Overview
The OECS Commission has received financing from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) towards the implementation of Enhanced Country Poverty Assessments in nine (9) OECS Member States - Grant Agreement No. GA 167/REG. The OECS intends to apply a portion of the funds to eligible payments under the contract for which this invitation is issued. Payments by the OECS Commission will be made 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 the OECS Commission shall derive any rights from the Financing Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the Financing.
The OECS Commission, the Executing Agency, now wishes to procure Consultancy Services for The Preparation of The National Report of Living Conditions for The Survey of Living Conditions and Household Budget Survey (SLC-HBS) Component for Seven OECS Member States - Anguilla, Antigua And Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat and St. Kitts and Nevis.
The objective of the consultancy is to:
- Prepare a comprehensive National Report of Living Conditions for each requesting Member State including a Draft Programme of Action (POA) for Enhancing Social development Programmes. The Report is expected to present inter alia, a detailed analysis of the living conditions in the Member State, including the determination of the characteristics, extent, geographic concentration (by local government administrative jurisdictions and urban versus rural where applicable), and severity and causes of poverty. The study should emphasise analysis of the poverty situation for men, women, youth and children, the processes that generate and maintain conditions conducive to poverty, existing responses to the poverty situation and the means available to for more vigourous and effective actions to reduce poverty. The report should also include a baseline assessment on the current status in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Review the constructed Multidimensional Poverty Index and discuss any procedural errors or incorrect STATA codes used in its construction.
Further details can be found in the Terms of Reference available here. The duration of the assignment is expected to be for a period of 60- person days over a period of six months.
The OECS Commission now invites interested eligible consulting firms to submit Expressions of Interest for the provision of these consultancy services.
Eligiblity
Consultants shall be eligible to participate if:
- 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;
- in the case of unincorporated firms, the persons are citizens or bona fide residents of an eligible country; and
- 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 member countries of CDB.
The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to paragraph 1.9 of CDB’s Guidelines for the Selection and Engagement of Consultants (2011), setting forth CDB’s policy on conflict of interest.
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. All information must be submitted in English. Further information may be obtained from the email address below between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday:
procurement@oecs.int, with copy to cpaprocurement@oecs.int
Instructions
An electronic copy of the Expressions of Interest must be sent to:
Calus Monchery, Procurement Officer
At the following email address:
copied to: cpaprocurement@oecs.int
no later than 4:30 p.m. on Friday 29th November 2019 and one electronic copy must be sent simultaneously to CDB at procurement@caribank.org. The email submissions should include the name and address of the applicant and shall be clearly marked in the subject line as “Expression of Interest – Consultancy Services for The Preparation of The National Report of Living Conditions for The Survey of Living Conditions and Household Budget Survey (SLC-HBS) Component for Seven OECS Member States - Anguilla, Antigua And Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat and St. Kitts and Nevis."
The selection method shall be Consultants’ Qualifications Selection (CQS). Therefore, following the assessment of submissions, firms shall be assessed and compared, and the best qualified and experienced firm shall be selected. Only the selected firm shall be asked to submit a combined technical and financial proposal and, if such proposal is responsive and acceptable, be invited to negotiate a contract. The OECS Commission 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.