Government of Antigua and Barbuda Public and Social Sector Transformation Project (Ln 8269-AG) Systems Analyst, National Beneficiary Management Information System (NBMIS) Technical Unit (PP 3.1.3) Department of Social Policy, Research and Planning Ministry of Health, Social Transformation, Consumer Affairs and Local Government (MHSTCA) Terms of Reference
1. BACKGROUND 1.1 On August 14, 2013, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda signed with the World Bank a loan in the amount of US$10,000,000 (ten million dollars) for the implementation of the Public and Social Sector Transformation (PSST) Project. The development objectives of the Project are to: (i) strengthen the management of the public sector and make more efficient use of its human resources; (ii) enhance the government capacity to develop coherent and efficient social sector policies and interventions on the basis of evidence; and (iii) strengthen and increase the coverage of intermediation services and competency-based training programmes to enhance its effectiveness in increasing the ability of persons between the ages of 17 to 50 years to find and maintain a job. 1.2 One of the components of the PSST Project is to improve efficiency in social protection spending. The primary objective of this component is to enhance Government’s capacity to design, implement and monitor social policies and interventions by: (i) creating a unified targeting system and a single registry for beneficiaries; and (ii) improving Ministry of Health, Social Transformation, Consumer Affairs and Local Government (MHSTCA) leading and coordinating capacity. The Project will support activities to strengthen social protection programmes, improve social sector spending, and harmonise social sector interventions to ensure that poor and vulnerable households receive benefits through evidence-based and objective targeting. One of the expected results of this component is improving the efficiency of social sector spending through the creation of a National Beneficiaries Management Information System (NBMIS) that will combine a unified targeting system and a single registry for beneficiaries of social protection programmes. 1.3
The NBMIS Technical Unit (NBMISTU), within the Department of Social Policy, Research and Planning (DSPRP) of the MHSTCA will be charged with setting up and managing the NBMIS. The NBMIS will include at least four modules: (i) a single registry for existing beneficiaries of social protection programmes; (ii) a census of potential beneficiaries of SP programmes; (iii) a proxy means test (PMT) to rank households/individuals based on poverty; and (iv) a monitoring report based on key indicators of social protection programmes. 2. CONTEXT 2.1 A 2007 Country Poverty Assessment exposed elderly persons and unemployed single women most of whom have children and receive no financial support from their partners as the PSST Project – TOR for Systems Analyst Component 3 (18 Nov 2013)
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key indigent population and the at risk groups in Antigua and Barbuda. The Government attaches great importance to improving the standard of living for the population, so it responded to these findings with a national Poverty Reduction Strategy and the introduction of several social protection programmes to immediately improve the quality of life and begin alleviating poverty. Also, as a part of National Economic and Social Transformation Plan (NEST), the Government has demonstrated its commitment to improve social protection programmes to strengthen their impact on addressing poverty and vulnerability. 2.2 The MHSTCA is the principal Government Ministry responsible for social protection in Antigua and Barbuda. As such, MHSTCA holds responsibility for a number of social programmes that seek to reduce poverty, improve living standards and provide a variety of social and community services. The Department of Social Policy, Research and Planning (DSPRP) plays a leading role in this agenda, with responsibility for policy formulation for all social assistance and subsidy programmes; monitoring and evaluation of social programmes; facilitating macro social sector planning; and providing technical support to the Board of Guardians1 program, among others. 2.3 Another MHSTCA division, the Citizens’ Welfare Division (CWD), serves as one of the main social service delivery agencies. The Division offers specialized and welfare services to promote and maintain family stability. It also meets the needs of persons coping with personal crises and other family or social problems. The CWD’s mandate also includes counseling, probation services, rehabilitation and programmes for senior citizens. 2.4 Along with programmes administered by the MHSTCA, there are several other social protection programmes that are administered by other public sector institutions and by civil society agencies and groups. These programmes include both cash and in-kind transfers. Beneficiary cohorts include senior citizens, primary and secondary school children and the mentally challenged. Beneficiary selection is not targeted and is determined primarily by selfreporting, age, or geographical location. There is evidence of duplication among programmes, allowing beneficiaries to receive benefits from more than one programme with limited communication across programmes. There are therefore several entry points with no system to track beneficiary uptake and to evaluate the effectiveness of the programmes. Exit from the programmes is not strategically managed and beneficiaries remain in the system for very long time. 2.5 The Government therefore wants to make its social protection spending more transparent, efficient and effective. Transparency would require controls and an objective means of selecting and targeting beneficiaries. Efficiency will depend on an integrated system for administering and monitoring social programmes, to facilitate streamlined applications, referrals, and to prevent duplication and inefficiency in program delivery. Effectiveness would be determined by the use of data and information to evaluate programmes, to track the effect of the programmes on beneficiaries, and to track the impact on society as a whole. 2.6 The PSST Project will support the DSPRP to design and develop an NBMIS and establish an NBMIS Technical Unit (NBMISTU) with administrative responsibility for the NBMIS. The NBMIS will capture, register and evaluate socio-economic conditions of families and apply a proxy-means test to identify and rank households in need of social programmes. The 1
