Consultancy Services for Facilitating participation from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in public tenders conducted on the Tunisian eProcurement system (TUNEPS)

Item Description:

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD” or the “Bank”) is implementing the technical cooperation project (the “TC Project”): Tunisia: Facilitating participation from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in public tenders conducted on the Tunisian eProcurement system (TUNEPS).

Tunisia adopted a new public procurement ‘Decree 2013-5096’ in 2013. This legislation modernised national public procurement system and provided for the establishment of an electronic procurement platform, ‘TUNEPS’. Building on this, a new regulation was adopted in December 2016 and provided for a simplified procedure for low-value public contracts suitable for online shopping on TUNEPS. The online shopping regulation entered into force in March 2017 and following its adoption, the use of new procedure was promoted across the country by a regional training programme that has reached over five hundred local SMEs and five hundred representatives of contracting entities in regional towns of Tunisia. Training sessions were delivered as a hands-on training – during each training session, local SMEs identified and invited by local business associations (UTICA and CONNECT are partnering with the Bank on this programme) and chambers of commerce were registered on TUNEPS, learned how to use electronic signatures for online bidding and how to submit their offers online on TUNEPS and participated in mock bidding for public contract. It is planned that by November 2017 first phase of training programme will reach a target of 1000 SMEs and 500 contracting entities.

The second-tier of training programme for local SMEs in Tunisia, as described in the below terms of reference, will provide a follow up with SMEs trained during first phase who actively participated in online bidding on TUNEPS. The aim of second-tier and advanced training programme is to improve business skills of SMEs who started to participate in online bidding on TUNEPS in order to enable them to make best use of e-commerce opportunities. It is planned that training shall inform SMEs how to develop successful technical and financial proposals for electronic bidding on TUNEPS, including high value contracts and framework agreements as well as popularise electronic commerce (‘eCommerce’) and online banking skills, including electronic invoices and payments.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (“EBRD” or the “Bank”) intends to engage the services of international consultant and local consultants (the “Consultant”) to work with the Tunisian public procurement authority HAICOP in charge of developing public procurement policy and operating TUNEPS to conduct capacity building training in compliance with international best practice (the “Assignment”).

The EBRD Small Business Initiative team based in Tunis will lead the second-tier training programme, identify interested SMEs together with TUNEPS team and will help mobilise local consultants who have had earlier experience of promoting e-commerce and business skills to SMEs by providing ‘Training of the Trainers’ programme. The consultants will work closely with, or be selected from Tunisian business associations including the Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA) and, or the Confederation of Tunisian Citizen Enterprises (CONECT). It is planned that a total of 10 Consultants from all regional towns in Tunisia will be trained through a ‘Training of the Trainers’ component in order to deliver regional sessions and serve as TUNEPS regional trainers upon completion of the advanced training programme.

Assignment Description: The objective of the Assignment is to consolidate online bidding skills and to improve the e-commerce business skills of local Tunisian SMEs allowing them to successfully compete for all types of public contracts on TUNEPS, Tunisia’s electronic procurement platform.

The Consultants shall undertake the following tasks under the Assignment:

I – Kick-off meeting and work plan preparation: The Consultant shall participate in a kick-off meeting with the EBRD project team responsible for delivery of first tier of the training programme. Following the discussions and areas agreed with the EBRD’s team and counterparts in Tunisia will prepare an Inception Report including a work plan for the full duration of the second tier of SMEs training programme (the “Work Plan”).

II – Interviews to identify local consultants The Consultant shall work with UTICA and CONNECT as well as chambers of commerce to identify suitable local consultancies specialising in business skills for e-commerce and to engage them for delivery of second-tier training programme. Candidates identified shall be interviewed jointly by the EBRD and TUNEPS team – counterparts of first tier of training programme. Based on results of interviews, best 10 candidates will be invited to undertake Training of the Trainers programme. Upon satisfactory completion of the Training of the Trainers programme (minimum 80 per cent score in testing upon completing the training) local consultants will be engaged by the Consultant to deliver second-tier training programme for SMEs in regional towns in Tunisia.

