Overview
The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Commission (OECSC) has received financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) towards the cost of the OECS Geothermal Energy: Capacity Building for Utilization, Investment and Local Development (GEOBUILD) Programme 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 OECSC 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 OECSC shall derive any rights from the Financing Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the Financing.
The objective of the consultancy is to provide capacity strengthening and general back- stopping support in the form of legal and transactional advisory services, and advisory services for strengthening of the legal and regulatory framework for GE development, to governments pursuing GE development in the Eastern Caribbean. The LTA will provide advice and guidance to relevant government ministries and agencies and government owned electric utilities (where deemed feasible) in relation to key agreements and contracts. Further details can be found in the attached Terms of Reference. The duration of the assignment is expected to be for a period of thirty (30) months under a framework contract. The Consulting team should include at least three (3) key experts. The LTA must present a team of experts with extensive experience [at least seven (7) years] in planning, designing, managing legal advisory and transaction services, programmes and projects in geothermal energy.
The OECSC now invites interested eligible consulting firms to submit Expressions of Interest (EOI) for the provision of these consultancy services.
Eligiblity
A Consultant shall be eligible to participate if they fulfil:
- The following eligibility requirements:
a) in the case of a body corporate, it is legally incorporated or otherwise organized 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.
- The following integrity requirement:
a) is not subject to sanctions under the United Nations (UN) Security Council taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the UN;
b) has not engaged in Prohibited Practices, as detailed in Paragraph 2.02 (a) of the Procedures for Dealing with Fraud and Corruption in CDB-Financed Projects (October 2014 or as updated from time to time);
c) is not suspended or debarred by CDB for engaging in the Prohibited Practices referenced in (2) (b) above;
d) is not publicly debarred by a Multilateral Development Bank subject to the Agreement on Mutual Enforcement of Debarment Decisions in their own right, or under abovementioned agreement; and
e) is not subject to a conflict of interest that would undermine the Consultant's ability to provide professional, objective, and impartial advice.
The OECSC requires that all parties involved in the procurement process avoid and declare promptly and proactively in writing to OECSC any potential, apparent or actual conflicts of interest. Without limitation on the generality of the foregoing, the Consultant shall not be hired under the following circumstances: conflict between consulting activities and procurement of goods, works or non-consulting services, conflict among consulting assignments, and/or close relationships with OECSC staff or other stakeholders involved in or expected to be involved in the procurement or subsequent contract management.
Eligible countries are member countries of CDB and countries eligible for procurement under Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) funded projects, which are not member countries of CDB.
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 shortlisting stage.
Instructions
Interested consultant teams are required to submit their Expression of Interest using the “EOI Consulting Firms template” attached to this REOI or can be made available upon request by contacting Address 1 below or downloaded from the Specific Procurement Notice on CDB’s website.
All information must be submitted in English.
Expressions of Interest must be submitted via email to the first address and copied to the second address below no later than 16:00 hours (Eastern Caribbean Time) on Monday October 2, 2023. Submissions shall include a cover page displaying the name and address of the applicant and shall be clearly marked “Expression of Interest – Consultancy Services for Regional Geothermal Energy Legal and Transaction Advisor for Geothermal Energy Development in the Eastern Caribbean.”
Following the assessment of submissions, a short-list of not less than three and not more than six applicants will be provided with full terms of reference and invited to submit technical and financial proposals to undertake the assignment. The selected firm will be invited to negotiate a framework contract for a period of thirty (30) months to provide the aforementioned consultancy services. OECSC 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.
Contact
Address 1
Procurement Officer
Email: procurementbids@oecs.int
copy: judith.ephraim@oecs.int
Address 2
Procurement Policy Unit
Email: procurement@caribank.org