Notice of Expression of Interest for the Selection of a firm to update the study on the identification of administrative and technical measures to facilitate the free movement of agro-sylvo-pastoral and fishery products within ECOWAS

The ECOWAS Commission has received funding from the International Development Association (World Bank) to finance the costs of the West Africa Food System Resilience Program (FSRP) and intends to use part of the funding for the payment of the services of a firm to carry out a study

The consultant's services concern: " the updating of the study on the identification of administrative and technical measures to facilitate the free movement of agro-sylvo-pastoral and fishery products in the ECOWAS region".

The ECOWAS Commission, represented by RAAF hereby invites eligible consultants (firms) to express their interest in the provision of the Services. Consultant shall be legally constituted and qualified firms/firms (experience and operational capacity) to conduct the study. For this, the firm/firm must have the following minimum experience and qualifications:

1. be legally constituted for at least 5 years.
2. have at least three (3) successful experiences in intra-regional trade and trade in agri-food products;
3. have at least one (1) experience in proposing draft regulatory texts on the fluidification of trade.
4. Experience in the West African zone would be an advantage.

For the execution of the mission, the firm/firm must have staff with proven skills in intra-regional trade and trade of agri-food products in West Africa :

1. An expert in the trade of livestock products with at least five (5) years of experience and having at least BAC +5 degree;
2. An expert in the trade of fishery products with at least five (5) years of experience and having at least BAC +5 degree;
3. An expert in the trade of agricultural products with at least five (5) years of experience and having at least BAC +5 degree;
4. In addition, the firm must also have a team leader having at least Bac + 5 degree and with a professional experience of at least ten (10) years, who has carried out at least two (2) missions in the field of trade and regional exchanges of agro-sylvo-pastoral and fisheries products in West Africa.

In addition, at least one member of the expert review team must be bilingual (French/English).

The realization of the consultation covers a maximum period of Seventy (70) working days from the date of notification of the approved contract.

As part of its mission, the consulting firm must provide the Regional Coordination of the FSRP with the following elements:

1. A start-up report specifying the methodology adopted;
2. Draft regulatory texts aimed at addressing administrative and technical measures to facilitate the free movement of agro-sylvo-pastoral and fishery products;
3. A final report annexed to the detailed state of administrative and technical measures to facilitate the free movement of agro-sylvo-pastoral and fishery products (cereals, livestock and meat, fishery products, tubers, onions, fruit, vegetables, poultry).

Additional information is contained in the terms of reference accessible through the drive link https://araacedeao.sharepoint.com/:f:/s/Procurement/EiercPh-SUhCu2KmIwmaH5gBt5q9vEaSeCDomirlk9iX0Q?e=fuwGjD.

Interested consultants are invited to turn their attention to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16 and 3.17 of the World Bank's "Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers", July 2016 ("Government Procurement Regulations"), which sets out the World Bank's policy on conflicts of interest.

Firms can join forces with other firms/firms to strengthen their respective skills in the form of a consortium. In the event of a consortium, all members of the consortium shall be jointly and severally liable for the contract in its entirety, if selected.

Following the evaluation of expressions of interest, a consultant will be selected using the “Consultant Qualification Selection (CQS)” method as described in the World Bank's IPF Borrower Procurement Regulations, July 2016, revised in November 2020.

Expression of interest files must contain the following:

• Letter of expression of interest.
• If the consultant is formed as a consortium, a copy of the consortium agreement or a letter of intent to form a consortium.
• A brochure presenting the firm or the Consortium (including administrative documents);.
• Produce information demonstrating that they are qualified and experienced to perform these services. As such, they will justify that they have references of recent and similar services. To meet the qualification criteria listed in point 3 above, these consultants must provide tangible evidence and detailed references for all statements made in terms of experience and capabilities, similar assignments, availability of appropriate skills among their staff, etc.

Each reference provided must be summarized on a project sheet and will only be considered and accepted if the applicant attaches supporting documents indicating the contact details of the contracting authorities in order to facilitate the verification of the information provided, the contracts cited or copies of attestation(s) of good performance of each contract submitted, as issued and signed by the Client.

The Expressions of interest must be submitted no later than October 29th  2023 – at 5 : 00 PM GMT through a download to Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/request/IwZgvnPuO3pcaHSfOhaY

The expression of interest must be in the form of a single PDF file. The RAAF reserves the right not to consider applications that do not comply with the above submission conditions.

Interested consultants can obtain additional information by writing to the following email addresses : procurement@araa.org cc : ctienon@araa.org, mnakorba@araa.org, lbarnabo@araa.org, with the subject « AMI034-indentification des mesures administratives-FSRP ».