Consultancy Services to verify the technical implementation of investments

Item Description:

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD” or the “Bank”) has established the Horizon Innovation Financing Facility (the “Framework”) through which it plans to provide credit lines to Participating Financial Institutions (“PFIs”) in Romania for on-lending to eligible beneficiaries.

The Framework will be supported by grant funding from the European Union (“EU”) for Technical Assistance (“TA”) and Investment Incentives to the Eligible Beneficiaries.

The Framework will support (i) investments in new or substantially improved (a) products, processes or services, or (b) production or delivery methods, or (c) organisational or process innovation, and where there is technological or commercial risk, as well as (ii) companies that have verifiably invested in R&I, or are fast-growing, or have innovation potential in order to further push the innovation frontier.

Assignment Description:

In this context the EBRD seeks to engage a Verification Consultant (the “VC” or the “Consultant”) to verify the technical implementation of investments ex-post before the incentive payment is released (the “Assignment”). A separate Project Consultant (“PC”) will also be retained in order to assist with the implementation and monitoring of the Framework. More specifically, the PC will verify ex-ante that the investment projects qualify under the Framework and will help design an investment plan for each Eligible Beneficiary.

The objectives of the Assignment are to:

• Ensure that the use of proceeds of each sub-loan under the Framework has met the eligibility criteria and that funded investments have been implemented substantially on the basis of the Investment Plans prepared by the PC;
• Ensure that investment incentives due to Eligible Beneficiaries on completion of the implementation of the projects are submitted for release by the EBRD only when such projects are validated as compliant with the investment assessment report prepared by the PC and that no recommendation on release of the investment incentives will be given where such validation is not possible.

The selected Consultant is expected to conduct a Completion Validation Review (“CVR”) including the following tasks:

• Visit the site of each Eligible Beneficiary when such sub-project has been substantially completed;
• Verify documentary evidence of the investment cost at the time of the site visit;
• Validate, against the Investment Assessment Report, that the sub-project has been completed substantially on the basis of the investment plan and the CVR;
• Provide to the EBRD and the relevant PFI, an opinion whether the Sub-project has been completed substantially in line with the Investment Assessment Report and the eligibility criteria.

Full Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Assignment can be found here: http://www.ebrd.com/documents/procurement/78197-pdf.pdf

Consultant Selection Procedure: Single stage open competitive selection. Interested firms are invited to submit a Technical and Financial Proposal.

Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in Q3 2019 and has an estimated overall duration of 60 months.

Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 375,000.00 (exclusive of VAT), funded by the EU Horizon 2020: Framework Partnership Agreement between the EU and EBRD entitled “EBRD Pilot Action – Innovation Support in Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania”. Subject to availability of funding, the performance of the selected Consultant and business needs, the Assignment may be extended beyond the current scope.

Funding Source: It is anticipated that the contract will be financed by the EU Horizon 2020: Framework Partnership Agreement between the EU and EBRD entitled “EBRD Pilot Action – Innovation Support in Bulgaria, Latvia and Romania”. Selection and contracting are subject to the availability of funding.

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

The Consultant being awarded the contract for this assignment will not be eligible for contract award for the Project Consultant assignment and vice versa.

Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm preferably with previous project experience related to:

• Innovation assessment and promotion, including recent experience in implementation of innovation-focused programmes with SMEs and mid-caps;
• Implementing assignments focusing on SME and mid-cap financing through commercial banks, preferably with International Financial Institutions (“IFIs”) (or similar) and preferably in Romania;
• Innovation financing and InnovFin.

The Consultant’s expert team is expected to include the following key experts (the ‘Key Experts’):

Key Expert 1: Team Leader/Project Manager

Successful candidate is expected to have preferably the following professional experience:

• Preferably 15 years of previous professional experience in project management;
• Proven experience working with IFIs (or similar) and implementing similar facilities by IFIs (or similar);
• Proven experience in development and/or implementation and/or assessment of innovation projects with SMEs and mid-Caps
• Knowledge of financial sector and lending practices in Romania;
• Knowledge and understanding of “innovation” environment in Romania is desirable;
• Fluent spoken and written English is essential.

Key Expert 2: Local Verification Experts

Successful candidates will preferably demonstrate the following previous professional experience:

• working on similar programmes implemented by IFIs (or similar);
• implementation and/or assessment of innovative projects with SMEs and mid-Caps;
• Fluent spoken and written Romanian is essential and knowledge of English would be an advantage.

Submission Requirements:

The consultants are now invited to submit a completed Technical and Financial Proposal as per the standard templates and instructions available at this link http://www.ebrd.com/documents/procurement/single-stage-package.docx

Interested Consultants 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. The technical proposal should not exceed 20 pages excluding the Declaration Form and CVs (Form 1- TP 1 and Form 1 – TP 6).
2. The Financial Proposal (Form 2 – FP 1 and FP2) shall be submitted in English separately by email only to the Bank Contact Person. 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 e Selection shall be declared non-responsive.

Bank Contact Person:

Maria Haugh
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
e-mail: haughm@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, the latest before 22 May 2019.

Selection Method and Evaluation Criteria:

1. Technical Proposal Evaluation Criteria

• Firm’s previous experience in implementing innovation-focused assignments focusing on SME and mid-cap financing through commercial banks, preferably with IFIs (or similar) preferably in Romania (30%);
• Quality of the methodology proposed for the Assignment (30%);
• CVs of the Key Experts (40%).

The minimum technical score (St) required to pass is 70.

Interviews as part of technical evaluation:

Up to 5 (five) highest scoring companies with a technical score of 70 and above, based on technical proposal evaluation criteria, will be invited to the interview of the following Key Experts positions:

1. Team Leader/Project Manager.
2. One (1) Local Verification Expert.

EBRD will advise the Consultant regarding the format (e.g. Webex or conference call etc.) and date of the interviews at the time of the invitation. Please note that all and any costs incurred by the Consultant in connection with attendance to interviews shall be borne by the Consultant.

Combined Technical and Interviews Evaluation and Ranking

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 (T=the weight given to the Technical; I = the weight given to the Interview; T+I=1) as following: Sti=St x T% + Si x I%.

The minimum final combined technical and interview score (Sti) 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.

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.