The Assessment of Selected Digital Services in the Ministry of Labour in Oman – Roadmap for Improvement

The consultant shall deliver the following outputs:

• A final report of not less than 30 pages in Arabic, that includes implemented activities, best practices, services assessment and the improvement roadmap. Other parts might be added as per the request of MoL and ESCWA teams;
• A 2 to 4-page executive summary of the report;
• A PowerPoint presentation on the prepared report, in Arabic, suitable for delivery at the national validation workshop; and
• An annex recording the stakeholder consultations undertaken and the evidence base used for the assessment of user experience and take-up. The completed parts should be edited and saved in MS-Word (*.docx file) or an alternate compatible format. Note that PDF format will not be accepted. It should include a table of contents to be automatically updated followed by a list of all tables and figures. The various parts should be submitted in electronic form and sent to the email of the designated focal point. Attention is kindly drawn to the need to ensure that the final draft of the outputs be thoroughly reviewed prior to submission and to indicate the sources of tables and diagrams. References to reports and other substantive material should be clearly indicated within the text and noted at the end. It is also essential to send, with the completed output, photocopies or scans of at least the first page of books, reports and bulletins, used as reference material as well as copies of the pages quoted. The content of the generated document shall be the sole property of ESCWA. The consultant shall keep in mind that UN-ESCWA routinely checks all deliverables for plagiarism using readily available electronic tools. All previously published content, even if written by the selected consultant, must be clearly referenced where required within the text and end-noted at the end of the study. The study submitted by the consultant must not contain quoted, previously published text equaling more than 20 per cent of the total number of pages of the study. AI-generated content will be checked and refused. The consultant shall not publish, announce or otherwise disclose the content of the report, in whole or in part, on social media or through any other public channel, without the prior written permission of ESCWA and the Ministry of Labour.

Remote

4 Months

I. GENERAL SCOPE Digital government services are no longer a discretionary improvement; they have become a determinant of administrative efficiency, economic competitiveness and quality of life. The United Nations E-Government Survey 2024, issued by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), reports that the global average of the E-Government Development Index (EGDI) rose to 0.6382 from 0.6102 in 2022, and that the share of the world's population lagging in digital government development fell from 45% to 22.4% — confirming digital government as a global benchmark of institutional performance and an instrument for delivering the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Progress nevertheless remains conditional on infrastructure and skills. The International Telecommunication Union's Facts and Figures 2025 estimates that some 6 billion people, or 74% of the world's population, now use the internet while 2.2 billion remain offline, and stresses that the divide is increasingly defined by speed, reliability, affordability and digital skills rather than by coverage alone. The national value of digital services therefore lies in shorter processing times and lower operating costs, greater transparency and integrity, application of the “once-only” principle through inter-agency interoperability, and better administrative data for evidence-based policymaking. Labour is among the sectors most exposed to digital transformation, given the number of parties involved and the high frequency of its transactions. The ILO's first global report on public employment services and active labour market policies, drawing on a survey of 94 public employment services worldwide, finds that digitalization has expanded their coverage, improved service quality and crisis resilience, and automated routine tasks so that staff can concentrate on clients facing complex barriers — while cautioning that modernization must not exclude those on the wrong side of the digital divide. In the Arab region, Saudi Arabia's Qiwa platform, operated by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, consolidates employment-contract documentation, work-permit issuance and renewal, employee transfers, Saudization (Nitaqat) monitoring and wage-protection linkage in a single portal; the Ministry has announced that more than nine million contracts have been documented through it. In the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has, under the Zero Government Bureaucracy Programme, redesigned its work-permit services — cutting processing time by up to 95%, removing attachment requirements entirely in several services, and granting permit quotas instantly instead of within ten days, through artificial intelligence and integration with other government systems. Oman has made measurable gains in digital government, advancing to 41st of 193 countries in the 2024 E-Government Development Index from 50th in 2022, and to 48th in the Online Service Index. It also recorded an overall score of 75% in the ESCWA Government Electronic and Mobile Services (GEMS) Maturity Index 2025, up from 72% in 2024, with uneven performance across its three pillars: 86% for public outreach, 81% for service availability and sophistication, but only 65% for service usage and user satisfaction.. The Ministry of Labour occupies a central position in this agenda, as it administers high-volume, high-impact services covering expatriate recruitment and work permits, jobseeker registration and matching with vacancies, Omanisation compliance, and labour complaints and disputes. Assessing the maturity, quality and user experience of these digital services is therefore a practical entry point for identifying performance gaps, setting development priorities, and strengthening the Ministry's contribution to national and international digital government indicators. These Terms of Reference are developed to guide the preparation of the report titled: “Assessment of Selected Digital Services in the Ministry of Labour in Oman – Roadmap for Improvement”. II. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Under the overall guidance of the designated ESCWA focal point and in coordination with the Ministry of Labour, the consultant shall carry out the duties set out below.

