Overview
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST - FIRMS
The Office of Independent Evaluation (OIE) was established as an independent office in 2012, following Board of Directors (BOD) approval of the Caribbean Development Bank’s (CDB) Evaluation Policy in December 2011. A Revised Evaluation Policy was subsequently approved in December 2025.
The CDB evaluation function supports the Bank in promoting development in the Region. Independent evaluation, conducted by the OIE, reinforces institutional accountability, which informs the BOD and provides lessons to improve performance through systematic learning and decision-making processes.
OIE intends to contract a Consultant to conduct an Evaluation of CDB’s Private Sector Strategy (PSS), 2017 - 2025. The objective of the consultancy is to:
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Assess the relevance, effectiveness, additionality, mobilization performance, risk-adjusted performance, institutional readiness, and sustainability of CDB’s PSS and related operations.
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Identify enablers and bottlenecks.
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Provide concrete, actionable recommendations to support forward-looking scalability, refinement, and operationalisation of the PSS.
The duration of the assignment is expected to range between 160 - 180 person-days, spread across a period of up to seven (7) months, commencing May 2026. A copy of the Terms of Reference is attached.
CDB now invites interested, eligible consulting firms to submit Expressions of Interest for the provision of this consultancy.
Eligibility
A Consultant (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.
2) the following integrity requirements:
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is not subject to sanctions under the United Nations (UN) Security Council taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the UN;
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has not engaged in Prohibited Practices, as detailed in Paragraph 2.02 a) of the Procedures for Dealing with Fraud and Corruption in CDB-Financed Projects (October 2014 or as updated from time to time);
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is not suspended or debarred by CDB for engaging in the Prohibited Practices referenced in 2) (b) above;
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is not publicly debarred by a Multilateral Development Bank subject to the Agreement on Mutual Enforcement of Debarment Decisions in their own right, or under abovementioned agreement; and
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is not subject to a conflict of interest that would undermine the Consultant's ability to provide professional, objective, and impartial advice.
CDB requires that all parties involved in the procurement process avoid and declare promptly and proactively in writing to CDB any potential, apparent, or actual conflicts of interest. Without limitation on the generality of the foregoing, the Consultant shall not be hired under the following circumstances: Conflict between consulting activities and procurement of goods, works, or non-consulting services, conflict among consulting assignments, and/or close relationships with CDB staff or other stakeholders involved in or expected to be involved in the procurement or subsequent contract management.
In the assessment of the submissions, consideration will be given to the following criteria: technical competence and experience on the specific topic or theme, qualifications and experience, regional experience and on similar assignments, contextual understanding, and methodological and conceptual rigour and innovation in responding to the specific objectives of the assignment, in accordance with the attached Terms of Reference.
Instructions
Interested consultant teams are required to submit their initial Expression of Interest, which briefly explains their interest in the evaluation, suitability for the assignment, and main considerations based on the criteria above, not exceeding two pages in total, using the “EOI Consulting Firms template” attached to this REOI. All information must be submitted in English.
Electronic submissions of Expressions of Interest must be submitted to OIE.procurement@caribank.org no later than 4:30 pm Barbados time on Monday, April 13, 2026. The Expression of Interest will be deemed to have been received at the time that it is received by CDB. The e-mail containing each submission should include the name of the applicant. The Subject: line shall clearly indicate the specific assignment as follows:
“Expression of Interest – Consultancy Services - Independent Evaluation of the Caribbean Development Bank’s Private Sector Strategy 2017–2025"
The selection method shall be Consultants’ Qualifications selection. Therefore, following the assessment of submissions, firms shall be assessed and compared, and the best-qualified and experienced firm(s) for the assignment shall be selected. Selected firms will be contacted by April 15, 2026, and invited to submit a proposal based on an Approach Paper, which OIE will share.
Reception of the full proposal will be expected by May 05, 2025, and should include:
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Technical details (methodology, team composition, timeline) for the conduct of the evaluation.
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A financial proposal (including all costs, including, if and as appropriate, travel-related costs).
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CVs of proposed team members.
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References from similar evaluations conducted in the past ten years.
If such a proposal is responsive and acceptable, the selected firm will be invited to negotiate a contract. 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 short-listing 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.
Further information may be obtained from below.
Contact
Address 1
Roberto La Rovere
Caribbean Development Bank