Tender: Provision of Consultancy Services Aimed at Enhancing Gender Equality at NABU

Terms of Reference

the Provision of Consultancy Services Aimed at Enhancing Gender Equality at NABU

 

An explanatory Session to potential bidders, those who have already submitted their bids or showed their interest in the tender otherwise will take place on 2 May 2024 at 4 pm (Kyiv time).

For transparency and smooth process, all the questions will be answered at once to all of the interested bidders. Request to [email protected] for the link to the session.

1.     Background and context

The European Union Anti-Corruption Initiative in Ukraine (EUACI) is the biggest European Union (EU) programme in the area of anti-corruption in Ukraine, co-funded and implemented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark on behalf of the EU. Based on the significant results of the joint Danish and EU efforts during the EUACI Phase II in 2020-2024, Denmark and the EU engaged in a third phase of the programme aimed at supporting Ukraine in its efforts to reduce corruption at the national and local level through the empowerment of citizens, civil society and state institutions. The EUACI Phase III strategic objectives are that: corruption in Ukraine is reduced; Ukraine advances with anti-corruption reform; and reconstruction in war-affected areas of Ukraine is implemented within a framework that incorporates transparency, accountability and integrity. One of the important EUACI’s beneficiaries is the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).

A key element affecting an institution’s performance and efficiency is a strong and effective management of the human capital. As of late 2023, NABU employed up to 700 employees and is expected to recruit 300 more to ensure the institution meets the demand for timely and resultative investigation of corruption cases. This demand comes both from Ukrainian society as well as from the EU and other international partners of Ukraine.

Enhanced equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is acknowledged as one of the factors that may increase NABU internal performance, recruit more talents, enhance insightful and open-minded thinking, highly needed for successful investigative work and other areas of NABU mandate. Gender equality is seen as an especially relevant area for institutional development in the forthcoming years.

NABU has received various support in institutional capacity development over the last few years from the international donors, including the EUACI. The NABU leadership remains committed to further capacity development projects, and so is the EUACI. Thus, following the previous support in the area human resources (e.g. HR consultancy), the EUACI sees an opportunity in supporting NABU on its path to increased gender equality aimed at better human capital (HC) management, attracting more diverse talents, and utilising this as an institutional strength for stronger and smarter performance.

2.     Contracting authority

The Contracting Authority is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the EUACI.

3.     Objective  

The objective of this assignment is to provide consultancy services aimed at enhancing gender equality at NABU. This will be achieved through concluding a contract with a consultant / a consultancy firm.

4.     Scope of Work and Indicative Outputs and Deliverables 

The commissioned consultant / consultancy firm is expected to provide the following services: 

-      Conducting gender audit / analysis (GA)[1] of the NABU management systems, including but not limited to:

• assessing the institutionalisation of gender equality into NABU through review of its policies, performing key tasks under the NABU’s mandate, budgets and other materials,
• gathering, analysing and concluding on division of labour, roles and responsibilities, access to, and control over, decisions depending on gender,
• looking at gender norms and their expressions on the organisational culture of NABU,
• considering other social variables, such as ethnicity, culture, age, and any other influential variables,
• gathering, analysing and providing quantitative and qualitative data within the GA in order to prepare a baseline for a to-be-developed gender equality strategy. Such data should include inter alia the results of brief employee survey about current perceptions of NABU employees (management and staff) on gender equality, practices of gender equality promotion within NABU, etc.),
• analysing institutional policies and related personnel’s capacities in gathering and using gender informative data, e.g. sex-disaggregated data on institution’s own human capital, investigative and other key operations, analytical work etc.,
• putting collected results into the context: benchmarking to other anti-corruption / law enforcement agencies functioning in at least two different EU Member States,
• identify key vulnerabilities and, therefore, points for empowerment of NABU personnel and areas of improvement of NABU operations;

-      Developing gender equality strategy that would:

• be a comprehensive document containing key directions of promoting the culture of gender equality as well as specific target indicators (based on the GA-identified baselines, as mentioned above),
• be developed in close cooperation with the NABU leadership and middle management based on key GA-identified problems and consultant(s)’/NABU vision for the areas for improvement;
• contain objectives and respective activities within the following intervention formats: 1) integration of gender equality into current NABU work and 2) targeted gender activities within NABU.

-      Developing gender equality policy that would cover at least the following NABU management systems:

• Key NABU operations (investigative and analytical work),
• HR management,
• Communications,
• Finance management (esp. planning),
• Internal controls,
• Other management systems if found relevant.

