Sisak Water II - Project Preparation, Design, Procurement Support and Contract Supervision

Procurement ref: 48040
Country: Croatia
Business sector: Municipal and environmental infrastructure
Funding source: EBRD-ICEX Technical Cooperation Fund
Contract type: Consultancy Services
Notice type: Invitation for expressions of interest (CSU)
Issue date: 17 Nov 2015
Closing date: 08 Dec 2015   at  15:00   Sisak

Executing Agency (Client):  Sisacki vodovod d.o.o.

The Client Contact Person:
Mr Predrag Ladjevic
Head of Technical Department
Sisacki vodovod d.o.o.
Obala Ruđera Boškovića
10, 44 000 Sisak, Croatia
Email: ladjevic.predrag@sisackivodovod.hr
Phone: +385 44 526 166
Fax: +385 44 526 166

EBRD Contact Person:
James Yoo
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: +44 20 7338 6369
Fax: +44 20 7338 7451
E-mail: YooJ@ebrd.com

Project Description:
The City of Sisak is the economic and political centre of the Sisak – Moslavina county in continental Croatia, with a population of around 47,000 people. It is located 60 kilometres south east from the country’s capital Zagreb. Sisacki vodovod (“SV”, or the “Company”) is a limited liability company, providing water supply and wastewater collection and treatment services to the inhabitants of the City of Sisak and neighbouring municipalities of Martinska Ves, Sunja and Lekenik. The City of Sisak owns 96.57 per cent of the Company, with Municipality of Martinska Ves owning 2.05 per cent, Municipality of Lekenik owning 0.90 per cent and Municipality of Sunja owning 0.48 per cent. During 2014 the Company generated EUR 4.2 million of revenues and EUR 0.2 million of EBITDA.

The Company provides annually 2.7 million m3 of water to households and industrial consumers and collects 1.7 million m3 of wastewater in the current sewage network. Approximately 10,600 households (or 57.7 per cent of the total) are currently connected to the wastewater collection network. The total water supply network length amounts to 486 kilometres, while the wastewater collection network is approximately 160 kilometres long. The Company has 113 employees.

At the moment the Company is implementing a substantial investment programme which includes the extension of the wastewater collection network, and the construction of the wastewater treatment plant. Roughly 50 per cent of the mentioned project is already implemented and is co-financed by EU IPA grant and existing EBRD loan, whose repayment is partially co-financed by the Croatian Water Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture.

As part of the restructuring of the existing financing provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD” or the “Bank”), the Company approached the Bank with a request to provide an additional EUR 2 million loan, which will be utilised for the financing of priority investments in the upgrade of the existing water supply network, through the replacement of pipes in some areas which are in excess of 60 years old (the “Project”). The Project is expected to significantly reduce non-revenue water (currently amounting to almost 50%), resulting in a positive impact on the Company’s operating performance.

Assignment Description:
While the Company has an established Project Implementation Unit (the “PIU”) which is responsible for the  preparation and implementation of the Project related activities, due to the magnitude and complexity of the investment programme, the Company intends to engage a specialized Project implementation consultant (the “Consultant”) to support the PIU in the preparation, design, procurement and management of the implementation of the investment programme and related activities throughout the duration of the Project (the “Assignment”). The activities and performance of the Consultant will be coordinated, supervised and monitored by the PIU.

The overall objective of this Assignment is to assist the PIU to implement the Project on schedule and within budget. The Assignment will include the following tasks:

    -Review of the existing data and preparation of the concept, engineering and detailed design (for conventional civil works contracts) as well as technical specifications for the Project;
    -Preparation of tender documentation and implementation of the contracts procurement as per appropriate FIDIC Contract Conditions, EBRD Procurement Policies and Rules (the “PP&R”) and EBRD 2008 Environmental and Social Policy and Performance Requirements;
    -Supervision of the selected contractor to carry out the rehabilitation of the water supply network in an effective and timely manner in accordance with the Design and Build Contract;
    -Providing timely recommendations and reporting to the Company on the contract administration process; and
    -Assist the Company to provide the EBRD data, advice and information in relation to the contract administration and supervision for the Project.

Status of Selection Process: Interested firms or group of firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.

Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in February 2016 and has an estimated overall duration of 24 months.

Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 250,000 (exclusive of VAT). Subject to availability of funding, the performance of the selected Consultant and the specific needs of the Client the Assignment may be extended beyond the current scope.

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: The contract will be financed through the EBRD-ICEX Technical Cooperation Fund (Spain).

Eligibility: The consultancy firms must be registered in Spain. The experts must be of Spanish nationality. However, up to a maximum of 30% of the total funds may be used to finance Croatian experts or firms registered in Croatia.

Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms with previous project experience preferably related to project management, procurement support, contract supervision and administration of similar contracts under IFI procurement rules, preferably in the water/wastewater sector in Croatia and/or other countries in South Eastern Europe.

The Consultant’s project team should include the following key experts:

    -Project Manager;
    -Water sector expert
    -IFI Procurement and Contract Specialist;
    -Engineer for local certification support (local);
    -Local experts.

The key experts proposed shall have preferably a minimum of 5 years’ experience of the activity for which they are proposed including:

    -Project management experience gained in projects similar in scope, nature and complexity;
    -Experience in preparation of full tender documents, knowledge EBRD Supply contractual arrangements and two stage tendering, or equivalent methods;
    -Experience in (i) planning and design activities; project management; (iii) engineering; and (iv) procurement of goods, and services and contract administration;
    -Proven knowledge of procedures and rules of procurement of EBRD, or other MDBs, such as World Bank, ADB;
    -Kknowledge of requirements of Croatian legislation concerning issues relevant to this procurement would be an advantage;

Submission Requirements: In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants seeking to be selected, 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 Expression of Interest shall not exceed 25 pages (excluding CVs Consultant Declaration and Contact Sheet).

The complete Expression of Interest (including CVs, Consultant Declaration and Contact Sheet) should be submitted, in English via email (PDF) to the Client’s contact person, to reach the Client not later than the closing date. One additional PDF copy shall reach the Bank’s contact person by the same due date . The expression of interest shall be one file (pdf). The Client reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file. Only if any limitation on the permissible file size is exceeded, the Consultant may split the expression of interest into further files.
 
Important Notes:
1. 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 as follows:
(a) Firm’s previous project experience preferably related to project management, procurement support and administration of similar contracts under IFI procurement rules – 30%
(b) CVs of Key Experts – 40%
(c) Firm’s previous project experience in Croatia and/or other countries in south-eastern Europe – 20%
(d) Ability of the consultant’s team to communicate in Croatian – 10%