Academic qualifications:
- A master’s degree in economics, finance, law, international taxation and/or relevant fields (or in the absence, equivalent qualifications, and professional experience).
Experience:
- Minimum seven (7) years’ work experience in the extractives industries, including 3 years working on the value chain and pricing especially in the diamond sector.
- Fluency in the use of software like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
- 3 years of experience in conducting training/couching in diamond sector.
Desirable Qualifications:
- Experience in value chains in the diamond sector with a focus on how this industry operates in Africa and ability to transfer skills/knowledge;
- Expertise in identification of data sources that help in determining the selling price of diamonds, with knowledge of experiences and good practices across the continent;
- Experience with the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) in the Botswana;
- Experience in transfer pricing method for diamonds;
- Experience and proven success in general office practice, communication, and negotiation skills.
Language:
- Fluency in written and spoken English is required;
Application Procedure
The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):
- A cover letter with a brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment;
- Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references;
Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.
Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.
- The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around the specific and measurable deliverables of the TOR. Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR, and deliverables accepted and certified by the technical manager.
- The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; (excluding mission travel); living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.
- This consultancy is a home-based assignment, therefore, there is no envisaged travel cost to join duty station/repatriation travel.
- In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. 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.
- If the Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.
The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.
Evaluation process
Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below. Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
- Being 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 where technical criteria weighs 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.
Technical evaluation – Total 70% (70 points):
- Criteria 1. Minimum 3 years of experience in value chains in the diamond sector with a focus on how this industry operates in Africa or other developing region and ability to transfer skills/knowledge; Maximum Points: 20;
- Criteria 2. Demonstrable experience and Expertise in identification of data sources that help in determining the selling price of diamonds, with knowledge of experiences and good practices across the continent; Maximum Points: 10;
- Criteria 3. Minimum 3 years’ Experience in transfer pricing method for diamonds; Maximum Points: 10; and
- Interview: Maximum Points: 30.
Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top three shortlisted candidates for interview. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.
Financial evaluation – Total 30% (30 points)
The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:
p = y (µ/z), where
p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated
Contract Award
Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.
Institutional arrangement
- At BURS, the Expert will be supervised by and report to the Director, Large Taxpayer Unit.
- The Expert will write and submit mission reports about their findings, achieved results and outcome of the Assignment directly to the TIWB Secretariat. A TIWB mission encompasses 5 days of assistance. After each mission, the Expert will fill in and email the TIWB Secretariat a mission report, including the integrated timesheet. If the 5 days of assistance spans more than 2 calendar months, the Expert will submit a draft version of this report to the TIWB Secretariat at two months and the final mission report upon completion of the 5 days of assistance.
- The Expert will hold a debriefing session with the Director, Large Taxpayer Unit at the end of the inception mission, the end of each calendar quarter and at the end of the final mission to update them about outputs delivered and outcomes expected.
- BURS will provide the Expert with necessary infrastructure, including access to relevant information to conduct their advisory activities on the BURS premises including tax legislation, audit manuals/practice notes, double taxation treaties, tax information exchange agreements and Computer Aided Audit Tools (“CAAT”).
- The Expert is expected to engage with and keep informed the local UNDP Office staff in Botswana during the Assignment in order to discuss the Programme and the involvement of the UNDP office.
- Issues regarding taxpayer confidentiality, (potential) conflicts of interest and liabilities will be addressed to the satisfaction of BURS, the Expert and TIWB Secretariat/UNDP.
- The Expert will be expected to complete online UN security courses(s) to obtain the UN Security Clearance Certificate for insurance purposes prior to going on an on-site mission, depending on the security requirements of the jurisdiction.
- UNDP will fund transportation for the Expert from his/her home country to Botswana and provide Daily Subsistence Allowance (“DSA”) at UNDP rates to cover accommodation during an on-site mission. BURS may be requested to arrange airport transfers and daily transportation to/from the BURS offices.
- The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.
Duty Station and Duration of the Work
- The Expert will provide up to 29 days of assistance, which BURS will place within a period of 12 months between March 2022 and February 2023. At present, the entire programme is designed for remote assistance; this may however be modified by discussion between BURS, the TIWB Secretariat and the Expert if travel restrictions permit, and an in-person mission is possible. For practical reasons, planning of the mission dates shall be done by BURS with the agreement of the Expert, and subsequently confirmed to the TIWB Secretariat/UNDP.
- To maximize the benefits of the Programme, it is critical that the Expert allocate sufficient time for remote assistance with BURS audit officials to enable practical skills transfer to staff and mentoring. The availability of the Expert shall be adaptable to the timing and scheduling of the cases under audit.
- Owing to COVID-19 restrictions, the Expert is expected to provide remote assistance through e-mail, virtual meetings or other ways of communication.
- TIWB Secretariat/UNDP will review mission outputs, give comments, certify approval/acceptance of outputs within two to four weeks of submission of each mission report by the Expert.
- The official working days for the Expert are from Monday to Friday.
- The official and working language of the audit team is English. The official language of the host administration is English. All outputs, including correspondence and reports may be provided in English.
- If the Expert is a currently serving tax official, he/she will be required to secure a letter from his/her employer indicating the tax administration’s approval for the Expert to BURS on the Assignment.
Payment modality
- Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified above and deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.
- The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7 hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.