Survey Consultant Expert

USAID Trade Facilitation Program

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Proposed Personnel: Local Short-term Technical Assistance (STTA) Survey Consultant Expert

Activity: ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL BUSINESS ENTERPRISES’ TRAINING NEED FOR THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)’S TRADE FACILITATION AGREEMENT (TFA) ACTIVITY 4.8.1 – FY 2021

Base of Operation: DA NANG AND OTHER CITIES IN CENTRAL VIETNAM

Period of Performance: IN OR ABOUT MAY 2021 – JULY 2021

Program Background

The USAID Trade Facilitation Program (“the Program”), is a five-year project that aims to support the adoption and implementation of a risk–based approach to customs and specialized inspection institutions in Vietnam.

The Program will work with the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) to strengthen Vietnam’s National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) and Working Groups; streamline border clearance procedures (including specialized inspection implemented by other line ministries and agencies); harmonize the implementation of risk-based approaches between the national and provincial levels; support for capacity building of national and provincial customs officers and staff from other ministries; and facilitate dialogue between customs and business and between stakeholders in Hanoi and in the provinces.

The overall goal of the Program is towards the “reform, standardization, harmonization and simplification of administrative procedures to make them align with international standards for the implementation of the WTO TFA and the policy on reform of specialized inspection of imported and exported goods.”

Specific objectives include:

Effective implementation of the National Single Window, ASEAN Single Window, reform of specialized inspection of imports and exports, implementation of the WTO TFA, and strengthening of the role of NTFC;
Facilitation of imports and exports, application of risk management for trade facilitation purpose;
Promoting capacity building for customs officials, Ministries and localities; enhancing the implementation and cooperation among the selected localities;
Promoting partnership between Customs and the private sector.

Activity Background

The Trade Facilitation Agreement (the WTO TFA) entered into force on 22 February 2017 following its ratification by two-thirds of the WTO membership. Vietnam, as a member of the WTO, ratified the TFA on 26 November 2015. After the issuance of a Resolution by the National Assembly ratifying the Agreement, the Government assigned the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to take lead in the implementation of the Agreement in Decision no. 1969/Q?-TTg dated 13 October 2016 approving the action plan and preparations to implement the WTO TFA.

With the TFA’s official entry into force, it is the obligation of each member country to find resources for full implementation of the commitments in accordance with the notified roadmap.

In Da Nang, in support for dissemination of the TFA to the private sector, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) – Da Nang branch has made significant efforts to develop capacity for business enterprises in the city and other subordinate provinces of VCCI Da Nang, through training courses, dissemination workshops and others. Nevertheless, the understanding of the private sector remains inadequate with limited attention paid and insufficient opportunities to intensify learning. In fact, the interest and understanding of enterprises about the TFA remain limited to only large-sized export-import companies or FDI companies.

The Program is therefore working with VCCI Da Nang to apply a new approach in this capacity building effort by firstly identifying and assessing gaps in the current needs of the private sector in TFA training, and secondly, analyzing the information to develop a recommendable training roadmap of TFA to the private sector.

Objectives

The Program and VCCI Da Nang have taken over the endorsement from the Program Management Unit (PMU) to firstly hold a TFA dissemination and survey workshop that includes two parts:

Part 1: Overall dissemination of TFA to 80 business enterprises;
Part 2: Focus group discussion with the enterprises to identify and assess their needs in further understanding the TFA, a.k.a. training need assessment (TNA);

During part 2, the consultant expert will lead the group discussion survey to disseminate the questions and collect answers to ensure qualitative and quantitative results.

The workshop will be followed by the consultant expert’s consolidation the answers-data collected at the workshop group discussion survey, and his/her identification of further needs to follow up with the enterprises through potentially further on-site in-depth interview with the enterprises, or mail-out/paper-based survey forms. S/he will then analyze all collected data to come up with suitable and relevant recommendations to VCCI Da Nang on a long-term roadmap of training implementation on TFA to the private sector.

Tasks and responsibilities

The purpose of this assignment is to assist the Program and VCCI Da Nang in the conduct of the TNA, which will involve in the following tasks:

Develop the methodology for the TNA, which may include surveys, in-depth interviews, and other research tools;
Develop questionnaire content, and collaborate with the Program and VCCI Da Nang on the survey methodology (online mail-out/paper-based forms, in-person/virtual in-depth interviews, group discussions, etc.);
Implement the agreed-upon TNA methodology, which may include but is not settled to:
- Undertaking surveys through interviews or focus group discussions with the targeted businesses;
- Follow-up through further in-depth interview or mail-out/paper-based surveys;
Review and analyze data generated from the surveys, interviews and discussions;
Provide relevant recommendations;
Prepare the final report of the data and recommendations.

Deliverables and Tentative timelines

Seq.	Deliverables	Tentative timelines
1	TNA Methodology and Questionnaire content in MS Word;	May 31^st 2021
2	Undertaking surveys through interviews and focus group discussions with the targeted businesses at the workshop;	Workshop planned to be organized on 1 day within the second week of June 8^th / 9^th 2021
3	Preliminary report that includes Consolidation and review of data generated; Identification of the needs to follow-up through further in-depth interview or mail-out/paper-based surveys if necessary;	10 working days after the workshop
4	Final report with data presentation, analysis and suitable recommendations.	Minimum 2 weeks - maximum 5 weeks after all data collection activities are completed depending on result of data analysis and potential in-depth surveys if necessary

Qualification requirements

The consultant expert should satisfy the following criteria:

1. Bachelor's degree, with at least 10 experience in research methodologies, consulting, or similar fields; or a master's degree or higher and at least 5 years of experience in a relevant field;
2. Extensive knowledge and experience in organizing surveys and collecting opinions of enterprises on related-customs work; experience with similar training needs assessments is highly preferred.
3. Proven experience in researching and consulting with the private sector and Government of Vietnam agencies, especially on international economic integration topics such as WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), other agreement and free trade agreements (FTAs);
4. Excellent written and spoken presentation skills of English and Vietnamese;
5. Prior experience working with international organizations/donors and government agencies is preferred;
6. Excellent communication and presentation skills in Vietnamese is a must, in English is preferable;
7. Service-orientation, due diligence, cooperation and commitment.