South Sudan: Call for Cv's: Consultancy Service for Developing an Immigration E-Visa System

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR DEVELOPING AN

IMMIGRATION E-VISA SYSTEM

1. BACKGROUND

Orderly international migration management calls for sound government capacities to manage such movement and to plan for their incorporation in national development strategies. Institutional aspects of migration include the capacity to collect data and analyse it in a timely manner to facilitate evidence based decision making. In this context, governments need to understand the migration dynamics of their nationals, diaspora and nationals of other countries arriving, transiting and departing form their state; such as people traveling for work, education, official/business and private reasons.

In 2011, South Sudan inherited one of the weakest migration and border management regimes in the world, and weak border management practices and limited capacity at ports of entry further exacerbates transnational crime. Migratory movements in the South Sudan context are also mixed in nature, consisting of various categories of migrants that include refugees, asylum seekers, job seekers, business investors and entrepreneurs, migrant workers and their family members, as well as those in an irregular situation (victims of human trafficking and smuggling). Therefore, law enforcement officers need to be better informed and skills enhanced to address the migration challenges of irregular migrants using South Sudan as a transit and destination country.

Since 2012 up to date the Directorate for Nationality, Passports and Immigration (DNPI) has received assistance with installation of the IOM developed Migration Information & Data Analysis System (MIDAS) in 10 ports of entry which has greatly enhanced the government’s capacity to manage its borders. IOM has also supported the department with training and infrastructure improvement. However, one of the major challenges for migrants wishing to travel regularly to South Sudan is that it has very embassies and consulates around the world. As such, IOM proposes to assist the Immigration Department in enhancing its capacities by establishing an integrated and centralized e-visa system.

1. THE POSITION

IOM seeks the services of an experienced Consultant/firm to design an integrated e-visa system for the DNPI Immigration department. The Consultant/firm will work in close collaboration with the DNPI ICT department and other relevant departments to ensure that all aspects of the system are taken into consideration.

1. SCOPE OF WORK

Under supervision of the IOM programme manager and in collaboration with the DNPI ICT Department, the successful service provider/consultant will be expected to perform the following functions:

1. Establish the respective visa data needs;

2. Design and develop an integrated database with an interface to all other ports of entry with operational MIDAS;

3. Ensure that the database has capacity to alert visa abuse/overstay and interfaced with e-mail connection for sending approval/rejection of application;

4. Design a web portal for hosting the e-visa application interface online;

5. Provide training to the appointed officers to manage and maintain the database

6. Develop manuals for future use by database operators

7. Generate sample reports to test the system

8. Support a one-month commissioning period for repair of any malfunctions in the database.

Upon appointment the successful service provider/consultant shall produce the following;

1. Review the survey methodology including the survey tools already developed by DNPI.
2. Train enumerators on ethical data collection techniques;
3. Conduct data gathering exercise at selected sites identified in collaboration with DNPI;
4. Supervise data entry process and lead the data analysis work;
5. Present the findings of the assessment in a report to IOM and DNPI; and

6. Validate the findings.

7. PROJECT DELIVERABLES

The service provider/consultant will be expected to deliver the following:

1. Operational integrated visa database and web interface developed

2. Training delivered

3. Operating manuals developed

4. Sample analysis reports produced

6. PROPOSED TIME FRAME

The appointed service provider is expected to have completed the project within three (3) months from the date of project initiation.

7. COMPETENCIES AND EXPERTISE REQUIREMENTS

The service provider/consultant should possess the following competencies and requirements;

1. Advanced educational background in one of the areas of: Law, Migration Studies, Curriculum Development, Education, or related field;

2. University Degree: BSc-Computer Science or related educational background, with an MSc in Computer Science considered an advantage;

3. At least 3 years of experience in database design, development and maintenance, as well as software development;

4. Proven experience in information management;

5. Knowledge of Database Design and software Development using either: Microsoft SQL Server;

6. Experience in Systems Design and Development using .NET;

7. Experience in development of high traffic web portals

8. Experience in development of applications that integrate with payment platforms

9. Experience in development of cyber secure web portals;

10. Knowledge of desktop /web programming languages (C#, VB.NET, Visual Basic, ASP.NET, ASP and Java).

11. Strong interpersonal, teamwork and communication skills; and

12. Excellent written and spoken English skills and sound report writing skills.

Submit well written cover letter and CV including daytime telephone and e-mail address to: - International Organization for Migration (IOM) via e-mail to vss@iom.int Firms applying for the consultancy should send a consultancy proposal including a budget.