REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (REOI) (CONSULTING SERVICES – CONSULTANT QUALIFICATION SELDCTION METHOD)

Assignment Title: Consultancy Services to finalize the Implementing Regulation for the Special Economic Zone Authority  (SEZA). 

Re. No.:LR-MOCI-370309-CS-CQS

Procurement Method: Consultant Qualification Selection Method

Duration: 3 Months

Background 

The Republic of Liberia through the Ministry of Commerce & Industry has received Financing from the International Development Association (IDA) towards the cost of implementing the Liberia Investment, Trade & Finance Project (LIFT-P) and it intends to apply part of the proceeds of the Financing towards payments under the contract for Hiring of a Consultant as per the above table, for the National Investment Commission (NIC), under the Liberia Investment, Finance and Trade Project (LIFT-P) of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The overall objective of the LIFT-P is to improve the investment climate, expand sustainable access to finance, and increase the efficiency of trade in Liberia and help formal MSMEs recover from the impact of the COVID-19. The LIFT-P is an explicit contributor to the FY19-FY24 Country Partnership Framework (CPF) 

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be found below. 

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry now invites eligible Consultants (“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 shortlisting criteria are listed as per the Terms of Reference attached. 

The Consultant must have minimum qualifications and experience as per the Terms of Reference.
The Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Consultant Qualification Method  of selection as set out in the Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers (July 2016 as Revised in November 2017, August 2018 and November 2020). 
Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours, i.e., 0900 to 1600 hours GMT, Monday to Friday. 
Expressions of Interest must be delivered in written forms to the address below (in person, or by
mail, or by fax, or by e-mail) on or before Monday, August 14, 2023. Please indicate the title of the assignment in your submission with the subject: 
“Re: Consultancy Services to finalize the Implementing Regulation for the Special Economic Zone Authority  (SEZA); Ref. No.:Re. No.:LR-MOCI-370309-CS-CQS”.

Liberia Investment, Finance and Trade Project (LIFT-P)
Attn: Mr. James Gayflor Quiqui 
Project Coordinator
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (EJS) Ministerial Complex 
Congo Town
Monrovia, Liberia
Tel: +231 777 240 201/775 654 713 
E-mail: jamesquiqui@gmail.com
Cc: vanyanbah.julius@yahoo.com

Terms of Reference 

Consultancy Services to finalize the Implementing Regulation for the Special Economic Zone Authority (SEZA)

Background 

The Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) is implementing the Liberia Investment, Finance and Trade (LIFT) Project (P171997) with financing from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group ($40 million). This project was developed to support the government’s strategic objectives to promote private sector development. Accordingly, the project development objective is to improve the investment climate, expand sustainable access to finance, and increase the efficiency of trade in Liberia. Achieving this objective requires technical support to government institutions including the National Investment Commission (NIC) on some of its activities that are geared towards improving the investment climate. 

The project implementation is being coordinated by the Project Implementation Unit, under a Project Steering Committee chaired by the Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Liberia, and co-chaired by the Governor of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL). 

