Moldova - Commercial Mediation and Arbitration

Country:Moldova

Project number:65054

Funding source:UK Investment Climate and Governance Fund

Contract type:Consultancy Services

Notice type:Invitation for expressions of interest (CSU)

Issue date:19 May 2016

Closing date:08 Jun 2016   at  23:59   London

Project Description:

Under a technical cooperation project commenced in 2013 by Legal Transition Team (the “LTT”) of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD” or the “Bank”) (the “Project”), the EBRD has been assisting the Ministry of Justice of Moldova with promoting the use of mediation and arbitration in the business community in the country. Under Phase 1 of the Project, a court-annexed mediation system has been piloted and a practical handbook to assist arbitration users has been prepared, along with legislative framework review and recommendations on amending the latter to align it with international standards. The Project further focused on arbitration and mediation capacity building activities (Phase 2 of the Project).

Upon successful implementation of the two previous Phases of the project, Phase 3 is now being developed, to focus on further promoting the use of mediation and raising awareness of mediation among the business community in Moldova.

The Project will therefore create a high profile pool of mediators, including court-annexed mediators, and promote mediation among the business community and future users with the overall aim of ensuring sustainability of Alternative Dispute Resolution (“ADR”) in the country.

Assignment Description

The Bank now intends to engage a consulting company (the “Consultant”) for Phase 3, in particular to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Justice, the Chamber of Commerce, the Superior Council of Magistracy and the National Institute of Justice of Moldova with promotion and facilitation of the use of commercial mediation on a national scale, with the goal of making the use of ADR a business norm in Moldova (the “Assignment”)

The expected outcome of the Assignment is enhanced use of mediation to resolve commercial disputes in Moldova.

The Consultant is expected to provide the following services:

1. Further Development of Sub-legislative and Regulatory Frameworks, ensuring that all instruments are developed in line with international best practices and adopted by local institutions.

2. Training of Additional Trainers, which will include the training of a group of up to 18 individuals in a two-step interactive Training of Trainers.

3. Roll out of Mediation to Additional Courts, supporting the use of mediation to be systemised at all stages of the judicial process and throughout Moldova.

4. Mediation Skills Training for Court Mediators, to allow mediation extension to additional courts.

5. Mediation Centre Consultancy, including such support and advice activities as establishing strategic partnerships with regional organisations, promoting awareness raising activities within the business community of Moldova etc.

6. Mediation Awareness-raising, including the development and implementation of a communication plan to be approved by the authorities.

7. Superior Council of Magistracy – Judicial Performance Ratings, which would entail assistance to the Superior Council of Magistracy with reviewing their judicial performance evaluation ratings to include statistics of cases that are suitable for being referred to mediation

8. National Institute of Justice – Curriculum Development for New and Sitting Judges and Court Enforcement Officers, to embed mediation within the judicial training curriculum and professional development

9. Mediation training and clinic at the state universities, including working with universities to develop their existing ADR/mediation curricula

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 as soon as the Consultant selection is completed and has an estimated overall duration of 24 months.

Maximum Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 480,000 (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 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: It is expected that the Assignment will be funded by the EBRD-UK Investment Climate and Governance Fund. Selection and contracting will be 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 with previous project experience related to: (i) developing and promoting ADR mechanisms, preferably in Moldova or other countries of the Bank’s operations with similar legal environments; (ii) design and implementation of training programmes in ADR (including in the field of commercial mediation) preferably in Moldova or other countries of the Bank’s operations with similar legal environments.

The Consultant’s expert team is expected to include:

a. Key Expert No 1 (Team Leader): Prominent senior international expert with preferably 15 years of experience and a good degree of legal expertise in developing and promoting ADR mechanisms, including mediation, and with experience in judicial capacity building on such matters and delivering similar assignments; relevant experience in Moldova and/or other countries of the Bank’s operations with similar legal environments will be an advantage;

b. Key Expert(s) No 2: International senior advisor/s with experience in designing and implementing ADR (including mediation) related training for judges and other participants and relevant project experience in Moldova or other countries of the Bank’s operations with similar legal environments; experience in taking into account gender component in trainings will be an advantage;

c. Key Expert(s) No 3: Local advisor(s) with preferably 6 years of experience and good knowledge of ADR (including mediation) legal framework and mechanisms; experience in delivering ADR (including mediation) training will be an advantage.

All Key Experts must be fluent in English. For Key Experts 1 and 2 knowledge of Romanian will be an advantage. Key Experts No 3 should be fluent in Romanian.

Submission Requirements: In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants seeking to be shortlisted 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. Suggested methodology for this Assignment, including approach to its implementation.
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.
Failure to submit the signed Consultant Declaration may result in disqualification of the candidate from the selection for this Assignment
The above information should not exceed 15 pages excluding CVs and contact sheet.

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 referred to above. The expression of interest shall be one file (pdf). The EBRD reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file.

Bank Contact Person:

Marina Matushina
Advisor
Technical Co-operation
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: + 44 20 7338 6577
e-mail: MatushiM@ebrd.com (submissions should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address)

Notes:

1. Following this invitation for expressions of interest, a shortlist of qualified firms will be formally invited to submit proposals. Consultant selection and contracting will be subject to availability of funding.

2. The shortlist criteria are:

(a) Firm’s previous project experience related to developing and promoting ADR mechanisms, preferably in Moldova or other countries of the Bank’s operations with similar legal environments (40%)

(b) Firm’s previous project experience related to design and implementation of training programmes in ADR (including in the field of commercial mediation) preferably in Moldova or other countries of the Bank’s operations with similar legal environments (30%)

(c) CV of Key Experts (30%)