ToR - International social security business process specialist

Background

The passing of Pension Law 319 by Lebanon’s Parliament in December 2023 was a substantial reform towards a strengthened social protection system in Lebanon. This milestone marks one of the most significant socioeconomic reforms witnessed by Lebanon in recent years amid compounded crises.

 For decades, the vast majority of the Lebanese people have lived with little or no income security in their old age, a situation that has worsened since the economic-financial crisis that began in 2019. The fact that the national currency has lost 98 percent of its value against the US dollar coupled with a triple digit inflation, has made the end-of-service-indemnity amount even more inadequate to provide a decent life in old age and made the transition to a new shock resistant pension scheme inevitable. Additionally, Public administrations in Lebanon, including the NSSF, are known to grapple with chronic challenges such as weak oversight, accountability gaps, outdated procedures, and lax governance. These persistent issues have resulted in a significant erosion of trust between citizens and their public institutions.

The new pension law establishes a comprehensive pension system for private sector workers. This scheme promises to offer a monthly payment during a retiree’s lifetime instead of a lump-sum at retirement. The new law has also introduced a comprehensive restructuring of the NSSF’s governance and operational framework. To effectively implement these changes, a sequence of pivotal and critical steps must be taken, with a major focus on enhancing the Business Processes, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the Management Information Systems (MIS) infrastructure.

Context and rationale

In order to streamline business processes in the NSSF administration, the ILO Regional Office for Arab States is committed to support the NSSF management in mapping of the current pension related  business processes by fundamentally rethinking and redesigning these workflows with the ultimate goal is to create a leaner, more agile and more people-centric services that can respond quickly to changing market conditions and people’s needs and enhance the efficiency, accuracy, and accessibility of social security services for clients and stakeholders.

  In fact, the success of policies aimed at providing social security benefits, depends critically on the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and data, and their effective governance and management. The absence or insufficient use of digital management and information systems (MIS) results in excessive processing and turnaround times in service delivery. It also limits the capacity to scale operations to manage a growing volume of data.

Currently, NSSF business operations still rely heavily on paper-based and manual processes (or on legacy systems that are not scalable and lack interoperability). This affects the ability of the agency to deliver benefits timely and efficiently and its interoperability with other government agencies. To reach the objective of implementing an efficient, transparent, and scalable new pension scheme, the NSSF must develop a new Management Information System that governs its operations, and digitally handle core social security services. The systems allow storing, accessing, and managing beneficiary data and enable the automation of core operations such as enrollment of companies and individuals, declaration, and reconciliation of contribution payments, claims processing and financial monitoring.

These terms of reference refer to the work of a consultant to assess the current performance of the Management Information System governing the pension scheme and provide recommendations for improvement opportunities. The consultant will first analyze the organizations internal and external digital ecosystem. He or she will then conduct the process mapping of the existing operational workflows. Then, the consultant will recommend a future state of operational processes, indicating where dematerialization and simplification may apply, including through interoperability with its digital ecosystem of partners. He or she will document the final operational processes in Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for designing the new MIS and transform SOPs into functional specifications that enable programmers to develop the software code. Finally, he or she will assist the international technical architect consultant in conducting robust quality assurance processes and a comprehensive user testing.

Outputs

Output 1: Digital readiness and digital ecosystem assessment

This consists of a technical note:

• diagnosing the current state of organizational readiness, human resources, technology, and digital ecosystem of the social security organization and
• conducting a gap analysis and recommendations for improvements to reach a desirable future state of digital architecture in terms of organizational readiness (IT governance, data management…), human resources (number of staff, their skills...) and technology stack to support the implementation of the new MIS.

It will contain specifically:

• A high level and synthetic overview of the country’s IT and internet communication environment.
• Mandatory government electronic interfaces and systems, including any mandated requirements for the new software system.
• Recommendations for software, hardware, and communication requirements for MIS solution
• High level mapping and gap analysis of IT governance, technology infrastructure and staff to operate the MIS solution.
  • Data Base Engines
  • Technology Stack to support the desired software deployment and secure operations.
  • Communication and system deployment for interoperability with critical external data sources.
  • Infrastructure to host future MIS and its backup and recovery systems.
  • Security features including robustness of access management.

