On 1 January 2021, UNDP launched its new Digital, Inclusive, Accessible: Support to Digitalisation of State Services in Ukraine (DIA Support) Project. The project is made possible due to support of the Government of Sweden and is carried out in close collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine (MDT) and other government stakeholders.

The project builds on extensive UNDP experience in two areas: administrative service reform and reengineering and digitalising public administration processes with broad citizen and expert engagement. As part of the project, UNDP will help the government partners – primarily MDT – select several service clusters in use by citizens representing vulnerable groups. Services will be packaged to accommodate everyday needs and transposed into a fully digital format. Alternatively, sections of the service business-process will be digitally transformed.

The Government will partner with UNDP to ensure that authorities (civil servants) and the Parliament gain a deeper understanding of the ‘Human Rights Based Approach’ in the context of e-services, in particular by working more closely with the Secretariat of the Human Rights Commissioner and national human rights institutions of other countries. The project will also actively engage the population (citizen-clients) to build digital literacy, cyber hygiene, and nurture confidence in new solutions.

At the global level, the digitalisation of customer-oriented services and the development of mobile technologies that involve citizens in creating new solutions while leaving no one behind meet several Sustainable Development Goals at once. The creation of digital services – particularly mobile-based – contributes to an improvement in the quality of public administration and a reduction in corruption.

This, in turn, promotes the development of effective, accountable and inclusive public institutions capable of responding to the needs of women and men belonging to different groups, in line with Goal 16 to ‘Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.’ For example, when applied in the access to justice sector, such services contribute to supporting the rule of law, so that no citizen is left behind.

Goal 9 to ‘Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation’ aims to improve access to information and communication technologies. In the Ukrainian context, this means expanding access to digital/mobile-based services outside large cities and in localities that have not yet benefitted from the latest generation of telecommunications technologies (at least 3G Internet).

Another aspect related to creating more accessible and inclusive electronic or mobile services is in line with Goal 4 to ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.’

The implementation of digital solutions will also contribute to Goal 5 to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” Gender mainstreaming can positively impact equal opportunities of women and men, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ‘Your State in Your Smartphone’ initiative launched in Ukraine, will only succeed if appealing and accessible civic digital education is developed and widely implemented to help close digital gaps in knowledge and skills, and bridge the digital divide between generations and groups of Ukrainians with different social backgrounds.

One of most important aspects of the DIA Support Project is to enhance accessibility of digital solutions through design of relevant IT instruments and creation of relevant regulatory tools that would guide state entities and their contractors / developers for production of equitable, genuinely inclusive eService tools according to the principles of universal design[1]. One of the foundational standards for digital content accessibility is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). It was developed by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in cooperation with individuals and organizations around the world, with a goal of providing a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally[2].

WCAG provisions are a step-by-step checklist to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities and, by extension, more useable for all types of clients in general. The term “web content” generally refers to the information in a web page or web application, including text, images, and sounds, as well as machine-readable code or mark-up that define the structure of a given web page and the way it will be presented to requesting users. Multiple governments have adopted WCAG as a mandatory standard and benchmark for state-sponsored and municipal online resources[3].

Ukraine adopted the WCAG 2.0 (currently version 2.1 is available) in 2019, as part of amendments Regulation of Cabinet of Ministers No 3 from 4 January 2002 as well as state standard DSTU ISO/IEC 40500:2015 (based on ISO/IEC 40500 standard).

However, ISO/IEC 40500 standard was never translated to Ukrainian officially, and was never properly communicated with government agencies, state enterprises, that are responsible for development and modernisation of government online-resources, NGOs and public. This creates issues with effective awareness-building and capacity-development, limits the effect and usability of initiatives in sphere of digital accessibility.

The newer version of WCAG (the current version 2.1) can’t be adopted in Ukraine without first developing the full official text of the new DSTU (State Standard of Ukraine). The Ukrainian standard ought to be mirroring the European standard EN 301 549 V3.2.1 (2021-03)[4], which is recognized by the three European Standardization Organizations (ESOs): CEN, CENELEC or ETSI. The relevant European standard was produced by numerous stakeholders in a participatory, transparent, consensus-based manner.

To bring Ukraine closer to European standards of web-content accessibility and support approximation of regulations in the area of state standards, UNDP seeks services of a highly qualified Consultant to develop the full text of the relevant DSTU draft based on EN 301 549 V3.2.1 (2021-03) and WCAG 2.1. The Consultant is also expected to assist relevant Ukrainian standardization authorities with information necessary for proper consideration and adoption of the standard into the Ukrainian regulatory field, as well as provide facilitation with any activities related of adoption of DSTU in question.

