Programme Description
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the EBRD or the Bank) aims at establishing a Programmatic SEFF Support Programme (the Programme) to develop an enhanced set of tools to promote a common implementation approach to Sustainable Energy Financing Facilities (SEFFs).
SEFFs are a key component of the Bank's Sustainable Resource Initiative and consist of credit lines to local banks, specifically dedicated to on-lending for energy efficiency and small-scale renewable energy investments. Through SEFFs, the EBRD leverages its network of relationships with banks, reaching smaller projects to which it cannot lend directly. Each credit line is supported by a substantial and complex technical cooperation (TC) package that builds capacity in the local market and helps investors and local banks overcome some of the barriers that hinder the implementation of these investments.
Following an internal evaluation of the EBRD SEFF programme as a whole since 2004, it was concluded that while the success of the SEFFs led to a clear plan to replicate the SEFF model in the region, there remains a tendency to regard each facility as a stand-alone project. The internal review identified the need for a more programmatic approach (a shift from implementing SEFFs as stand-alone projects towards formalised support for programme-level activities) as having the potential to improve consistency and efficiency in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of SEFFs.
Framework Agreements for the Programme
The Bank intends to enter into Framework Agreements with up to 3 consultants (Framework Consultant or Consultant) to enable the Bank to call upon a shortlist of pre-qualified firms from which it can quickly and efficiently obtain reliable services.
The main objective of the Framework Agreements is to provide upfront support at the SEFF programme level by developing generic infrastructure that can be used to upgrade market-specific technical assistance packages and maximise the know-how carried over from one assistance package to the next.
T
he Framework Agreements will establish, in advance, fee rates for experts, contract terms and agreements, and procedures that will govern individual assignments (Assignments or Call-offs) to be required to implement the Programme. Under these Framework Agreements, the Bank will have the option, but not the obligation, to place individual Assignments with the selected Framework Consultants.
Framework Consultants will be selected for individual Assignments in accordance with EBRD's Procurement Policies and Rules (PPR). The Bank may send to the Framework Consultant(s) specific Terms of Reference for the Assignment (Specific ToR). The Specific ToR will include a description of the tasks to be performed, time-schedules and reporting instructions. The Framework Consultant(s) should respond by sending to the Bank a technical and financial proposal for the Assignment together with details of the Expert(s) proposed to carry out the work. The Bank will then assess the response(s) and – subject to successful negotiations - issue a call-off notice (Call-Off Notice) for the individual Assignment to the selected Framework Consultant.
Description of individual Assignments (Call-offs)
Consultancy services for individual Assignments are expected to include the following:
a) The on-line promotion of sustainable energy investment examples. The Consultant shall collate all best practice information from across EBRD's 25 SEFF facilities and use best practices when writing for online platforms, to reformat / edit the content into approximately 1,000 articles for on-line publication, and upload the information to the recently developed rolling news-style website (seff.ebrd.com) via its dedicated content management system platform (Oracle WebCenter Sites).
b) The on-line selection of high performance technologies. A list of eligible materials and equipment is one of the tools used by SEFFs to communicate to the market a set of available technologies that have been identified as having high performance at reasonable cost. The Consultant shall update and harmonise market specific lists of high performance technologies and introduce common eligibility (or eligibility groupings) at the SEFF programme level. The EBRD has defined around 50 technology categories and requires around 500 – 1,000 technology sub-category performance indicators to be defined / updated. The Consultant shall use these performance indicators to populate and update a common (SEFF programme level) technology database.
c) Support for higher performance technologies through supply chains. There is a need to support the assessment of eligible technologies through supply chain finance, with the objective to increase the local market penetration of these higher performance technologies and to prevent lower performance technologies being deployed by mistake. The Consultant shall assess the eligibility of technologies delivered through supply chains (using EBRD sub-project assessment guidelines) and maintain a database of positive and negative outcomes that will also feed into activities a) and b) above. The EBRD anticipates a requirement for approximately 250 assessments per year.
d) Support for early engagement with the SEFF product. The Consultant shall work with the EBRD to encourage local financial institutions to draw up their own strategies and identify an appropriate level of ambition necessary to engage with the SEFF product. Subsequently the Consultant shall provide support in developing action plans, using EBRD action plan guidelines. The EBRD expects to support early engagement with the SEFF product for approximately 25 local financial institutions across 6 countries, to be defined. It is vital that the Consultant is able to engage with financial institutions at the level of financial product innovation – preparing existing financial products for SEFF deployment, in line with agreed strategies.
e) Demonstrating the business case for participating in the SEFF programme. For many local financial institutions, the business case for participating in the SEFF programme needs to be defined upfront. The Consultant shall work with local financial institutions to assess market demand and develop an early pipeline of projects eligible for financing. At the same time, the Consultant shall provide investment origination guidance. The EBRD expects to support approximately 25 local financial institutions across 8 countries, to be defined.
f) Development of innovative financial products or mechanisms. The Consultant shall support the EBRD in piloting new products or mechanisms that show potential for encouraging early market development or overcoming barriers to early SEFF deployment. The products – such as guarantees, risk sharing, local currency provisioning – remain undefined at this stage, but are expected to carry additional administrative burden for local financial institutions. The role of the Consultant is to decrease this burden by supporting any additional reporting and tracking requirements associated with such products. The EBRD expects to support approximately 10 local financial institutions across 3 countries, to be defined.
