TERMS OF REFERENCE
INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT
FINAL EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT “ECUADOR JUSTICE SECTOR CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAM TO COMBAT TRANSNATIONAL CRIME AND NARCOTRAFFICKING”- ECUADOR
1. BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION:
The Pan American Development Foundation is seeking proposals from individual consultants to conduct a final independent evaluation of its 57-month, US$ 4,676,710 project entitled “Ecuador Justice Sector Capacity Building Program to Combat Transnational Crime and Narcotrafficking” (“the Project”).
2. OBJECTIVE:
The Pan American Development Foundation is seeking quotes to provide a final evaluation. The contract has the following objectives:
1. Perform a final evaluation of a project through informational interviews with staff, local partners, and other stakeholders, and project materials review. The evaluation will verify project activities completion, evaluate project impact (outputs and outcomes), present lessons learned and best practices, and identify future needs on the ground.
Project materials that will be made available include the original proposal submission to donor, subsequent amendments, subgrant agreements, PADF quarterly reports, and any other reports or complementary materials received from implementing partners (upon request). PADF will also make available meetings with project staff (when needed) and provide contact information of key personnel from all project partners, who could facilitate access to project participants.
2) Present a final report with the following illustrative contents:
I. Executive Summary
II. Introduction
a. Background
b. Project description and strategy
c. Profile of implementing organizations
d. Purpose and scope of the evaluation
III. Findings
a. Verification of activity implementation
b. Project outcomes, results, and impact
c. Best practices and lessons learned
IV. Conclusions and recommendations for future programming
The report may include text, graphs, tables, and other supporting documentation.
3. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CONSULTANT:
a. Present an implementation plan that should not exceed 10 pages, and a writing sample no longer than three pages. The preferred format is US Letter sized, Times New Roman font, 12 pt. font size, 1-inch margins, single spaced.
b. Have interviews with stakeholders, key personnel and staff project in Spanish.
c. Perform a final report of the evaluation of the project with at least the illustrative contents mentioned previously.
4. LOCATION(S) OF ASSIGNMENT
Remote or local consultancy; travel to Ecuador is not required. Any travel related to this evaluation will be subject to prior approval by PADF. Stakeholders have videoconference capabilities and if required PADF will assist the successful candidate in coordinating videoconferences (or phone calls, if necessary) with interviewees.
5. CANDIDATE PROFILE:
The ideal candidate will possess the following:
- At least five years of experience in international development or similar field, including prior experience in ex-post evaluations. Preference will be given to consultants who can meet this qualification.
- Fluent in Spanish and has excellent writing skills in English. Consultant must meet this qualification.
- Demonstrates knowledge in relevant topics such as: justice system, criminal justice, organized crime. Preference will be given to consultants who can meet this qualification.
6. CONTRACTUAL MECHANISM: FIXED PRICE, for a total cost of US$ 8,000.00 all applicable taxes, fees, and other costs are included, and must be included in the price proposal
Schedule of Milestones/Deliverables
Estimated Completion Date: May 13, 2024
Milestone 1: Implementation plan delivered
Deliverable 1: Implementation plan
Percent of Total: 40% of total
Total Payment PADF: USD$ 3,20
___________
Estimated Completion Date: June 21, 2024
Milestone 2: Final report of the evaluation approved
Deliverable 2: Final report
Percent of Total: 60% of total
Total Payment PADF: USD$ 4,800
___________
Percent of Total: 100% of total
USD$ 8,000
___________
7. PROPOSAL DOCUMENTS TO INCLUDE:
a. Please attach your Curriculum Vitae (CV) that highlights most relevant experience to this solicitation (2 pages max)
b. Please attach the Implementation Proposal Plan for work perfomance. Please note that work is expected to start on or before May 13, 2024, and final deliverable (report) must be submitted to PADF no later than June 21, 2024. Please include dates for first and second deliverables.
c. Please attach methodology to be used for the evaluation (qualitative and qualitative tools, sampling strategy, data analysis strategy, etc).
d. Please include a quote for Consulting Services including any additional foreseeable expenses. A quote based on a daily rate plus expenses is recommended but not required.
e. Please include a relevant English writing sample.
f. Please include two references with up-to-date contact information (email and phone number).
