Background and Project Description: Home to the emblematic Tahrir Square, the Egyptian Museum, Egypt’s Belle Epoque’s architectural legacy as well international hotels based around the Nile, Downtown Cairo comes as a unique location given its significant importance within the history of greater Cairo. During the period between the late 1860 and 1940, Downtown Cairo witnessed a major building boom that gave birth to a unique architecture combining European styles with local influences and materials. However, the introduction of new property laws in the mid 1950’s and 1960’s triggered a change to the setup in Downtown Cairo. These laws resulted in minimal returns for owners who lost interest in their properties and gave little attention to the upkeep of their buildings which caused a major deterioration of the area’s building conditions.
The Government of Egypt has manifested its intent to redevelop the Downtown Cairo area since 2008 through a number of major plans such as the Strategic Development Plan for Greater Cairo Region 2050, and subsequent Urban Plan for Downtown Cairo (completed in May 2010) and the declaration of the area as an Urban Protectorate under the Urban Harmonization Authority in 2008. A number of additional studies were also carried out on Downtown area as focus studies or as part of Greater Cairo, such as by JICA, the World Bank, and the Institute for International Urban Development.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD” or the “Bank”) is considering financing the refurbishment of a number of real estate assets located in Downtown Cairo intended primarily for commercial use.
Assignment Description: The Bank now intends to engage a consulting company (the “Consultant”) to support an integrated and sustainable regeneration of Downtown Cairo (the “Assignment”). The selected Consultant is expected to provide the following services:
Task 1: Develop a clear implementation plan for an integrated and sustainable regeneration of Downtown Cairo. Under this task the Consultant is to conduct a comprehensive review of all masterplans or urban plan studies developed by the Government of Egypt, Cairo Governorate, and various other stakeholders on the regeneration of Downtown Cairo. The review is expected to combine desk research and field research that includes stakeholder consultation and interviews. Accordingly, the Consultant is expected to develop an implementation plan with a clear set of recommendations for the sustainable regeneration of Downtown Cairo.
Task 2: Conduct energy and resource efficiency audits, suggesting appropriate cost-effective technical measures/recommendations. The Consultant is also to propose a set of recommendations to improve building standards and concrete measures and steps to codify these in law and/or regulations.
Task 3: Conduct national policy dialogue engaging public and private stakeholders to promote improved sustainability standards of built environment and urban regeneration.
Status of Selection Process: Interested firms or groups of firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.
Assignment Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in Q1 2016 and has an estimated overall duration of 12 months. Task 1 is expected to be delivered by the 8th month of the project duration.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 600,000; exclusive of VAT.
Funding Source: Austrian Technical Assistance Co-operation Fund.
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.
Eligibility: Consultancy firms shall be entities registered in Austria and all experts proposed by the entity to work on the assignment must be either Austrian nationals or permanent residents of Austria. However, up to a maximum of 40% of the maximum contract amount may be used to finance services of local experts who are nationals of Egypt or consultancy firms registered in Egypt.
Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. Subject to the eligibility criteria as described above, the Consultant shall be a firm or a group of firms preferably with previous project experience related to complex urban master planning, energy efficiency audit and policy engagement of similar complexity and capable of integrating multiple strands of work using procurement rules of international financial institutions (“IFIs”) such as EBRD, World Bank, ADB or equivalent procedures of other IFIs and implementing projects in Egypt and/or the SEMED region.
The Consultant’s expert team is expected to include key experts as follows with some members of the team being fluent in Arabic. Experience in Egypt and/or SEMED region would be considered an advantage:
Team Leader: Qualified urban planning, regeneration and real estate development practitioner with preferably 15 years’ experience of complex urban development and regeneration projects;
Masterplanner/Urban Designer: Demonstration of expertise and project experience in urban planning and urban regeneration, including social aspects of urban planning;
Energy and Water Efficiency Audit Specialist: Demonstration of expertise and project experience in conducting energy and water efficiency auditing with preferably 15 years’ relevant experience in the energy and water efficiency sector;
Policy Engagement Expert: Demonstration of expertise and project experience in national policy engagement and policy advocacy on building energy efficiency standards with preferably 10 years relevant experience in policy advisory or reform of building energy/water efficiency standards with evidence of policy network in Egypt.
Submission Requirements: 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 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 ten 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 30 pages excluding CVs and Consultant Declaration 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:
Viv Headlam
Technical Co-operation
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: + 44 20 7338 6885
e-mail: lewishev@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) Consultant’s previous project experience in sustainable urban master planning, energy efficiency audit, and policy engagement with similar complexity and value of the Project undertaken preferably within the last 10 years: 30%
(b) Consultant’s experience in preparing similar projects using procurement rules of International Financial Institutions, such as the EBRD, World Bank or ADB or equivalent procedures of other IFIs: 20%
(c) Consultant’s previous experience in implementing projects in Egypt and/or SEMED region: 20%
(d) CVs of key experts: 30%
