Overview
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST- FIRMS
SVG-COVID-19-CS-CQS-1
The Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (GOSVG) has received financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) towards the cost of the Improving Response and Resilience of the Health Sector to COVID-19 Project and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds to eligible payments under these contracts. Payment by CDB will be made only at the request of the GOSVG and upon approval by CDB, and will be subject, in all respects, to the terms and conditions of the Loan Agreements. The Loan Agreement prohibits a withdrawal from the Loan 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 GOSVG shall derive any rights from the Loan Agreements or have any claim to the proceeds of the Loans.
The Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Information Technology is the Executing Agency of this Project and now wishes to procure consultancy services for Project Audit.
The objective of the consultancy is for the Auditor to express an opinion (or disclaim an opinion if applicable) on the project’s Statement of Cash Flow and Statement of Cumulative Investments for the accounting period ending on that date. The Project’s books of account provide the basis for preparation of the financial statements and are established to reflect the financial transactions in the Project. Further details can be found in the attached Terms of Reference (TOR).
The duration of the assignment is approximately twelve (12) months with expected inputs estimated at twenty (20) person-days. The Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Information Technology now invites interested eligible consulting firms to submit Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the provision of these consultancy services.
Eligibility
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 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.
For the COVID-19 Response Program, procurement eligibility shall be extended to all eligible countries that are not CDB member countries. 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 applicable and as published on CDB’s website.
In the assessment of submissions, consideration will be given to technical competence, qualifications and experience, local and regional experience on similar assignments, financial capability, and existing commitments. Key Experts will not be evaluated at the EOI submission stage.
Instructions
Interested consultant teams are required to submit their Expressions of Interest using the “EOI Consulting Firms template” attached to this REOI or can be made available upon request by contacting Address 1 below. All information must be submitted in English. Further information may be obtained from Address 1 below between 9:00 am and 3:30 pm Monday to Friday, except on Public Holidays.
The Expression of Interest must be received electronically at Address 1 (PIU) and Address 2 (CDB) addresses below no later than 4:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time) on Wednesday, August 14, 2024. The submission should include the name and address of the applicant and shall be clearly marked “Expression of Interest – Consultancy Services for Project Audit”.
The selection method shall be Consultants’ Qualifications Selection. Therefore, following the receipt of submissions, firms shall be assessed and compared, and the best qualified and experienced firm 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.
The GOSVG 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.
Contacts
Address 1
Attention: Recardo Frederick
Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Information Technology
Bay Street, Kingstown
ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
Email: cenplan@svgcpd.com
Address 2
Caribbean Development Bank
P.O. Box 408
Wildey, St Michael
BARBADOS