• Methodology: Within two weeks of contract signature the consultant shall submit for approval an inception paper setting out the research strategy, the assessment methodology and framework to be applied, the confirmed list of services within scope, the stakeholder consultation plan, an annotated outline of the report and a provisional timeline.
• Policy and institutional review. Review the strategies, policies, legislation and institutional arrangements governing digital transformation in Oman and their application in the labour sector, including Oman Vision 2040, the National Digital Transformation Programme and the Ministry’s own digital plans, and identify the mandates, roles and interoperability arrangements of the entities concerned;
• International and regional good practice. Review and document four benchmark cases — two global and two regional — selected in consultation with ESCWA and the MoL, presenting for each the problem addressed, the solution adopted, the measurable results achieved, the enabling conditions required and the lessons transferable to the Omani context, including labour dispute services and other MoL services;
• Baseline assessment of the selected services. Assess each selected service against the agreed maturity framework, covering at a minimum: service availability and level of online transaction; end-to-end digitalization and the elimination of in-person steps and paper attachments; processing times and number of steps; interoperability with other government systems and application of the “once-only” principle; data protection and integrity safeguards; and the availability and quality of service performance data;
• Stakeholder consultation. Meet and consult the main national stakeholders engaged with the Ministry, including relevant government entities, employers and private-sector representatives, recruitment agencies, workers’ representatives and, where feasible, service users. The consultant shall conduct no fewer than ten structured consultations and shall record participants, dates and principal findings in an annex to the report;
• Gap analysis and roadmap. Consolidate the findings into a gap analysis — including, but not limited to, a SWOT analysis — and develop the improvement roadmap, presenting recommendations across short, medium and long-term horizons with responsible entities, indicative costs, prerequisites, risks and mitigation measures, and indicators against which progress can be measured;
• Drafting and revision. Prepare the draft report in accordance with the schedule set out in section B, incorporating the comments of the MoL and ESCWA at each round of review; and
• National validation workshop. Present the draft findings, gap analysis and roadmap at a national workshop convened under the guidance of ESCWA and the MoL, prepare the supporting presentation, and update the report to reflect the comments and feedback received. The Ministry of Labour shall designate a focal point to facilitate the consultant’s access to the officials, documentation, test accounts and service performance data required to carry out the assignment. The consultant shall treat all information obtained in the course of the assignment as confidential, shall not retain or reproduce the personal data of service users, and shall present all user-related evidence in aggregated and anonymized form. ESCWA promotes gender equality and the integration of youth through its publications. The consultant shall therefore address gender considerations and the youth dimension throughout the research work, with the support of ESCWA staff, so that the report gives equal attention to the needs of women and men and of girls and boys. In particular, the consultant shall present usage, completion and satisfaction data disaggregated by sex and, where available, by age, and shall reflect the specific barriers faced by women, by young jobseekers and by first-time entrants to the labour market in both the gap analysis and the roadmap. Writing shall use gender-sensitive language.

An advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in digital technology, information and communications technology, public administration, e-government or a related field is required. A Ph.D. is an advantage. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. A minimum of 7 years of professional experience in ICT, including 5 years in the field of digital transformation and digital services, is required. Demonstrated experience in the assessment or design of government digital services is required. Previous experience working with international organizations is desirable. Previous experience in research and development is desirable.

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, Fluency in Arabic and English is required. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

Recruitment for this position is on a local basis. The incumbent is required to have the legal right to live and work in the specified working location.

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.