Supporting Gender and Economic Inclusion Policy Engagement and Covid-19 Crisis Response in Maghreb (Morocco and Tunisia)

Location:Regional

Funding source:Not Yet Determined

Contract type:Consultancy Services

Notice type:Invitation for expressions of interest (CSU)

Issue date:22 Jul 2020

Closing date:12 Aug 2020   at  17:00   London

Single Stage Open Competitive Selection – Request for Proposals
Project Description: Economic inclusion – the opening-up of economic opportunitiesto disadvantaged social groups - is integral to fostering transition to inclusive market-oriented economies. To this end, the European Bank for Reconstruction andDevelopment (“EBRD" or the “Bank") launched its first Economic Inclusion Strategy in May 2017 to accelerate this transition by harnessing its client companies and policy stakeholders to create economic opportunities for all. The Strategy deepens and strengthens the Bank’s private sector focused economic inclusion approach to enhance access to employment and skills; entrepreneurship and finance; and services for young people, women, people living in less developed regions and other disadvantaged social groups. The Strategy is implemented alongside the Bank’s Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality, which seeks to strengthen women’s roles within the workplace, the marketplace and communities throughout EBRD’s countries of operations. EBRD’s Solidarity Package forms part of its broader response to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic crisis. The Solidarity Package entails clear activities and goals around securing an inclusive recovery throughout EBRD’s countries and sectors of operations. Concrete steps need to be taken at both the operational and policy levels to ensure that the most disadvantaged social groups are not disproportionately affected in terms of their economic opportunities and can, indeed, continue to play a productive role throughout the crisis and its aftermath.

Assignment Description: The Bank wishes to engage a consultant (the “Consultant”) to develop and deliver an effective programme of gender and economic inclusion policy engagements and to deliver the inclusive components of its Covid-19 crisis response for  EBRD in Maghreb region (Morocco and Tunisia) (“the Assignment”). The overall objective of the Assignment is to develop and implement gender and economic inclusion impact in line with EBRD priorities.
The specific objectives include negotiating sustainable, goal-driven partnerships between employers and local education and training providers to deliver high quality learning outcomes for young women and men and other disadvantaged groups and promote gender-equal opportunities for EBRD’s client companies and through its policy-level stakeholders.
The Consultant is expected to fulfil the following core work activities:
- Carry out policy assessment mapping of relevant policies in Maghreb to identify areas of policy intervention related to gender and economic inclusion;
- Facilitate the development and local delivery of gender and economic inclusion elements within EBRD investments across all sectors in Maghreb;
- Define clear partnership arrangements with relevant local partner organisations to stimulate joint initiatives;
- Implement relevant local policy initiatives with EBRD’s public and private sector partners/stakeholders directly linked to existing or unlocking potential future investments, and;
- Monitor the impact of these engagements, prepare progress reports and identify relevant lessons learned on optimizing EBRD’s gender and economic inclusion policy engagements.
Full Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Assignment can be found here.

http://www.ebrd.com/documents/gender/dwdtor84004.pdf.

Consultant Selection Procedure: Single stage open competitive selection. Interested individuals are invited to submit a short Technical Proposal and a Financial Proposal in the manner described in the submission requirements.

Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in September, 2020 and has an estimated overall duration of 24 months with the possibility of an extension.

Cost Estimate for the Assignment up to: EUR 175,000 (exclusive of VAT). Subject to availability of funding, the performance of the selected Consultant and the business needs, the Assignment may be extended beyond the current scope.

Funding Source: It is anticipated that the contract will be financed by EBRD donor funds. Selection and contracting are subject to the availability of funding.

Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions based on the consultant's country of origin.

Consultant Profile: Preferably 5 years or more of previous professional experience in gender and economic inclusion, skills development and labour market programmes in Maghreb, working for an IFI, the government or in the private sector. Preferably locally based with fluency in English and French. The Consultant is expected to work from Morocco based at the EBRD’s Regional Office in Casablanca as a team member of the Gender and Economic Inclusion team, with regular travels across both Morocco and Tunisia.

Submission Requirements: Interested parties are invited to submit a completed Technical and Financial Proposal as per the standard templates and instructions available here:

Interested parties should make themselves familiar with these Standard Templates,

Standard Instructions and Conditions of Contract in preparation of their proposals.

1. The Technical Proposal shall be submitted in English electronically via eSelection not later than the Closing Date, as one single PDF file not exceeding three pages.

2. The Financial Proposal (Form 2 – FP 1 and FP2) shall be submitted in English separately by email only to the two Bank Contact Persons. Financial proposal should ONLY indicate the Key Experts’ Daily Fee Rate in EUR. Consultants are reminded of the requirement to ensure the confidentiality of the Financial Proposals. A Technical Proposal that contains elements of a financial proposal shall be declared non-responsive. A Financial proposal submitted together with the technical proposals via eSelection shall be declared non-responsive.

Bank Contact Person:
Vivienne Lewis-Headlam
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
e-mail: Lewishev@ebrd.com
For the avoidance of doubt, technical proposals should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address. Financial proposals should be sent to this email address and NOT through eSelection.

Deadline to Submit Clarification Questions: Via e-mail to the Bank Contact Person
by 5 August 2020.

Selection Method and Evaluation Criteria:

1. Technical Proposal Evaluation Criteria
(a) Experience in the area of expertise in Maghreb and working for an IFI, the government or in the private sector (50%)
(b) Expert’s CV (30%)
(c) Fluency in English and French (20%)

Interviews

Following the evaluation of technical proposals received based on the criteria above, a short list of up to 4 candidates who have scored 70 and above will be shortlisted and invited to attend an interview.
The Bank will arrange with the consultant regarding the format (e.g. video call, meeting, conference call, etc.) and date of the interview at the time of the invitation. Please note that all and any costs incurred by the Consultant in connection with attendance to interviews will not reimbursed by the Bank.
The weights given to the Technical (T) and Interview (I) evaluation are:
T = 80, and I = 20

Submissions will be ranked according to their combined technical (St) and interview (Si) scores using the weights stated.

The minimum final score required to pass is 70.
2. Opening of Financial Proposals

After the technical evaluation is completed, only the submissions which score 70 or above of the total marks available for the technical criteria will be eligible to have their financial proposals opened.
3. Combined Technical and Financial Evaluation The lowest evaluated Financial Proposal (Fm) is given the maximum financial score (Sf) of 100. The formula for determining the financial scores (Sf) of all other Proposals is calculated as follows: Sf = 100 x Fm/ F, in which “Sf” is the financial score, “Fm” is the lowest evaluated Financial Proposal, and “F” the price of the Proposal under consideration. Proposals are then ranked according to their combined technical (St) and financial (Sf) scores using the weights (T = 80; F = 20) T + F = 100 as follows: S = St x T% + Sf x F%.

Important Notes:

1. The proposal validity period is 120 days from the deadline date for the receipt of submissions. During this period, the Consultant shall maintain its original Proposal without any change, including the availability of the Experts, the proposed rates and the total price.

2. The selection will be made from the Proposals received in response to this notification only, on the basis of the submission requirements and selection criteria set out in this Procurement Notice. The highest-ranked Consultant will be selected and invited to negotiate the contract, subject to availability of funding.

3. Any updates of and clarifications on this procurement notice shall be announced as updates on this notice, without any other notification. In the event of changes consultants will need to download the updated versions. Consultants are required to periodically check the notice for updates. Failure to take the updates into account while preparing the Proposal may result in disqualification or penalties to the scores in the evaluation.