To establish Long Term Arrangement (LTA) for identification and deployment of individual contractors as required by programs and operations of UNICEF Bangladesh for 2 + 1 years.

Annex F

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INSTITUTIONAL CONTRACT

Title of the assignment

Long Term Agreement for identification and deployment of individual contractors as required by UNICEF programs and operations.

Purpose

The purpose of the assignment is to provide Human Resources solutions across UNICEF offices. [other UN Agencies in Bangladesh may also use the contractor’s services, on same terms and conditions].

Programme area and specific project areas

The 2022-2026 UNICEF country programme will benefit from the services of contractors in the implementation of its activities under Health, Nutrition, Water Sanitation & Hygiene, Education, and cross-cutting programmes and operations across Bangladesh.

Estimated Duration

Long Term Agreement (LTA) initially to be entered for the duration of 24 months, extendable for another 12 months (max. 36 months)

Technical Supervisor of this assignment

LTA will be managed by UNICEF Chief, Supply and Procurement Section

Individual contractors will have dedicated supervisor (s) as assigned by Programme/Operations sections and Management.

Estimated Budget

Time bound LTA will be established initially for 24 months with the provision to extend for additional 12 months.

1. Background

UNICEF Bangladesh Country Office has started its new programme cycle aimed at supporting Bangladesh to take maximum advantage of the remaining period of its demographic window of opportunity by making prioritized investments in children for the realization of their basic rights and towards sustainable development.

Since 2019, UNICEF Bangladesh has relied on the services of over 300 contractors of diverse background and expertise, across the country. It is expected that requirements of similar volume will continue at least until 2025.

2. Objectives and Purpose

The purpose of the assignment is to provide Human Resources solutions across UNICEF offices.

3. Deliverables

The Service Provider (SP) in consultation with requesting entity will identify, issue contracts to individual contractors and manage their contracts in accordance to the agreed terms and conditions and in line with national labor laws.

The services are summarized in three categories as follows:

- Management of human resources, including identification of qualified human resources, short listing, interviewing and on boarding including management of contractors’ files (e.g. performance appraisal; leave management; etc.); The SP will also follow a defined workplan and provide regular activity reports. The complete recruitment and on boarding will be independently undertaken by the Service provider. Before making an offer to the successful candidate, the SP will have the clearance from the technical supervisor mentioned in the individual ToR.

- Financial management, including disbursement of professional fees, management of applicable taxes and other similar expenses incurred in implementation of programme activities.

- Logistics management, including travel for meetings, trainings or any other programme related travel.

3.1   HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Sourcing

The SP will maintain updated database of all consultants of various professional and support categories required by UNICEF. This will be an active roster with new CVs of consultants being added and updated throughout the duration of the LTA.

The SP will initiate recruitment process by matching CVs from the existing database with ToR shared by the hiring section.

Based on the Terms of Reference provided by UNICEF, contractor will source, enter contract and deploy its technical consultants through a competitive and transparent recruitment process.

The sourcing strategy, media to be used for advertising including the reach and appropriateness to UNICEF requirement needs.

Advertisement

During the hiring process, the SP will ensure that the advertisements placed by the SP in any media for contracting of technical contractors will not carry the UNICEF logo nor identify its association with UNICEF. The SP will also ensure that the text of the advertisement does not carry any references to UNICEF.  The cost of such advertisements will be reimbursed by UNICEF to the SP at actual cost. SP will seek prior approval from UNICEF before incurring such costs.

Screening and Assessment

The SP will receive all applications and screen the CVs of technical consultants as per pre-determined qualification criteria mentioned in the individual TORs shared by UNICEF. They would also prepare the longlist after closing of the advertisement and share with UNICEF.

The SP will conduct written test (if applicable) and arrange interviews of the shortlisted technical consultants/contractors in coordination with UNICEF panel members. Interviews shall be conducted face to face or online (Skype, MS Teams, Zoom etc). All costs relating to administrative and logistics arrangements for the hiring process will be borne by UNICEF. 

The representative of SP will be responsible to prepare the panel report on the recruitment process and will coordinate with panel members to get the report endorsed.

Before making the final offer to the selected candidate, the SP will undertake verification of credentials and robust background checking of contractor. This process will be documented, and all the supporting documents will be retained by the SP and made available to UNICEF as needed.

Contracts

The SP shall ensure that all the contractors have valid contracts; and these contracts should be awarded following the SP’s own internal policy and the statutory labor and legal requirements.

The SP will ensure the contractors will not work with any other organization during their fulltime consultancy with UNICEF.

The SP’s contracts with the contractors should not contain any reference to UNICEF and should not refer to UNICEF as principal employer of those contractors.

The contractors selected for work under any contract by the SP, will be reliable individuals who will perform effectively in the implementation, respect the local customs, and conform to a high standard of moral and ethical conduct.

The SP will immediately, upon written notice from UNICEF, replace any contractor whose performance is not satisfactory, or behavior or conduct is shown to be undesirable (e.g., related to cases of theft, fraud, sexual exploitation, and abuse, etc.).

