rules each bill is subject to a number of activities related to registration, approval, review, vote, editing and signing, etc.

Parliamentary committees, senior management in Parliament and Parliament of Moldova Secretariat subdivisions are the main actors in the legislative process in Parliament. By verifying the form and content of legislative initiatives the Parliament exercises its legislative function. Before a draft legislative act is included in the Parliament’s agenda it’s compliance with international and constitutional requirements, correlation with the legal system in Moldova and the principles and norms of legislative drafting techniques are checked.

At the moment, there are no uniform methodological rules on how the parliament is delivering legal opinions on bills. In many cases the opinions submitted by standing committees are very formal, the proposed amendments are not analysed in terms of legality and systematic connection with other legislative acts. Therefore, in order to improve the quality of legislation and ensure a better law enforcement, the Parliament intends to develop and apply uniform rules on the preparation and delivery of legal opinions on bills.   

In this context, the UNDP Democracy Programme/Parliament component is seeking to hire a national consultant who will develop a Methodology for developing opinions on draft legislation. The methodology will serve as a toolkit for standing committees and legal department and will offer practical guidance for MPs and parliamentary staffers to make the scrutiny of bills more efficient.

Scope of work

The expected output for the National Consultant’s assignment is to develop a Methodology for developing opinions on draft legislation which would include a set of concise and practical instructions that describe the logical sequence of steps to be taken in the process of scrutiny of bills.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

I.    Academic Qualifications:

• University / Master degree in Law;

II.   Years of experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in drafting and scrutiny of bills and in preparing opinions;

• In-depth knowledge and understanding of the legislative process and techniques;
• Working experience with Parliament or Government sector;
• Experience in comparative analysis, research, assessment on the implementation of the international legislation and policies;
• Proven experience in working with the international organizations (successful experience in working with UN agencies is an asset);

III.  Competencies:

• Strong analytical and drafting skills;
• Ability to analyse, plan, communicate effectively orally and in writing, draft report, organize and meet expected results, adapt to different environments (cultural, economic, political and social).
• Availability to work with UNDP and Parliament during the indicated /approved period;
• Demonstrated interpersonal and diplomatic skills, as well as the ability to communicate effectively with all stakeholders and to present ideas clearly and effectively;
• Fluency in Romanian. Knowledge of English and/or Russian will be an asset;
• Computer literacy and ability to effectively use office technology equipment, IT tools.

Documents to be included

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

1. Financial proposal in USD;

2. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 reference persons.

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 instalments 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 travel, per diems, and 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.

 

Disclaimer In case of discrepancies between the text published on the website and the contents of the supporting documents, the provisions, instructions and conditions included in the supporting documents (published as Adobe Portable Document Format files) shall prevail. In case of discrepancies between the English version and the Romanian and/or Russian versions of text, documents or other content published on this webpage, the English version shall prevail.

Notice UNDP, as a matter of practice, does not charge any application, processing or training fee at any stage of the recruitment process. If you have any questions as to vacancy announcements you may have received, please refer to this website. UNDP is currently aware of fictitious vacancy announcements that are being circulated through the internet, the purpose of which is to get people to register for a training and send in a fee. If you believe that you have received such a notice, please forward it, and any other related information you have received, to scamalert@undp.org. Since logos, emblems, names and addresses can be easily copied or reproduced, you are advised to take particular care in applying for vacancies, including undertaking all appropriate measures to protect against the unauthorised use of any personal information you may have provided as a result of the scam.