Procurement Notice

Types of Assignments

Assignments will support project preparation activities for one of the following four types of projects that are eligible to receive support from the CDB CC PPF: 

1. Type 1: Capital projects/programmes that focus on addressing the underlying drivers of climate change and/or the underlying causes of climate change vulnerability. These projects aim to make direct and significant contributions to the climate change adaptation and mitigation priorities of CDB’s client countries. The CC PPF may finance/support a broad range of eligible activities for Type 1 projects.

    

2. Type 2: Climate-related capital projects/programmes that aim to access international concessional climate funds. The CC PPF will support early-stage activities, such as project identification and concept note development, that must be completed before accessing support from international/multilateral climate funds. CDB would support these projects as the implementing entity (e.g., Accredited Entity, Regional Implementing Entity) that is accredited to access resources from the concessional climate funds.

    

3. Type 3: Capital projects/programmes that focus on addressing broader sustainable development needs and integrate measures to manage and/or reduce physical climate risks. While these projects may not focus primarily on addressing countries' climate change adaptation or mitigation needs, they have significant potential to enhance resilience, especially when a Climate Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (CRVA) is conducted early in the preparation process. The CC PPF will therefore finance/support CRVAs for Type 3 projects.

    

4. Type 4: Resilience-focused technical assistance projects financed by CDB. These projects aim to build the capacity of CDB’s client countries related to disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. The CC PPF will provide financing/support to client countries to identify projects and prepare application documents for Type 4 projects.

Assignments will support one or more of the following types of eligible project preparation activities:

1. Early-stage project identification and design work, including pre-feasibility studies: Support will be provided for the identification and development of capital projects/programmes and resilience-focused technical assistance projects at the national or regional level in line with country priorities and targets.

    

2. Feasibility studies and project design support: The CC PPF will support the evaluation of the technical, economic, financial, and environmental viability of proposed projects/programmes to ensure they are effective and sustainable. This includes developing and evaluating the project's financial structure and business model to ensure its financial viability, sustainability, and attractiveness to potential financiers. This may include data collection, research, site-specific technical appraisals, cost-benefit analysis, market research, and estimated GHG reduction calculations, among other activities.

    

3. Climate risk and vulnerability assessments: Such assessments aim to identify how climate change may affect/undermine a specific capital project, determine to what extent the performance and design of the capital project are vulnerable to climate change, and recommend measures that will improve its climate resilience.

    

4. Assessments of climate change impacts to develop a climate change rationale: The CC PPF will support comprehensive assessments that evaluate the impacts of climate change on specific sectors and communities to inform core project design and identify how the enhanced project design can contribute to the resilience of the sectors and communities. Further, the assessments may include estimating the GHG emissions reduction potential of the projects/programmes. These assessments will establish the climate change rationale of the capital projects/programmes from adaptation and/or mitigation perspectives.

    

5. Assessments of baseline conditions: Support will be provided to gather and analyse data on environmental, social, and economic conditions to understand the baseline scenario before project implementation. The data collected may inform other studies, such as feasibility studies, in comparing scenarios with and without the project under a climate change projection and against a baseline situation.

    

6. Environmental, social, and gender studies: The CC PPF will support comprehensive evaluations of the environmental, social, and gender-related impacts of projects/programmes with a view to enabling compliance with CDB policies and standards on environmental and social risk management, as well as gender and social inclusion.

    

7. Executing agency capacity assessments: The CC PPF will support assessments to evaluate the capacity of prospective executing agencies to effectively execute specific projects/programmes.

    

8. Pre-contract services: This support involves the drafting of detailed tender documents and Terms of Reference (TOR), which outline the scope of work, project requirements, evaluation criteria, and expectations for potential contractors or consultants. These documents serve as the basis for soliciting and evaluating bids, ensuring that all proposals are aligned with the project’s objectives and standards.

    

9. Preparation of applications and extended support: The CC PPF will support the preparation of relevant application documents such as concept notes and project preparation grant requests to concessional climate funds and requests to CDB for technical assistance. This may include extended support to address the feedback, queries, and comments received from the concessional climate funds or CDB after the initial submission of applications until the applications are approved.

Duration of the Framework Agreement

Successful candidates will be registered on the CC-PPCR for an initial period of two (2) years, with the possibility of a further extension of up to two (2) years.  

No Guarantee of Award

It is important to note that entry into the roster does not guarantee any work. While inclusion in the roster provides the opportunity to be considered for a call-off contract, it does not guarantee award of such contracts. Assignments will be dependent on the specific needs of the Bank and its BMCs. 

