Contracts Compliance Advisor

Background

Plan International UK is currently growing with an increasing number of bids, which are becoming more complex, and more commercial in nature. Therefore, a contracts compliance advisor is required to ensure we have capacity to review and negotiate contracts that meet our requirements and ensure we are not exposed to undue liability. The consultant will sit within the Programme Effectiveness and Compliance Unit (PEC) which is part of the International Policy and Programmes Directorate.

Purpose

This assignment is to provide direct Contracts Compliance support to the Directorate and build up the capabilities of our teams to undertake contract reviews on behalf of the organisation, through the development of tools and resources and training of staff.

Approach

The assignment will entail three main stages:

• Briefing: This will be carried out by the Head of Programme Effectiveness & Compliance and Head of Corporate Governance at Plan International UK’s offices and will entail an overview of: Plan International UK’s approach to contract review, existing tools and procedures, and agreed action plans for process improvement.

• Undertaking Tasks: To be performed by the consultant over the duration of the consultancy.

• Debrief and Handover: To be undertaken between the Consultant, relevant programmes staff leading on contracts, and the Head of Programme Effectiveness & Compliance.

Deliverables

The specific tasks under this assignment are:

1. Contract Review:

2. Provide advisory support and training to programme staff in the review of all new donor contracts, and review all non-standard contracts.

3. Review of pre-teaming agreements, teaming agreements and Non-Disclosure Agreements issued by external parties.

4. Develop tools to support contract reviews including donor agreements, sub-grants and teaming agreements, with training and support to be provided to staff to embed.

5. Training of Directorate Staff – on the processes, templates and tools developed, and trainer of trainer of focal points within each unit to ensure the skills base is spread throughout the directorate.

6. Develop templates for internal and external partnership agreements in line with donor requirements and Plan’s Contract Signing Policy.

7. In collaboration with relevant programmes staff, liaise with lawyers and partners on contracts and sub-contracts, adding points of review from the perspectives on legal, operational and financial risk (including drafting clauses or commissioning the drafting of clauses to manage identified risks).

8. Maintain a contract review tracker, to ensure prioritisation of contract review and record of issues and solutions.

Indicative timeline

It is anticipated that the support will be provided over the period 25^th March 2019 to 21^st June 2019.

Activity

• Upon Contract Signing (10%) w/c 25/03/2019

• Half way into the assignment (40%) w/c 10/05/2019

• Upon debriefing and handover (50%) 21/06/2019

Responsibilities of Plan International UK

• Provide a detailed induction of Plan International UK’s and Plan International Inc’s key contract review related policies, systems, procedures and tools as part of the Consultant onboarding process.

• Provide an overview of key deliverables including priority contracts, and the tools and resources that need to be developed and embedded within the Directorate.

• Provide ongoing guidance and advice to the Consultant in case of emergence of nuanced issues related to the organisation or donor compliance.

• Provide timely inputs to drafts shared for review and approval.

• Process timely payments in line with the milestones set out under section 5 above.

Qualifications skills and experience Experience of providing donor compliance advisory support for the full awards lifecycle to grants/programmes teams in the UK and/or overseas.

• Experience in reviewing contracts to ensure they are in line with the best interest for the organisation (including drafting clauses or commissioning the drafting of clauses to manage identified risks).

• Understanding of donor compliance requirements (especially for DFID and ECHO).

• Experience of designing and delivering training in relation to contract review.

Bid Requirements

Interested consultants or firms are requested to submit:

• An expression of interest detailing their interpretation of the TOR, work schedule and a statement demonstrating how they meet the required qualifications and competencies.

• A detailed budget for proposed costs including all taxes liable to be paid

• Curriculum Vitae (CVs).

• Two references (including one from your last client/employer).

• N/B: The entire bid should be a MAXIMUM OF Four (4) pages including the budget. Bids not meeting this requirement will not be considered.

Application Procedure

1. If you believe you qualify for this post and you are the candidate that we are looking for, please submit your applications as per the bid requirements in English by submitting proposals to: shoumojit.kanjilal@plan-uk.org

2. The closing date for this post is (24/03/2019).

3. The shortlisted 3-4 candidates may be invited to submit modifications or make a short presentation for the final selection.

Confidentiality of Information

1. All documents and data collected will be treated as confidential and used solely to facilitate analysis.

2. Where necessary, the respondents will not be quoted in the reports without their permission.

3. All those contracted by PIUK must agree to sign and abide by the ‘safeguarding policy’.