Amended Procurement Notice (14 January 2015) - Please note additional information included under Clarifications section
Further Clarification added on 23 January 2015
Background:
There is a widespread consensus in the international community, including the G20/B20, the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), that IFIs, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the EBRD or the Bank) can and should play a greater role in enhancing the delivery of better and more efficiently prepared projects in the infrastructure sector. While the global ‘infrastructure gap’ has been widely discussed, it has been realised that the lack of sufficient infrastructure investment is not due to a lack of finance, but is due to limited project preparation capacity internationally to procure and deliver these often complex projects.
The EBRD’s response has been to create the Infrastructure Project Preparation Facility (IPPF), to be led by a dedicated unit within the Infrastructure Business Group (IBG) in the Bank. The IPPF’s objectives are to: improve the quality, efficiency and replicability of infrastructure projects to be financed by the EBRD for the benefit of its clients; increase project activity financed by the EBRD over the initial three year period (2015-2017); reach financial close for a high-proportion of all Public Private Partnerships (PPP) prepared by the IPPF; and integrate project preparation with systematic higher level policy dialogue, which will provide policy expertise on PPPs and a commercialisation agenda for the Bank’s clients.
The IPPF will support projects in a manner that fits the transition-driven mandate of the Bank in the infrastructure sector, namely, to deliver outcomes focused on commercialised approaches, Private Sector Participation, strong environmental and social standards and energy efficiency improvements across the sector.
The IPPF will feature two windows: a ‘PPP Window’ (subject of this Procurement Notice) where private finance will participate and a Sustainable Public Sector Infrastructure Window for public sector projects which is published separately on the Bank’s website.
Assignment Description: In this context, the EBRD is now seeking to select up to four (4) experienced consultants (the Consultants) to be contracted under Framework Agreements who will provide the external preparation and structuring support and policy dialogue assistance to the IPPF-prepared projects over the 2015-2017 period.
The PPP Window will be open to projects in all of the EBRD Countries of Operation (CoOs). Increasing capacity of the public sector at the local level is a key aim of IPPF, where there is a focus on improving regulatory structures and standardising contracts. Coordination with other IFIs active in the Bank’s CoOs would be achieved to avoid overlap in project preparation, and to build financing support for PPPs, which are often financed by more than one IFI due to their large size. This Window is expected to prepare approximately 3-6 projects per year when operating at full capacity.
The objective is to provide the Bank and by extension for the Bank’s clients, with high-quality, efficient and market-tested project preparation and policy dialogue for the entire range of IBG-financed project types, enabling EBRD to extend financing to the private sector.
Covering all countries of Bank’s operations, the Consultants will be expected to provide preparation and policy dialogue support to the proposed PPP investments in the following sectors:
• Roads;
• Rail;
• Ports;
• Airports;
• Logistics;
• Water/wastewater and Facilities Management (Hospitals / Schools)
• Solid Waste Management;
• Urban transport (public transport modes; urban roads; ITS; ticketing; street lighting); and
• District Heating and Cooling.
More specifically, the Consultants will be required to provide the following services:
• Strategic Project Assessment: the Consultant will provide a detailed look at key project characteristics and the benefits and risks of delivery as a traditional procurement versus a PPP. This assessment should include traditional feasibility studies and/or checking the quality of existing feasibility studies.
• Value for Money Assessment (VFM): The VFM Assessment will build on the Strategic Assessment. The premise of the VFM Assessment is that by including the cost of all risks to the public sector under each model, they can be compared on a financial basis to determine the optimal model;
• Business Case Development;
• Financial Advisory Services;
• Verification of the legal structure of the proposed project: the legality of the proposed PPP contract should be verified. The Consultant should determine the rights and obligations of the parties including the sponsor and the public partner.
• Provide advisory services in relation to procurement, transaction and contract management.
Selection of consultant and contract award for of individual assignments (Call-Off Notices):
The selected firms will be awarded Framework Agreements with the Bank. For each specific assignment, a secondary competition based on both technical and financial criteria will be undertaken. The Consultants will be expected to respond within 2 weeks. The selection process for each specific assignment is expected to be concluded within 4 week from the launch, through the process of evaluation to the call-off notice award.
Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Facility is expected to start operations in late May 2015 and the initial operational period is 3 years. The duration may be extended, subject to needs, excellent performance and availability of funding.
Maximum Budget available for the Assignment: up to EUR 20,000,000; exclusive of VAT.
The total amount for the Facility is estimated at EUR 40 million (subject to availability of funding), of which EUR 15 million is expected to be utilised in 2015, and further EUR 25 million during the period 2016-2017. The resources are expected to be split equally between the PPP Window and the Sustainable Infrastructure Window, subject to an annual review and assessment of the needs under each Window.
The consultant must determine whether any VAT would be chargeable on the services and the basis for that determination, without taking into consideration the Bank's special status 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: It is anticipated that the contract will be financed through the EBRD's donor funded Technical Cooperation Funds Programme, subject to availability of funding.
Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions; however, consultant selection and contracting will be subject to availability of funding from an appropriate donor.
Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms who can demonstrate the full range of expertise required.
The project work of the IPPF requires staff and other team members that are considered specialists and can provide expertise in the particular service. Due to the nature or size of a given project, some resources may be required to have skills and experience that span all tasks. Additional skills and experience beyond those listed in the scope may be required for a given project.
More specifically, it is expected that the Consultant’s team will have expertise in the following areas:
• PPP and/or infrastructure concessions expertise;
• Technical specialists and engineering expertise;
• Economics/Financial expertise;
• Environmental and social expertise;
• PPP Procurement Expertise ; and
• Legal experts, with specific understanding of the international and local PPP laws, as well as demonstrated experience with international infrastructure concession contracts.
The following information details the differing levels of experience that may be required for projects:
i. Firm level: successful completion of at least (5) projects of similar scope, preferably within the last 10 years;
ii. Firm level: demonstration of expertise and project experience the key sectors as listed in this Notice
iii. Senior/Key Experts – Participation in at least three (3) PPP projects, in the last 10 years.
iv. Other experts – Participation in at least two (2) projects of similar scope preferably in the last 5 years.
Submission Requirements: Interested consultants are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.
In order to determine the qualifications and competence of consulting firms seeking to be shortlisted, the information submitted should include the following:
- Brief overview ad the firm/group of firms including company profile, organisation and staffing;
- Details of experience or similar assignments undertaken in the previous 10 years, including the information on the contract value, contracting entity/client, location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided, assignment budget/percentage of overall work carried out by consultant (in case of association of firms or subcontracting), main activities, objectives.
- CVs of key staff who could be available to work on the assignment, detailing qualifications, experience in similar assignments, particularly assignments undertaken in the previous 10 years, including information on contracting entity /client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided assignment budget, main activities and objectives.
The above information should not exceed 40 pages excluding CVs.
Expressions of Interest should be submitted, in English, electronically through eSelection as a maximum of files (in Word or PDF not exeeding 3MB each), to reach the Bank not later than the closing date/time. The company brochures and marketing materials are not required and will not be considered. The EOI should be accompanied by completed Consultant Declaration Form 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 Bank reserves the right to reject submission which are not administratively compliant.
The Expressions of interest will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Firm(s)' experience in the preparation of PPP projects in the sectors specified in the Notice 40.0
- Firm(s)' experience in the preparation of PPP projects in the region/EBRD countries of operations 30.0
- Relevant experience of Experts who may be available for the assignment 30.0
EBRD Contact:
Yvonne Wilkinson
TCT Advisor
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: + 44 20 7338 7123, Fax: +44 20 7338 7451
e-mail: WilkinsY@ebrd.com
Note: Following this invitation for Expressions of Interest, a shortlist of qualified consultants will be formally invited to submit proposals. Shortlisting and selection will be subject to the availability of funding.
Clarifications (14 January 2015)
In response to various inquiries in respect of the IPPF, please kindly note the following clarifications:
1. In accordance with the requirements defined in the Procurement Notices (for both Windows) published on the EBRD website on 23 December 2014, the “consultants may apply for both assignments however, a firm awarded a contract under the Sustainable Infrastructure Window will not be eligible for the contract award under the PPP Window and vice versa”.
