Assignment Description: The Republic of Kazakhstan has made substantial progress in regulatory reform in support of its Green Economy Concept, including developing the Kazakh Emissions Trading Scheme (K-ETS), energy efficiency and renewable energy policies.
The Astana Financial Centre (AFC) has requested the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD or the Bank) to provide technical assistance in relation to the conceptualisation and development of a Green Financial System (GFS) (the "Assignment"). The GFS would provide further support for the investments in Kazakh’s Green Economy.
The Bank now wishes to select a consultant (the "Consultant") to scope, conceptualise and where possible initiate the development of GFS with the Astana Financial Centre. The GFS approach would in turn leverage the financial sectors, both Kazakh and international, in providing financial instruments, trading products and services for the Green Economy development of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Assignment is to lead to a robust analytical model and report that would provide scenarios for the development of a GF S in Kazakhstan under a number of projections and options for the government to consider depending on the results of the consultative process.
The Consultant will gather data, modelling scenarios, and assessing policy and regulatory interactions by:
(a) Assessing the demand for green investments based on the (Intended) Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), the Green Economy Concept and related national climate and environmental policies and regulations (such as, in the field of renewable energy, energy efficiency and Kazakh Emissions Trading Scheme and Kazakh national programmes in the field of water, wastewater and waste infrastructure, urban transport, industrial emissions, etc.);
(b) Identification of green financing market and regulatory gaps and barriers by reviewing current financial, trading and market regulations and institutional arrangements, and comparing against international best practices, and make recommendations, where necessary;
(c) Identify and recommend green and climate finance monitoring, reporting and verification and tracking systems anticipating the Paris Agreement transparency and NDC requirements.
(d) Introduction of green financing standards, such as the Equator Principles for financial intermediaries and carbon footprint disclosure for investments made by financial investors. The review is to include EBRD environmental and social risk management system for its Financial Intermediary (FI) clients, which have been already adopted by the Bank’s FI clients in Kazakhstan;
(e) Development of the domestic and international markets for Kazakh green bonds, structured green financial instruments and green investment funds, including their specific legal, and institutional environment;
(f) The development of the carbon market services by financial intermediaries in the Kazakh Emissions Trading Scheme and international carbon market.
(g) To consider the demand and structural need for public co-financing.
The complete Terms of Reference of the Assignment can be downloaded here. It should be noted that the ToR are provided for information purposes and might be subject to change before the contracting and commence of the services.
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 September 2016 and has an estimated overall duration of 12 months.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 297,850 (exclusive of VAT). Subject to availability of funding.
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: The Assignment is expected to be financed by the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy Technical Cooperation Fund.
Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions.
Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms preferably with previous project experience related to:
- implementation of green financing and services capacity building projects of a comparable nature, scale and complexity to this Assignment including; policy work with governments, business and financial sectors in green economy, climate change mitigation and adaptation, in particular proven knowledge in energy efficiency, renewable energy and emissions trading;
- capacity building in economies in transition on energy, industrial and financial policies and regulations, and in Kazakhstan in particular;
- track record in a) investment and services market demand modelling and b) market research consultancy
- legal advisory track record in international and Kazakh financial regulations and green regulation
- marketing and productising green financial instruments and/or services into the market place.
- climate finance tracking, including the Joint-MDB Approach and the MRV application.
- organising consultations at high international level, including under the UNFCCC and OECD.
The Consultant's Expert Team is expected to include key experts as follows:
(a) A Team Leader with:
- Relevant university degree;
- Preferably 10 years of previous professional experience in leading green financial policy and regulatory projects;
- Strong previous professional experience in marketing and product management, with demonstrated launch of new green financing products;
- Strong project management skills;
- Previously worked in Kazakhstan or other countries with comparable conditions;
- Fluent spoken and written English, Russian would be considered an advantage;
(b) Senior International Technology Policy Expert(s) with:
- Preferably 10 years of previous professional experience in green environment, energy efficiency, renewable energy and emissions trading technologies and services;
- Strong previous professional experience in technology, policy mapping and prioritisation;
- Fluent spoken and written English, Russian would be considered an advantage;
(c) Senior International Economist(s) with:
- Relevant university degree;
- Preferably 10 years of previous professional experience in green financing policies and regulations;
- Previous professional experience in financial modelling and test market demand for green financing;
- Fluent spoken and written English, Russian would be considered an advantage;
(d) A Senior International Legal Expert with
- Relevant university degree;
- Preferably 10 years of previous professional experience in financial regulations and the interplay with green economic development;
- Fluent spoken and written English, Russian would be considered an advantage;
(e) Senior Carbon Market Expert with
- Relevant university degree;
- Preferably 10 years or more of previous professional experience relating to carbon market services by the financial sector;
- Fluent spoken and written English, Russian would be considered an advantage;
(f) Local Technical Green Economy (Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy and Emissions Trading) Experts with
- Relevant university degree
- Preferably 5 years or more of previous professional experience in the development and implementation of green and climate policies/projects in Kazakhstan;
-Language skills: Kazakh and Russian, fluently spoken and written English;
(g) Local Legal and Fiscal Policy and Regulations Expert
- Relevant university degree;
- Preferably 5 years or more of previous professional experience in the field of Kazakh green economy law, financial and fiscal policies and regulations;
- Language skills: Kazakh and Russian, fluent spoken and written English;
(h) Marketing and communication expert
- Preferably 5 years or more of previous professional experience in the organisation of capacity building and consultation events;
- Proven ability to procure and maintain a dedicated website for the duration of the Assignment;
- Strong writing skills in English, Kazakh and Russian, enabling good communications between parties;
- Fluent spoken and written English, Kazakh and Russian.
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. 1-2 page);
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 (max. 3 pages);
3) Summaries of CVs of key experts who could carry out the Assignment outlining qualifications, experience in similar assignments, particularly preferably undertaken preferably in the previous ten years, including information on contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), experts months provided, assignment budget, main activities, objectives (max. 3 pages);
4) Short proposal for assignment implementation, including understanding of the objectives, the proposed approach and methodology to a successful delivery of the Assignment, a work plan with milestones, and a Team Input summary indicating the number of working days allocated to the Assignment by each Key Expert.
5) 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 20 pages.
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:
Jenny Scheffel, Principal Technical Cooperation Advisor
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
United Kingdom
Tel: + 44 20 7338 7088
E-mail: Scheffej@ebrd.com (submissions should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address)
Notes:
1. This is a "Selection from Shortlist" in accordance with the EBRD Procurement Policies and Rules. The selection will be made from responses to this notification only. Consultants will not be asked to submit a financial proposal as part of the expression of interest. 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 as follows:
(a) Firm's previous project experience in the successful implementation of green financing and services capacity building projects of a comparable nature, scale and complexity to this Assignment (20%);
(b) Firm's previous project experience in the provision of capacity building in economies in transition on energy, industrial and financial policies and regulations, and in Kazakhstan in (20%);
(c) CVs of the Key Experts proposed (30%);
(d) Quality of the Consultant's proposal for assignment implementation, including time allocation for key experts, in accordance with the ToR (30%).
3. Although no extensions are foreseen at this stage, please be advised that the Consultant selected for this assignment (including sub-consultants and experts engaged) shall not be eligible to be awarded any follow on assignment.
