SADC Regional Fund for Water Infrastructure and Basic ... · SADC Regional Fund for Water Infrastructure and Basic Sanitation (FRWS) ... and payments; monitor agreed ... operate in

German Development Cooperation with the Southern African Development Community (SADC)

SADC Regional Fund for Water Infrastructure and Basic Sanitation (FRWS)

(SADC Water Fund or the ‘Fund)

BMZ No. 2008 66 665; 2009 70 145

Invitation for the Expression of Interest (Prequalification of Consultants)

Provision of advisory services as

“Systems Consultant”

for FRWS

December 2017

Systems Consultant Invitation for Expression of Interest

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Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) December 2017

I . INVITATION FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

The Development Bank of Southern Africa (PEA, section II) hereby invites qualified

independent consultants to submit a prequalification document for consulting services

required. Funds have been earmarked for this project by the German Financial Cooperation,

provided through KfW Development Bank.

I I . PROJECT EXECUTING AGENCY

The Project Executing Agency subsequently called PEA is the Development Bank of

Southern Africa:

Development Bank of Southern Africa

1258 Lever Rd, Headway Hill,

Midrand 1685,

Gauteng

South Africa

Email: [email protected]

I I I . BACKGROUND OF THE PROGRAMME

Mandated by the SADC Councils of Ministers of Water in July 2009 (Maputo) and May 2010

(Bulawayo), the SADC Secretariat established the Fund for Regional Water Infrastructure

and Basic Sanitation (FRWS) (hereinafter called the “SADC Water Fund” or the “Fund”) as a

financing facility for the development and integration of the water sector in the SADC region.

The SADC Secretariat is the “political owner” of the Fund. Initial financing for the fund has

been provided by the German Financial Cooperation, provided through KfW Development

Bank (KfW). It is foreseen that additional, international cooperation partners (ICPs) can

contribute to the fund.

The Goals of the Fund are to:

Facilitate the implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)

principles and develop IWRM infrastructure within the SADC region.

Have a positive impact on regional development and transboundary cooperation of

neighbouring Member States.

Provide affordable, economically viable and socially sustainable access to safe water

supply to the poor in SADC Member States.

SADC, KfW and Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) have agreed that the fund is

hosted and managed by the DBSA. A fund management unit (FMU) was established at

DBSA in 2015, which is currently staffed by 3 professionals. The FMU is taking care of

operationalisation of the fund, and is managing and supervising the implementation of

selected investment projects.

Main role of the FMU is to manage the FRWS aiming at selecting suitable project proposals

and manage the implementation of the selected investment projects. This includes

coordination among all stakeholders, including financiers, SADC water Secretariat, and

various project applicants.


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The following list represents main tasks of the FMU:

Inform potential project applicants about the funding conditions of FRWS; promotion

of the fund

Call for proposals

Early assessment and screening of submitted project proposals against project

selection criteria

Review and assess submitted feasibility and concept studies; inform project

applicants about required, additional information

Regular information of the Project Management Board (PMB) through reporting and if

required through specialised formats

Prepare funding decisions to the PMB; prepare other suggestions and action plans to

the PMB

Implement decisions of the PMB

Prepare and coordinate financing and project implementation agreements with project

applicants and the future owners of the project after funding decision

Prepare and coordinate no objection requests to the financier of the projects, KfW

Procure consultants for detailed design and construction supervision; coordinate

terms of reference (ToR) for consultants with project applicants

Support the procurement of works as specified in the financing and project

implementation agreements with project owners

Monitoring of project implementation including a review of agreed indicators

Coordinate stakeholders during project implementation

Manage all funds and payments; monitor agreed contributions and payments of

project partners

IV. SCOPE OF SERVICES FOR THE SYSTEMS CONSULTANT

The FMU seeks assistance for the operationalisation of the fund, reviewing and fine-tuning

fund management procedures, updating the evaluation criteria and evaluation process,

screening, evaluation and due diligence process regarding commercial, technical,

environmental and social risks and problems of project proposals, marketing of the fund, and

the support of project applicants by specialised expert advice. Services are requested by

renowned consulting companies/consortia, which will assume a technical support function for

the fund.

