The Republic of Estonia is expected to graduate from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (the "EBRD" or the "Bank") operations and according to the current country strategy for Estonia the EBRD seeks opportunities to support projects of Estonian companies expanding in the Bank's region.
The Bank now seeks to further facilitate cross-border investments – from sponsors located in Estonia to other EBRD’s countries of operations – on a non-discriminatory basis and consistent with the Bank's operational principles of sound banking, transition impact and additionality.
The Bank now wishes to engage an individual expert (the "Consultant") with the aim to helping the Bank target its business development activities efficiently and to intensify its cross-border business development effort in Estonia according to the specifications described below (the "Assignment").
Phase 1 has been completed and the Bank will make available the key deliverable (Investment Potential Mapping Report) to the selected Consultant.
The selected Consultant is expected to provide the following services:
- Conduct targeted marketing activities towards an identified set of potential new EBRD clients and other relevant market players as per short list of Investment Potential Mapping Report;
- Organise and participate in marketing and awareness raising events (workshops, conferences, seminars and business platforms);
- Identify new business leads for the Bank using market knowledge and contacts with relevant market players such as banks, equity funds, business and professional associations, etc;
- Organise business development field trips;
- Update the Business data base as required using long list of Investment Potential Mapping Report as a basis;
- Present the business leads to the EBRD’s Operation Leader ("OL") and seek follow up;
- Provide regular information and updates to the Bank;
- Other relevant activities as needed and agreed with the OL.
Status of Selection Process: Interested individual experts are invited to submit expressions of interest. Firms may nominate individuals, but the evaluation will be based on the experience and expertise of the individual and not the firm .
Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start around the end of January 2015 and has an estimated overall duration of 11 months.
Cost Estimate available for the Assignment: To be negotiated with selected Consultant (exclusive of VAT). Subject to availability of funding, the performance of the selected Consultant and the specific needs of the Bank the Assignment may be extended beyond the current scope.
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 (eg 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: EBRD Post-Graduation Special Fund. Please note selection and contracting will be subject to the availability of funding.
Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions.
Consultant Profile: Individual services are required. The Consultant shall be an expert (individual expert or an expert nominated by a firm, see note 2) with:
(1) Practical experience of working in Estonia. He/she should possess an excellent knowledge of the Estonian industrial sectors and companies, contacts with industry, trade associations and other relevant market players, including banks.
(2) Previous experience of working with International Finance Institutions (or equivalent) and corporate/project finance and/or business development and marketing expertise are desirable.
Good knowledge of EBRD’s principles and activities as well as Russian language skills will be an advantage.
Local language capacity is necessary to implement the Assignment successfully and the Consultant should preferably reside in Estonia as all of the services are to be delivered in Estonia. If the Consultant resides outside Estonia, travel costs to and from Estonia for the purposes of this Assignment would not be covered.
Submission Requirements: In order to determine the capability and experience of experts seeking to be selected for this Assignment, the information submitted should include the following:
1. Cover letter (max. 2 pages) summarising why the expert believes to satisfy the requirements as defined in the above section Consultant Profile;
2. CV (not exceeding 4 pages) which should include full descriptions of responsibilities carried out, not just a job title, including information on contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided (if different from duration) , main activities, objectives.
3. 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 complete expression of interest (including cover letter, CV, declaration and contact sheet) shall be one file (preferably pdf) to be uploaded to eSelection . The EBRD reserves the right to reject applications of experts submitting more than one file. Only if the permissible file size (4Mb) is exceeded, the Consultant may split the expression of interest into further files .
Expressions of Interest should be submitted, in English, electronically through e-Selection, to reach the Bank not later than the closing date.
Bank Contact Person:
Angela Levitsky
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
Tel: + 44 20 7338 6363
E-mail: levitska@ebrd.com (submissions should be sent through eSelection and not to this email address)
Notes:
1. The selection will normally be made from responses to this notification only. Consultants will not be asked to submit a proposal. The highest-ranked Consultant will be selected from a shortlist and be invited to negotiate the contract, subject to availability of funding.
2. Consulting firms (proposing individuals) and individuals may apply. Consulting firms nominating an individual expert shall submit a complete individual application for each expert via eSelection. Single applications for a number of experts containing various CVs may result in rejection of such application and all concerned experts.
3. Depending on the quality of applications received the EBRD intends to invite the highest-ranked 3 - 4 candidates for interviews at the EBRD. Alternatively the EBRD may make arrangements for a telephone or videoconference, potentially via EBRD’s resident offices. The interview is expected to take approximately 1 hour and candidates would have to bear all related costs for attending the interview themselves.
4. The evaluation criteria are as follows:
(a) Practical experience of working in Estonia and knowledge of the Estonian industrial sectors and companies, contacts with industry, trade associations and other relevant market players – 35%
(b) Previous experience of working with International Finance Institutions (or equivalent|) and corporate/project finance and/or business development and marketing expertise – 30%
(c) Good knowledge of EBRD’s principles and activities as well as Russian language skills - 25%
(d) Performance at interview – 10%
