Project Description:
The World Trade Organization (WTO) establishes international agreements to facilitate international trade and remove trade barriers; however, public contracts funded from state budget were traditionally a privilege of domestic suppliers and inaccessible to international bidders. This approach changed in 1994 with the adoption of the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA).
Since 2010 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD or the Bank) has been actively supporting countries pursuing accession to the WTO GPA, working in cooperation with United Nations Commission for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the WTO GPA Secretariat. The adoption of the revised text of the GPA in 2012 motivated a number of countries to consider accession to the GPA as a step in their public procurement reform process. The growing interest in GPA accession in the EBRD countries spawned an idea for structured cooperation between the EBRD and the WTO GPA Secretariat, which resulted in the creation of the EBRD GPA Technical Cooperation Facility (the EBRD GPA TC Facility).
In 2016 Belarus resumed its WTO membership negotiations. Now moving forward with the WTO accession is a priority for the country and the government views the WTO membership as a tool for the integration of Belarus into the global economy and for strengthening the competitiveness of the national economy, as well as an important element of an attractive investment climate. Furthermore, Belarus has decided to commence the evaluation of its readiness for the 2012 WTO GPA accession. In this context, the Belarus authorities have requested the EBRD to provide technical assistance with modernising their national public procurement system in line with the 2012 WTO GPA requirements and international best practice.
Assignment Description:
To address this request, the EBRD Legal Transition Programme (LTP) has designed a new assignment under the auspices of the EBRD GPA TC Facility (the Assignment) to assist the Belarus authorities with the development of public procurement analytical and reporting tools for the national electronic procurement system/s in Belarus (the eProcurement System).
The Bank now intends to engage a consulting company (the Consultant) to develop and pilot dedicated analytical and reporting tools for the eProcurement System in Belarus. These tools should be based as a minimum on the Advanced Open Contracting Data Standard and the Consultant will be working under instructions from the EBRD Operation Leader in the Legal Transition Programme as well as under supervision of the Help Desk of the Open Contracting Partnership.
The Consultant will:
1) Support the PP Department with developing new data-driven monitoring procedures for public procurement conducted electronically on the eProcurement System in Belarus;
2) Assist with redeveloping the Open Data Observer and Open Data Explorer – reporting and analytical tools produced by the Transparency International Ukraine, for the implementation in the national eProcurement System in Belarus;
3) Undertake an implementation of the Open Contracting Data Standard on the national eProcurement system by data mapping, integration and developing a dedicated business intelligence tool;
4) Support development and launch of business intelligence tool as well as redeveloped Open Data Observer and Open Data Explorer to be accessible via dedicated website;
5) Provide capacity building to create local capacity to use new monitoring tools and procedures;
6) Assist with piloting new monitoring module during preparation of annual reports for electronically conducted public procurement for a period of 12 months since enabling use of new tools on the national eProcurement System.
The expected outcome of the Consultant services is as follows:
1) Three ready to use applications: business intelligence tool, Open Data Observer and Open Data Explorer applications, integrated with data sources and the web-portal;
2) Maintenance service agreement for a period of 12 months;
3) Subscription for hosting service, if hosting is not provided by the Belarus authorities;
4) Online training materials for business intelligence tool and redeveloped Open Data Observer and Open Data Explorer applications;
5) Training Programme for the eProcurement System administrators and key users.
Status of Selection Process: Interested firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.
Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in December 2017 and shall be completed within 12 months.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment:
EUR €240,000 (exclusive of VAT). The Assignment/contract may be extended to include piloting in other countries of operations, subject to performance, Bank’s needs and availability of funding.
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 Shareholder Special Fund. Please note selection and contracting will be subject to the availability of funding.
Eligibility:
There are no eligibility restrictions.
Consultant Profile:
The Consultant’s team will incorporate both international and local experts. The Consultant’s team will have substantial experience in developing public procurement reporting tools for eProcurement systems, the implementation of the OCDS in eProcurement systems and providing capacity building and piloting assistance in this regard.
Key Experts shall include:
i. Key Expert 1: international eProcurement adviser, with proven experience in developing OCDS-based reporting tools for eProcurement systems;
ii. Key Expert(s) 2: international eProcurement IT expert(s), with proven experience in developing business intelligence and OCDS-based reporting tools for eProcurement systems;
iii. Key Expert(s) 3: local eProcurement IT expert(s), with practical knowledge of the national eProcurement System, which will work closely with international experts throughout the implementation of the Assignment and provide for all necessary programing of redeveloped open source tools.
All experts should be fluent in Russian and English. Previous knowledge of Prozorro Observer and Prozorro Explorer will be in advantage.
Submission Requirements:
In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants seeking to be selected / shortlisted for this Assignment, the information submitted should include the following:
1. The firm’s organisation and staffing (max. 1-2 pages).
2. A brief outline of how the Consultant would approach the project (max 1-2 pages) in terms of planning, data requirements, analytics, key components of the methodology etc.
3. CV of all experts who would carry out the Assignment detailing qualifications, experience in similar assignments, particularly assignments undertaken in the previous five years, for example including information on contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration, 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 above information should not exceed 10 pages including 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/time. 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:
Thomas Gale
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
e-mail: galet@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. 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.
The Bank intends to mobilise the services as soon as possible following 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:
i) Proven experience in developing Open Data OCDS business intelligence and reporting tools for eProcurement systems – 30%;
ii) Proven experience in the implementation of the OCDS in existing eProcurement systems though data mapping, export and integration – 30%;
iii) Key Experts’ CVs – 40%.
