Overview
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
(This is a republication of the Original Notice published November 24, 2023)
The Government of the Dominican Republic (GODR) has received financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) through resources provided to CDB by European Union (EU) under the CARIFORUM-EU EPA and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy Standby Facility for Capacity Building in an amount equivalent to EUR 324,806 towards the cost of “Strengthening the Export Capacity of Agro-producers in the DR to Access the European Union and CARIFORUM Market” Project and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds of this financing to eligible payments under a contract for which this invitation is issued. Payments by CDB will be made only at the request of GODR 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 GODR shall derive any rights from the Financing Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the Financing.
The Ministry of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs, through the Vice Ministry of Foreign Trade (VICOMEX), the Implementing Agency of the Project, now wishes to procure services for the following assignment under the project - “Consultancy services for the design and procurement of cold storage.”
The objective of the consultancy is to provide support to VICOMEX and ADOEXPO for the procurement, purchase and installation of four walk-in cold storage rooms. The duration of the assignment is expected to be a maximum of ten (10) days over a period of six (6) months. Further details can be found in the attached Terms of Reference.
VICOMEX, now invites eligible individual consultants to submit Expression of Interest for the provision of the consultancy services. Firms may also propose an Individual Consultant from their permanent staff or other experts they might recruit.
Eligibility
Consultants shall be eligible to participle if:
(a) The persons are citizens or bona fide residents of an eligible country; and
(b) In all cases, the consultant 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.
Eligible countries are 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.[1] Consultants are advised to review the detailed eligibility criteria detailed in Section 4 and conflict of interest provisions in Section 5 of the Procurement Procedures for Projects Financed by CDB (January, 2021), as published on web del CDB (https://www.caribank.org/work-with-us/procurement).
In the assessment of submissions, consideration will be given to technical competence, qualifications and experience on similar assignments. When a candidate is proposed through a Firm, only the experience and qualification of the Individual Consultant will be considered in the selection process, and the corporate experience of the company won’t be taken into account.
All information must be submitted in English or Spanish. Further information may be obtained from the first email address below between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (Dominican Republic time) Monday to Friday.
[1] See eligible countries:- https://www.caribank.org/publications-and-resources/resource-library/document/cdb-european-union-eligibility-criteria-cariforum-eu-economic-partnership-agreement-and-caricom
Instructions
An electronic copy of expression of interest must be sent in PDF format to the email in the first address listed below no later than 4:30 p.m. (Dominican Republic time) on May 31, 2024, and one electronic copy must be sent simultaneously to CDB at the second address listed below. The Expression of Interest will be deemed to have been received at the time that it is received by Ministry of Industry, Trade and MSMEs, through the Vice Ministry of Foreign Trade (VICOMEX), at the first email address below. 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 Consultant’s computer. The e-mail containing each submission should include the name and address of the applicant. The subject line shall be clearly marked “Expression of Interest - Consultancy Services for the Design and Procurement of Cold Storage”.
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. When Individual Consultants have applied through a Firm, the contract will be signed with the Firm[1]. In case of Individual Consultants nominated by a Firm, no substitution of any Individual Consultant who was initially proposed and evaluated will be permitted. To this effect, the EOI must confirm that the individual is available and willing to perform the role if selected, for the whole duration of the assignment.
GODR 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 engaging the services of any applicant and will not defray any costs incurred by any applicant in the preparation and submission of Proposals.
[2] CDB Conflict of Interest provisions will apply to the parent firm. See pages 30-31 of the CDB procurement procedures (2021):- https://www.caribank.org/sites/default/files/publication-resources/Procurement%20Procedures%20for%20CDB%20financed%20projects_Jan%202021-final_0.pdf
Contacts
(1) Ministry of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs, through the Vice Ministry of Foreign Trade (VICOMEX),
Dominican Republic
Web page: https://www.micm.gob.do/
(2) Procurement Policy Unit
Barbados, WI BB11000