Consultant for Technical Assistance on Trade Facilitation for Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Kingdom of Bahrain

Location: Manama, BAHRAIN

Application Deadline: 18-Nov-12

Type of Contract: Individual Contract

Post Level: International Consultant

Languages Required: English 

Starting Date: (date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 02-Dec-2012

Duration of Initial Contract: 15 Working Days

Background

The Kingdom of Bahrain's economy is well equipped and competitive in several respects, including low taxation, openness to global trade, and financial market development. The government has focused on diversifying the economy in non-oil sectors, and the country is currently leading trade negotiations in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states to increase levels of freedom in business, monetary and financial areas. UNDP is implementing the Programme titled as Support to Enhancing Institutional Capacity for Global Economic Environment and Governance. This Programme aims at enhancing the institutional and technical capacities in order to improve the efficiency of the economic governance system, targeting the primary stakeholder, The Ministry of Industry and Commerce, followed by the private sector and other line institutions. The activities will support the creation of adequate national capacities for effective trade policy administration. Following are the expected results of this Programme: Enhanced Negotiation, application and implementation of World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Development Agenda (DDA), Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Trade Policy Review outcomes; Institutionalizing of procedures under World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) agreements for Intellectual Property systems of registration are consistent with national objectives and international requirements; Strengthened capacity of Bahrain in the implementation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement. The main beneficiary for the result ‘i’ is the Directorate of Foreign Trade (DoFT) of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. The Directorate is focal point for bilateral, regional and multilateral trade negotiations. DoFT is positioned to systematically review and develop and series of position papers as a result of the ongoing WTO DDA negotiations and the post Doha round and other FTA agreements. Enhancing the capacity of DoFT will ultimately result in improved inter-ministerial coordination and enable analysis of different facets of the trade negotiations. Overall, this will lead to enhancement of negotiation, application and implementation of WTO DDA, FTA and Trade Policy Review outcomes, maximizing the benefits to the private sector and national economy

Duties and Responsibilities

This assignment is focused on enhancing the capacity of the public sector stakeholders (such as the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Customs Department) of the Kingdom of Bahrain in dealing with the issue of Trade Facilitation, particularly in the context of ongoing negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The selected expert would be required to perform the following specific tasks: Updating of the Needs Assessment on Trade Facilitation Design and delivery of 3 day training to stakeholders from respective ministries and government departments of Bahrain, covering the following:  Theoretical background of the Trade Facilitation and the start of multilateral negotiations on this issue Latest state of affairs in the negotiations on Trade Facilitation in the context of WTO-DDA How can the Kingdom of Bahrain benefit from expected outcomes of such negotiations and what would it take to implement such outcomes Compilation of an electronic resource base (on a CD-ROM) comprising of relevant papers, journal articles, databases and web links on Trade Facilitation The applicants may present their own approach on this activity containing, at least, the above-mentioned elements, as a part of their proposal for this assignment.

Competencies

Excellent organizational skills and proven ability to work independently and ensure deliverables within assigned deadlines; Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; and Experience working collaboratively in a team structure in a multicultural environment. The consultant should demonstrate integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards; and Display cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:         A masters or similar degree in international law, economics, international trade, public policy or related areas. Experience: The candidate must have, at least, 10 years of experience working on the customs and international trade issues, preferably in the context of multilateral obligations. Experience of working in and for the WTO, UNCTAD, World Bank and WCO is highly desirable. The candidate should have considerable practical experience in customs and international trade issues; preferably dealing with Trade Facilitation negotiations and related issues in the WTO. Candidate should have expertise and proven experience in trade facilitation related technical assistance, preferably in developing countries. Proven skills in writing policy reports and papers along with expertise in training government officials are required. Experience of similar work in Gulf region would be a distinct advantage. Language: The candidate must have excellent communication skills in English. A good working knowledge of Arabic would be considered an advantage Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications to procurement.bh@undp.org: Proposal: Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work (if applicable) Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references Applicants are encouraged to fill and sign a P11 Form and submit it on the online application, although regular CVs are also acceptable. The P11 Form can be obtained at http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc Lump sum contracts: 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 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. Cumulative analysis: The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has 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. Technical Criteria weight; 70% Financial Criteria weight; 30% Technical Evaluation Criteria: Relevant experience in energy related topics/ fields - (40 points) Specific experience on the Trade Facilitation negotiations in the WTO - (10 points) Relevant qualifications - (20 points) In this methodology, the maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. While using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has 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.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

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