International Consultant for Inter-Municipal Cooperation Tender, Montenegro - 27545176

Procurement Summary

Country : Montenegro

Summary : International Consultant for Inter-Municipal Cooperation

Deadline : 23 Oct 2018

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 27545176

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : United Nations Secretariat

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
UNDP, UN Eco House, Stanka Dragojevica bb, 81000 Podgorica Tel: +382-20447400 Fax: +382-20447414
Montenegro
Email :registry.me@undp.org

Tender Details

Tenders are invited for International Consultant for Inter-Municipal Cooperation.

Background

The EU funded project “Support to the creation of a more transparent, efficient and service-oriented public administration” will support the implementation of the Public Administration Reform Strategy 2016-2020, specifically contributing to the strategy objectives related to the provision of services and civil service system and human resources management. The project will be implemented in the framework of the Sector Budget Support “EU Support to Public Administration Reform in Montenegro” and it has two specific objectives: 1) Support the implementation of the national optimisation plan at local level and 2) Upgrade the Single Information System for the exchange of data among state registers.

As stated in the Public Administration Reform Strategy 2016-2020, in the previous period, normative preconditions for its implementation have been created, through the adoption of numerous systemic laws and subsidiary by-laws of a reform character. This also applies to implementation of measures for optimizing public administration at state and local level. Namely, by analysing existing legal framework and comparing with possible measures of optimization of public administration in the practice of EU member states, the conclusion is that the existing legal framework in Montenegro allows the implementation of the largest number of the potential optimization measures.

The Optimization Plan for Public Administration of Montenegro 2016-2020 defined short-term and mid-term measures in order to implement the process and create transparent, more efficient and service-oriented public administration. The measures are precisely separated for the local and state level and are systemized so that, in a short time, they show the relevant results.

With the aim to fulfil the requirements from the Optimization plan, local self-governments units are encouraged to foster inter-municipal cooperation on possible areas and mechanisms of cooperation and funding sources, which represents a form of decentralized implementation of public services. This measure could be effective especially in cases of poor administration and services in municipalities, when, despite their responsibility, they are not able to deliver, or when service provision is inadequate. Insufficient financial resources or lack of administrative capacity are frequently cited reasons for weak service delivery. In addition, many municipalities have small population and subsequently limited ability to individually support big infrastructure projects and raise private investors- interest. In that case, the law prescribes that two or more units of local self-government may establish a company or a public institution, in order to more economically and rationally perform certain tasks within their competence, according to the law and to jointly perform certain own affairs, in line with a separate contract if it is in their common interest.

In Montenegro there are two levels of government - central and local (municipal) level, which is sometimes very challenging for the decentralization process. Municipalities in Montenegro are becoming increasingly aware of the need to undertake certain joint activities in order to solve problems that, for various reasons, cannot be solved by each municipality individually. In this area, problems to be addressed include: insufficient communication between municipalities, lack of vision and plan on issues of inter-municipal interest and weak capacity and knowledge on possible forms of interest-based municipal cooperation.

Inter-municipal cooperation represents effective mechanism in order to overcome the lack of adequate professional staff and financial resources necessary for independent performance of work, by reducing organizational and other tax authorities of the municipality for their performance and providing better service to citizens.

The analysis and model of inter-municipal cooperation should be directed to municipalities that are not able to independently carry out tasks for financial, staffing or other reasons, which can be performed through their cooperation (internal audit, public procurement, job creation and realization of municipal development plans and programs, development and management of inter-municipal cooperation projects, development and management of projects funded from EU funds, protection and rescue operations, etc.), and to foster them to conclude the contracts on conditions and manner of joint performance of responsibilities.




Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the assignment:

Together with the local consultant, the international consultant will be required to develop Analysis of possible areas and mechanisms of cooperation among local government-units and possible sources of financing. The Analysis will include overview of the Montenegrin legislative system related to inter-municipal cooperation, summary of the previous cases and best practices of inter-municipal cooperation in Montenegro and in the region and develop recommendations for further fostering of cooperation between local self-government units according to the experience from the visits to local self-government units in Montenegro. Also, it is necessary to propose a plan of incentive measures and present mechanisms for implementation of the activities proposed in the plan. The local consultant will provide support to international consultant in the process of analysing the concrete models of inter-municipal cooperation for the municipalities.

Job content:

Under the guidance of the UNDP Project Manager, international consultant is expected to deliver the following tasks:

· Liaise and ensure constant communication/coordination with municipalities, Union of Municipalities, Ministry of Public Administration and UNDP;

· Cooperate with the local consultant in order to fulfil project tasks;

· Prepare a work plan with time-table for the assignment;

· Investigate, analyse and present examples of good IMC practices in the region and elsewhere;

· In cooperation with local consultant develop systematized guidelines to the municipalities on documents and data needed as inputs for the analysis;

· Together with the local consultant, undertake visits to 10 municipalities with less than 10, 000 inhabitants (Andrijevica, Gusinje, Kolašin, Mojkovac, Petnjica, Plav, Plužine, Šavnik, Žabljak and Tuzi) in order to identify their specific needs for cooperation with other municipalities.

· In cooperation with local consultant, prepare recommendations for further fostering of cooperation between local self-government units according to the experience from the visits to local self-government units in Montenegro and based on the national legislation.

Documents

 Tender Notice