Main role and function of the system consultant is therefore to support FRWS in reviewing

gained experience, to identify lessons learned, to update the existing operational procedures

and to develop them further. This includes the review of the existing project selection criteria.

On strategic level, FRWS needs to conduct learning cycles regularly, update its procedures

and develop them further (system development). Proposals need to be screened against the

project selection criteria. On project implementation level management procedures need to

be developed and operationalised. The application and compliance with international

Environment, health and safety (EHS) standards and occupational health and safety (OHS)


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requirements has special importance during implementation of investment projects under the

FRWS.

Further function of the system consultant is to support project applicants and potential

owners of the project in developing project ideas, to submit project applications and to

support management of the projects, if required. Consultants for detailed design need to be

procured, works of the consultants need to be supervised, contracts with construction

companies needs to be prepared and supervised, and financial management need to be

aligned with the requirements for the particular investment projects.

The systems consultant has to provide a panel of experts suitable to fulfil the support

function of the requested services. Expert missions will be called upon individual ToR and

individual calls for the members of the panel of experts. Expert missions will be remunerated

based on submitted timesheets.

All members of the panel of experts are required to travel within SADC region in order to con-

duct project visits. Experts with a broad language knowledge including English, Portuguese

and French therefore will have preference. Since all projects of the FRWS operate in a cross

border environment with a usually high number of stakeholders and a sensitive, political

environment, high communication skills and social competencies are required. Experience in

working in as many SADC member states as possible and knowledge of the different water

sectors of the SADC member states will be an important asset in selection of the experts.

The assistance of the Consultant will be coordinated by the FMU, which is in the centre of

the FRWS business processes, to a lesser extent also on SADC Secretariat.

Services are required in the following task areas:

Task area: Review and further development of the fund’s operational procedures

Task area: Support to project applicants and project owners

Task area: Skills transfer and capacity development of FMU staff

Expert advice is requested in the following professional fields:

Fund management and fund strategic development

Management and organisation of funds, preferably in the water sector

Management of stakeholder processes

Definition of transparent project selection criteria and processes

Financial management

Procurement

Strategic planning

Impact monitoring and reporting

Technical support water and sanitation projects

Water and sanitation systems design and planning

Water and sanitation systems construction and quality control

Water systems and sanitation operations and management

Project development and conceptualization

Assessment of certification of management systems in the areas of quality

management (ISO9001 or equivalent), environmental management (ISO14001 or


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equivalent) as well as Occupational Health and Safety (OHSAS 18001 or equivalent)

Trans-boundary water management and governance

Transboundary cooperation

Conflict and negotiations

Water management and planning

Water and sanitation services management

Institutional analysis and capacity building

V. REQUEST FOR THE EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

Consultants are free to associate themselves with other firms to ensure that all required

know-how and experience are available to them. It is obligatory that international consulting

companies from outside the SADC region liaise with consulting companies based in the

SADC countries for this assignment in order to make available international and regional

know how and experience. Efficient management and backstopping services shall be

available at all times.

The prequalification document in English language shall have the following structure and

content and shall be presented in the same sequence as shown below:

General information:

a) Cover Letter, comprising the firm’s name, address, contact person, telephone, fax

and email, if applicable, mention the association for this project. In case a

representative is signing the documents, a power of attorney to prove his /her

authority to sign the related documents shall be added.

b) Presentations of firms (maximum 4 pages for each firm, no brochures), showing

ownership, structure, legal status and main fields of business of the firm. In case of

an association additionally a presentation of the association inclusive clear

statements of type and configuration of the association, and distribution of key tasks

among the association members.

