Technical support to MLSP for Parliamentarian discussion process of the draft social insurance laws (General Law on Social Insurance), and drafting related policy and regulatory documents, public awareness and staff capacity building contents
Reference: D2/CS/056
Client: Ministry of Finance
Category: Consultancy Service
Advertised: 6/2/2022
Deadline: 6/15/2022 15:00:00  

Ad Invitation

A.   A.     BACKGROUND

Mongolia received credit from the International Development Association (IDA) for the Strengthening Fiscal and Financial Stability Project (SFFSP). The Objective of the SFFS Project is to improve fiscal policy and sustainability in a mineral-based economy, protect the poor and vulnerable, and restore confidence in the financial sector. The project is designed into five components: (I) Strengthening Macroeconomic and Fiscal Management; (II) Improving the Efficiency of Public Financial Management; (III) Enhancing Financial Sector Stability; (IV) Strengthening the Social Protection System; (V) Project Management and Monitoring. The objectives are to Strengthen fiscal responsibility and implementing relevant policy measures, improving fiscal discipline, strengthening the resiliency of the banking system, improve public expenditure quality in social protection, providing support for Project implementation, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation, including, inter alia, audit arrangements, reporting requirements, procurement, and financial management activities respectively. For more details, please refer to the Project Appraisal Document Report No. PAD2269. The objective of sub-component D2 is to support the Government’s efforts to improve public expenditure quality in social protection through (a) strengthening social insurance by supporting the implementation of measures set forth in the State Policy on Pension Reforms (2015–2030) and other reforms to strengthen social insurance programs, and (b) strengthening the governance and FM aspects of social insurance program.

In the area of social insurance in Mongolia, the Pension Insurance Scheme poses a sharply growing fiscal burden as a result of the rapidly aging population and several measures introduced, in recent years, to the scheme, which increased benefits and/or reduced eligibility requirements. In this context, the State Policy on Pension Reform (2015–2030) was approved by the Parliament in December 2015 to “create a framework for the government, employers, and individuals to be jointly responsible for addressing the ever-increasing pension costs due to the changes in demographic structure and life expectancy and provide a decent pension benefit that is adequate for living for elders.” The state subsidy to pensions amounted to about 2.2% of GDP in 2018 (about 8% of government revenues and grants) and is projected to increase to over 6% of GDP by 2030 (about 22% of revenues and grants if held constant) and 11% of GDP by 2050[1]. The increase is primarily attributed to the rapid aging of the population (the proportion of the population over age 60 is projected to triple from 6.2% in 2015 to 18.8% in 2050) and government policies which have liberalized pension benefits and loosened qualifying conditions.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection (MLSP) is working towards implementing the State Policy on Pension Reforms (2015-2030).  With this background, the MLSP hired local consultants between 2017 to 2021 to get technical support in the process of developing the concept notes of legal revisions and preparing the drafts of four revised social insurance package laws (The General Law on Social Insurance, Law on Pensions and Allowances Provided from Social Insurance Fund,  Law on Unemployment Benefit Provided from Social Insurance Fund, Law on Pensions and Benefits Provided from Industrial Accidents and Occupational Disease Insurance Fund). 

The concept notes for revising the laws were first approved by the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs on August 10, 2018, and were revised again and approved jointly by the Minister of Justice and Home Affairs and the Minister of Labor and Social Protection on December 3, 2020. On October 15, 2021, the Cabinet submitted to the Parliament the draft revised Social Insurance Package Laws. Since then, the minimum pension amount was increased to 500.0 thousand MNT by Government Resolution No. 63 of February 1. Therefore, the Parliament recommended the Government withdraw and revise the draft General Law on Social Insurance and the draft Law on Pensions Provided from the Social Insurance Fund. At the Cabinet meeting on April 13, It was decided to withdraw the two laws (The draft revised General Law on Social Insurance, and the draft revised Law on Pensions Provided from Social Insurance Fund) that were withdrawn at the 2022 spring session.) submitted to the Parliament. The Cabinet also instructed the MLSP to revise and re-submit the above two laws. The working group of MLSP is working on the updating revision of the draft Social Insurance Package Laws, aiming to submit Parliament by end of spring session 2022.  If the Parliament agrees to the further discussion of the draft law during its plenary session, the Social Policy Standing Committee of the Parliament shall establish a Working Group (WG-Parliament) mandated with the responsibility of discussing the draft Social Insurance Package Laws.