Project Description
The proposed project is an explicit contributor to the FY19-FY24 Country Partnership Framework (CPF) Pillar I: Strengthening Institutions and Creating an Enabling Environment for Inclusive and Sustainable Growth. Specifically, the project implements Objective 3 of the CPF, which seeks a more enabling environment for the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The proposed project furthers the CPF’s objective by fostering the emergence of an inclusive private sector through a more hospitable investment climate, expanded access to finance, and stronger market governance. The proposed project envisions the removal of key regulatory constraints, and will facilitate trade and expand access to finance. Specifically, the proposed project will focus on (i) the regulatory areas where Liberia ranks low on Doing Business indicators, (ii) implementation of the Financial Sector Development Implementation Plan and National Financial Inclusion Strategy, (iii) implementation of the Insolvency and Restructuring Law adopted in 2017, and (iv) support for Liberia’s implementation of commitments to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Trade Facilitation Agreement, since adoption of the long-awaited Customs Code.
The project supports Jobs and Economic Transformation (JET) framework for Liberia and its two pillars on which the outcomes sit: better market functioning and improved firm capabilities. In doing so, the project targets six of the ten-building block in this framework as a complement to other parallel activities under the Liberia CPF supporting macroeconomic management, infrastructure services, employment policy and human capital. The project takes account of the Government Recovery Program (GRP) project that seeks to support otherwise viable growth-oriented private enterprises that were adversely impacted by the effects of the pandemic. As the mechanism for firm-level support is structured, guardrails will be established to prevent adversely impacting financial discipline and commercial credit underwriting needed for a sustained recovery. At the same time, with various indicators highlighting access to finance as an issue, attention to expanding digital financial services (DFS) is needed.
In addition to its contribution to the Jobs agenda, the proposed project design supports a range of IDA priorities including Gender, Climate, Governance, Fragility, Conflict & Violence, and Maximizing Finance for Development (MFD). The project will ensure that women-oriented training and eligibility will be included in firm support and financial access component by deliberately incorporating, in the design of project activities, features that seek to address the identified gaps between men and women with respect to their participation in economic activity in the country, especially around differential constraints and performance between women-owned and men-owned firms. These include reforms to the business environment (e.g., registration, permits, and access to finance), as well as activities to support SMEs and entrepreneurs. The project will monitor the extent to which activities are contributing toward closing gender gaps by measuring, among other things: (i) the number of women-led MSMEs with a loan through the project; and (ii) the percentage of women that are covered by the credit registry.
Finally, as a foundational project to strengthen the public sector’s ability to facilitate the growth of the private sector on a sustainable basis, significant efforts will be devoted to institution-building activities in key agencies. In this light, the project’s concept identifies the strengthening of institutional functioning, streamlining of business processes, and use of automation to lower costs, improve services and remove face-to-face interactions.
Thus, the overall objective of the proposed project is to improve the investment climate, strengthen firm capabilities, expand financial access, and help formal MSMEs recover from the impact of COVID-19.

The project is structured to have 4 components. 
Component I. Improved Environment for Trade, Investment, and Business Entry: This component aims to support Business Environment Reforms that will focus on improvements in Liberia’s regulatory environment by strengthening key institutions providing Government Business (G2B) services covering international trade, national quality services, and business entry.
Component II: Fostering Firm Capabilities to Trade and Competitiveness: This component aims to strengthen the firm capabilities of SMEs including women-led businesses and strengthen Liberia’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. It will do so through the provision of specialized business consulting services and training. It will also seek to strengthen the capacity of Business Development Service providers.  
Component III. Expanding Access to Finance: This component will support MSME Access to Finance; Court Automation, and Digital Financial Inclusion, which includes the Payments Switch, Credit Registry, and Agent Banking.
Component IV: Project Management and M&E will finance project management activities including fiduciary responsibilities, procurement, financial management, communication, coordination, dissemination, as well as M&E and impact evaluation. CERC (Contingent Emergency Response Component: This is a provisional zero amount component to allow for rapid reallocation of loan proceeds from other project components during an emergency. 
Further details are available in the Project Appraisal Document for the LIFT Project (P171997), available online on the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and World Bank’s websites.  
 