Statements and Declarations:

c) Declaration of submitting a proposal in case of being short-listed;

d) Statement on affiliations of any kind with other firms, which may present a conflict of

interest in providing the envisaged services, or a statement having no affiliations of

any kind. In case any firm forms part of a group of firms or holding, such firm shall

disclose the relations between the group and holding members in the statement of

affiliations. The statement shall clearly describe all affiliated companies of a group or

holding (holding companies, sister companies and daughter companies) or

alternatively clearly exclude that any affiliated company will be active in the same

assignment. In case of an association - a statement on affiliations is required for all

members of an association.

e) In case of an association – the intended contractual arrangement with international

and local firms, nominating the lead consultant and including letters of intent of


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participating firms including planned scope of works for each participating firm (a fax

copy of such letter of intent is sufficient).

f) Declaration of undertaking to observe the highest standard of ethics during the

bidding process and the execution of the contract. Applicants should be aware that

any fraudulent or corrupt activities disqualify them immediately from participation in

the bidding process and will be subject to further legal investigation. The said

declaration shall be submitted and duly signed as shown in annex 5. In case of an

association - a declaration of undertaking is required for all members of an

association.

Information showing financial capacity of the firm / association:

g) Certified statements of financial capacity of the lead consultant and all partners of a

jointly and severally liable consortium showing the necessary turnover of more than

1.000.000 EUR. Balance sheets and profit and loss accounts of the last three years

must be included.

In case of an association the cumulative annual turnover of the jointly liable

partners will be taken into consideration, which shall reach the minimum yearly

turnover of 1.000.000 EUR. In addition, a minimum average yearly turnover of

500.000 EUR of each jointly liable association member is required (Balance

sheet and profit and loss account of the last three years of all association

members shall be included). Sub-consultants must not present financial

statements.

Interested bidders are advised to show a summary of financial information as shown

in annex 1.

Information showing the professional capacity of the firm / association:

h) List of project references carried out as annex 2 covering the period between 2007

and 2017 and strictly related to the envisaged services (maximum 10 references and

at least 2 references of each liable association member). If more than 10 references

are submitted, the 10 references with the least relevance for the project execution will

be evaluated. The 10 references may include up to 2 project references of sub-

consultants in the list of project references, but it shall be clearly visible, that the

majority of project references relate to jointly liable association members. References

shall allow the evaluation of assessment criteria 1 (see evaluation grid below) and

shall show particular experience in:

Fund management;

Project management;

Water supply and sanitation investment projects;

Transboundary Water Resources Management or other transboundary

cooperation projects.

i) List of available personnel structure for the envisaged services (of all partners)

with information about education, professional experience, regional experience, years

with firm, specific project-related experience and experience in similar posts (see

annex 3, maximum 20 persons). This list shall allow a profound judgement on the

consultants’ general ability to provide the required personnel having the specific

experience for the project in case of an award (criterion 2.1). Personnel who are full


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time employees of the firm or who have a long association with the firm get more

points.

At least two different possibilities for the Team Leader shall be presented in the list of

available personnel structure, but the consultant will in general be free to include

different personnel of comparable quality and experience in case he will be invited to

submit a technical proposal. Full CVs of key staff are not required at this stage.

j) Brief CVs (1 page) of personnel proposed for backstopping and home office support

The submitted CVs shall only show selected, relevant experiences and shall allow a

profound judgement of the consultant's home office staff in the field of backstopping

and professional support (criterion 2.3).

k) Brief overview on the staff resources for each association member (see annex 4)

for the evaluation of criterion 2.2.

VI. SUBMISSION OF EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

Interested consultants are requested to submit concise and clear, but substantial documents

and to adhere to the above structure. Non-compliance with this invitation or faulty information

shall lead to non-qualification. Any missing or surplus of information not specific to the

material requested will be penalised (see also additional information annex 6)

The prequalification proposal shall be submitted in a sealed envelope in one original, and

one electronic copy (PDF files on a suitable data storage medium e.g. CD, DVD, USB stick,

SD card) not later than 10:00 am 23rd January 2018 to the Project-Executing Agency

Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to the following address:

The DBSA Welcome Centre

Development Bank of Southern Africa

1258 Lever Rd, Headway Hill

Midrand

1685

South Africa

All documents received after the set deadline will be rejected automatically without being

evaluated.