In this regard, the MLSP needs further support in i) supporting the MLSP during Parliamentarian discussions on the drafts of revised laws, and providing additional information that could be required from Parliament members ii) supporting the MLSP to conduct stakeholder consultations on the revised draft laws during the Parliament discussion, iii)  effectively communicating about the social insurance reforms to the public; iv)  developing or revising respective regulations and procedures to be followed under the proposed revised laws.

Therefore, the MLSP requests to hire two national consultants to assist the Ministry and its Working Groups in implementing the above-mentioned activities. This TOR outlines the scope of work and deliverables for a National Consultant 2 (NC2). The NC2 will primarily focus on a series of assignments related to the revision/drafting of the following law and police documents: i) General Law on Social Insurance, and ii) Social protection section of the proposed Social Development Target Program.

The NC2 shall work closely with the National Consultant 1 (the scope of work is to be provided by a separate TOR) and ensure that the further enhancements to be made to the draft revised laws reflect the policy priorities, including the State Policy on Pension Reform (2015-2030),  latest analytical studies (including, analytical studies done  on key reform needs and options in respect of the reserve and liquidity management of the Social Insurance Fund (SIF), and on key reform needs and options to strengthen social insurance contributions collections)  and stakeholder consultations planned during Parliament discussion process of the draft revised laws. 

The NC2 will work closely with relevant officer/officers of the Policy Planning Department of the MLSP, as indicated by the MLSP, and engage them in revising or developing the draft laws and accompanying regulations, so that the knowledge and experience of the consultant is transferred to the respective officers of the MLSP through close and hands-on engagement in the process of respective tasks. 

B. OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The main objective of this consultancy service is to facilitate the MLSP and the WG-Parliament in the discussion of the draft revision of respective social insurance laws, support the Ministry to develop a section on social protection in the draft Social Development Target Program, and carry out public awareness and online training activities for journalists, stakeholders and social insurance inspectors which will focus on dissemination of information on social insurance reforms and revision of social insurance laws.

C. SCOPE OF THE WORK

The local consultant will be responsible for the following tasks of this assignment. These include i) further supporting the parliamentarian discussion process on the draft revised General Law on Social Insurance, ii) prepare the section on social protection in the draft Social Development Target Program, iii) revising as necessary, the study on socio-economic impacts from revising the respective law; iv) support the MLSP in carrying out a series of stakeholder consultations on the revision of the respective law; v) update several contents on a revision of the draft revised General Law on Social Insurance which are designed to be used for public awareness activities, vi) draft regulations and procedures expected to be adopted following the adoption of the respective law.

The consultant will undertake the following tasks:

Task I. Further elaborate the draft revision of General Law on Social Insurance taking into consideration the comments of the WG-Parliament and recommendations provided by development partners, including the World Bank and international consultants hired by the MLSP; 

Task II. Develop a section on social insurance in the Social Development Target Program set out in the Law on Development Policy, Planning and Management. In order to implement specific goals and measures reflected in Mongolia's long-term development policy at the national level, it should include sectoral, inter-sectoral, regional and locally specific, resource-based, financially guaranteed activities, should include quantitative and qualitative indicators;

Task III. Update background materials for public communication products on  the revision of General Law on Social Insurance, in view of further elaboration of the draft law by the WG-Parliament and performing  accuracy review of the drafts of various public communication products;

Task IV. Prepare notes on international experiences on Defined Benefit (DB) and Funded Defined Contribution (FDC) systems;  SIF asset management, institutional responsibilities and supervision;, the institution of contribution collection, achievements, challenges, lessons learned-;

