STRENGTHENING OF SLCSI TO PROVIDE BUSINESS SUPPORT SERVICES
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 CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) Standby Facility for Capacity Building under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) in an amount not exceeding the equivalent of two hundred and seventy-one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-six United States dollars (USD271,866) towards the cost of the Developing Saint Lucia’s Services Sector Project. The Saint Lucia Coalition of Services Industries Inc. (SLCSI), the Executing Agency of 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 SLCSI.
1.02 Payments by CDB will be made only at the request of the Executing agency on behalf of the 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 SLCSI shall derive any rights from the Financing Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the financing.
2.0 SCOPE OF CONSULTANCY AND ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
2.01 The SLCSI now intends to procure consultancy services for a firm to undertake the following:
(a) Strengthening the Capacity of Service Providers to Address Constraints to Penetrating the Target Markets Identified; and
(b) Establishing and Operationalising the Business Support Unit at the SLCSI.
2.02 The objectives of this assignment are to:
(a) Improve the competitiveness of service providers in the priority sectors;
(b) Enhance the capacity of service providers to export services to CARICOM markets; and
(c) Establish and operationalise the Business Support Unit (BSU) at the SLCSI.
2.03 The SLCSI now invites eligible consultancy firms to submit Expressions of Interest indicating qualifications and experience required to provide these consultancy services.
2.04 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
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 In the assessment of submissions, consideration will be given to firms which demonstrate:
(a) technical competence, qualifications and experience, including:
i. resources with Post-graduate degree in Business Administration, Economics, International Trade, or a related field.
ii. At least 10 years’ experience in international marketing/export of services including leading trade missions.
iii. Demonstrated experience undertaking business process and market analysis and developing marketing strategies.
iv. Significant and direct experience in private sector capacity building and the design and implementation of export development programmes, preferably targeted at service enterprises.
v. Sound working knowledge of the marketing policies and strategies employed by countries with developed service sectors (i.e., best practices in export development) particularly in the four priority sub-sectors.
vi. Sound understanding of the opportunities for, and challenges to, growth of the services sector in the Caribbean, particularly within the context of CSME and in the four priority sub-sectors.
vii. Sound gender analysis skills as evidenced by prior experience with integrating gender in trade policies, strategies and/or projects.
viii. Prior experience providing export development training and technical support within CARICOM is highly desirable.
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.
2. SUBMISSION OF EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
4.01 Expressions of Interest must be submitted in English and electronically by email to Yvonne.agard@slcsi.org.lc and procurement@caribank.org in pdf format no later than 17:00 hours Saint Lucia time on December 15, 2015. The email subject line should state “Expression of Interest – Strengthening of SLCSI to Provide Business Support Services 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 Executive Director. 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. SLCSI 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.
3. SELECTION METHOD
5.01 The selection method shall be Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS). Therefore, following the receipt of submissions, firms shall be assessed and compared and a short-list, not less than three (3) and not more than six (6) firms, will be provided with the full Terms of Reference (ToR) and invited to submit technical and financial proposals to undertake the assignment.
4. 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 08:30 and 17:00 hours Monday to Friday.
1. Ms M. Yvonne Agard
Executive Director
Saint Lucia Coalition of Services Industries Inc.
#19 Orange Park Commercial Centre Bois d’Orange, Gros Islet P.O. Box Choc 8056, Castries
SAINT LUCIA, W.I.
Tel: (758) 452 7864
Email: Yvonne.agard@slcsi.org.lc
2. Procurement Officer
Caribbean Development Bank
P.O. Box 408
Wildey
St. Michael
BARBADOS, W.I.
Tel: + (246) 431-1600
Fax: + (246) 426-7269
Email: procurement@caribank.org
Request for Expression of Interest Business Support Services Final (186.0 KiB)