Career Center

Company:	The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
Location:	Yerevan, Armenia
Duration:	01 November 2023 - 30 August 2024
Deadline:	26 October 2023,17:00

Competition
Company

COMPETITION TYPE:

Short Term Service Delivery Assignment

DETAIL DESCRIPTION:

Project: Good Governance for Local Development South Caucasus
PN: 19.2204.6-002.00

Background Information on the Activity
In 2015, Armenia faced a highly fragmented municipal landscape with 915 municipalities
varying significantly in population size and capacities. The existing territorial and administrative division, coupled with limited decentralization, posed significant challenges to local governance, efficient service provision, and optimal utilization of financial resources. Many municipalities struggled to fulfill their functions effectively, including raising sufficient revenues, maintaining public infrastructure, delivering essential services, and supporting sustainable social and economic development.
To address these challenges, the Government of the Republic of Armenia initiated a large-
scale structural change process known as the Territorial and Administrative Reform in Armenia (TARA). The primary objective of TARA was to drastically reduce the number of individual communities and optimize the country's system of multi-level governance.
TARA's overarching goal is to establish favourable framework conditions for local self-
government and build viable structures at the local level, enabling functional and responsive local governments. The reform involved a renewed policy approach to municipal planning, governance, management, human resources, local economic development, and resource allocation within the governance system. As of the end of 2022, TARA resulted in a new territorial-administrative division, featuring 71 municipalities (64 of which are consolidated, and 7 single municipalities).
In conjunction with TARA, the government implemented various fiscal policy reforms to
enhance consistency, effectiveness, and transparency, emphasizing the impact of policies and spending.
The introduction of proportional representation for local self-government bodies (council) and indirect representation for the mayor, along with the current territorial and administrative structure of the state, laid the foundation for further reforms.
Considering the significance of TARA's community consolidation process and changes to the local governments' election system, it is imperative to conduct a comprehensive review and analysis of its benefits, financial and administration effects, success stories, and promises for future reforms. Evaluating the outcomes and understanding the potential for future improvements will contribute to the sustainability and effectiveness of TARA and related local governance and service provision policies in Armenia.

Objective
The objective of this assignment is to conduct a comprehensive review and analysis of TARA to assess its results and impact on Local Self-Government Bodies (LSGs), financial effects, and promises for future reforms, with the aim of informing future policy decisions, improving local governance, and enhancing service provision in Armenia.

Tasks and Deliverables
The following tasks are expected to be fulfilled in the context of this assignment:
Task 1: Methodology development, data collection, and preliminary analysis

• Define the scope of the review and analysis, considering:
- geographical, sectoral, and population coverage (will be discussed with and
confirmed by the MTAI),
- evaluation of the activity and effectiveness of community leaders, and
administrative heads of settlements.

• Formulate separate research plans, to:
- identify key research questions, such as how strategic planning of community
development has progressed post-TARA, the budget process's effectiveness, and
residents' role and impact on services provided, etc.

• Develop a comprehensive methodology for:
- analyzing the impact of TARA on LSGs, highlighting areas such as financial
management practices, including assessment of tax administration, asset
management, and financial autonomy;
- assessing service delivery, including service availability, coverage, quality, and
residents' impact on the services provided;
- assessing the capacities (human/financial) of municipal administrations and their
contribution to local economic development;
- understanding the compliance and enforcement of public participation legislation
by local governments;
- evaluating the effectiveness of leadership and management practices at the local
level and their evolution post-TARA;
- assessing the impact of TARA on the strategic planning capabilities of LSGs and
the alignment of local strategies with broader development goals;
- analyzing the enhancement of gender representation and social inclusion in local
governance and policymaking;
- exploring the role of local entrepreneurship and community initiatives in local
economic development;
- considering the influence of external factors, such as economic conditions,
demographic changes, and technological advancements, on the outcomes of
TARA.

• Identify relevant stakeholders, beneficiaries, experts, and databases as sources
of information that:
- can provide insights on leadership and management activities, financial
management practices, public service delivery, and public participation.

• Develop data collection instruments:
- create interview guides that address specific aspects such as the activity and
effectiveness of community leaders, administrative heads of settlements,
- formulate focus group discussion guides that can discuss the community's
perspective on public participation, including transparency and accountability of
local governments and municipal activities,
- design document review checklists to ensure evaluation of strategic planning
documents, including the 5-year development plan, annual work plans (AWP),
Medium-Term Public Expenditure Framework (MTEF), annual budget, etc.

• Conduct data collection using appropriate methods and techniques:
- ensure sampling includes representatives who can provide insights on areas like
leadership, financial management, service delivery, and public participation;
- ensure structured interviews, open-ended questions, and secondary data
analysis.

• Analyze the collected data:
- utilize statistical methods to evaluate quantitative metrics related to financial
management and service delivery;
- use qualitative methods to interpret feedback on leadership, management, and
public participation.

Task 2: Comprehensive analysis of the impacts of TARA on LSGs in Armenia
• Leadership and management analysis:
- evaluate the activity and effectiveness of community leaders, municipality staff,
and administrative heads of settlements;
- assess the impact of community consolidation on the overall resilience of
communities, focusing on border regions;
- evaluate the impact of TARA on human resources, examining recruitment
practices, training of staff, the effectiveness of management and governance
structures, and the capability to attract high-quality staff.

• Strategic planning and development:
- evaluate the planning capacities of municipal staff before and after consolidation,
- analyze strategic planning in community development, including the 5-year
development plan, AWP, MTEF, annual budget, etc.