Call-Off Process Types

Consulting firms and individual consultants will not compete against each other for call-off opportunities and opportunities will either be designed for individuals or firms. For both firms and individual consultants, the selection of consultants under a call-off process will follow one of the following approaches:

a. Mini-competition

This process is based on objective evaluation criteria outlined in the call-off notice and in the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the specific assignment. The criteria will consider the core requirements of the assignment to ensure fair and transparent selection. This selection method might include soliciting competitive quotes and/or proposals from some or all the roster members within the relevant category (firm or individual consultants) and area of expertise. 

b.  Direct Selection

Might be employed, based on objective criteria, particularly for assignments of limited scope or low value, where conducting a competitive process would be inefficient, or for assignments that require specific and/or not readily available expertise. The use of this approach will be subject to internal approvals and justified based on the assignment’s specific nature and requirements. Criteria for direct selection might include: geographic location of the consultant with respect to the location of the required services; specialised consultant expertise; previous consultant experience. 

At the call-off stage, firms included in the Roster may be permitted to form associations with other consultants, including entities not originally listed in the Roster. All members of the association must comply with CDB’s applicable eligibility and conflict of interest requirements. The specific requirements and conditions governing such associations will be detailed in each call-off solicitation. Call-Off Process Details

As part of the call-off process, consultants will receive a description of the scope of tasks they are expected to undertake. If selected, a Statement of Work (SOW) will be issued, clearly specifying:

• Objectives and tasks to be completed

• Expected deliverables

• Timeframes for completion

• Price mechanism for the assignment

Fees, charge rates, and pricing mechanisms will be agreed upon at the call-off stage to ensure clarity and alignment with the assignment's scope.

Submission of Expressions of Interest to be included in the Roster

CDB now invites interested eligible consultants (firms and individuals) to submit Expressions of Interest to be included in the CC-PPCR. Applications should clearly indicate the consultant’s:

• interest and capacity to provide services for one or more of the types of eligible projects detailed under (1), (2), (3) and (4) above; and

• interest and capacity to provide services for one or more of the types of eligible activities detailed under (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), and (i) above.

For Consultancy Firms: Interested consultancy firms must submit their applications using the EOI Submission Template provided as an attachment to this REOI.

For Individual Consultants: Interested individual consultants must submit their EOI in the form of an up-to-date CV along with a cover letter, and any necessary attachments, clearly outlining their relevant qualifications and experience in relation to the various consultancy services they have expressed interest in providing.

Consultants shall be eligible to participate if they meet the following qualifications criteria:

For Consulting Firms

(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 Individual Consultants

(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 all countries. However, for some call-off assignments, country eligibility might be restricted to CDB member countries only^[1].

In addition, in order to comply with CDB’s integrity requirements, consultants shall not:

1. be subject to sanctions invoked by the United Nations (UN) Security Council under Chapter VII of the Charter of the UN;

2. have engaged in Prohibited Practices, as detailed in Paragraph 2.02 a) of the Procedures for Dealing with Fraud and Corruption in CDB-Financed Projects[1]^/ (October 2014 or as updated from time to time);

3. be suspended or debarred by CDB for engaging in the Prohibited Practices referenced in (2) (b) above;

4. be publicly debarred by an MDB subject to the Agreement on Mutual Enforcement of Debarment Decisions in their own right, or under abovementioned agreement; or

5. be subject to a conflict of interest that would undermine the consultant's ability to provide professional, objective, and impartial advice. 

Should a consultant admitted to the roster become ineligible to meet any applicable qualification criteria, including country and integrity requirements, at any point during the framework agreement, CDB reserves the right to remove the consultant from the roster. The consultant will be notified in advance and provided an opportunity to clarify or address the issue before any final action is taken.

In the assessment of submissions, consideration will be given to the qualifications and experience on similar assignments to those detailed above but generally consultants should have the following minimum qualifications and experience:

1. Expertise. Firms and individual consultants must demonstrate that they possess expertise in one or more of the following areas, which collectively constitute the eligible themes of the CC PPF:

i.          Resilient infrastructure.

ii.         Integrated resilient urban development.

iii.        Climate-resilient communities.

iv.        Climate-resilient natural resources management and ecosystem-based adaptation.

v.         Climate-smart agriculture.

vi.        Disaster risk management.

vii.       Renewable energy.

Viii.     Energy efficiency.

ix.        Low-emissions transport.

x.         Water conservation, sanitation and waste management.

2. Experience.

(i)      Firms should have at least eight (8) years of relevant experience supporting the identification, design and preparation of projects in an international development context, including projects financed by Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) or equivalent (e.g., UN entities, bilateral development partners).

(ii)     Individual consultants should have at least four (4) years of relevant experience supporting the identification, design and preparation of projects in an international development context, including projects financed by MDBs or equivalent.

3. Knowledge. Firms and individual consultants must demonstrate that they possess in-depth knowledge of the Caribbean region and the climate change adaptation and mitigation needs of Caribbean countries.

4. Skills. Firms and individual consultants must demonstrate that they:

(i)     are able to provide high quality technical advice clearly and concisely, both verbally and in writing; and

(ii)    can deliver services using a client-centric approach with the ability to work effectively in cross-functional and cross-cultural teams.