To achieve this, the consultant will engage senior management and obtain their agreement on the requirements, the decisions needed, the conditions and modus operandi to implement a new MIS. Discussions will help reach some agreements on the future digital architecture by focusing inter alia on minimum IT governance elements to be implemented, organizational change management, minimum investments and improvements needed in physical infrastructure, the opportunities, and costs for customizing and operating open-source solutions and proprietary technologies, and minimum human resources changes operate the system.

The consultant will be supported in this task by a Digital Assessment and data quality assessment expert.

Output 2: Business Analysis and Operational Workflow document

This step will involve a reevaluation and development of the NSSF’s business processes related to the implementation of the pension scheme while insuring improvements in performance, productivity, efficiency, and stakeholders’/beneficiaries’ satisfaction.

The activities entail:

• Conducting thorough analysis of the current process (as-is): Current business processes across all the relevant functionalities of the NSSF should be mapped. Subsequently, the consultant will identify possible shortcomings, limitations on operational efficiency and bottlenecks in each process.
• Propose the envisioned (to-be) business processes through to-be analysis: By incorporating the findings of the institutional assessment and business process mapping mentioned in the previous step, the consultant must determine and write the future state of operational workflows for the pension scheme taking into consideration the opportunities to dematerialize and simplify the operations through a modern and agile business model.
• Documenting the changes in functional processes that should be reflected in the new pension MIS compared to the existing and legacy system and predicting the resulting changes in business.
• Identifying the personnel (profiles, roles), organizational and technological requirements to implement the digital solutions.
• Writing the SOP standard operating procedures for all business processes under the new pension MIS.
• With the help of a legal expert or qualified senior management from the institution, identifying potential necessary changes in regulations that would otherwise impede changes - (this does not include of writing the proposed changes in regulations)
• Pointing out key necessary changes in Enterprise Governance and other aspects of organizational design (such as the nomenclature of business units and their alignment to a digital based benefits delivery system) – (this does not include of proposing the new organizational configuration).

Output 3: System requirements specification including functional Analysis and architecture document of the new MIS

The consultant will provide inputs to the development of a document describing all the specifications needed for software developers.

• Data architecture (conceptual and logical data schemes)
• Functional requirements derived from business rules / flow
• Users of the system and user interfaces
• Software, hardware, connectivity, and communication requirements
• Security features (notably access management)

The Functional Analysis document will be developed by an International Technical architect, separately contracted.

Output 4: Change Management Coaching

To enhance organizational efficiency and effectiveness, the consultant will provide comprehensive change management coaching to ensure a smooth transition to new operational methods.

• Align new processes with organizational goals and the requirements of the new law.
• Create a detailed implementation plan for the new business processes.
• Develop a change management strategy to support the transition.
• Identify key stakeholders and change agents within the organization.
• Provide coaching to management and staff on new processes and change management techniques.
• Develop and execute a communication plan to keep all stakeholders informed about the changes.

Timeline and Payment Schedule

The consultancy will commence on August 1^st, 2024, and conclude on March 15^th, 2025, for a maximum of 85 working days. Depending on the availability of resources and the possibility of parallel processing, the actual duration may vary.

Deliverable

Timeline/Deadline

Due Payment

Digital readiness and digital ecosystem assessment Report

30^th of September 2024

15%

Business Analysis and Operational Workflow document

31^st of October 2024

30%

Inputs to Functional Analysis and architecture document of the new MIS as requested by the international technical architect

30^th of November 2024

30%

Change management coaching including CM strategy, implementation & communication plan in addition to training and coaching

15^th of March 2025

25%

Travel

   A mandatory visit to the project site is required to thoroughly understand and assess the current situation. This visit will involve on-ground observations, stakeholder meetings, and information collection to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of the existing conditions. The findings from this visit will be crucial for the subsequent stages of the project.

Qualifications and Selection Criteria

The consultants should have the following qualification and experience:

• Professional with extensive knowledge and understanding of social insurance schemes, modern operating models, and legal and regulatory aspects of public pension funds.          
• Excellent understanding and track record implementing Business Process Analysis.
• Demonstrated experience in development and implementation of MIS systems within a large-scale data environment.
• Demonstrated experience in supporting a social insurance scheme or system to improve efficiency in administration.
• Strong ability to plan, manage, implement, and report in a timely fashion and to a high standard of quality, as demonstrated by at least two solid references from relevant work assignments.
• Excellent communication and command in written English, Arabic is an asset.