ORGANISATION OF EASTERN CARIBBEAN STATES
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
NAME OF PROJECT - OECS SKILLS AND INNOVATION PROJECT (SKIP)
GRANT NO.: E286
Assignment Title: Consultancy Services for a Project Implementation Consultancy Team (PICT) for the OECS Skills and Innovation Project (SKIP)
Reference No.
The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the OECS Skills and Innovation Project (SKIP), and intends to apply part of the proceeds for Consultancy Services for a Project Implementation Consultancy Team (PICT) for the OECS Skills and Innovation Project (SKIP).
The objectives of the consulting services (“the Services”) are to support the OECS Skills and Innovation Project to develop a comprehensive regional approach to post-secondary education and enhance collaboration among key stakeholders in the OECS post-secondary education ecosystem and the private sector.
The OECS now invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The minimum required qualifications and experience are listed in section 5.0 of the TOR below. The Qualifications and Experience of Key Experts shall not be included in the shortlisting criteria. Key Experts will not be evaluated at the shortlisting stage.
The attention of interested Legal Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” September 2023 and (‘Procurement Regulations’), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. In addition, please refer to the following specific information on conflict of interest related to this assignment:
Consultants shall not be hired for any assignment that would be in conflict with their prior or current obligations to other clients, or that may place them in a position of being unable to carry out the assignment in the best interests of the Borrower. Without limitation on the generality of the foregoing, Consultants shall not be hired under the circumstances set forth below:
- a firm that has been engaged by the Borrower to provide Goods, Works, or Non-consulting Services for a project (or an affiliate that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with that firm), shall be disqualified from providing Consulting Services resulting from, or directly related to, those Goods, Works, or Non-consulting Services. This provision does not apply to the various firms (Consultants, contractors, or suppliers), which together are performing the contractor’s obligations under a turnkey or design and build contract;
- a firm that has been engaged by the Borrower to provide Consulting Services for the preparation or implementation of a project (or an affiliate that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with that Consulting firm), shall be disqualified from subsequently providing Goods, Works, or Non-consulting Services resulting from, or directly related to those Consulting Services. This provision does not apply to the various firms (Consultants, contractors, or suppliers), which together are performing the contractor’s obligations under a turnkey or design and build contract;
- neither a Consultant (including personnel and sub-consultants), nor an affiliate (that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with that Consultant), shall be hired for any assignment that, by its nature, creates a conflict of interest with another assignment of the Consultant;
- Consultants (including their experts and other personnel, and sub-consultants), that have a close business or family relationship with a professional staff of the Borrower, or of the project implementing agency, or of a recipient of a part of the Bank’s financing, or any other party representing or acting on behalf of the Borrower, that is directly or indirectly involved in any part of:
- the preparation of the TOR for the assignment;
- the selection process for the contract; or
- the supervision of the contract, may not be awarded a contract, unless the conflict stemming from this relationship has been resolved in a manner acceptable to the Bank throughout the selection process and the execution of the contract.
To obtain the maximum degree of comparison among Expressions of Interests (EOIs) and facilitate the evaluation process, the EOI should be a maximum of 40 pages and include the following information included below:
- Title page with name of firm submitting the EOI: should contain name of firm (or joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy, if applicable), address, email, telephone, name of contact person and date of submission.
- Expression of Interest: including the firm’s general and specific experience, pool of experts etc.
Consultants may associate with other firms to enhance their qualifications, but should indicate clearly whether the association is in the form of a joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy. In the case of a joint venture, all the partners in the joint venture shall be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected.
A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) method set out in the Procurement Regulations.
Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 08:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (0830 to 1630 hours).
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
OECS Skills and Innovation Projects
P.O. Box 179
Morne Fortune
Castries
Saint Lucia
TEL: +1 758-455-6349/68
E-mail: procurement@oecs.int
An electronic copy of the Expressions of Interest must be sent by January 24, 2025 at 4:30 p.m. to:
Yasmine Anatole, Procurement Officer
At the following email address:
procurementbids@oecs.int
copied to: skip@oecs.int
The email submissions should include the name and address of the Firm and shall be clearly marked in the subject line as “Expression of Interest – “Project Implementation Consultancy Team (PICT) for the OECS Skills and Innovation Project (SKIP).”
The Terms of Reference and Guidelines for the Submission of Expressions of Interest for this consultancy is provided below.