Overview
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has allocated an amount equivalent to Euro seven million (EUR 7,000,000) from the European Union (EU), EU-CDB Regional Food Security Programme and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds of this to eligible payments under a contract for which this invitation is issued. Payment by CDB will be made only at the request of the client and upon approval by CDB, and will be subject, in all respects, to the terms and conditions of the Contribution Agreement. The Contribution Agreement prohibits a withdrawal from the 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 CDB shall derive any rights from the Contribution Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the funds.
CDB now wishes to procure consultancy services for the “Technical and Operational Assessment of Schooner Vessel – Dominica”.
The objective of the consultancy is to determine the most technical and cost-effective option for refurbishing the vessel to support the safe and efficient transport of less-than-container-load (LCL) agricultural cargo. This will include: (i) conducting a rapid technical and economic viability assessment; (ii) preparing the dry-dock Scope of Work (SoW), subject to a positive viability determination; (iii) independently verifying the dry-dock's condition assessment; (iv) designing a modular cold-chain solution tailored to LCL agricultural trade; and (v) supervising the Bank-financed refurbishment works in accordance with CDB procurement procedures and environmental and social safeguard requirements.
The duration of the assignment is expected to be for a period of twenty-one (21) weeks.
CDB now invites interested eligible consulting firms to submit Expressions of Interest for the provision of these consultancy services.
Eligibility
A Consulting Firm shall be eligible to participate if they fulfil the following eligibility requirements:
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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;
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in the case of unincorporated firms, the persons are citizens or bona fide residents of an eligible country; and
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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 CDB Borrowing member countriesand extended beyond CDB Member Countries to include countries eligible for procurement under EU-funded projects.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 (November 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 shortlisting stage.
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Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Virgin Islands
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EU member states, Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)States (CARIFORUM) States: Antigua & Barbuda: the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Commonwealth of Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Co-operative Republic of Guyana(“Guyana”) Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, CARIFORUM Member States
Instructions
Interested consultant teams are required to submit their Expression of Interest using the “EOI Consulting Firms template” attached to this REOI.
All information must be submitted in English. Further information may be obtained from the first address below between 09:00 and 16:00 hours Monday to Friday.
Electronic submissions of the Expressions of Interest must be received at the first address below no later than October 14, 2026, 16:00 hours AST. The Expression of Interest will be deemed to have been received at the time that it is received by CDB. The burden of proving receipt of the e-mail will be on the applicant and will not be met solely by a read receipt or sent items report generated by the Consulting Firm’s computer. The e-mail containing each submission should include the name and address of the applicant. The subject line shall be clearly marked “Expression of Interest – Consultancy Services for Technical and Operational Assessment of Schooner Vessel – Dominica”.
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. CDB 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.
Consultants are advised to view CDB’s General Privacy Notice for information on how CDB manages and protects personal data.
Contacts
Address 1
EU-CDB Regional Food Security Programme