Task V.  Prepare support materials for presenting the draft revision of  General Law on Social Insurance during the Parliamentarian discussion and support the MLSP in synthesizing the comments and recommendations provided by the stakeholder and public consultations (online and offline) on the draft revision of General Law on Social Insurance and proposed amendments to other related laws and reflecting them as appropriate, into draft legislation;

Task VI. Support the development of an online training programs for social insurance workers and social insurance inspectors, including  accuracy review of the drafts of various products as per themes indicated by the MLSP;

Task VII. Update and develop amendments to 17 resolutions, rules, procedures as indicated by the MLSP to be approved by the Government and National Social Insurance Board (NSIB) and the Government in connection with the implementation of the revised draft General Law on Social Insurance (See the list of to be updated and newly developed regulations and rules in deliverables 7 to 10 of this TOR). 

Other tasks as reasonably requested by the MLSP and technical working group.

D. DELIVERABLES

In order to ensure the quality of the deliverables, all deliverables should be discussed with relevant officials of MLSP and SIGO and incorporate the comments. In addition, all deliverables provided by the consultant should be newly developed or modified, not identical to the products supplied by the consultant who has previously worked in this field: 

Deliverable 1. Referring to the Task I:

1.1.Further elaborated draft of the revised General Law on Social Insurance reflecting comments of parliamentarian discussions and as readied, to the extent possible, for approval by the Parliament;

1.2.Further elaborated draft amendments to other relevant laws to be approved together with the draft revised General Law on Social Insurance;

1.3.Record of how the comments and suggestions of Members of Parliament (MPs) and stakeholders  were reflected in the finalized draft General Law on Social Insurance.

Deliverable 2. Referring to the Task II:

2.1.The draft section on social insurance in the Social Development Target Program set out in the Law on Development Policy, Planning and Management, as aligned with policy goals of the social insurance reforms;

2.2. Record of how the comments and suggestions of discussions and stakeholders were reflected in the finalized draft of the social development target program.

Deliverable 3. Referring to the Task III:

3.1. Updated background materials (at least six) to be used for developing public communication products that fully capture the context, objective, nature, scope, and specifics of social insurance reforms (related with the draft revised General Law on Social Insurance).

Deliverable 4. Referring to the Task IV:

4.1.  Notes  (at least six) describing other countries'  experiences related with DB and FDC systems,  SIF asset management, institutional responsibilities and supervision; contribution collection, achievements,  challenges, lessons learnt, (cases of former socialist countries and countries that are reasonably requested by the MLSP) 

Deliverable 5. Referring to the Task V:

5.1. Updated comparison of the provisions of the old and the revised laws, add explanatory columns, by format as indicated by the MLSP of the respective law;

5.2. Introduction and explanation of how MPs and other organizations' suggestions were reflected;

5.3. A set of questions and answers that might be asked during the parliament discussion;

5.4. Updated the matrix of main comments and recommendations drawn from consultations 

done during the Parliamentarian discussion of the respective draft  law with key stakeholders carried out before approving the revised law by the Parliament and the notes on how they were addressed in the draft legislation.  

Deliverable 6. Referring to the Task VI:

6.1.Training contents (at least four) developed and revised for social insurance workers and social insurance inspectors (on subjects to be indicated by the MLSP) for capacity building training to be undertaken in 2022.  

Training contents should be not duplicated with the deliverables of the previous similar contract of last year.

Deliverable 7. Referring to the Task VII:

The revised/newly developed full drafts of the following four regulations and procedures  to be approved by  the Cabinet in connection with the implementation of the draft revised General Law on Social Insurance:

7.1. The newly developed procedures regulating the establishment of a social insurance provident fund and the investment of the fund's assets in financial instrument;

7.2. The newly developed procedures for creating and using a unified taxation and social insurance contribution database, monitoring information flow, and ensuring data confidentiality and security;

7.3. The newly developed procedures for setting insurance premium rates for industrial accidents and occupational diseases, premium rates, collection of premiums, and developing the list of occupations to pay premiums; 

7.4. The newly developed the procedure for deeming social insurance premiums to be paid. 

Deliverable 8. Referring to the Task VII:

