10 January 2020: The Closing Date for receipt of proposals is extended until 14 January 2020 at 14:00 London time. Responses to various requests for clarifications are available through this link http://www.ebrd.com/documents/procurement/81183-clarifications.docx .
6 January 2020:
The Closing Date for receipt of proposals is extended until 10 January 2020 at 16:00 London time.
3 December 2019:
1. The Closing Date for receipt of proposals is extended until 6 January 2020.
2. The criteria for the evaluation of proposals is added to the procurement notice.
Single Stage Open Competitive Selection - Request for Proposals
Programme Description:
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the EBRD or the Bank) and the Austrian Government established the Renewable District Energy in the Western Balkans Programme (“ReDEWeB”) in 2019, which aims to contribute to enabling investment in the Renewable District Energy (ReDE) Sector of the Western Balkans.
The ReDEWeB will support the establishment of a market for ReDE investment through a range of measures and will provide support in four main areas of technical assistance:
• Framework policy activities
• City policy activities
• Technical assistance and investment preparation support (to municipalities and developers)
• Capacity building and networking.
In order to support the quick mobilisation and cost effective delivery of these services, the Bank intends to sign framework contracts. The number and size of assignments will depend on the Bank’s project pipeline at the time, but it is expected that assignments worth approximately EUR 2 million will be contracted under the period of three years.
Assignment Description:
The EBRD is now seeking to select up to six (6) experienced consultants (the Consultants) to be contracted under Framework Agreements to provide services over the operational period.
Covering the Western Balkans region (Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia), the selected Consultants will be expected to provide services to support project preparation, policy work and capacity building activities in Renewable District Energy (“ReDE”) sector.
More specifically, the Consultants will typically be required to undertake the following types of assignments:
• Project preparation and investment feasibility assessment (including pre-feasibility and feasibility studies, due diligence, technical assessment and development of long term investment plan and priority investment programme, economic analysis, financial analysis and modelling);
• Environmental and social assessment, gender impact assessment and economic inclusion analysis,
• Green Economy Transition (“GET”) assessment and climate resilience assessment;
• Procurement support and implementation strategy;
• Framework policies related services;
• City policies related services;
• Capacity building related services.
The assignments will vary in duration and size, from short project scoping and screening studies to large feasibility, due diligence and strategic studies.
Consultant selection and award of individual assignments (Call-Off Notices):
The selected firms will be awarded Framework Agreements with the Bank. For each specific assignment, a secondary competition based on both technical and financial criteria will be undertaken. The Consultants will be expected to respond within 3 weeks and the selection process for each specific assignment is expected to be concluded within 6 weeks from the launch, through the process of evaluation to signing of the call-off notice.
Full Terms of Reference (TOR) can be found here http://www.ebrd.com/documents/procurement/81183-tors.pdf .
Status of Selection Process: Interested firms or group of firms are hereby invited to submit technical and financial proposals.
Assignment Start Date and Duration:
The framework is expected to start operations in Q1 2020 and the initial operational period is 24 months. The duration may be extended, subject to needs, performance and availability of funding.
Cost Estimate:
The total amount for the two years of operation of the framework will depend on the Bank’s transaction volume and the availability of donor funds. It is estimated that assignments for approximately EUR 2 million for the two year period will be funded, but the number and size of assignments will depend on the Bank’s project pipeline.
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 in their response to this Invitation. 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 tickets) 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 assignments under the framework arrangements will be financed by the ReDEWeB Programme. Selection and contracting are subject to the availability of funding.
Eligibility:
There are no eligibility restrictions in terms of consultants nationality.
Consultant Profile:
Corporate services are required. The Consultants will be firms or groups of firms who can demonstrate the full range of expertise required for the successful implementation of the assignments. Due to the nature or size of a given project, some resources may be required to have skills and experience that span multiple tasks. Additional skills and experience beyond those listed in the scope may be required for a given assignment.
The Consultant’s team is expected to include the following key experts:
• Project Managers/Team Leaders with a preferred minimum of 15 years professional experience in the field of district heating, with comprehensive experience of similar assignments in WeB, as well as in institutional and commercial management of district heating companies. He/she should demonstrate management and administration experience, including experience with procedures of international financing agencies (preferably EBRD procedures).