Packages containing the Expression of Interest should be clearly marked with the statement:

"Expression of Interest: -Provision of advisory services as System Consultant, Not to be

opened before 23rd January”

Please note that it is not allowed to send prequalification documents by email.

Prequalification documents sent by email will be excluded from evaluation.

All costs for a site visit, obtaining information/data and preparation/submission of the

prequalification document, meetings, discussions etc. in relation with the prequalification or

the subsequent proposal shall be borne by the consultants.

At any time, DBSA either at its own initiative or in response to clarifications requested by an

interested consultant may clarify this invitation (clarification may be requested by email to

[email protected] latest 2 weeks before submission date). Such information shall

be sent in writing by email to all parties, which have informed DBSA about their participation.

Interested consultants are recommended to inform DBSA about their intended

participation.


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VII. EVALUATION OF PREQUALIFICATION DOCUMENTS

A short-list of not more than five prequalified consultants will be established not later than

four weeks after the submission date.

The evaluation procedure for the prequalification process will follow the latest version

(August 2016) of the „Guidelines for Assignment of Consultants in Financial Co-operation

Projects“ (please refer to homepage of KfW Development Bank

“www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de”). Only financially capable firms, which have submitted the

necessary statements satisfying the set conditions will be evaluated. Specific evaluation

criteria and their individual weight are presented in the following table:

Criteria Maximum Score

1. Evidence of relevant experience gained by consultants during the past 10 years (experience of the firm)

45

1.1 Experience in handling similar assignments:

Fund management (10 scores)

Project management (5 scores)

Water supply and sanitation investment projects (5 scores)

Transboundary Water Resources Management / other transboundary cooperation projects(5 scores)

(evaluated by the “list of project references”, see annex 2)

25

1.2 Experience under various working-conditions in developing countries

(evaluated by the “list of project references” see annex 2)

(evaluated by the list of project references)

10

1.3 Experience with working-conditions in SADC countries, preferably in the same sector

(evaluated by the “list of project references”, see annex 2)

5

1.4 Assessment of certification of management systems in the areas of quality management (ISO9001 or equivalent), environmental management (ISO14001 or equivalent) as well as Occupational Health and Safety (OHSAS 18001 or equivalent)

(evaluated by the “presentation of firms”)

5

2. Suitability for this specific project (experience of the available experts) 55

2.1 Assessment of available technical and regional expertise (SADC) specific to this project (key personnel)

Fund management and fund strategic development

Design and implementation of water and sanitation projects

Transboundary water management and governance

(evaluated by the “list of available personal structure”, see annex 3)

30

2.2 Assessment of the company’s overall personnel structure (additional personnel)

(evaluated by the “overview list of staff resources”, see annex 4)

15

2.3 Assessment of the key personnel in permanent employment and always available to monitor the team and provide back-up services from the home office

(evaluated based on Brief CVs of backstopping personnel)

5

2.5 Form of the application documents: Are they complete, concise and related to the project?

5


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After having completed the evaluation of the prequalification documents, a short-list

consisting of the five highest ranked Consultants or less scoring a minimum of 70 points will

be established. Short-listed firms will be invited to submit a technical and financial proposal.

Firms not pre-qualified will be informed accordingly.

The DBSA is not bound to select any consultant.

The preparation and the submission of the prequalification document is the responsibility of

the applicant and no relief or consideration can be given for errors and omissions.

After opening the prequalification documents until preparation of the short-list of the qualified

consultants, no communication of any type shall be entertained unless called for by the

DBSA.