The revised/newly developed full drafts of the following four regulations and procedures  to be approved by  the Cabinet meeting or respective Ministers in connection with the implementation of the draft revised General Law on Social Insurance:

8.1. The newly developed procedures regulating the opening, registration, maintenance of notional personal accounts, and calculation of the insured's starting balance in the individual account of pension insurance contributions;

8.2. The newly developed procedures regulating the establishment, accumulation, distribution, and monitoring of pension reserve fund;

8.3. The newly developed procedures governing pension Inheritance rates and inheritance relations; 

8.4. The updated procedures for reporting and reimbursing social insurance contributions.

Deliverable 9. Referring to the Task VII:

The revised/newly developed full drafts of the following five regulations and procedures  to be approved by Parliament,  the Government and the National Social Insurance Board (NSIB), or respective Ministers in connection with the implementation of the revised General Law on Social Insurance:

9.1. The revised developed procedures and rules of operation of occupational pathology clinics;

9.2. The revised procedures regulating relations such as classifying social insurance premium arrears by the period of their occurrence, filing claims, and payment;

9.3. The revised regulations on the structure and working procedures of the NSIB;

9.4. The revised regulations on the NSIB, the maximum number of staff in the NSIB, and determination of the amount of quarterly bonuses to be paid to the Chairman and members of the NSIB; 

9.5. The revised procedures for open selection, nomination, and appointment of members of the NSIB.

Deliverable 10. Referring to the Task VII:

The revised/newly developed full drafts of the following four draft regulations and procedures  to be approved by  the Cabinet meeting and National Social Insurance Board (NSIB), or respective Ministers in connection with the implementation of the draft revised General Law on Social Insurance:

10.1.The revised procedure setting the maximum monthly salary and equivalent income to be paid by the insured and the employer to pay social insurance premiums and to determine pensions and benefits;

10.2. The revised guidelines for reimbursing premiums, rights, obligations, responsibilities of the parties, conclusion, extension, and termination of the contract, and drafting a voluntary insurance contract;

10.3. The revised guidelines for verification and instructions on the percentage, duration and causes of the insured's disability;

10.4. The newly developed methodology for calculating the amount of investment in financial management from the social insurance provident fund.

E. CONSULTANT’S QUALIFICATIONS/ SELECTION CRITERIA 

  • Education:  A suitable candidate should have at least a bachelor's degree in economics, social science, labor and related fields;
  • Professional qualifications: A suitable candidate should have extensive experience with social insurance policies and strategies, and experience in preparing and developing social protection policies and legislation would be a plus; 
  • Experience: A candidate should have at least 15 years of directly relevant professional experience in the field of social insurance policies; 
  • Language literacy: A candidate should have excellent Mongolian writing and understanding of English; 
  • Other: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to function effectively and collaboratively in a team environment, high proficiency in processing the documents, being punctual, and ability to bear the workload.

F. SUPERVISION AND REPORTING

The consultant will report directly to the Head of a Technical Working Group, who is the Director of Policy, Planning Department (PPD).  The consultant will work on a day-to-day basis under the guidance of the Lead consultant and Director of PPD on technical matters related to the assignment. Work progress will be presented during the working group meeting or other meetings as needed.   

The Director of PPD shall evaluate the performance on the agreed deliverables and approve the invoices for the delivered outputs.   

The consultant will prepare a 3-5 pages summary progress report detailing the achievements and impediments in executing the entire assignment effectively.  The MLSP and SFFS PIU will provide input to the evaluation of the consultant’s performance. 

G. CONTRACT DURATION

The consulting service is expected to commence in June 2022.  The contract will have a duration of 10 months through March 2023.

The contract will not be subject to extension. If any task is not finished and approved by the MLSP within the agreed-upon timeline, the consultant’s payment will be reduced proportionally.