The Board of Guardians programme provides financial assistance to elderly persons who are deemed to be poor and destitute as well as children, mentally challenged, destitute, visually impaired and discharged lepers. PSST Project – TOR for Systems Analyst Component 3 (18 Nov 2013)
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system will also be designed to facilitate cross-checking of information with other existing systems such as the medical benefits, social security and tax administration databases. The NBMIS will also include a Single Beneficiary Registry that combines the list of beneficiaries of social protection programmes. The NBMISTU will sign agreements with agencies and institutions responsible for social protection programmes to create the single beneficiary registry. Registries of social programmes that enter in agreement with the NBMISTU will regularly transfer their databases. 3. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT 3.1 The objective of the consultancy is to provide support for design, development and the operation of the NBMIS, and the Single Beneficiary Registry in particular. 3.2 The specific duties and responsibilities of this consultancy in the first 12 months of contract are therefore to: (a) Prepare functional requirements for the NBMIS describing the information flow from inputs, processing and outputs, consistent with user needs and MHSTCA requirements; (b) Assist the Technical Coordinator of the NBMISTU in the preparation of TORs, MOUs and other agreements necessary for the design of the NBMIS. (c) Assist the Technical Coordinator of the NBMISTU in the supervision of the external consultants working on the NBMIS, specifically in the design of the system design of the NBMIS based on the functional requirements as it is described in item (i), the inclusion of the PMT in the NBMIS system, and the evaluation of the quality of the database produced by the consultant in charge of the census data collection, among other activities. (d) Assist the Technical Coordinator of the NBMISTU in the design and implementation of the first Single Registry of Beneficiaries of Social Programmes. Specifically, the consultant will lead the process to (i) migrate and calibrate data from databases of beneficiaries, (ii) develop a search engine by national ID of households, (iii) prepare and develop standard reports from the Registry based on definitions of the Technical Coordinator. (e) Provide technical support to the NBMISTU and the first Single Registry of Beneficiaries. (f) Assist the Technical Coordinator in the information and education campaign on the uses and benefits of the NBMIS to government stakeholders, beneficiaries and general public. 4. DELIVERABLES The consultant is expected to produce the following deliverables: (a) An action plan describing the strategy for executing the assignment within the desired timeframe (b) A Functional Requirements document for the NBMIS that includes the following: (i) operational design of the system including modules (see par. 1.3), interfaces, data updating, main reports; (ii) interface design; (iii) minimum software requirements based on potential users; (iv) visuals such as case diagrams, sequence diagrams, and graphic mockups to provide more detail about how elements of the system should look, among PSST Project – TOR for Systems Analyst Component 3 (18 Nov 2013)
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other aspects required to complete the operational design of the system. This document would serve as a guideline for the IT consultant in charge of the system design. (c) Assist the Technical Coordinator drafting TORs, on the system design of the NBMIS, design of a proxy means test (PMT), the design of the questionnaires for a census for the potential beneficiaries of the SP programmes, and the census data collection. (d) Design and implement a first Single Registry of beneficiaries of social programmes. (e) Quarterly reports on the advances the activities describe above.
5. QUALIFICATIONS The consultant should have the following qualifications:
Advanced degree in Information Technology, Systems Analysis, Database Management or Engineering;
Proven experience designing and developing management and information systems;
At least 5 years’ practical experience in developing similar systems.
6. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS The Systems Analyst will be accountable to the Technical Coordinator of the NBMISTU. The Systems Analyst will, as required, submit written reports to the Director and the Project Coordinator of the PMU. 7. CONTRACT DURATION The contract duration will be for twelve (12) months in the first instance. The contract may be subject to extension for a period of time and subject to terms and conditions agreed to between the World Bank, the Government and the Consultant.
PSST Project – TOR for Systems Analyst Component 3 (18 Nov 2013)
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