Prijedor District Heating Project

Procurement ref: 46807
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Business sector: Municipal and environmental infrastructure
Project number: 47042
Funding source: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
Contract type: Consultancy Services
Notice type: Invitation for expressions of interest (CSU)
Issue date: 10 Apr 2015
Closing date: 01 May 2015   at  17:00   Prijedor

 The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the "EBRD" or the "Bank") is providing a loan of up to EUR 7.0 million to the Toplana AD, Prijedor (the "Company") in the City of Prijedor ("Prijedor" or the "City") in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency ("Sida") is considering a parallel grant in the amount of up to EUR 2 million to co-finance the investments.

The Bank's financing will be focused on construction of a new biomass fired district heating plant with total installed capacity of about 16 MW. The investment is aimed to replace existing generation of heat fired with HFO (heavy fuel oil) with wood biomass and will contain a new complete plant including heat generation equipment, buildings and access roads, biomass storage and preparation inclusive external wood chipper, flue gas stack and cleaning, flue gas condenser, I&C and electric installations, and ash handling.

Sida's grant would be used to for demand side investments (introduction of metering of heat consumption and modernisation of individual heat substations).

The overall objectives of the assignment are to:

- Provide assistance to the Company in developing an efficient and focused Financial and Operational Performance Improvement Programme ("FOPIP") that would cover technical operation of the new DH system including supply and storage of biomass financial reporting, monitoring of the quality of service and implementation of the Environmental and Social Action Plan ("ESAP"). Special focus will be dedicated to development of labour restructuring including preparation of detailed action plan towards reducing the overall staff number and increasing the labour productivity;

- Provide assistance to the Company in developing and concluding a focused Public Service Contract (“PSC") with the City that will include clear technical and financial performance requirements for the Company and obligations on the City in support of achieving such requirements including development of formulae for calculation of tariffs based on full cost recovery.

Using the target indicators that are standard for the sector the Consultant will prepare a concise and focused FOPIP, which will comprise a programme of milestones, to the effect that the Consultant shall:

- Advise the Company on the most appropriate organisation structure based on best international experience for companies of this size and type. It will include the staff output ratios and take steps to bring it in line with internationally accepted levels.
- Assist in the development of appropriate accounting systems that would satisfy requirements for accounting in conformity with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”).
- Assist the Company to develop a plan for improving all aspects of revenue administration including billing system, collection, administration of arrears, lowering the cost of revenue collection and administration.
- Develop a formula for automatic tariff adjustments that will be based on full cost recovery (including operating and capital expenses) and will enable the company to achieve and maintain compliance with financial ratios included in the loan documentation. It should also abandon the practise of cross-subsidy between various consumer groups and eliminate the need for operating subsidies from the City to the Company, and at the same time maintain the affordability of services for the residential consumers.  The formula will be incorporated in the PSC.
- Devise strategies and measures for improved consumer relations.
- Assist the Company in developing procedures that are needed to achieve compliance with EBRD’s Performance Requirements (“PRs”) and to implement the ESAP that has been developed and agreed with the Company to address the additional measures.
- Action Plan: All recommendations shall be summarised in an action plan table with clear deadline for each action and where appropriate indication of related costs of implementation.

In addition to the above, it is envisaged that Consultant will work with the Company to prepare a Public Service Contract ("PSC") for signing with the City that reflects the goals and tasks that form the FOPIP.

Assignment Start Date and Duration: The assignment is expected to start in late January 2015 and be completed within 6 months.

Maximum Budget available for the Assignment: EUR 150,000 (exclusive of VAT).
The Consultant must determine whether any indirect taxes/VAT are chargeable on the proposed services and state the basis for such. If any indirect taxes/VAT are payable, the Client will have to pay indirect taxes/VAT element to the services directly to the Consultant unless otherwise agreed.

Funding Source: Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)

Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions.

Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The Consultant shall provide adequate staff in terms of expertise and time allocation, as well as needed equipment in order to complete the activities required under the scope of work and to finally achieve the objectives of the project in terms of time, costs and quality.

The Consultant shall be responsible for mobilisation of financial, legal and other professional staff with the proven experience in the supporting the financial and operational management of facilities.  Where staff does not speak the local language, interpretation and translation will be the responsibility of the Consultant.

Submission Requirements: Interested firms or group of firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.  In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants to be shortlisted, the information submitted should include the following:

(a) brief overview of the firm/group of firms including company profile, organisation and staffing;

(b) details of similar experience of firm or group of firms and related 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, assignment budget, percentage carried out by consultant in case of association of firms or subcontracting, main activities, objectives;

(c) 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.

(d) Completed 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 expression of interest shall not exceed 25 pages (excluding CVs and contact sheet).

One original and 1 copy of the expression of interest, in English and one copy in one of the official local languages, shall be submitted to the EBRD's Client in an envelope marked “EXPRESSION OF INTEREST for Prijedor District Heating Project - Financial and Operational Performance Improvement and Public Service Contracting”, to reach Client not later than 1 May 2015 at 17:00 hours local time.

One further electronic copy in English should be submitted to the EBRD’s contact person by the same due date.
The Client Contact Person:
Ms Ljiljana Despotovic
General Manager
Toplana AD Prijedor
Radnicka 66
79101 Prijedor
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tel/Fax: +387 52 231 779
E-mail: despotovic.ljiljana@toplanapd.com
 

The EBRD Contact Person:
Larissa Gosling
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: + 44 20 7338 6329
Fax: +44 20 7338 6964
E-mail: GoslingL@ebrd.com

Important Notes:

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.

Shortlisting criteria and respective weightings are:

(a) Firm's experience in similar assignments in previous 3 years – 20.0

(b) Firm's relevant project experience in BiH or similar region – 20.0

(c) Experience and expertise of the key experts as detailed in the Consultant Profile – 40.0

(d) Association with local firms and/or local experts – 20.0