Assignment Description:
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the "EBRD" or the "Bank") has a portfolio of municipal projects in multiple cities in the South, North and Central regions of the Tajikistan, comprising water supply, urban transport and solid waste investments.
The Bank has financed solid waste projects in Dushanbe, Khujand, Kurgan-Tyube, Tursun-Zade and Khorog. Seeking to address the urgent issue of poor sanitation in Tajikistan, the Bank is expanding its portfolio of solid waste projects in Tajikistan under a single solid waste framework. Kulob Solid Waste is part of this framework.
Kulob city (the "City") has a population of 100,000 and is located some 200 km to the south of the capital, Dushanbe, and is the second largest city in Khatlon Province. Due to its remote location, the City has not been considered a prime location for industry investment. Currently, the solid waste services are provided by the Kulob-based subsidiary of the state unitary enterprise Khojagii Manziliyu Komunali. In 2014 the City approached the Bank with a request to provide financing for the rehabilitation of its solid waste operations (the "Project").
The Bank is considering a transaction consisting of a loan of USD 2 million from the Bank and a capital expenditure grant of USD 2 million from an international donor, to finance a priority investment programme in solid waste operations in the City (the "Project"). The Project will:
a. Provide new equipment (waste collection bins, trucks, etc.) needed to improve the operating efficiency and technical capacity of the landfill as well as the waste collection/transportation services.
b. Fund civil works to rehabilitate the existing dumpsite or develop a new site.
c. Prepare a closure and monitoring plan for the existing dumpsite.
d. Introduce institutional and strategic changes in waste management aimed at boosting commercialisation and achieving acceptable cost recovery levels.
e. Assess the feasibility of a landfill gas recovery system; if proven feasible and economically viable, the landfill renovation will include the necessary infrastructure in preparation for a second investment programme to utilise landfill gas for energy production.
EBRD is seeking to engage a consulting company (the "Consultant") to prepare a Feasibility Study to identify a technically and economically feasible (i.e. bankable) priority investment programme for solid waste operations in the Kulob City (the "Assignment"). The Assignment can be categorised into the following tasks:
Task 1: Baseline study of the solid waste sector;
Task 2: Project proposal and environmental screening;
Task 3: Environmental and social appraisal;
Task 4: Institutional reform proposal;
Task 5: Financial and economic analysis.
Status of Selection Process: Interested firms or groups of firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.
Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in Q2 2015 and last for 5 months.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 280,000.00; 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 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: This Assignment is funded by Czech Republic ODA TC Fund. Please note selection and contracting will be subject to the availability of funding.
Eligibility: Participation is restricted to firms registered in the Czech Republic and experts being either Czech nationals or permanent employees of a firm registered in the Czech Republic. Up to a maximum of 35% of the total contract amount may be used to finance services of local experts who are nationals of Tajikistan or consultancy firms registered in Tajikistan.
Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms with previous project experience in:
• Implementing Feasibility Studies, preferably in the solid waste sector;
• Implementing projects related to the solid waste sector for International Financial Institutions (IFIs) (or equivalent) in the region.
The Consultant’s expert team is expected to have the following composition:
• Team Leader with experience in solid waste projects preferably in the region and for IFIs (or equivalent)
• Waste management experts with experience in environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA)
• Financial experts
• Institutional experts
• Environmental experts
• Social and gender experts
• Private Sector Participation expert
• Legal and regulatory experts
The experts should preferably have previous experience in accordance with their suggested position for this assignment, including but not limited to implementing developing waste management projects, waste management practices, the financial and technical issues of the sector, investment and operating costs and practices, and the relevant Republic of Tajikistan and European Union environmental laws and standards.
A key element of the success for this Assignment will be partnering/collaborating with the local experts/ consultants for this Assignment (please note however the eligibility section above).
Status: 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/group of firms’ profile, organisation and staffing (max. 2-4 pages);
2. Details of previous project experience or similar assignments undertaken in the previous five 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. CVs of key experts who could be available to work on the Assignment with details of the experts’ professional experience;
4. 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 above information should be provided in a single file and not exceed 25 pages excluding CVs and contact sheet.
The complete expression of interest (including CVs and Contact Sheet) should be submitted, in English, electronically through e-Selection, to reach the Bank not later than the closing date and time. The expression of interest shall be one file (pdf or Word). The EBRD reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file. Only if the permissible file size is exceeded (4MB), the Consultant may split the expression of interest into further files.
EBRD Contact:
Sophie Medert
Advisor Technical Cooperation
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: + 44 20 7338 7371; Fax: +44 20 7338 7371
E-mail: mederts@ebrd.com
Notes:
1. Selection and contracting will normally be made from responses to this notification. The consultant will be selected from a shortlist, subject to availability of funding.
2. The evaluation criteria are as follows:
(a) Firm’s experience in implementing feasibility studies, preferably in the solid waste sector (30%);
(b) Firm’s experience in implementing projects related to the solid waste sector preferably for International Financial Institutions (IFIs) (or equivalent) in the region (30%);
(c) Calibre of the expert team, the inclusion of local experts, subject to the eligibility restrictions, is considered an advantage (40%).