H. PAYMENT CONDITION

Payments will be released upon satisfactory completion of all deliverables due for each task, according to the following schedule:

  • Submission of Deliverable 1 stated in the ToR conditional on the MLSP’s approval: 8 % of the total contract amount;
  • Submission of Deliverable 2 stated in the ToR conditional on the MLSP’s approval: 8 % of the total contract amount;
  • Submission of Deliverable 3 stated in the ToR conditional on the MLSP’s approval: 7 % of the total contract amount 
  • Submission of Deliverable 4 stated in the ToR conditional on the  MLSP’s approval: 8 % of the total contract amount; 
  • Submission of Deliverable 5 stated in the ToR conditional on the  MLSP’s approval: 8 % of the total contract amount; 
  • Submission of Deliverable 6 stated in the ToR conditional on the  MLSP’s approval: 8 % of the total contract amount 
  • Submission of Deliverable 7 stated in the ToR conditional on the  MLSP’s approval: 8 % of the total contract amount ;
  • Submission of Deliverable 8 stated in the ToR conditional on the  MLSP’s approval: 15 % of the total contract amount; 
  • Submission of Deliverable 9 stated in the ToR conditional on the  MLSP’s approval: 15 % of the total contract amount; 
  • Submission of Deliverable 10 stated in the ToR conditional on the  MLSP’s approval: 15 % of the total contract amount.

G. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS

The MLSP will provide office space for the consultant to work with the national consultant and other related international consultants and technical working group as well as the MLSP officials.  The consultant will have access to all necessary data and information.  

If you possess the above qualifications, please submit the following documents via email to procurement_sgm@sffs.mn:

1. Cover letter indicating why she/he considers her/himself suitable for the position.

2. Detailed CV highlighting relevant skills/experience.

3. Copy of diplomas or certificates; and,

4. Two (2) reference letters from the previous last two employers no later than 15:00 PM, June 22, 2022.

The consultant will be selected in accordance with the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers (July 2016).

The submitted documents will not be returned to the applicants. Please be noted that incomplete applications would not be considered for evaluation. Only selected candidate will be contacted.Address for submission of Expression of Interest: Attention to Ms.Oyunyam.M, Procurement Specialist, Strengthening Fiscal and Financial Stability Project, Address: Room #205, Negdsen undestnii 8/2, 4th khoroo, Chingeltei District, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Tel: 70120582 or via email to: procurement_sgm@sffs.mn

Contact Info

70120582

Attachments

LATEST ANNOUNCEMENTS
D1/CS/065 Providing technical support to MLSP for further elaboration of the draft Social Welfare Package Laws, and developing accompanying researches, reports, and public awareness contents

Deadline: 9/6/2023 12:00:00   Advertised: 8/23/2023

Client: Ministry of Labor and Social Protection

Category: Consultancy Service


B22/CS/049 National consultant to provide functional support to the implementation and rollout of the Treasury Portal System nationwide towards improving fiscal discipline and efficiency of the government financial resources (Extended)

Deadline: 8/31/2023 15:00:00   Advertised: 8/16/2023

Client: Ministry of Finance

Category: Consultancy Service


B22/CS/050 National IT/ technical consultant to provide technical support to the implementation of the Treasury Portal System and nationwide towards improving fiscal discipline and efficiency of the government financial resources

Deadline: 8/25/2023 15:00:00   Advertised: 8/16/2023

Client: Ministry of Finance

Category: Consultancy Service


D2/CS/062 Provide technical support to MLSP for developing accompanying regulations and rules of the approved Social Insurance Package Laws, developing training contents

Deadline: 9/8/2023 15:00:00   Advertised: 8/11/2023

Client: Ministry of Labor and Social Protection

Category: Consultancy Service


A2/CS/034  National consultant #1 to conduct a comprehensive study on the tax environment of industrial factories and domestic manufacturing in Mongolia

Deadline: 7/25/2023 15:00:00   Advertised: 6/28/2023

Client: Ministry of Finance

Category: Consultancy Service


A2/CS/033 National consultant #2 to conduct a comprehensive study on the tax environment related to industrial settings of the countries with similar economies as Mongolia

Deadline: 7/25/2023 15:00:00   Advertised: 6/28/2023

Client: Ministry of Finance

Category: Nonconsultancy Service


Other announcements »