-      Developing code of ethics for NABU, a brief document developed based on the abovementioned strategy and policy highlighting key expectations and conduct guidelines for promoting gender equality and diversity in NABU.

-      Facilitating NABU internal learning sessions in interactive format aimed at:

• Obtaining a first-round feedback on draft gender equality strategy and policy,
• Communicating foundational principles and objectives behind the gender equality strategy and policy,
• Providing easy-to-use tool boxes of using gender equality strategy and policy for NABU leadership and staff (e.g. a tool box for HR department to include the list of questions for personnel appraisal related to how an employee implements the gender equality strategy and policy and promotes GE in general within their JD),
• Moderating a final meeting with NABU top leadership and staff for declaring the commitment to promoting gender equality in NABU based on the key directions and policies as stated in the abovementioned documents (town-hall-type event).

The following list of outputs is indicative and non-exhaustive. The EUACI reserves the right to request outputs not explicitly mentioned in the list but related to the object of the contract to be concluded:

-      Developing reports and institutional documents,

-      Developing management tool boxes,

-      Presenting deliverables,

-      Conducting learning sessions,

-      Moderating discussions and meetings.

The contract with a successful tenderer will include the following list of deliverables:

• Induction report highlighting key elements of methodology, methods of data collection and analysis, and limitations to the methodology;
• Gender analysis report;
• Gender equality strategy;
• Gender equality policy (for NABU HR management, key operations, and other management systems);
• Code of Ethics;
• Gender tool box: brief materials explicating how to use gender equality strategy and policy in a department’s work (for HR managers, detectives and analysts, internal control specialists, communication specialists, economists/financial planners);
• Brief exit report of the consultant to EUACI identifying outstanding problems and areas where NABU will need further development support, if any.

During the assignment, the consultant shall work closely with the appropriate EUACI and NABU personnel, and shall perform on-site visits, desk reviews, and consultations. The expert shall feel free to ask for and make use of all provided documents, studies, reports, and other relevant documents.

Language of deliverables: Ukrainian and English.

The final texts of written deliverables shall be closely coordinated with the EUACI, including EUACI staff quality assurance.

5.     Qualifications Required and Assessment

Tenderers shall demonstrate that they – or the proposed team of engaged experts – fulfil the following criteria:

-         Relevant education at Bachelor / Master’s Degree / Academic level in Social Sciences, Political Sciences, International Development, HR management, MBA;

-         Master’s degree or post-graduate certification in Gender Studies will be a significant plus;

-         Minimum 5 years of proven professional experience in gender analysis and gender mainstreaming, namely: conducting gender analysis, development of institutional/organisational gender or EDI policies and strategies, implementing the latter;

-         Minimum 5 years of experience of working / minimum 10 projects of providing consultancy services to Ukrainian public institutions or civil society organisations, preferably in the sector of anti-corruption and/or law enforcement;

-         Proven track record of consulting the institutional leadership in implementing the strategies through conducting learning sessions to personnel, moderation of seminars, managing and analysing personnel’s feedback;

-         Strong analytical skills, especially in the area of social behaviour change;

-         Strong oral and written communication skills;

-         Fluency in written and oral English and Ukrainian for an individual consultant, or a combination of skills within the proposed team of engaged experts.[2]

 Award criteria

• Criterion 1: Professional experience^[3] (50%), consisting of the length of experience and the proven track record of practical achievements in the given field;

• Criterion 2: Proposal of methodology (30%).

• Criterion 2: Financial offer (20%).

6.     Timing, Estimated Budget and Level of Effort

The duration of this assignment is estimated to be 5 months to commence at the time of the signature of the contract. The total budget under a contract may not exceed EUR 30,000.

The fees agreed during the conclusion of the contract are final and not subject to review.

7.     Tender submission

Deadline is postponed. Tenders must be sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, the EUACI electronically to [email protected], before the close of business on 10 May 2024, with the email subject: “Tender: Gender analysis, strategy and policy development – consultancy services for NABU”

A tender must include the following documents:

-         Motivation letter demonstrating the tenderer’s understanding of the EUACI and NABU needs as well as explicitly stating their / its compliance with the eligibility criteria listed above;

-         Proposal highlighting key elements of methodology, methods of data collection and analysis, learning methodology, and limitations to the methodology;

-         CV in English of a tenderer or CVs of engaged experts;

-         Registration documents certifying the status of a tenderer (both for individuals and legal entities).

All documents shall be submitted in English, failure to do so will result in the exclusion of a tender.

Tenders cannot not be considered if:

-         submitted in a language other than English, or

-         sent to another e-mail account, or

-         missing any of the documents listed above, or

-         submitted after the deadline.