1           General information

2           Background

2.1          General project context

As applicant for EU membership, Bosnia and Herzegovina (‘BiH’) is expected to meet EU justice standards as provided for by several of the 14 key priorities for membership and recalled by the EU Commission in its 2018 Western Balkan Strategy.

The cross-cutting objective of the EU4Justice Project (the ‘Project’) is to share practical methods with the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (the ‘HJPC’) and other Justice Institutions of BiH in order to increase its capacities to implement its mission to ensure independence and professionalism of the judiciary, promote judicial reform, and enhance the country’s response to organised crime and corruption.

Overall, the Project aims at supporting the Justice Sector Institutions in carrying out these changes in order to align the functioning of the BiH judiciary with EU rule of law standards by enhancing professionalism, efficiency and transparency of the BiH justice system for the final benefit of BiH citizens. 

2.2          Overview of the donor coordination activity

Under Component 1 – Enhance capacities of HJPC to effectively monitor the justice sector, EU4Justice has been given the mandate to develop a donor coordination mechanism to be owned and operated by the HJPC.

The general objective of this activity is to enhance HJPC the capacities to coordinate donor initiatives by improving the current donor coordination in the field of justice reform and align donor assistance and coordination with relevant national strategies. This will give the HJPC a clear overview of the various initiatives in the field of the judiciary allowing for a better allocation of donor resources, ensuring coherence and alignment with the HJPC policies and operations.

Within this donor coordination mechanism, the project will develop and support the implementation of:

• A donor coordination policy with procedures, tools and methodologies to coordinate donor support, including a methodology for donor coordination meetings, a reporting methodology and templates, etc.
• A donor coordination software which will allow for HJPC to be informed of ongoing/upcoming donor initiatives in the field of justice, to effectively coordinate this support and to report on it to the donor community and civil society.

EU4Justice has started this activity by:

• Elaborating a needs assessment in consultation with HJPC and donor community.
• Drafting a Concept Note for Donor Coordination which was approved by the international community, the HJPC and the Ministry of Justice.
• Starting the drafting of the policy document (still under elaboration).

The next steps of this activity are:

• The development and approval of the donor coordination policy (expected September 2023);
• The development of the technical specifications for the donor coordination software (described in the present ToRs);
• The development and implementation of the donor coordination software as part of the implementation of a new donor coordination mechanism.

3           Assignment description

3.1          Objectives and expected results of the assignment

3.1.1         Purpose of the assignment

The assignment is expected to apply the following purposes:

• Use the findings of the Donor Coordination Concept Note and Policy developed by the Project as the basis for a Requirements Definition Document (RDD) in order to update/develop the final RDD;
• Use the approved Requirements Definition Document as the basis for Functional Design of software applications (FSD) in order to update/develop the final FSD;
• Use the approved FSD and the survey physical resources and analysis of technological infrastructural in order to update/develop the final detailed specification of the Technological Architecture;
• Develop the required Supply Terms of Reference (TOR) based on the detailed specification of the Technological Architecture and the FSD;

3.1.2         Expected results of the assignment

The results expected to be achieved from accomplishing the pursued project are summarized as follows:

• Full understanding of the automation requirements of HJPC leading to a robust Requirements Definition Document (RDD);
• Provide several proposals for the most suitable software approach after consultation and approval of the HJPC Team, presenting the pros and cons of each proposal. There are various options that HJPC can follow such as outsourcing or internal work, develop or adapt, etc.;
• The design, specification and quantification of all items and services needed by HJPC to complete the required technological infrastructure needed for the proper implementation of the software application, including a budget for the development of the software (including testing and maintenance);
• Survey of physical resources and analysis of technological infrastructural requirements covering all the respective entities;
• The update of the RDD based on the concept note; This RDD should include the identification of other similar/comparable existing software.
• The development of an FSD as to allow the refinement and the validation of the design;
• The development of the Supply TORs after consultation and approval of the HJPC Team; The supply ToR should include a proposal of requirements and evaluation criteria for the selection of the company to develop the software.
• The development of an applicable, accurate and updated deployment plan;
• Proposal of evaluation criteria for the tender for the development of the software in the supply ToR.

It is excepted that the Project benefit from the following:

• Build on international experiences in the field of modern and large projects in the design processes;
• Ensure the planning, design and development or adaptation of the most appropriate system application;
• Provide a clear set of requirements and requisites for the HJPC system applications; and
• Early involvement and commitment from the HJPC on the automation process.

3.2          Description of the assignment

3.2.1         Assignment activities

The assignment consists of two parts:

1. A field mission to in September or October 2023, in order to identify possible points of support for the project and meet the stakeholders.
2. Drafting of the project's deliverables, based on the templates provided by Expertise France.

The Consultant’s proposal should present a detailed methodology and work plan for this project; this will be a specific part of the Consultant’s offer. The Consultant, through its offer, is encouraged to demonstrate innovative, added-value, and creative approaches to the delivery of the services and results required.

The Consultant is free to propose all aspects of their detailed methodology and work plan for the assignment in their proposal.  However, it is envisaged that the project will be structured in a phased manner represented through the following 5 phases. The phases are not necessarily sequential and some may be conducted in parallel^[4]:

• Phase 1: Preliminary Activities (including mission to Sarajevo[5]);
• Phase 2: Update the Requirements Analysis;
• Phase 3: Develop the Functional Systems Design (Software Application);
• Phase 4: Develop the Technological Infrastructure;
• Phase 5: Develop Supply terms of reference;

All deliverables must be submitted in English.

3.2.2         Assignment deliverables

4           Structure of work

4.1          Coordination arrangements

The IT expert will work under the direct supervision of Rachel Ganem, Project Expert, for the entire assignment.

4.2          Working conditions and assignment location and length

The assignment will take place in Sarajevo (one 5-day mission) and homebased.

Provisional start date for assignment: as soon as possible.

Provisional end date for assignment: October 2023