List of Annexes:

Annex 1: Presentation of economic and financial capacity

Annex 2: Sample of ”List of project references”

Annex 3: Sample of ”List of available personnel structure”

Annex 4: Sample of “Overview list overview of staff resources”

Annex 5: Declaration of Undertaking

Annex 6: Additional information about the evaluation procedure


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Annex 1: Presentation of economic and financial capacity

Please complete the following table of financial data based on your annual accounts and your

latest projections. If annual accounts are not yet available for the current year or past year,

please provide your latest estimates in the columns marked with **. Figures in all columns must

be calculated on the same basis to allow a direct, year-on-year comparison to be made (or, if

the basis has changed, please provide an explanation of the change as a footnote to the table).

Any clarification or explanation which is judged necessary may be provided. If the Candidate is

a public body, please provide equivalent information.

Financial data

2 years

before last

year1

2014

EUR

Year

before

last year

2015

EUR

Last year

2016

EUR

Average 2

EUR

Estimations

[Past year

EUR]**

[Current

year

EUR]**

Annual turnover3

excluding this contract

Current Assets4

Current Liabilities5

1 Last year = last accounting year for which the entity's accounts have been closed 2 Amounts entered in the ‘Average’ column must be the mathematical average of the amounts entered in

the three preceding columns of the same row. 3 The gross inflow of economic benefits (cash, receivables, other assets) generated from the ordinary

operating activities of the enterprise (such as sales of goods, sales of services, interest, royalties, and dividends) during the year.

4 A balance sheet account that represents the value of all assets that are reasonably expected to be converted into cash within one year in the normal course of business. Current assets include cash, accounts receivable, inventory, marketable securities, prepaid expenses and other liquid assets that can be readily converted to cash.

5 A company's debts or obligations that are due within one year. Current liabilities appear on the company's balance sheet and include short term debt, accounts payable, accrued liabilities and other debts.


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Annex 2: Sample of ”List of project references”

Ref.No. Project title Name of candidate

Country or region

Overall project value

(consulting fee in EUR)

Proportion carried out by candidate (%)

No. of staff provided

Name of Client

Origin of funding

Dates (start/end)

Name of partners if any

Detailed description project Type of services provided


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Annex 3: Sample of ”List of available personnel structure”

Name of person Age or Year

of birth

Professional experience

(years)

Employment with company

(years)

Professional education/qualification and year of graduation

Position/function within company

(years)

Project related experience/

experience in similar posts

Regional /Country

experience

Languages

Key staff 1 (e.g. Fund management)

Key staff 2 (e.g. Project management)

Key staff 3 (e.g. Water supply and sanitation investment projects)

Key staff 4 (e.g. Transboundary water resources management)

Note: Only the Consultant’s key staff and permanent professional staff as well as long-term associates shall be included in the list. The Consultant is not bound to the above format and may use his standard staff lists. However, the information provided should at least include the items specified above.


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Annex 4: Sample of “Overview list overview of staff resources”

Only mention professional experts (engineers, economists etc.). Administrative or other

support staff of the Firm must not be included (if not acting as expert for the project)! The

overview shall be presented for each firm of a consortium separately, however not for sub-

consultants. In case any firm forms part of a group of firms or holding: do only provide

information on your own legal entity, no summarizing information of the other entities in your

holding will be accepted.

Staff resources Year before last Last year This year

Firm’s name Overall

Staff

relevant to

this

project

Overall

Staff

relevant to

this

project

Overall

Staff

relevant to

this

project

Permanent staff

Other staff6

Total

Permanent staff as a proportion of total staff (%)

% % % % % %

6 Other staff such as freelance staff members or other contractually associated staff


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Annex 5: Declaration of Undertaking

We underscore the importance of a free, fair and competitive contracting procedure that

precludes abusive practices. In this respect we have neither offered nor granted directly or

indirectly any inadmissible advantages to any public servant or other person nor accepted

such advantages in connection with our bid, nor will we offer or grant or accept any such

incentives or conditions in the present tendering process or, in the event that we are awarded

the contract, in the subsequent execution of the contract. We also declare that no conflict of

interest exists in the meaning of the kind described in the corresponding Guidelines7.

