Assignment Description: On 12 January 2011, Technical Cooperation Committee of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the "EBRD" or the "Bank") approved a technical assistance project whereby the EBRD and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) would work together to align the public procurement law in the CIS and Mongolia with the standards of the 2011 UNCITRAL Model Law on Public Procurement (‘the EBRD UNCITRAL Initiative’). All materials from policy dialogue activities conducted under the EBRD UNCITRAL Initiative are accessible on the Initiative website: http://www.ppi-ebrd-uncitral.com.
In October 2013 the government of Mongolia requested the Bank's assistance. A country specific technical cooperation project was developed with the Ministry of Finance, to address capacity problems and assist the Ministry and the Government Procurement Agency in revising legislation to align it with the UNCITRAL Model Law on Public Procurement developing and piloting new secondary legislation for electronic procurement procedures.
Due to limited funds only the preparatory steps of the proposed project have been implemented so far (Phase 1 – training and initial policy advice). Presently, the Bank is now seeking to engage a consultant (the "Consultant") to support national public procurement authorities in Mongolia in amending the legislation and drafting new secondary legislation, as necessary and developing practical tools to implement new public procurement policies in practice (the "Assignment" or "Phase 2").
Generally, the Consultant shall assist the Mongolian national public procurement authorities in developing regulations and practical tools to implement electronic procedures in practice.
More specifically, the Consultant shall carry out the following tasks:
(a) prepare amendments to the primary legislation, based on the agreement reached with the Ministry of Finance;
(b) prepare draft secondary legislation on electronic procedures for small value contracts and on implementation of framework agreements, based on the initial policy advice provided under Phase 1 of the project;
(c) prepare draft secondary legislation relating to eProcurement procedures;
(d) assist with implementation of framework agreements, by:
- conducting market research;
- supporting preparation of the standard technical specifications for goods categories selected for piloting framework agreements;
- developing new Standard Bidding Documents for framework agreements;
(e) provide ongoing coaching and policy advice to the Government Procurement Agency of Mongolia while piloting framework agreements (up to three policy advice memorandums, on matters to be approved by the Bank's OL); and (f) carry out two training sessions/workshops: one dedicated to presenting the best practice for procedures for small value contracts; and one dedicated to presenting the best practice for framework agreements.
In order to assist the authorities with implementation of framework agreements, the Consultant will be required to cooperate with local experts to be engaged by the EBRD for related assignments. Local experts will be responsible for conducting relevant market research and elaborating technical specifications for goods categories selected for piloting framework agreements.
All deliverables for this assignment will be provided in English and Mongolian, unless otherwise agreed with the Bank's OL.
Status of Selection Process: Interested firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.
Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in January 2015 and has an estimated overall duration of 24 months.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 150,000 (exclusive of VAT).
The Consultant must determine whether any VAT would be chargeable on the services and the basis for that determination, without taking into consideration the special status of the Bank as an IFI and state this to the Bank in their response to the Invitation for Expressions of Interest. To the extent that a Consultant incurs input VAT on goods and services purchased in connection with the provision of services (e.g. VAT on airline ticket) which is not otherwise recoverable by the consultant from the local tax authority, the gross cost to the consultant of such expenses shall be treated as a reimbursable expense.
Funding Source: This Assignment is funded by the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund. Please note selection and contracting will be subject to the availability of funding.
Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions.
Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms with project experience related to:
- Public procurement policy-making, legal and regulatory advice and legal drafting;
- Developing and implementing comprehensive structural reform in the public procurement sector including legislative and institutional framework, in compliance with international best practice;
- Relevant experience in carrying out similar assignments and cooperating with IFIs and Governments.
The Consultant's expert team is expected to include the following key experts:
- Regulatory Expert
- eProcurement Expert
- Local eProcurement Expert
- Local Legal Expert
Please note that successful completion of the assignment will require a cooperation of the Consultant and local experts. Please also note that the Consultant shall be able to work in English.
Submission Requirements: In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants seeking to be selected for this Assignment, the information submitted should include the following:
1. Company profile, organisation and staffing (max. 2 pages);
2. Details of previous project experience or similar assignments undertaken in the previous two years, including information on contract value, contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided (if different from duration), main activities, objectives;
3. CV(s) of the individual expert (s) who could be available to work on the Assignment;
4. Completed Consultant’s Declaration and Contact Sheet, the template for which is available from the following web-link
http://www.ebrd.com/pages/workingwithus/procurement/notices/csu/contact_sheet.doc.
The above information should not exceed 15 pages excluding CVs and Consultant's Declaration and Contact Sheet. The complete Expressions of Interest (including CVs, and Consultant's Declaration and Contact Sheet) shall be one file (pdf or Word), not exceeding 4MB, to be uploaded to eSelection. The EBRD reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file. Only if the permissible file size is exceeded, the Consultant may split the expressions of interest into further files. Do not send expressions of interest to the EBRD's contact person.
Expressions of Interest shall be submitted, in English, electronically through e-Selection, to reach the Bank not later than the specified closing date by 23:59 hours (UK time).
EBRD Contact Person:
Vivianne Lewis-Headlam
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: +44(0)207 338 6885
Email: lewishev@ebrd.com