• Financial management assessment:
- conduct a comparative financial analysis of budgets pre and post-consolidation to
determine the financial effectiveness of TARA;
- examine the accountability and processes of budgeting;
- review the efficacy of tax administration, community asset management, and
financial independence of communities.

• Service delivery evaluation:
- assess the range, quality, administration, and planning of services provided by the
community;
- investigate the effects of TARA on changes in service provision, covering
administrative and sectoral services, infrastructure development, and specific
municipal needs;
- evaluate the usage and impact of the Municipal Management Information System
(MMIS) in enhancing service delivery and administrative efficiency;
- study the role and influence of residents on the services provided.

• Local economic development analysis
- analyze the level of LED in different communities, taking into account the role of
LSGs in promoting LED, economic growth, attracting investments, and supporting
entrepreneurship;
- assess the role of LSGs in promoting LED, economic growth, attracting
investments, and supporting entrepreneurship.

• Public participation and engagement study:
- examine how public participation legislation is enforced by local governments;
- study the depth of citizens’ participation in the decision-making of the local self-
government bodies;
- evaluate local government activity for transparency, accountability, and integrity,
with a focus on the inclusion of women, youth, and vulnerable groups;
- review communication actions ensuring effective citizen engagement.

• Comparative analysis:
- identify and discuss similarities and differences in the performance and outcomes
of LSGs, considering the implementation of TARA initiatives;
- perform a comparative analysis of local self-governments in Armenia, focusing on
the impacts of TARA (on different marzes, rural vs. urban, big vs. small, rich vs. poor (say per capita budget size) consolidated vs. non-consolidated, border vs.
non-border, close to center vs. far from Yerevan, early consolidated vs. newly
consolidated, rayon model vs. other and else depending on the subject matter,
and more);
- assess the impact of community consolidation on the overall resilience of
communities, focusing on border marzes, and discuss similar experiences in other
countries.

• Synthesize findings:
- compile and organize findings from each sub-task, ensuring both qualitative and
quantitative results are highlighted,
- formulate preliminary recommendations derived from the findings to inform future
policy and practice directions.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES:

If you are interested in performing this work, please submit a bid in accordance with the GIZ bidding conditions described below by 26 October 2023, 17:00 (date of receipt at GIZ). Proposals received after the deadline will not be considered. Your bid shall be submitted as hardcopy.

Submission of hardcopy
Your bid, comprising the technical offer (company’s background, relevant experience, CVs of involved experts etc.) and the price offer (signed document, calculation based on the expert days (including the number of working days of each expert) must be clearly marked as such, and submitted as a package containing two envelopes.

The technical offer must always be separate from the price offer and placed in a separate envelope. The technical offer should be in English language.

The envelope containing the technical offer must be sealed and be labelled
as follows:

Technical offer from [please note sender] for:
“GGLD” project, 83449996, PN: 19.2204.6-002.00
– to be opened by Contracting department –

The price offer must always be separate from the technical offer and placed in a separate envelope. The envelope containing the price offer must be sealed and be labelled as follows:

Price offer from [please note sender] for:
“GGLD” project, 83449996, PN: 19.2204.6-002.00
– to be opened by Contracting department –

The outer package must be labelled as:
Bidding documents for [please note sender]:
“GGLD” project, 83449996, PN: 19.2204.6-002.00
– to be opened by Contracting department –

And be addressed to:
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
GmbH Country Office Armenia 59 Hanrapetutyan str., 8th floor, 0010 Yerevan, Armenia

Please do not forget to specify the contact person and details of your company on
the outer envelope!

Price offer
The proposal package is to be submitted in AMD.
The payment will be done in local currency. According to the RA government decree Nr. 1091-N, GIZ is exempted from VAT and custom duties. Privileges in terms of tax and customs fees are applied to this purchase, according to the RA government decision 1091-N. These privileges should be considered in the submitted offers.

Procedural questions
Please address any commercial, technical and procedural questions at an early stage. Questions will be answered if they are received at the latest two working days before the closing of the tender. Questions must be raised in writing by email only to:

Mrs. Liana Nikoghosyan
email: *****.***********@***.**
Non-compliance may result if your bid is not being considered.

Please clearly mention in your application letter that you learned of this announcement through Career Center and mention the URL of its website - www.careercenter.am. Thanks.

ABOUT:

Information on the Programme
The “Good Governance for Local Development South Caucasus” (GGLD) Programme advises and supports respective partner organisations at national, regional (sub-national), and local levels in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan in the implementation of cooperation initiatives towards improved local governance. It supports the improvement of frame conditions, addresses regional (sub-national) governance issues, and works towards the improvement of municipal services and citizens’ participation at the municipal level. In the context of the German international cooperation approach, the Programme’s objectives are oriented within the framework of the Caucasus Initiative; thus, the improved professional exchange among the countries of the South Caucasus and their increasing cooperation are also objectives at the regional South Caucasus level.
The Programme is implemented on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and in Armenia co-financed by the Governance and
Climate Change Program of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). It is carried out in close cooperation with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure (MTAI) as the main political partner.

ATTACHMENTS:

Call for Proposals docx - 83449996CallforProposals-1.docx

Call For Proposals - 83449996CallForProposals.pdf

Assessment Grid - 83449996AssessmentGrid.pdf

General Terms of Contract in English - 83449996GeneralTermsOfContractENG.pdf

General Terms of Contract in Armenian - 83449996GeneralTermsOfContractARM.pdf

ToR - 83449996ToR.pdf

ABOUT COMPANY:

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) is an international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. It provides viable, forward-looking solutions for political, ecological and social development in a globalized world. GIZ promotes complex reforms and change processes, often working under difficult conditions.

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