Background of the Assignment

As the global guardian of the United Nations standards and norms in Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, UNODC is mandated to support Member States in upholding the rule of law, promoting crime prevention and effective, fair, humane and accountable criminal justice systems In line with this mandate and within the framework of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Programme, UNODC’s project titled “Programme for Legal Empowerment and Aid Delivery (PLEAD) Phase II, aims to support the Government of Kenya to reinforce the rule of law, improve access to justice, increase efficiency and accountability in the justice system and use of technology as an enabler of justice while addressing capacity needs and persistent bottlenecks affecting service delivery in the justice sector, advance digitalization to streamline the administration of justice and countering corruption to improve access to justice for all Kenyans, including those at risk of exclusion and marginalization. The PLEAD II component implemented by UNODC targets support to the following institutions in the justice chain (national partners): National Council on the Administration of Justice (NCAJ), Judiciary, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Probation and Aftercare Service (PACS), Witness Protection Agency (WPA), Directorate of Children Services (DCS), Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Kenya Prisons Service (KPS) and National Police Service (NPS).

Purpose of the assignment

The Judiciary of Kenya maintains the Convicted Sexual Offenders Electronic Register (CSOER), an electronic information management system for the capture, management and retrieval of information on persons convicted of sexual offences. The Register supports the protection of the public, particularly children and other vulnerable persons, by providing a reliable and authoritative record of convicted sexual offenders. The Register's effectiveness depends on complete, accurate, and timely information generated at different points in the criminal justice chain. This information is currently held across separate Judiciary and justice-sector systems, including those relating to imprisonment and transfer between correctional institutions, release from custody, appellate outcomes, matters arising from the High Court's original jurisdiction, and the movement of convicted offenders across international borders. Without integration, changes in an offender's status are not promptly or accurately reflected in the Register. This weakens data integrity, limits the Register's usefulness for decision-making, and undermines public confidence in its reliability. The purpose of the consultancy is to provide specialised technical expertise to assess, design, develop, integrate, test and support the deployment of the enhanced CSOER, including its interoperability with identified Judiciary and justice-sector systems and the integration of biometric fingerprint functionality.

Specific Tasks to be performed by the consultant:

The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer, UNODC ROEA, and the direct supervision of the Programme Officer. Working closely with the Judiciary and the relevant Head of Department, the consultant will perform the following duties:

The consultancy will:

• assess the existing CSOER architecture, functionality, workflows, database structure, security arrangements and integration requirements;
• design the required enhancements to improve the accuracy, completeness, security and timeliness of CSOER information;
• develop the required enhancements and appropriate interfaces between CSOER and identified Judiciary, justice-sector and government systems;
• integrate automated biometric fingerprint and facial image capture and identification functionality into CSOER;
• support the technical aspects of auditing, cleaning, validating and migrating existing CSOER data;
• strengthen system security, user-access controls, audit trails, reporting and monitoring functionality;
• undertake system integration, security and user acceptance testing; and
• provide comprehensive technical documentation, knowledge transfer and deployment support to ensure sustainability of the enhanced system.

The Consultant shall perform the following tasks:

1. Inception and System Assessment and Requirements Analysis:

• Assess the current system: Review the CSOER architecture, database, functionality, workflows, user roles, permissions, dashboards, reporting and security arrangements, identifying functional, technical, operational and interoperability gaps.
• Define requirements: Consult the CSOER Registry, the Directorate of ICT and other relevant stakeholders to document functional, non-functional and data-exchange requirements.
• Design the enhanced system: Develop the proposed system architecture and data-flow model, together with a plan for implementation, integration, testing and deployment.
• Prepare an Inception Report and an assessment of existing CSOER; stakeholder requirements; functional and non-functional requirements; enhanced system architecture; data-flow and integration design; security/access model; biometric integration design; implementation and testing plan.

2. System Enhancement and Inter-Agency Integration

• Design and develop the approved system enhancements and appropriate interfaces with the following priority institutions and systems:
  • Kenya Prisons Service o Develop an interface or authorised-user functionality enabling timely updates on convicted offenders' custodial status, including admission, prisoner reference details, transfers between correctional institutions, discharge or release, and any other legally relevant changes.
  • Department of Immigration Services o Develop an interface or notification mechanism for the authorised receipt of information when a convicted sexual offender leaves Kenya, enters from another jurisdiction, or undergoes any other immigration-status change relevant to lawful monitoring.
  • Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions – Uadilifu System o Develop the integration or enhancement needed to accurately map specific sexual offences, offenders, counts and case outcomes, including the relationship between individual offenders and their respective counts, so that complex cases involving multiple counts or multiple accused persons are correctly recorded.
  • Judiciary – High Court and Court of Appeal o Develop functionality to capture sexual offence matters arising from the High Court’s original jurisdiction in CSOER, and to electronically transmit appeal outcomes to the central CSOER Registry so that any confirmation, variation or other change is reflected in the Register. o The architecture should be technically feasible and accommodate future interoperability with relevant DCI and other authorised justice-sector systems.
  • Integration with the National Population/Identity Data System o Secure interface between CSOER and the national population and identity information system to enable positive identification and verification of convicted sexual offenders. o On capture of biometrics or entry of a National Identity Card number or other authorised identifier, CSOER should query the relevant government database to retrieve or verify the offender’s names and aliases, identification number, date of birth, sex, photograph and biometrics (where authorised), nationality, registered address and any other lawfully required particulars, automatically populating the relevant fields to reduce manual entry, duplicate records and misidentification. o Working with the Directorate of ICT and the relevant government agency, the consultant shall establish the interoperability mechanism, including secure APIs, biometric and ID-based verification, handling of failed or conflicting matches, role-based access, encryption and comprehensive audit trails, in compliance with applicable data-protection, information-security and inter-agency data-sharing requirements.

