Forest Sector Study of the Russian Far East- A Roadmap for Value Added Investment in the Forest Industry

Assignment Description: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the EBRD or the Bank) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) are joining forces to carry out a comprehensive study of the forestry sector in the Russian Far East (RFE) (the Forestry Study, the Project), and to develop a roadmap and action plan for fostering investments in value-added forest industries. The EBRD has engaged FAO under a framework agreement. Under this Framework Agreement, the EBRD has issued a call-off notice to FAO, to analyse and formulate the roadmap for the development of the RFE's forest industry, in particular value-added forest industry sub-sectors with an ultimate goal to promote and trigger viable investments in the forest industries by addressing wood supply security, strengthening holistic thinking on forest value chains and identifying options for industry expansion and efficiency gains in forest management, harvesting, transportation, and trading.

FAO now requires the assistance of a consultant (the Consultant), to be sub-contracted by FAO under its call-off notice with the EBRD, to identify and analyse investment projects in the forestry sector in the RFE (the Assignment).

Russian forest resources account for 22% of the world reserves but only 3.5% of the global forest product market is represented by Russia. The RFE is particularly under-developed economically but in possession of a substantial part of the country's valuable forests with a low efficiency in use. Due to their pristine status, the forests in Russian Far East have maintained valuable biodiversity resources of national and international importance. A number of Indigenous Peoples groups also enjoy customary rights to significant forest areas and depend on them as a source of livelihood. The high potential for the growth of the RFE forest industry is driven largely by the growing demand of neighbouring Asian-Pacific region, in particular - by the three strong economies of China, Japan and Korea, all dependent on imported wood. While the forest resources provide a substantial potential for economic and industrial use, it is important to ensure that this will be based on sustainable forest management principles and practices. The developed roadmap should define the way for sustainable development of the RFE forest sector to make it attractive for investments and should address among others wood supply security and propose an approach towards efficiency of forest management, harvesting, transportation and trading. It should also take into account social and environmental considerations as well as identify potential obstacles to investments associated with administrative, legal or regulatory frameworks.

An Investment Roadmap and a subsequent Action Plan are to be created to help the industry and the Russian government embarking on a pathway to sustainable and techno-economically feasible investments. Demonstration tools such as case studies and virtual Memorandum-of-Understandings (MoU) on value-added forest industry projects will be used to encourage the local determination to invest in the RFE.

FAO will assume overall responsibility for management and implementation of the Forestry Study, which will cover forest policy, forest resources, forest management, environmental and socio-economic aspects, and harvesting of wood, as well as industrial transformation including the following sub-sectors: (i) sawmills and downstream processing activities; (ii) wood-based panel plants; (iii) pulp, paper, paperboard mills; (iv) wood for energy production and biomass energy.

EBRD and FAO require the input of an international consulting firm to carry out the third phase of the forestry study, under the technical supervision of EBRD and FAO as follows:
1. Define the framework for investment opportunities on the basis of a thorough situation analysis of the existing forest industries:
a. sawmills and their downstream processing activities,
b. wood-based panel plants,
c. pulp & paper and paperboard mills,
d. wood and biomass for energy units.
2. Identify the most potential investment projects
3. Carry out conceptual analyses of five identified investment projects

The EBRD will select the international consulting firm pursuant to its procurement policies and rules (PP&R). FAO shall sub-contract the selected international consulting firm for the third phase of the Forestry Study. The work of the appointed international consulting firm will be supported by FAO forestry sector experts.

Assignment Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in July 2012 and to have a duration of six months.

Cost Estimate for the Assignment: USD 221,007; exclusive of VAT.

The consultant must determine whether any indirect taxes 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: EBRD Shareholder Special Fund

Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions.

Consultant Profile: The consultant will be a firm or group of firms with thorough forest industry knowledge, and relevant experience in the following areas:
1. Knowledge of the forestry and forest industry sector in Russia;
2. Business planning within the Russian economic and industrial environment;
3. Commercial and technical skills to define a framework for investment opportunities for the matching of wood supply, markets and wood processing, respecting sustainable management and environmental responsibility;
4. Commercial and technical skills to identify and rank in the order of potential specific investment projects for development in the Russian Far East;
5. Skills and tools to formulate, design and prepare a conceptual analysis of these investment projects according to international best practice and SWOT analysis.

The Consultant's expert team is expected to include key experts as follows:
1. Senior Forester or Senior Engineer
A senior-level Team Leader, who is capable of planning, managing, implementing, and reporting on the assignment. Leads fieldwork in the Russian Far East.
2. Finance Specialist
A mid-level forest economist or engineer, who is fully versed with financial calculations for assessing the conceptual analyses of investment projects.
3. Industry and Energy Specialist
A senior-level engineer who has a solid track in assessing different forest industries and energy solutions from technical and operational perspectives.
4. Environmental Specialist
A mid-level forester or engineer, who is experienced with environmental assessment methods relevant to forest industries.

All international experts must be fluent in English, and Russian language ability is an asset. Local experts are allowed on sub-contracting basis and must be fluent in English and Russian.

FAO will act directly within the the existing FAO/EBRD Framework (on the Call-Off notices). The EBRD and FAO will procure a reputable international consultant firm with experience in the forestry industry and Russia. The work of the appointed international consultants will be supported by FAO forestry sector experts.

Submission Requirements: Interested consultants are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest. In order to determine the qualifications and competence of consulting firms seeking to be shortlisted, the information submitted should include the following:

1. Company profile, organisation and staffing (max. 2-4 pages);
2. Details of previous project experience or similar assignments 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 be available to work on the Assignment;
4. Completed 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 20 pages, excluding CVs and contact sheet.

The complete expression of interest (including CVs and Contact Sheet) shall be one file, not exceeding 4MB (pdf or Word) to be uploaded to eSelection. The EBRD reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file. Only if the permissible file size is exceeded, the Consultant may split the expression of interest into further files.

Expressions of Interest should be submitted, in English, electronically through eSelection.

Bank Contact Person:

Georgia Vasiliadis (Ms)
Advisor
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: + 44 20 7338 7750
e-mail: [email protected] (submissions should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address)
Note: Following this invitation for Expression of Interest, a shortlist of qualified consultants will be formally invited to submit proposals. Shortlisting and selection will be subject to the availability of funding (from an appropriate donor - dependent on whether or not donor has approved funding).

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