Procurement notice

Assignment Title:  Burgas:  Creditworthiness Enhancement Programme

Executing Agency:  The City of Burgas

Assignment Description:  The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD” or the “Bank”) has provided loan finance to Burgas Regional Water Company (the “Company”), co-financed with grants from the European Commission under the framework of the ISPA programme, to finance an upgrade and expansion of the water and wastewater infrastructure in the City of Burgas (the “City”), and to improve the financial and operational performance of the Company and to address the legal and regulatory reform needed to promote investment in the sector (the “Project”).

The objective of this assignment is to develop a realistic Creditworthiness Enhancement Programme (“CEP”) for the City as required under the Municipal Support Agreement.  The aim of the CEP is to improve the City’s financial and capital budgeting management, so as to improve its creditworthiness, and therefore to improve its ability to attract and manage investment finance in the future. Secondly, the selected consultant will assist the City to implement the CEP, and thus to discharge its obligations under the project agreements especially the Municipal Support Agreement with the Bank.

The consultant shall examine existing practices within the City and shall develop a coherent and complete CEP to include:

• Clear goals, with step by step activities and a timeline to achieve those goals; all activities should be clearly assigned to departments and municipal staff within the City hall.
• Identification of the necessary agreements from the Municipal Council, and or other approval bodies to implement aspects of the CEP.
•  Detailed analysis of organisational arrangements for implementation of the CEP, including recommendations for changes within the organisation structure, and/or the establishment of new unit (s) to support the CEP implementation. This may also include recommendations for the recruitment of new staff.
•  Training needs assessment, short and mid term training plan elaboration and provision of most urgent training seminars to supply municipal staff with knowledge and skills necessary for implementation of the CEP.
• A detailed assessment and costing of any equipment and other facilities required to implement the CEP.
• Detailed guidelines for the implementation of the CEP.

Once developed, the Consultant will support the City in implementing all elements of the CEP.

Assignment Start Date and Duration:  The assignment is expected to commence in February 2009 with a duration of approximately one year.

Maximum Budget available for the Assignment: EUR 321,000; Exclusive of VAT. 

The consultant must determine whether any indirect taxes/VAT are chargeable on the proposed services and state the basis for such determination in the Financial Proposal.  If any indirect taxes/VAT are payable, the client will have to pay indirect taxes/VAT element to the services directly to the consultant/s unless otherwise agreed.

Funding Source: EBRD-ICEX (Spain) Technical Cooperation Fund

Eligibility:  The consultant shall be a firm registered in Spain and the experts will be of Spanish nationality. Up to a maximum of 25% of the total assignment budget may be used to finance services of Bulgarian experts or consulting firms.

Consultant Profile:  Corporate services are required.  The Consultant should ensure that the appropriately qualified experts are available, as required, for each type of tasks outlined in the assignment description. It is expected that the assignment will be led by an appropriately qualified project manager, accompanied by both key and supporting experts.

Interested firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.   In order to determine the capability and experience of consulting firms seeking to be shortlisted, the information submitted should include the following:

•       company profile, organisation and staffing;

•       details of experience or similar assignments undertaken in the previous five years, including their locations;

•       CVs of staff who could be available to work on the assignment.

The above information should not exceed 15 pages excluding CVs.  The expressions of interest, in English, should be submitted to the Executing Agency by post (in an envelope marked “Expression of Interest for Burgas Creditworthiness Enhancement Programme”) or by e-mail, to reach the Client not later than Friday 31 October at 17:00 hrs (local Bulgarian time).  The expression of interest should also include a completed contact sheet.  To access the contact sheet please clickhere  (0.1Mb).

The Executing Agency’s Contact Person:

Ms. Ivelina Vassileva
Deputy Mayor EU Integration
Burgas Municipality
26, Alexandrovska Str.
Burgas 8000
Bulgaria
Tel: +359 56841303
E-mail: ivassileva@obstina-burgas.org

Further two copies should be submitted to the EBRD by post by the same due date.  Alternatively, respondents may submit their expressions of interest to EBRD by e-mail.

The EBRD’s Contact Person:

Ms Yvonne Wilkinson
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: +44 20 7338 7123
Fax: +44 20 7338 6538
E-mail: WilkinsY@ebrd.com

Note: Following this Invitation for Expression of Interest, a shortlist of qualified firms will be formally invited to submit proposals.