We also underscore the importance of adhering to environmental and social standards in the

implementation of the project. We undertake to comply with applicable labour laws and the

Core Labour Standards of the International Labour Organization (ILO) as well as national and

applicable international standards of environmental protection and health and safety

standards.

We will inform our staff of their respective obligations and of their obligation to fulfil this

declaration of undertaking and to obey the laws of the member states of the Southern African

Development Community.

We also declare that our company/all members of the consortium has/have not been

included in the list of sanctions of the United Nations, nor of the EU, nor of the German

Government, nor in any other list of sanctions and affirm that our company/all members of

the consortium will immediately inform the Client and KfW if this situation occurs at a later

stage.

We acknowledge that, in the event that our company (or a member of the consortium) is

added to a list of sanctions that is legally binding on the Client and/or KfW, the Client shall be

entitled to exclude us/the consortium or, if the contract is awarded to our company/the

consortium, to immediately cancel such contract if the statements made in the Declaration of

Undertaking were objectively false or the reason for exclusion from the tender procedure

occurs after the Declaration of Undertaking has been issued.

.............................. ................... .......................................................

(Place) (Date) (Name of company)

.......................................................

(Signature(s))

7 See “Guidelines for the Assignment of Consultants in Financial Cooperation with Partner Countries“ and “Guidelines for Procurement of Goods, Works and associated Services in Financial Cooperation with Partner Countries”


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Annex 6: Additional information about the evaluation procedure

After opening, the pre-qualification documents will be checked for responsiveness to the set

requirements. Non-conforming or partly submitted statements and declarations will lead to

the exclusion of further evaluation:

Missing or insufficient statements of financial capacity of all associated, jointly liable

partners are considered as exclusionary. A statement of financial capacity of sub-

consultants is not required.

In case of an association, a missing letter of intent of each of the participating firms is

considered as exclusionary.

Missing statements on affiliation of any kind of the associating members including

sub-consultants is considered as exclusionary.

In exceptional cases, particularly when otherwise no suitable competition could be

established, the PEA in coordination with KfW may agree that consultants can be requested

to submit the required information subsequently.

The following missing, non-conforming or partly submitted statements and declarations will

lead to a decrease of evaluation criteria 2.4 (Form of the application documents):

Declaration of submitting a proposal in case of being shortlisted

Declaration or partly missing declarations to observe the highest standard of ethics

Cover letter

Presentation of firms

List of project references

Brief CVs,

List of available personnel structure

It is not the task of the evaluation team to track information. For instance, it is recommended

to summarise information about turn over and net profit/loss from the balance sheets in a

covering sheet. Information should be concise. Documents should be well arranged for easy

reference of information. Unspecific and unorganised presentation of documents leads to

devaluation of criteria 2.4 and possibly also other evaluation criteria, when the required

information cannot be tracked.

Additional information for the evaluation of references of associations

It is required to state the relations to independent branches or other consulting companies

owned by a holding in the statement of affiliations. International consulting companies that

cooperate with a local branch, which is a legally independent entity, must establish an

association with this company, even if this branch is entirely owned by the holding company.

Companies of a holding company will be considered as independent company for the

evaluation of references. For instance, it is not possible for a local branch to use references

of the holding company, when no association is established and vice versa. Though, in case

of an association, a holding may submit joint references with its local branch.

Assessment of certification systems

Beside a brief description of the certification system in the requested “presentation of the

firms”, the firms, which apply ISO or other certification systems shall show evidence by

including a copy of the corresponding certificate in the “presentation of firms”.


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Form of PDF documents

PDF documents may be used by the evaluation team for analysing the expression of interest.

For easy reference the bidder shall submit documents that are suitable for character

recognition (not submitted as scanned picture). Alternatively bookmarks for tracking the

different sections of the documents may be added.