Market Access Consultancy – St. Lucia

GOVERNMENT OF SAINT LUCIA

ENHANCING SAINT LUCIA’S TRADING ENVIRONMENT AND EXPORT CAPABILITIES

MARKET ACCESS CONSULTANCY

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 Market Access Consultants.

2.02      The objective of the consultancy is to assist Saint Lucia’s trade promotion and business support organisations (TPOs/BSOs) with the development of market penetration and capacity building plans for selected enterprises and targeted European Union (EU) markets (France, Germany and Spain); and build the capacity of the TPOs/BSOs to deliver support services, which are gender responsive, socially inclusive and relevant to increasing Saint Lucia’s export of goods and services. Terms of Reference with further details are available on request from the following email address: lisa.philip@govt.lc. The duration of the assignment is expected to be over a period of fourteen (14) calendar months.

2.03      The MEAITCA now invites interested eligible consulting firms to submit Expressions of Interest for the provision of these consultancy services.

2.04      Consultants shall be eligible to participate if:

(a)        in the case of a body corporate: it is legally incorporated or otherwise organised in an eligible country, has its principal place of business in an eligible country and is more than 50 per cent beneficially owned by citizen(s) and/or bona fide resident(s) of eligible country(ies) or by a body(ies) corporate meeting these requirements;

(b)        in the case of unincorporated firms, the persons are citizens or bona fide residents of an eligible country; and

(c)        in all cases, the consultant(s):

(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 assignment should be conducted by a firm. The consulting team should comprise a Market Access Consultant (Goods) and a Market Access Consultant (Services). In the assessment of submissions, consideration will be given to the following combination of qualifications and experience:

(a) technical competence, qualifications and experience, including:

(i) postgraduate qualifications in international trade, international marketing, international economics or a related field;

(ii) at least ten (10) years’ experience at a senior level in delivering trade promotion services within a development agency or a private sector company; hands-on experience in conducting or managing the conduct of market research and conducting business matchmaking in the EU for both goods and services;

(iii) experience in conducting gender-sensitive needs assessments/ERA of goods and services firms, preparing market penetration plans, and building the capacity of firms to enter global markets;

(iv) experience in global marketing of goods and services; a successful track record of assisting goods and service enterprises to enter the EU market and familiarity with the marketing and distribution systems and players in the targeted EU markets;

(v) knowledge of the business and trade environment within CARICOM member states. Prior work experience in providing trade promotion and business support services within CARICOM member states will be an asset; and

(vi) experience in designing and implementing gender-responsive export development interventions, projects or programmes.

(b) local and regional experience on similar assignments;

(c) financial capacity; and

(d) existing commitments.

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 – Market Access Consultancy” 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. 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 hard copy must be sent simultaneously to CDB at the second address below. The sealed envelope containing each submission should include the name and address of the applicant and shall be clearly marked “Expression of Interest – Market Access Consultancy.” 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      The selection method shall be Consultants’ Qualifications selection. Therefore, firms shall be assessed and compared, and the best qualified and experienced firm that satisfies the criteria in paragraph 3 above shall be selected. Only the selected firm shall be asked to submit a combined technical and financial proposal and, if such proposal is responsive and acceptable, be invited to negotiate a contract.

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.

The post Market Access Consultancy – St. Lucia appeared first on Caribbean Development Bank.