Trade and Communications Consultant – St. Lucia

GOVERNMENT OF SAINT LUCIA

ENHANCING SAINT LUCIA’S TRADING ENVIRONMENT AND EXPORT CAPABILITIES

TRADE AND COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

1. BACKGROUND

1.01     The Government of Saint Lucia (GOSL) has received financing by way of a grant from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) pursuant to the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Standby Facility for Capacity Building under the 10^th European Development Fund (EDF) in an amount not exceeding the equivalent of United States Dollars, two hundred and thirty-six thousand, two hundred and seventy-one, (USD 236,271.00) towards the cost of the “Enhancing Saint Lucia’s Trading Environment and Export Capabilities” Project. The Ministry of External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation (MEAITCA), the Implementing Agency for the Project, intends to apply a portion of the proceeds of this financing to eligible payments under a contract for which this invitation is issued, pursuant to the Financing Agreement between CDB and GOSL.

1.02     Payments by CDB will be made only at the request of GOSL and upon approval by CDB, and will be subject in all respects to the terms and conditions of the Financing Agreement. The Financing Agreement prohibits withdrawal from the financing account for the purpose of any payment to persons or entities, or for any import of goods, if such payment or import, to the knowledge of CDB, is prohibited by a decision of the United Nations Security Council taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations. No party other than GOSL shall derive any rights from the Financing Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the financing.

2. SCOPE OF CONSULTANCY AND ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

2.01     The MEAITCA now intends to procure consultancy services for a Trade and Communications Consultant.

2.02     The objective of the consultancy is to strengthen the capacity of the MEAITCA to communicate with senior members of the public and private sectors and civil society as well as other EPA implementing agencies. This Consultancy shall be executed over a period of seven (7) months.

2.03     The MEAITCA now invites eligible individual consultants to submit Expressions of Interest indicating qualifications and experience required to provide these consultancy services.

2.04     The Consultant shall be eligible to participate if:

(a) he or she is a citizen or a bona fide resident of an eligible country; and

(b) in all cases, the consultant:

(i)        has no arrangement and undertakes not to make any arrangements whereby any substantial part of the net profits or other tangible benefits of the contract will accrue or be paid to a person not a citizen or bona fide resident of an eligible country;

(ii)       is not bankrupt or insolvent or in the process of either, or having their affairs administered by the Courts, has not entered into an arrangement with creditors, or is in any analogous situation arising from similar procedures provided for in their national legislation or regulations;

(iii)      has not been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment which has the force of res judicata;

(iv)      has not been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation or any other illegal activity detrimental to the EU’s financial interest;

(v)       is not guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required as a condition of the participation in the procedure or if they fail to supply this information; and

(vi)      does not expose a conflict of interest.

2.05     Consultants from Saint Lucia and other member countries of CDB, as well as EU Member Countries, which are not CDB Member Countries, and other countries which are eligible under EU procurement provisions,[1] will be eligible to participate in these procurement opportunities.

3. SELECTION CRITERIA

3.01     The Consultant should possess the following:

(a) post-graduate degree in Communications or other relevant discipline;

(b) at least eight (8) years’ relevant experience including experience in designing and implementing results-focused and gender-responsive communication strategies;

(c) at least five (5) years’ experience providing communications advisory services and products for external trade purposes, ideally with/for a Ministry of a CARIFORUM State and/or in a regional or sub-regional organisation, a sound working knowledge and awareness of the World Trade Organisation Agreement especially the General Agreement on Trade in Services and the EPA;

(d) a sound understanding of the status of EPA implementation in the region and the challenges to furthering and increasing the pace of the implementation process; and

(e) a sound working understanding of regional and national initiatives (recent, ongoing, and/or planned) aimed at furthering and increasing the pace of the EPA implementation process.

4. SUBMISSION OF EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

4.01     Expressions of Interest must be submitted in English and electronically by email to lisa.philip@govt.lc in pdf format no later than 16:30 hours, Saint Lucia time on Friday, 30 October 2015. The email subject line should state “Expression of Interest – Trade and Communications Consultant” and the email body must state the name and address of the applicant. The Expression of Interest will be deemed to have been received at the time that it is received by the EPA Coordinator at the Ministry of External Affairs, International Trade and Civil Aviation. The burden of proving receipt of the e-mail will be on the applicant and will not be met solely by a read receipt or sent items report generated by the bidder’s computer. In addition, three (3) hard copies of the Expressions of Interest must be received at the first address below and one (1) hard copy must be sent simultaneously to CDB at the second below. The sealed envelope containing each submission should include the name and address of the applicant and shall be clearly marked “Expression of Interest – Trade and Communications Consultant.” GOSL reserves the right to accept or reject late applications or to cancel the present invitation partially or in its entirety. It will not be bound to assign any reason for not selecting any applicant and will not defray any costs incurred by any applicant in the preparation and submission of Expressions of Interest.

5. SELECTION METHOD

5.01     Following the assessment of submissions, the most technically capable and appropriately experienced applicant will be invited to negotiate a contract to provide the consultancy services.

6. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

6.01     All information or request for information must be submitted in English. Further information may be obtained from the first address below between 8:30 – 16:30 hours Monday to Friday.

[1] External action financial instruments and European Development Fund, Rules on participation in procurement procedures and grants, a2a_ecprogrammes_eligibility2014_2020_en.doc, page 7 of 11.

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