• Technical specialists and engineers, preferably with at least 7 years of experience in district heating and with specific experience in all above mentioned RES technologies with preference for experience in the feel of large scale solar thermal systems and thermal storage, geothermal energy, heat pumps and biomass, ideally in Western Balkans.
• Financial analysts, preferably with at least 5 years of experience of due diligence in companies and/or municipal and extensive experience in public financing and modelling.
• Policy and regulation experts, preferably with at least 7 years of experience in institutional and regulatory issues in the WeB.
• Environmental and social specialists, preferably with at least 5 years of experience in DH projects. These experts must have a good knowledge and understanding of the EBRD environmental requirements, demonstrated experience of previous work with IFIs and with utilities in the WeB.
• Legal and institutional experts, preferably with at least 7 years of experience in the areas of natural monopolies regulation and knowledge of WeB tariff legislation.
• Procurement and implementation experts, preferably with at least 5 years of experience in DH projects.
• Local experts, preferably with at least 5 years of experience and with good communication skills and evidenced technical knowledge of the district heating sector planning, design, implementation and operations.
It is suggested that the Consultant provides no less than 2 and no more than 4 CVs in each category of experts. Documented experience from work in the Western Balkans is considered a merit.
Submission Requirements: The consultants are now invited to submit a completed Technical and Financial Proposal as per the standard templates and instructions available at:
http://www.ebrd.com/documents/procurement/single-stage-rfp-fas.docx
Interested Consultants should make themselves familiar with these Standard Templates, Standard Instructions and Conditions of Contract in preparation of their proposals.
The Technical Proposal shall be submitted in English electronically via eSelection not later than the Closing Date, as one single PDF file. The technical proposal should not exceed 25 pages excluding the Declaration Form and CVs. The Technical Proposal shall contain a brief description of the experience relevant to the Project and should avoid lengthy general statements. Total number of pages in the Technical Proposal should not exceed 65 pages.
The Financial Proposal (Form 2 – FP 1 and FP2) shall be submitted in English separately by email only to the following e-mail address: finprop@ebrd.com. Please indicate the Project number and title in the subject of your e-mail. Consultants are reminded of the requirement to ensure the confidentiality of the Financial Proposals. Consultants are reminded of the requirement to ensure the confidentiality of the Financial Proposals.
A Technical Proposal that contains elements of a financial proposal shall be declared non-responsive.
A Financial Proposal submitted together with the technical proposals via e Selection shall be declared non-responsive.
Bank Contact Person:
Larissa Gosling
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
e-mail: goslingl@ebrd.com
For the avoidance of doubt, proposals should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address.
Deadline to Submit Clarification Questions: Via e-mail to the Bank Contact Person by 15 December 2019.
Selection Method and Evaluation Criteria:
Technical Proposal Evaluation Criteria
(a) Firm's previous specific project experience and capability in similar assignments (30%)
(b) Qualifications and competence of the key personnel for the assignment (50%)
(c) Local capacity (including local partners and presence) and experience (20%)
The minimum technical score (St) required to pass is 70.
The evaluation will be 100% technical evaluation.
Opening of Financial Proposals
After the technical evaluation is completed, the financial proposals of up to six highest ranked firms will be opened. The EBRD reserves the right to negotiate the fee rates with the selected consultants.
Important Notes:
1. The proposal validity period is 120 days from the deadline date for the receipt of submissions. During this period, the Consultant shall maintain its original Proposal without any change, including the availability of the Experts.
2. The selection will be made from the Proposals received in response to this notification only on the basis of the submission requirements and selection criteria set out in this Procurement Notice. It is currently envisaged that at least three (3) and up to the maximum of six (6) Framework Agreements will be awarded. The Framework will be non-exclusive.
3. Any updates of and clarifications on this procurement notice shall be announced as updates on this notice, without any other notification. In the event of changes, consultants will need to download the updated versions. Consultants are required to periodically check the notice for updates. Failure to take the updates into account while preparing the Proposal may result in disqualification or penalties to the scores in the evaluation.
4. The main purpose of project references is to demonstrate the consultant’s experience and ability to provide services in respect of the EBRD assignment as described in the procurement notice. It is not necessary to provide every project detail as listed in the procurement notice (we appreciate that some information may be subject to prior confidentiality arrangements) but information provided should be clear and sufficient to make possible the evaluation of the relevance of previous experience to the current assignment.
