Capacity Building for HACCP – Dominica

GOVERNMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF DOMINICA

ENHANCING DOMINICA’S TRADING ENVIRONMENT AND EXPORT CAPACITY

CAPACITY BUILDING FOR HACCP CONSULTANT

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

1. Background

The Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica has received financing by way of a grant from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) pursuant to the EC-CARIFORUM 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 two hundred and twenty six thousand, nine hundred and seventy-nine United States dollars (USD226,979) towards the cost of “Capacity Building for HACCP”. The GOCD will execute this project through the Ministry of Trade, Energy and Employment (MTEE) and 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 MTEE.

Payments by CDB will be made only at the request of GOCD 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 GOCD 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

MTEE now intends to procure consultancy services for Capacity Building.

The objective of the assignment, to be carried out by a consulting firm, is to provide technical assistance (TA) to GOCD for building the capacity of food enterprises to implement Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)

The duration of the assignment is expected to be for a period of 68 person-days over 12 calendar months.

MTEE now invites interested eligible consulting firms to submit Expressions of Interest for the provision of these consultancy services[1].

Consultants shall be eligible to participate if:

(i) 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;

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

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

(aa)      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;

(bb)      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 procedure provide for in their national legislation or regulations;

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

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

(ee)      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

(ff)       does not expose a conflict of interest

Consultants from Dominica, 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, will be eligible to participate in these procurement opportunities[2].

3. Selection Criteria

In the assessment of submissions, consideration will be given to firms which demonstrate available resources with the following:

Technical competence, qualifications and experience, including:

• Resources with a University degree and Lead Auditor certification from a recognised auditor registration authority.
• At least 10 years’ work experience in implementing HACCP in the food industry. Experience in the CARICOM Region and/or in a developing country will be an asset.
• Excellent command of written and spoken English.

4. Submission of Expressions of Interest

Expressions of Interest must be submitted in English and electronically by email: pssectrade@dominica.gov.dm in pdf format no later than 16.00 hours Dominica Time on Tuesday, November 17^th, 2015.  The email subject line should state “Expression of Interest – Capacity Building 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 Permament Secretary, Ministry of Trade, Energy and Employment. 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 no later than 16.00 hours Dominica time on Tuesday, November 17^th, 2015 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 – Capacity Buildings Consultancy”. MTEE 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 short-listing any applicant and will not defray any costs incurred by any applicant in the preparation and submission of Expressions of Interest.

5. Selection Method

The selection method shall be Consultants’ Qualifications Selection. Therefore, following the assessment of submissions, 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

All information or request for information must be submitted in English. Further information may be obtained from the first address below between 08.00 and 16.00 hours Monday to Friday.

[1] Terms of Reference are attached

[2] 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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