If needed, in consultation with UNICEF Supply section, the technical supervisor reserves the right to direct the SP to discontinue the contract of any contractor based on the programmatic needs. In such case, UNICEF will provide 30 days’ notice period before termination. In any case, all relevant laws, rules and regulations of the Government of Bangladesh are to be adhered to.

Professional Fee, Out of Pocket Expenses and Taxes

The SP will establish the applicable tax liabilities of contractors hired by them. The professional fees for contractors indicated in the ToR will be an all-inclusive fee (for majority of the cases). No separate provisions will be made for any equipment, local communication charges (mobile/internet etc.), travel within the duty station etc. For any travel outside of the duty station, the technical contractors will be entitled for reimbursement of the cost of travel and allocated per diems/allowances as specified in the individual ToR.

The SP shall instruct contractors about their income tax and VAT liabilities, as applicable.

Insurance – Health, Death and Disability

The SP is required to provide and facilitate health insurance, insurance cover for death and disability to its  consultants through reputable local or international insurance provider(s).

The SP will ensure that all the contracted contractors will have a valid group insurance of BDT 500,000 (death & disability) and medical insurance policies of BDT 100,000 as per their policy, through a reputable local or international insurance provider(s). The Contractor shall, upon request, provide UNICEF with  evidence of the insurance as required herein.

The SP shall be responsible for the management of the insurance claims from initiation to final claim payment.

The SP shall instruct its contractors on the insurance policy and claim procedures. The costs of the policies should be costed within the all-inclusive management fee.

Database

The SP will maintain an updated database of all its technical contractors which will include at least the duration of contract, start & end date, value, title, the UNICEF section and/or supervisor’s name, etc.

The SP will maintain an active roster and database of prospective resources. Details about this requirement need to be elaborated under sourcing strategy to be explained, in the technical proposal.

Performance Evaluation

The SP will ensure that the designated supervisor of the contractors completes the performance evaluation of all contractors. The related inputs should then feed into the SP’s database.

Working Hours and Public Holidays

Contractors will observe the same working hours and public holidays as per the rules and notification of the Government unless otherwise stated or mutually agreed between the contractor and respective UNICEF supervisor.

The cost of leave entitlements should be reflected within the all-inclusive fee.

Documentation

The SP shall be responsible for all administrative functions including maintaining contractors’ files with relevant documentation (CVs, ToRs, recommendation of the selection panel, reference check, attendance, leave, performance record, medical records, etc.)

3.2   FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Accounting

The SP will maintain the accounts under this contract based on generally accepted accounting principles. Accounts should be maintained in computerized standard accounting software such as Tally or similar recognized systems.  

The SP will maintain proper records and documentation of funds received and disbursed under this contract. The SP should produce all records to UNICEF as and when requested.

On the last day of each month, the SP will submit the invoice to UNICEF indicating the respective Section/Supervisor’s name.

The SP will make payments to the contractors by the last day of each month. These payments will be made based on the certification received from each contractor and approved by the supervisor stating that the expected work has been successfully completed.

The SP will ensure that payment slips are issued for all the payments made and a copy of same is retained in the records.

The SP will ensure that all financial records are available for Audit/review by UNICEF / UNICEF appointed agency as and when required.

Deduction of excess or wrong payments

Any excess or wrong payments made by the SP and billed to UNICEF, will be recovered from the SP.

3.3   ADMINISTRATIVE AND LOGISTICS ARRANGEMENTS

The SP and/or contracted contractors are responsible for following arrangements and obligations:

• Arrange transportation for performing the work (as applicable).
• Arrange mobile phones, internet connectivity, stationary equipment, laptop etc.
• Pay all taxes as per government rules and regulations.
• Arrange following applicable training for technical contractors:

• Online mandatory trainings specified by UNICEF
• Any technical training such as for drivers (driving test and/or safe driving skills, etc).

• Arrange dress (uniforms) for specific group of the contractors
• Arrange field visit to UNICEF field offices minimum twice in a year to check and collect performance feedback of the deployed contractors.

4. Reporting requirements

The SP will be responsible to submit monthly updated reports.

Similarly, the status of ongoing recruitments and the requests that have been received during the month should be reported in detail.

5. Payment Schedule

Monthly invoices must be submitted to the UNICEF contract supervisor on the last day of each month. Payment will be done in 30 days from the date of receipt of invoice and supporting documents

6. Expected qualification and requirements of the bidding entity
- The bidding entity should have at least 5 years’ experience of providing similar HR management services, preferably in a development and humanitarian context.

- The entity should have the necessary level of cash flow to handle disbursements of large sums of money.

- The entity must have Legal Documents/License (DIFE) to operate as a third-party HR management service provider.

- The contractor should have qualified and skilled staff to handle the day-to-day requirements; minimum qualification level should be graduate with specialization in HR, Finance and General Administration.

- Capacity to manage field level monitoring of the deployed contractors.

- All key team members of the service provider must be fluent in Bangla and English.