[1] See, for instance: https://ud.org.ua/

[2] Please see for more details: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/

[3] Please see the list of governments that have adopted WCAG globally: https://www.w3.org/WAI/policies/

[4] Please see: https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_en/301500_301599/301549/03.02.01_60/en_301549v030201p.pdf

2. Objectives of the assignment

The main objective of the assignment is to develop and advocate for adoption of a state standard of Ukraine (DSTU) based on the European standard EN 301 549 V3.2.1 (2021-03 or newer, if a newer version is available at launch of the assignment) and WCAG 2.1. The Consultant is also expected to provide necessary clarifications, furnish explanatory notes, and perform other works that may be necessary to achieve the expected end result: adoption of the newly developed standard text as an official document by Ukraine.

3. Scope of services

It is expected that the Consultant will engage in the following types of activities:

1. Produce a draft detailed scope of work for the development of the national standard draft (hereinafter referred to as “normative document” or “ND” as per conventional Ukrainian terminology);
2. Develop the first draft of the national ND;
3. Develop the explanatory note to the first draft of the national ND;
4. Gather and process comments to the first draft of the national ND;
5. Develop the final version of the national ND draft;
6. Update the explanatory note to the final version of the national ND draft;
7. Arrange for and produce minutes of a meeting of the responsible Technical Committee regarding the consideration of the final version of the national ND;
8. Develop annotation to the ND;
9. Participate in working meetings and events with representatives from MDT, UNDP or other stakeholders, regarding ND and national standard developing and adoption, provide necessary facilitation of these processes.

4. Measurable outputs of the work assignment/deliverables

5. Management arrangements

The Consultant will be primarily responsible for achieving the objectives of the assignment. The Consultant will report to the Project Manager and will work closely with representatives of the Democratic Governance Portfolio of UNDP in Ukraine.

The Consultant will be responsible for all personal administrative expenses associated with the assignment, which could include but may not be limited to personal computer equipment, purchasing official materials and documents (such as official copies of standards), printing costs, stationery, telephone, and electronic communication expenses. In case any public events are planned jointly by the Consultant and UNDP as part of the present assignment, the Consultant will not be responsible for logistics of events.

6. Monitoring requirements / Terms of payment

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Project Manager. The Consultant will interact with UNDP to receive any clarifications and guidance that may be needed. The Consultant will duly inform UNDP of any problems, issues or delays arising in the course of implementation of assignment and take necessary steps to address them.

UNDP will be the final authority to control the quality and evaluate the work. The satisfactory completion of each of the deliverables shall be subject to the endorsement of the Project Manager. Each deliverable will be delivered in a draft for comments and feedback before finalisation. No reports or documents should be published or distributed to third parties without the approval of UNDP.

All reports and results are to be submitted to the UNDP in electronic form (*.docx, *.xlsx, *.pptx, and *.pdf or other formats accepted by UNDP). The language of analytical materials and reports is Ukrainian.

UNDP will provide payment upon provision of each deliverable duly certified by UNDP in accordance with the schedule below:

Deliverable 1. 10%

Deliverable 2. 20%

Deliverable 3. 40%

Deliverable 4. 30%

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism;
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

8. Required experience and qualifications

• University degree (Bachelor’s) in Management, Computer Science, Mathematics or related field
• At least 5 years of experience in the field standardization regulations in Ukraine;
• At least 2 years of experience working with standardization bodies in Ukraine (http://uas.org.ua/ua/);
• At least 3 state standards of Ukraine developed. Experience with developing standards based on European Standards (English-language-based) is an asset;
• Fluent English, Ukrainian.

9. Documents to be included when submitting the proposal

10. Financial Proposal

 Lump sum contract

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (please, refer to Section 4 Measurable outputs of the work assignment/deliverables). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of Cost by Components.

11. Evaluation Criteria

• Educational background – 5 pts max
  • 5 pts – Master or similar in Management, Computer Science, Mathematics or related field
  • 3 pts –Bachelor’s in Management, Computer Science, Mathematics or related field

• Experience in the field standardization regulations in Ukraine – 16 pts max
  • 16 pts – 9+ years of experience;
  • 14 pts – between 6 and 8 years of experience;
  • 12 pts – at least 5 years of experience;

• Experience working with standardization bodies in Ukraine – 18 pts max
  • 18 pts – 6+ years of experience;
  • 16 pts – from 3 to 5 years of experience;
  • 14 pts – at least 2 years of experience;

• Development of state standards based on European standards (English-language-based) – 3 pts max
  • 3 pts – demonstrated experience in development state standards of Ukraine based on European standards (English-language-based);
  • 0 pts – no experience of such development;

• At least 3 state standards of Ukraine developed – 25 pts max
  • 25 pts – 10+ state standards of Ukraine developed;
  • 23 pts – 6-9 state standards of Ukraine developed;
  • 21 pts – 4-5 state standards of Ukraine developed;
  • 17 pts – 3 state standards of Ukraine developed;

• Language skills – 3 pts max.

• 3 pts - Fluent English, Ukrainian.

Maximum available technical score – 70 points

Evaluation method:

 Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight: 70%

* Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.

Apply here https://cutt.ly/webac