Please note that, upon careful consideration, the Bank decided to remove the above restriction and the Procurement Notices have been amended accordingly.
Consultants’ attention is hereby drawn to provisions of the Bank’s Procurement Policies and Rules (PP&R), Section 5 in particular.
Link to PP&R: http://www.ebrd.com/downloads/procurement/PPR14.pdf
2. Consultant selection, as indicated in the Notice, is a two-stage process: following the invitation for Expressions of Interest, a shortlist of qualified and competent consultants will be formally invited to submit proposals. All EOIs will be evaluated based on the criteria specified in the Notice.
The Request for Proposal package will be issued to shortlisted consultants through eSelection. If, upon receipt of the RFP documentation, the Consultant considers that it does not have all the required expertise for the assignment, it may obtain a full range of expertise by associating with individual consultant(s) and/or consultant firms and entities, in a consortium or through subcontracting or association, as appropriate.
It is currently envisaged that up to 12 consultants will be shortlisted for each Window. Following evaluation of their proposals, up to four (4) Framework Agreements will be awarded for each Window.
Shortlisting and selection will be subject to the availability of funding.
The Frameworks under both Windows will be non-exclusive.
3. By “projects of similar scope” we mean project preparation assignments such as feasibility studies and technical / financial / environmental and social due diligence related to the proposed EBRD investments.
In order to ensure compliance with the Bank’s Environmental and Social Policy 2014, most assignments under the Sustainable Infrastructure Window are likely to include an environmental and social component (approx. 25% of the scope of an average feasibility study). For the PPP Window the volume of such support is expected to be moderately less.
4. Consultants selected under IPPF will be expected to provide advisory services in respect of the proposed investments in all EBRD’s countries of operations. However, it is currently envisaged that the majority of EBRD investments are likely to be developed in the following countries / sectors:
Sustainable Infrastructure Window
Countries: Kazakhstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania.
Sectors: Roads, Rail, Water/Wastewater, Urban Transport, District Heating and Cooling
PPP Window
Countries: Kazakhstan, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Croatia and Central Europe
Sectors: Roads, Ports, Airports, Water/Wastewater and Facilities Management (Hospitals / Schools)
5. The deadlines for submission of Expression of Interest have been extended.
6. We would strongly recommend that Internet Explorer is used to access eSelection.
Clarifications 23 January 2015
1. Submission requirements
The main purpose of project references is to demonstrate consultant’s experience and ability to provide services in respect of the EBRD assignment as described in the procurement notice.
It is not necessary to provide every project detail as listed in the procurement notice (we appreciate that some information may be subject to prior confidentiality arrangements) but information provided should be clear and sufficient to faciliate evaluation of the relevance of previous experience to the current assignment.
All previous projects cited by the consultants as reference, regardless of their size/value, will be considered in the evaluation of the EOIs/shortlisting process.
2. The evaluation criteria for the PPP Window shall remain unchanged.
3. The evaluation criteria for the Sustainable Infrastructure Window are hereby revised as follows:
• Firm(s)' experience in the preparation of similar projects in the “key” sectors specified in the Notice (Roads, Rail, Water/Wastewater, Urban Transport [including public transport modes; urban roads; ITS; ticketing; street lighting], District Heating and Cooling) – 20%
• Firm(s)' experience in the preparation of similar projects in the remaining sectors as specified in the Notice (Ports, Airports, Logistics, Solid Waste Management) – 20%
• Firm(s)' experience in the preparation of similar projects in the “key” countries (Kazakhstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania) - 15%
• Firm(s)' experience in the preparation of similar projects other countries of the region / EBRD countries of operations - 15%
• Relevant experience of Experts who may be available for the assignment - 30%
4. For the avoidance of doubt, logistics here is defined as the management and movement of trade and goods through roads, ports and rail.
5. The deadline for submission of the Expressions of Interest is displayed at the top of the Procurement Notice.
6. Expressions of Interest should be submitted, in English, electronically through eSelection as a maximum of two (2) files (in Word or PDF not exceeding 3MB each).
