Country: Laos  Description of the Assignment: Under the overall guidance of the Project coordinator of the Inclusive Growth Unit  with support from the UN Women Regional team lead and respective Mekong region country offices (Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand) programme coordinators, the Consultant will be responsible for the following:Task 1: Comparative Policy and Systems Review on Gender-Responsive Procurement (GRP) Across the Mekong RegionThrough comprehensive desk review and online key informant interviews (KIIs) with relevant stakeholders suggested by respective Country Offices, undertake the following:·       Develop a common comparative gender-responsive analytical framework to assess 3 interlinked pillars of GRP (Public procurement systems, MSME policies and Private Sector Procurement Systems) across Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam and Thailand·       Conduct a comparative review of public procurement legal and policy framework including but not limited to:o   Policy instruments that explicitly support or promote gender-responsive procurement and inclusive public procuremento   Policies that support explicitly women entrepreneurs, including  persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities and other vulnerable groupso   Institutional mechanisms including WOB certification system, supplier database, and e-procurement platformso   Data and monitoring including sex-disaggregated procurement data , gender-disaggregated business registers, agreed definitionso   Administrative simplification measures facilitating inclusive business participation·       Conduct a comparative review of MSME policies including but not limited to:o   National MSME strategies and policies supporting women entrepreneurs and gender-responsive enterprises and/or those in climate related sectors·       Strategies and readiness support to increase the number and proportion of WOBs in supply chains including capacity building on inclusive finance, business development services, incubation and mentoring. Period of assignment/services: 25 working days Proposal should be submitted directly in the portal no later than indicated deadline.Any request for clarification must be sent in writing via messaging functionality in the portal. UNDP will respond in writing including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry.http://supplier.quantum.partneragencies.org  using the profile you may have in the portal. In case you have never registered before, you can register a profile using the registration link shared via the procurement notice and following the instructions in guides available in UNDP website: https://www.undp.org/procurement/business/resources-for-bidders.  Do not create a new profile if you already have one. Use the forgotten password feature in case you do not remember the password or the username from previous registration.