EBRD UNCITRAL Public Procurement Reform Initiative - Update of Website

Country:Regional
Project number:67185
Funding source:SFEBSF - EBRD Shareholders SF
Contract type:Consultancy Services
Notice type:Invitation for expressions of interest (CSU)
Issue date:24 Jan 2017
Closing date:21 Mar 2017 at 23:59 London

Project Description: In 2011, a technical cooperation project was launched whereby the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ("EBRD" or the "Bank") and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) would work together to align the public procurement legislation in the CIS countries and Mongolia with the 2011 UNCITRAL Model Law on Public Procurement (the "EBRD UNCITRAL Initiative" or the "Initiative"). The Initiative includes multiple regional and country-specific assignments in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

To ensure visibility of the activities conducted under the Initiative, a fully operational interactive website, designed and built according to the specifications provided by the EBRD, was created. The website includes information about the EBRD-UNCITRAL Initiative, key experts, partners and local counterparties; information about the organised events and local projects, as well as workshop materials and online publications (e-book) on topics related to public procurement. All materials from policy dialogue activities conducted under the EBRD UNCITRAL Initiative are accessible on the Initiative website. The website is available in three languages: English, French and Russian. For more information, see http://www.ppi-ebrd-uncitral.com/.

Assignment Description: The Bank now intends to engage a consulting firm or a group of firms (the "Consultant") to (i) assist the EBRD Legal Transition Programme in updating the dedicated project website and managing the EBRD UNCITRAL Public Procurement Reform Initiative online resources and (ii) assist the EBRD Legal Transition Programme in updating the dedicated project website and managing the EBRD GPA TC Facility online resources (the "Assignment").

The Consultant's objective is to assist the EBRD UNCITRAL Public Procurement Reform Initiative project team and make available a project website, online resources and provide up to date project information to all stakeholders in the EBRD countries of operation ("CoOs") participating in the policy dialogue under the EBRD UNCITRAL Initiative. The project website should enable producing and publishing by the EBRD staff final website content in English, French and Russian and enable easy online information sharing and publication by all consultants working on all country projects.

The Consultant will be responsible for:
1) Updating a technology of the bilingual website in English, French and Russian to create an accessible online resource for the EBRD GPA TC Facility partners, consultants and national stakeholders;
2) Hosting and maintaining the website to provide up-to-date information on the EBRD UNCITRAL Public Procurement Reform Initiative for the period of 36 months;
3) Providing direct access and suitable training to EBRD staff and project consultants who will be responsible for publishing media content in English, French and Russian on the dedicated website.

Assignment Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in March 2017 and have an estimated overall duration of 36 months.

Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 20,000; 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 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 anticipated that the Assignment will be financed by the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund. Please note 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 shall be a firm or a group of firms with preferably previous project experience related to:

1. Public procurement project experience in media and communications
2. Similar project experience in developing websites and editing website content in the languages required (English, French and Russian).

The Consultant’s expert team is expected to include the key experts as follows:
- Expert No. 1 (Team Leader/Website Expert) with preferably five years of previous project experience in media and communications and specifically in developing websites.
- Expert No. 2 (Publisher/Editor for English content), with preferably five years of previous project experience in media and communications and specifically in editing websites content in English.
- Expert No. 3 (Publisher/Editor for Russian content), with preferably five years of previous project experience in media and communications and specifically in editing websites content in Russian.
- Expert No. 4 (Publisher/Editor for French content), with preferably five years of previous project experience in media and communications and specifically in editing websites content in French.

Submission Requirements: In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultant 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 public procurement experience or similar assignments preferably 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. CV of key experts who could carry out work on the Assignment
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 15 pages excluding CVs and contact sheet.
   
   The complete expression of interest (including CVs and Consultant Declaration and Contact Sheet) should be submitted in English electronically through e-Selection (https://eselection.ebrd.com/suite/) to reach the Bank not later than the closing date. The expression of interest shall be one file (pdf or Word, not exceeding 4MB). 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:
   Mrs Viv Headlam
   European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
   One Exchange Square
   London EC2A 2JN
   Tel: +44(0)207338 6885
   E-mail: Lewishev@ebrd.com (submissions should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address)
   
   

Notes:
1. The selection will normally be made from responses to this notification only. The highest-ranked candidate will be selected from a shortlist and be invited to negotiate the contract, subject to availability of funding.
The Bank intends to mobilise the services as soon as possible following the selection process and CVs of the proposed experts will form the basis for contract negotiations. The Bank reserves the right to terminate negotiations with the highest-ranked Consultant if experts proposed in the Expression of Interest are not available for this Assignment.

2. The shortlist criteria are as follows:
a. Firm's previous public procurement project experience in EBRD's CoOs in the media and communications sector (30%);
b. Firm's previous project experience similar to this Assignment in developing websites and editing website content in the languages required (English, French and Russian) (30%);
c. CVs of key experts proposed with previous project experience in the relevant sector (40%)