Clarification 27/7/2016: the submission deadline has changed to 9 August 2016, 23:59.
The Terms of Reference with further details can be downloaded here
Project Description: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ("EBRD" or the "Bank") is considering providing a loan to the State Communal Enterprise Semey (the "Company"), a municipal company assigned to operate street lighting ("SL") infrastructure in the City, to support rehabilitation and modernisation of the SL infrastructure in the City (the "Project").
The components of Project are expected to include, inter alia: (i) procurement of more energy efficient modern luminaries to replace existing outdated street lights, (ii) centralised control centre and monitoring solutions for the system; (iii) separate transformation sub-stations for SL equipped with relevant technical solutions, and (iv) new poles/lighting points if confirmed necessary.
The Project is expected to aim at better service quality and improved environmental standards due to significantly reduced energy consumption, avoided CO2 emissions and lower operation and maintenance costs of SL in the City. In parallel with the hardware investments, the Project will contribute to the development and institutional strengthening of the Company in respect of procurement, corporatisation, creditworthiness enhancement and an improvement of the environmental situation in the City.
Assignment Description: The Bank now intends to engage a consulting company (the "Consultant") to prepare a feasibility study ("FS") for the City (the "Assignment").
The expected outcome of the Assignment is preparation of the comprehensive FS for the Company, the Oblast and the City Akimats to be used by (i) the Bank to appraise the Project and take a decision on the prospective financing and (ii) the Government of Kazakhstan ("GOK") in approving a capital grant allocation in accordance with the budget legislation of the GOK and rules of the Enhanced Partnership Framework Arrangement ("EPFA") Programme.
The selected Consultant is expected to provide the following services:
a) technical assessment of the SL sector in the City and preparation of technical specifications for the equipment and services to be procured under the Project;
b) economic and institutional assessment of the sector and the Project,
c) market scoping for interest of the private-sector energy efficiency SL engineering community for a single Design-Supply-Install & Operate-Maintain contract preferably with a 10-year equipment warranty (which should protect against equipment failures);
d) legal due diligence of the Project, finalisation and agreeing with the City of a long-term public service contract, based on the template provided;
e) development of a preliminary procurement plan in the EBRD standard format;
f) environmental and social due diligence, including preparation of an Environmental and Social Action Plan and a Stakeholder Engagement Plan.
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 Q3 2016 and has an estimated overall duration of 3 months. Subject to availability of funding and Project's need, the Assignment might be extended.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 125,000; 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 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 contract will be financed through the EBRD’s donor funded Technical Cooperation Funds Programme. Selection and contracting is subject to the availability of funding.
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:
1. Project Scoping and Technical and Environmental and Social Due Diligence;
2. Similar assignments related to the rehabilitation and modernisation of street lighting infrastructure and working with IFIs in the region;
3. Experience with the IFI's Procurement Policies and Rules (PP&R), preferably EBRD's PP&R.
The Consultant's expert team is expected to include key experts as follows:
a. Key Expert No 1: Project manager with preferably 5 years of previous professional institutional expertise in street lighting sector, both internationally and the CIS countries; International technical knowledge of the SL sector as well as in the region of CIS countries and good knowledge and experience in IFIs procedures and rules on public procurement and disbursement policies, understanding of institutional and legal framework aspects in the SL sector, international and local (regional) financial management standards would be considered as an advantage.
b. Key Expert No 2: Street lighting expert with preferably 5 years of previous professional experience in modernizing SL systems with the use of luminaires.
c. Key Expert No 3: Legal expert with preferably relevant local legal experience and good knowledge of Kazakh legislation to SL.
d. Key Experts No 4: Environmental and Social expert(s) with relevant experience and good knowledge and understanding of EBRD’s environmental and social requirements.
The ability of the Key Expert team to communicate with the Company in Russian language is considered essential. Preferably at least 1 to 2 key experts should speak Russian.
The Consultant is expected to provide a pool of (non-key) experts including additional local expertise.
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 Expressions 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 above 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:
Jenny Scheffel
Principal TC Advisor
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
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 procedure as envisaged in the EBRD’s Procurement Policies & Rules. 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 are:
(a) Firm's experience in Project Scoping and Technical and Environmental and Social Due Diligence – 15%
(b) Firm's relevant experience in similar assignments related to the rehabilitation and modernisation of street lighting infrastructure and working with IFIs in the region – 25%
(c) Firm's proven experience with working with the IFI’s Procurement Policies and Rules, preferably including EBRD PP&R – 10%;
(d) CV of Key Expert No1 – 15%;
(e) CV of Key Experts No 2, 3, 4 – 30%;
(f) Ability of the Key Expert Team to communicate with the client in Russian language, preferably at least 1 to 2 key expert should speak Russian – 5%.
