13/10/2015: The procurement notice has been updated. Please refer to the revised description of the Legal Expert.
Project Description:
In 2008, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD or Bank) provided a EUR 18 million sovereign loan to the Montenegrin regional water supply company, Regionalni Vodovod Crnogorsko Primorje, (PEW) for the rehabilitation and construction of the Regional Water Supply System (RWSS) to provide potable water from Lake Skadar to the municipalities along the Montenegrin coast. The RWSS was designed based on the assumption that in the near to middle-term future, the majority of the Coastal Region would be connected to the main distribution pipeline, which is the situation now. However, in 2014 only 16 per cent of the distribution capacity had been utilised.
It is understood that in the case of full utilisation of the regional infrastructure recently completed, the majority of the above problems will be reduced or disappear. Therefore, in order for the optimal solution to materialise, be implemented and have the buy-in from all stakeholders, a detailed review of the regional institutional set-up is required. Furthermore, a well-designed regional strategic policy should be designed to ensure long term sustainability of the system.
In parallel, the Bank has now been approached by PEW and the six local public water companies that operate in the coastal area of Montenegro (Ulcinj, Bar, Budva, Kotor, Tivat and Herceg Novi) (ViKs), to assist with the financing of identified investments in order to rehabilitate and upgrade their infrastructure (the Project). The total Project cost amounts to approximately EUR 20 million, which will be fully funded by EBRD.
Assignment Description:
Taking into account the current status in relation to the utilisation of the RWSS and the proposed new Project, the Bank now intends to engage a consulting company (Consultant) to assist with the preparation and implementation of the reform and reorganization of coastal water sector by developing a plan for the assessment and reorganization of the water sector on the Montenegrin Coast (Plan or Assignment).
The expected outcome of the Assignment is for the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism (MSDT) to have a plan with sufficient information to decide on a reform of the water sector on the Montenegrin Coast.
The selected Consultant is expected to provide the following services:
1. Prepare a draft Plan for the reorganization of the water supply sector on the Montenegrin Coast.
2. The draft Plan should be presented to the key stakeholders involved in the water sector: including a minimum of ViKs, PEW, municipalities, MSDT and the Government of Macedonia.
3. The Consultant shall, together with PEW's project implementation team, prepare a document that will include a: i), detailed legal framework, ii) next steps for the implementation of the new institutional set up, iii) analysis of ViKs' and PEW's activities, iv) detailed structural and functional schemes of Viks and PEW, v) and a staff rationalization plan.
4. The Consultant shall prepare the ViKs for the implementation phases of the Plan, including any staff reorganisation.
The Consultant will be responsible for the development of the Plan and for obtaining, where possible, approval of the Plan by the relevant stakeholders. The Consultant is not responsible for the GoM approval of the Plan, nor the implementation. The MSDT will be responsible for obtaining GoM approval of the Plan and for its implementation.
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 mid-November 2015 and has an estimated overall duration of 4 months.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment:
EUR 70,000 (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:
It is expected that the Assignment will be funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Central European Initiative Fund. Please note that selection and contracting will be subject to the availability of funding.
Eligibility:
Participation of consultants is restricted to individual experts of Italian nationality and consultancy firms or entities registered in Italy (using their employees of any nationality and/or non-employees of Italian nationality).
Eligible consulting firms however, can subcontract, associate with or join forces with external experts or consulting firms from other CEI Member Countries (Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Ukraine) up to a maximum of 30% of the budget for the Assignment.
Consultant Profile:
Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms preferably with previous project experience related to:
1. water sector reform in comparable markets/countries; and
2. working with multiple stakeholders and in policy/organisation reform.
The Consultant's expert team is expected to include key experts as follows:
a) Water Sector Institutional Specialist with
- a recognised civil engineering professional qualification;
- preferably 10 years or more of previous professional experience in the planning and management of water sector management activities at a regional level;
- experience with water sector reforms;
- proven ability for training and knowledge transfer; and
- good proficiency in written and spoken English.
b) Legal Specialist with
- a recognised professional qualification in law;
- preferably 10 years or more of previous professional experience of drafting public sector legislation, preferably legislation in the water sector; and
- good proficiency in written and spoken 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/group of firms' profile, organisation and staffing (max. 2-4 pages).
2. Details of previous project experience or similar assignments particularly 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 carry out the Assignment detailing qualifications, experience in similar assignments, particularly assignments undertaken in the previous five years, including information on contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided, assignment budget, main activities, objectives.
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 not exceed 25 pages excluding CVs and contact sheet.
The complete expression of interest (including CVs, Consultant Declaration and Contact Sheet) should be submitted, in English electronically through e-Selection, to reach the Bank not later than the closing date. The expression of interest shall be one file (pdf). 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.
Bank Contact Person:
Paula Alegria
Senior Advisor, Technical Co-operation
European Bank for Reconstruction & Development
One Exchange Square | London| EC2A 2JN
Tel. +44 (0) 20 7338 7589
E-mail: AlegriaP@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. The shortlist criteria and weightings are:
a) Firm's previous project experience in water sector reform in comparable markets/countries (20%)
b) Firm's previous project experience in working with multiple stakeholders and in policy/organisation reform (20%); and
c) CVs of the Key Experts proposed (60%)
