The 2010 EBRD assessment revealed that practical use of eProcurement tools in the public sector, in terms of the volume of transactions, is developing slowly. Even in the most developed countries such as EU Member States in the EBRD region eProcurement solutions for public contracts have been implemented in practice on a modest scale.
The Bank now intends to engage a consulting company or equivalent (the "Consultant") to assist the Government of Moldova with designing a comprehensive eProcurement reform strategy for the public sector in Moldova, drafting the new electronic procurement ("eProcurement") policies and support implementation of the electronic procurement tools in Moldova (the "Assignment").
The expected outcome of the Assignment is the development of eProcurement tools for the national public sector in Moldova which will increase speed, transparency and efficiency of procurement processes.
The services requested from the Consultant will include providing eProcurement business and policy advice to the Government of Moldova and assisting with designing and implementing reform project in Moldova. The Consultant's advice will be based on modern public procurement trends and international practices and expert knowledge of the local environment, including the legal environment in Moldova.
The selected Consultant is expected to provide the following services:
(a) prepare a concept for the reform aiming at eProcurement system development, explaining in detail the business, functional and technical approach to eProcurement system development (the Reform Concept) and assist in discussing the Reform Concept, present the contents of the concept and the advantages and disadvantages of the two possible models (centralised and decentralised), as well as participate in the discussions and clarification of the questions;
(b) develop the final version of the Reform Concept and prepare the reform implementation plan (the Implementation Plan) upon the government decision on the eProcurement implementation model;
(c) prepare a draft new section of primary legislation that would underpin the implementation of eProcurement in the national legal framework and assist with drafting relevant secondary legislation for eProcurement procedures, including online framework agreements;
(d) prepare and deliver training on the recommendation or eProcurement in practice and prepare the report and training materials for the training;
(e) provide on-going policy, regulatory and business advice on eProcurement reform preparation and implementation.
Assignment Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in December 2015 with an estimated overall duration of 24 months.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 282,600; 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 purhcased 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 Assignment will be financed by the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund.
Eligibility: There will be no eligibility restrictions. However, shortlisting and selection are subject to the availability of funding.
Consultant Profile: Corporate services or equivalent are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms with experience in electronic public procurement implementation and previous project related experience in eProcurement policy and relevant experience in cooperating with governments as well as IFIs and the European Commission with knowledge of working in Russian/Romanian languages. The Consultant's expert team is expected to include the following key experts:
- Senior International eProcurement Policy Specialist with preferably 7 years of previous professional experience in public procurement policy-making and experience in implementing comprehensive structural reform in eProcurement in the public sector (on the regional or national level) as well as eProcurement policies and tools in compliance with EU policies and international best practice.
- Senior International eProcurement Business Adviser with preferably 7 years of relevant professional experience in eProcurement policy and providing regulatory business advice on eProcurement reform preparation and implementation.
- Local Public Procurement Legal/Regulatory Expert with preferably 7 years of previous professional experience in providing legal and regulatory advice and experience in developing and implementing comprehensive structural reform in eProcurement and in the public sector (on the regional or national level) including legislative as well as eProcurement policies and tools, in compliance with EU policies and international best practice.
The Consultant shall be working in English; however all outputs of the assignment are required to be made available in both English and Romanian.
Submission Requirements: Interested consultants are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest. In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants seeking to be shortlisted 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 public procurement 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. CV of key experts who could carry out the Assignment, detailing qualifications, previous public procurement 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, 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 10 pages excluding CVs and Consultant Declaration Form and Contact Sheet.
The complete expression of interest (including CVs and Consultant Declaration and Contact Sheet) should be submitted, in English, electronically through e-Selection (https://eselection.ebrd.com/suite/) 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.
EBRD Contact Person:
Vivianne Headlam
Technical Cooperation
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 3JN
+ 44 20 7338 6885
+44 20 7 338 7451
Email: lewishev@ebrd.com (Expressions of Interest should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address).
Notes: 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.
The shortlisting evaluation criteria will be weighted as follows:
a. Consultant's previous project experience in electronic public procurement implementation and relevant international best practice (50%);
b. Consultant's previous project experience in developing and implementing comprehensive eProcurement reform for public sector on the regional or national level, including legislative and institutional framework as well as eProcurement policies and tools (40%);
c. CVs of key experts. Fluency in English is required; knowledge of Russian and Romanian will be considered an advantage (10%).