III – Development and delivery of Training of the Trainers (ToT) Programme: The Consultant, working together with the EBRD project team who delivered first tier of the SMEs training programme, shall develop and deliver Training of the Trainers programme allowing locally engaged consultants to become familiar with relevant public procurement legislation for online bidding on TUNEPS and all features of the TUNEPS eProcurement platform.

IV – Development of the training programme for SMEs and relevant online resources for TUNEPS: The Consultant shall design and develop a practical and business-case based curriculum for training programme suitable for local SMEs covering the following topics: quality technical and financial proposals, online bidding and pre-qualification, electronic commerce (‘eCommerce’), including digital invoicing and payments and online banking (‘eBanking’) skills.

As part of the training programme, the Consultant shall prepare training materials in English for the Bank’s approval and afterwards will produce quality French and Arabic version to be presented to participants in hard copy during the trainings as well as made downloadable from the TUNEPS website.

The design of the capacity building training programme and the contents of the training materials as well as online resources for TUNEPS must be agreed with the TUNEPS team at HAICOP and with local business stakeholders, UTICA and CONNECT in particular.

V – Delivery of capacity building training for SMEs: Based on the above training programme, the Consultants shall develop in cooperation with business associations and local chamber of commerce and deliver advanced business skills training in the form of a one-day session. Training sessions will be held in district towns in Tunisia as well as Tunis and will be available by invitation only.

To ensure best results, it is required that only SMEs who:

1. a) participated in first tier of training programme;
2. b) submitted at least one online bid on TUNEPS;
3. c) continue fulfil pre-qualification criteria for public tenders

are invited to participate in second-tier advanced trainings.

The objective of the second-tier capacity building programme is to offer in total 24 training sessions, each designed for 20 to 30 SMEs participants and target a maximum of 1000 SMEs.

VI – Evaluation and feedback session:

Further to the delivery of the capacity building training, the Consultant shall hold an evaluation and feedback session with the HAICOP, local consultants and business associations to wrap up the Assignment and to ensure training sessions for contracting authorities are effective and provide a model for regular business and procurement skills training.

Full Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Assignment can be found here: http://www.ebrd.com/documents/legal-reform/advanced-ecommerce-business-skills-training-for-smes.pdf

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

Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in October 2019 and has an estimated overall duration of 24 months.

Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 250,000 (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 special status of the Bank as an IFI and state this to the Bank in their response to the Invitation for Request for Proposal. 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 contract will be financed by EBRD Shareholder Special Fund. 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: Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms preferably with previous project experience related to:

1. Drafting public procurement legal and policy documents;
2. Developing and carrying out eProcurement development and implementation;
3. Designing and delivering training preferably in the SEMED region (Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan);
4. Working with government and international organisations, including in Tunisia;
5. Language proficiency of key experts (both English and French for international experts, and French and Arabic for local experts).

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

1. Key expert 1: An international public procurement policy expert with preferably 8 years or more of public procurement policy and legal drafting experience, as well as training experience, preferably with public procurement authorities in SEMED countries.
   ii. Key expert 2: An international eProcurement expert with preferably 8 years or more experience in electronic public procurement development, as well as training experience.
   iii. Key expert 3: A local public procurement expert with preferably 5 years or more of electronic public procurement experience in Tunisia that will work closely with the local counterparts and international experts throughout the project.

Key experts 1 and 2 must be fluent in English and French. Fluency of Key Expert 3 in French and Arabic is essential.

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-procurement-package-for-firms.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 25 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 following e-mail address: finprop@ebrd.com. Please indicate the Project number and title in the subject heading of your e-mail. 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:

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 15 October 2019.

Selection Method and Evaluation Criteria:

1. Technical Proposal Evaluation Criteria

(a) Previous project experience in the electronic procurement development and implementation, drafting public procurement legal and policy documents and delivering relevant trainings in the SEMED region (Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan), and with proven track record of delivery of similar projects, experience in Tunisia will be considered an advantage (40%).
(b) Quality of the methodology proposed for the Assignment (30%).
(c) CVs of the Key Experts 1-3 (30 %).

The minimum technical score (St) 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.

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