Status of Selection Process:
Interested firms or groups of firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.
Programme Start Date and Duration:
The Programme is expected to start in January 2016. The selected Framework Consultants will be engaged via Framework Agreements with a validity period of up to 3 years.
Cost Estimate for the Programme and Assignments:
EUR 2,910,000 (exclusive of VAT). The cost estimate for individual Assignments will vary depending on their specific scope, but individual budgets are expected to be EUR 25,000 – 500,000 (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:
This Programme is expected to be funded by the SEFF Market Readiness Programme Account (Austria). Please note that selection and contracting will be subject to the availability of funding.
Eligibility: Consultancy firms shall be entities registered in Austria and all experts proposed by the entity to work on each Assignment must be either Austrian nationals or permanent residents of Austria. However, up to a maximum of 40% of the maximum budget for each Assignment may be used to finance services of experts who are citizens of or registered consultancy firms in EBRD countries of operations.
Framework Consultant Profile:
Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms preferably with demonstrable experience in the collation, analysis and promotion of market information and the development of financial products or services. The lead firm will provide (either themselves or through nominated sub-contractors) the necessary expertise to carry out the Assignments and ensure synergies between the Assignments implemented under this Framework Agreement and the related Frameworks (see Note 3 below). The lead firm will include specific expertise for project management and delivering work to high quality standards.
Lead firm and/or sub-contractors will have the following core-expertise:
- Business planning and strategic institutional development;
- Business process management and process workflow optimisation;
- Financial administration and reporting, preferably for financial institutions;
- Technical expertise and ability to interact with a wide range of technology suppliers to collate energy performance and market data;
- Marketing and product development expertise for financial products, on-line promotion expertise and ability to write content for on-line platforms in good international English language; and
- Magento eCommerce platform (in order to effectively integrate with EBRD's current systems) and database management.
The Consultant's expert team is expected to include key experts as follows:
· A Project Manager with preferably 5-10 years of previous experience and expertise in managing parallel projects with multiple synergies and experience in collation, analysis and promotion of market information and the development of financial products or services (preferably for the financial sector); excellent English skills (oral and written);
· Pool of Marketing Experts with preferably expertise in financial products, on-line promotion and ability to write content for on-line platforms in good international English language;
· Pool of Engineers/Technical Experts with expertise in interaction with a wide range of technology suppliers to collate energy performance and market data;
· Pool of Business Administration and Institutional Development Experts with preferably expertise in business planning and strategic institutional development; business process management and process workflow optimisation; financial administration and reporting, preferably for financial institutions; and
· Pool of IT experts with preferably expertise in Magento eCommerce platform and database management.
Non-key experts are likely to cover non-core expertise or activities that require local market knowledge or capability and may be nominated on an Assignment-by-Assignment basis subject to prior approval by the EBRD.
Submission Requirements:
In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants seeking to be shortlisted for the Programme, 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 Assignments 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.
5. A copy of the Consultant's valid company registration certificate confirming that the firm is registered in Austria.
The above information should not exceed 20 pages excluding CVs and contact sheet.
Expressions of Interest should be submitted in English electronically through e-Selection, to reach the Bank not later than the closing date. The complete expression of interest (including cover letter, CV, declaration and contact sheet etc.) shall be one file (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 (4 MB) is exceeded, 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 and 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. Following this invitation for expressions of interest, a shortlist of qualified firms will be formally invited to submit proposals. Consultant selection and contracting will be subject to availability of funding.
2. The shortlist criteria are:
a) Previous experience of the Consultant (lead firm and nominated subcontractors combined) with regard to the core expertise required for the Framework– 40%
b) Relevant qualifications and experience of proposed key experts – 20%
c) Lead firm's relevant experience in the collation, analysis and promotion of market information and the development of financial products or services– 20%
d) Lead firm's relevant experience in project management and delivering work to high quality standards in comparable assignments – 20%
3. As part of the Programmatic SEFF Support Programme, there are two additional related frameworks currently being procured: (i) 49584 Scaling up of SEFFs and (ii) 49588 Resource Efficiency Integration into SEFFs.
In order to ensure maximum market participation for the Programme, a lead firm may apply for one, several or all frameworks but they will only be eligible to be awarded one framework. There are no such restrictions at the sub-contractor level.
Following the evaluation of proposals received during the second stage of the competition, if a lead firm is ranked in such a manner that it becomes eligible for the award of more than one framework, such firm will be asked to confirm their preferred choice for award.