For more information about the project refer to annex 1, Project Description.
8. TERM OF THE CONTRACT:
The estimated start date will be May 13,2024, and the estimated end date will be June 21, 2024.
9. SUBMISSION DETAILS:
a. Applications must be received no later than April 26,2024. All application materials are to be submitted to acontero@padf.org and mfreire@padf.org, following the guidelines listed in these Terms of Reference.
b. Validity of bid: 30 days from the submission deadline.
c. Amendments: At any time prior to the deadline for submission of proposals, PADF may, for any reason, modify the Terms of Reference document by an amendment which will be posted to the PADF website and/or communicated via email.
d. Clarifications: Questions may be submitted to mfreire@padf.org. The subject of the email must contain the TOR number and title of the TOR.
10. TERMS AND CONDITIONS:
Resulting Award
This TOR does not obligate PADF to execute a contract, nor does it commit PADF to pay any costs incurred in the preparation or submission of the proposals. Furthermore, PADF reserves the right to reject any and all offers, if such action is considered to be in the best interest of PADF. PADF will, in its sole discretion, select the winning proposal and is not obligated to share individual evaluation results.
Confidentiality
All proprietary information provided by the bidder shall be treated as confidential and will not be shared with potential or actual applicants during the solicitation process. This includes but is not limited to price quotations, cost proposals and technical proposals. PADF’s evaluation results are confidential.
Annex I: Project Description
The Ecuador Justice Sector Capacity Building Program to Combat Transnational Crime and Narcotrafficking (CTOC), funded by the US Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and law Enforcement Affairs (INL) is conceived in 2019. Its implementation begins in February 2020, carried out by the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF).
Specialized technical assistance is one of the main objectives of the project. Capacity building for the judicial sector and other relevant state stakeholders in the fight against narcotrafficking, money laundering, and other related crimes is achieved through seminars, trainings, workshops, and technical roundtables, and other interventions. To complement the technical support provided by the core project team, CTOC has called upon nationally and internationally renowned experts to develop a variety of specialized technical tools (guides, manuals, protocols, etc.) and to conduct specialized trainings for public and private sector stakeholders (the TAFT evaluation being a case of the latter).
The project was developed along three components: i) Institutional Strengthening of the Criminal Justice System, ii) Financial Crimes and, initially, Maritime Crimes, later changed to iii) Hydrocarbon Trafficking.
The project is aimed at improving the installed capacity at the national and provincial levels in the instances with relevant competencies in the thematic areas, through:
- Elaboration of Technical Tools such as guides, manuals, protocols, and other operational and theoretical lines that seek to support the institutional response processes to transnational organized crime.
- Generation of spaces for Specialized Training based on interaction with experts in the areas of study and knowledge management in good comparative practices.
- Promoting Socio-legal Research through the analysis of cases and optimizing the use of available sources of information as input for the design of strategies against crime.
- Facilitate Inter-institutional Coordination Scenarios to strengthen joint and coordinated actions.
Component 1 of the project seeks to support institutions with direct competence in the value chain of the criminal justice system (investigation - prosecution), in particular the specialized areas of the Ecuadorian National Police, the Attorney General's Office and the Judiciary Council.
Component 2 comprises the entities with primary roles in the system of prevention, control, detection, and prosecution of money laundering. Within this framework, technical assistance is aimed at improving the processes of risk-based supervision, financial analysis, asset investigation, support and evidentiary assessment of the evidence, among other relevant topics.
Component 3 as part of certain illicit dynamics and the necessary development of specialized operational mechanisms are part of this thematic axis. This component includes the production of specialized documents on the subject, as well as the training of officials of the different institutions with interdiction and control functions in relation to hydrocarbon trafficking.