3. Biometric Integration

• Provide and test the technical integration necessary to incorporate automated fingerprint biometric functionality into CSOER, including biometric enrolment and verification workflows, secure linkage of fingerprint data to offender records, integration with approved biometric devices and software, data validation and quality controls, user-access and audit mechanisms, while working with the Directorate of ICT to ensure compatibility with the approved CSOER architecture.

4. Data Audit and Migration Support

• Provide technical support for the audit, validation, cleansing, migration, verification, and reconciliation of existing CSOER records, including the identification and resolution of incomplete, duplicate, rejected, inaccurate, inconsistent, and otherwise unverifiable records, through the development of data-quality controls, migration procedures, scripts and tools, trial migrations, exception reporting, and controlled migration processes, while ensuring the integrity, confidentiality, and auditability of all records throughout the migration lifecycle.

5. Security, Access Control and Audit Functionality

• In consultation with the Directorate of ICT, ensure that the enhanced system incorporates robust security, access management, monitoring, resilience, and data-protection measures, including role-based access controls, authentication and authorisation mechanisms, audit trails and system logging, encryption and secure transmission of information, data-integrity controls, backup and recovery arrangements, monitoring and reporting functionality, and cybersecurity safeguards.

6. System Testing and Pilot Deployment

• Prepare and execute system, integration, functional, security, vulnerability, and user acceptance testing activities; document and resolve identified defects; support deployment at selected pilot court stations; monitor initial system performance; and address technical issues arising during pilot implementation to ensure the successful delivery and operation of the enhanced system.

• Assess the existing CSOER architecture, functionality, workflows, database structure, security arrangements and integration requirements
• Design the required enhancements to improve the accuracy, completeness, security and timeliness of CSOER information
• Develop the required enhancements and appropriate interfaces between CSOER and identified Judiciary, justice-sector and government systems
• Integrate automated biometric fingerprint and facial image capture and identification functionality into CSOER
• Support the technical aspects of auditing, cleaning, validating and migrating existing CSOER data
• Strengthen system security, user-access controls, audit trails, reporting and monitoring functionality
• Undertake system integration, security and user acceptance testing
• Provide comprehensive technical documentation, knowledge transfer and deployment support to ensure sustainability of the enhanced system
• Assess the current system: Review the CSOER architecture, database, functionality, workflows, user roles, permissions, dashboards, reporting and security arrangements, identifying functional, technical, operational and interoperability gaps.
• Define requirements: Consult the CSOER Registry, the Directorate of ICT and other relevant stakeholders to document functional, non-functional and data-exchange requirements.
• Design the enhanced system: Develop the proposed system architecture and data-flow model, together with a plan for implementation, integration, testing and deployment.
• Prepare an Inception Report and an assessment of existing CSOER; stakeholder requirements; functional and non-functional requirements; enhanced system architecture; data-flow and integration design; security/access model; biometric integration design; implementation and testing plan.
• Design and develop the approved system enhancements and appropriate interfaces with the following priority institutions and systems: Kenya Prisons Service, Department of Immigration Services, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions – Uadilifu System, Judiciary – High Court and Court of Appeal, Integration with the National Population/Identity Data System
• Provide and test the technical integration necessary to incorporate automated fingerprint biometric functionality into CSOER, including biometric enrolment and verification workflows, secure linkage of fingerprint data to offender records, integration with approved biometric devices and software, data validation and quality controls, user-access and audit mechanisms, while working with the Directorate of ICT to ensure compatibility with the approved CSOER architecture.
• Provide technical support for the audit, validation, cleansing, migration, verification, and reconciliation of existing CSOER records, including the identification and resolution of incomplete, duplicate, rejected, inaccurate, inconsistent, and otherwise unverifiable records, through the development of data-quality controls, migration procedures, scripts and tools, trial migrations, exception reporting, and controlled migration processes, while ensuring the integrity, confidentiality, and auditability of all records throughout the migration lifecycle.
• In consultation with the Directorate of ICT, ensure that the enhanced system incorporates robust security, access management, monitoring, resilience, and data-protection measures, including role-based access controls, authentication and authorisation mechanisms, audit trails and system logging, encryption and secure transmission of information, data-integrity controls, backup and recovery arrangements, monitoring and reporting functionality, and cybersecurity safeguards.
• Prepare and execute system, integration, functional, security, vulnerability, and user acceptance testing activities; document and resolve identified defects; support deployment at selected pilot court stations; monitor initial system performance; and address technical issues arising during pilot implementation to ensure the successful delivery and operation of the enhanced system.

• systems analysis
• software development
• enterprise application integration
• secure web-based information management systems
• APIs
• databases
• data migration
• systems interoperability
• biometric systems
• identity-management systems
• government information systems
• justice-sector information systems
• high-security information systems

• An advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field. A first-level university degree in the above fields, in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience, may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.
• At least two years of proven experience in systems analysis, software development and enterprise application integration, including developing or integrating secure web-based information management systems is required.
• Experience with APIs, databases, data migration and systems interoperability is required.
• Experience with biometric or identity-management systems is a strong advantage, and experience with government, justice-sector or other high-security information systems is desirable.
• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Knowledge of other United Nations Secretariat languages is an advantage.