Description and Rationale of the Assignment 

To address some of the constraints and create a strong enabling environment that is conductive to attract investors, the Government of Liberia (GoL), through the National Investment Commission, has established the Liberia Special Economic Zone Authority (LSEZA) to guide the activities of zones and industrial parks. 
The GoL is in the process of fast-tracking the institutional, legal, and regulatory arrangements that would enable the full launch of LSEZA and the operation of the proposed SEZ at Buchanan and its Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ). This will include inter alia: the completion of the organizational structure for the LSEZA based on the provisions of the LSEZA Act and informed by the recommendations captured in the feasibility studies conducted by both USAID and AfDB (African Development Bank); a clear roll-out plan of the LSEZA that shows the establishment of main offices and sub-offices and staffing requirements and functions; and the technical support plan that will make LSEZA more functionally effective. 
The GoL is working with World Bank, IFC, USAID, and AfDB to ensure that LSEZA is quickly launched.  The Consultant will identify provisions that are best suited to be incorporated into the SEZA Regulations. When identified, these provisions should be removed by recommending amendments to the current Law. Importantly, the task requires the development of detailed SEZA Regulations considering best practices. Provisions deemed regulatory and removed from the Law should be incorporated into the SEZA Regulations. The endeavor should consider other provisions in the SEZ Law that are antithetical to existing statutes and international best practices and bring them forth for amendment.

Scope of the consultancy
The selected consultant will undertake the following tasks:
⦁    Review the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Law (2017) and recommend amendments.
⦁    Conduct a desktop research of other Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Laws in at least five (5) other relevant jurisdictions (Africa included) to identify shortfalls in the current SEZ Law that should be rectified.
⦁    Develop detailed Special Economic Zone Authority (SEZA) Regulations in keeping with the SEZ Act of 2017.
⦁    Hold a stakeholders’ validation workshop.  

Key Deliverables 
⦁    Using a highly participatory approach, the Consultant/ firm will after the study facilitate a strategic planning/policy implementation plan workshop that will transform the business and investment legal and policies climate
⦁    Prepare and submit a Draft Report within two days to the NIC with recommendations from the stakeholders’ validation workshop
⦁    Submit a final report within one week after NIC review and inputs with recommended steps/ actions needed for decision-making.  
 

Expected Outcomes 

A successful delivery of the assignment will produce the following outcomes:

Approach and Implementation Arrangements 

The assignment will be executed by the consultant and will be monitored by NIC’s focal person and the Project Implementation Unit, as the implementing body for the Liberia Investment, Finance and Trade Project, will play a key coordinating and leadership role in ensuring that the consultant delivers as per the agreement. The service provider will work closely with the National Investment Commission or its focal person to deliver on this assignment. The consultant can associate and/or collaborate with other relevant sector experts in the delivery of the task.

Experience 

The Project is seeking to hire the services of a consultant that possesses the following attributes in terms of experience:

⦁    Excellent ability to communicate clearly in written, spoken English, Power Point Presentation Skill 
⦁    Excellent team player with good interpersonal skills  
⦁    Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines 
⦁    Ability to accommodate additional demands at short notice 
⦁    Ability to work in a multi-cultural, diverse, and gender sensitive environment 
⦁    Excellent skills in Microsoft Excel and Word 
⦁    Proven record of working with the Gold, World Bank/IDA or donor-funded projects.

Qualification

The Project is seeking to hire the services of a consultant that possesses the following attributes in terms of qualification: 

⦁    A Masters’ Degree in Law, Policy Studies & Economics, Development Economics, and or a combination of related disciplines.   
⦁    A minimum of 10 years’ experience in policy work and experience in drafting bills, policies, regulations, or strategies with understanding of working in Sub-Sahara Africa.
⦁    Past demonstrated experience with SEZs and industrial parks, their laws and related regulations.
⦁    Demonstrated knowledge of policy developments, especially in the MRU/ECOWAS region and understanding of the international trade environment.
⦁    Demonstrated experience working with a multitude of stakeholders from various disciplines and backgrounds including Government, Civil Society Organizations and Communities, Private Sector, Development Partners and Donors.    
⦁    Provide copy/copies of similar work done in the last five (5) years. 

Duration of Consultancy

The duration of the assignment is for three (3) months.

Reporting Arrangements 

The successful consultant will sign a contract with the Government of Liberia through the Project Implementation Unit. The NIC and PIU will provide technical oversight for the implementation of the assignment. The consultant will provide updates and/or reports to the NIC and the PIU through the NIC Focal Person and the SME Specialist 

Selection Criteria

The shortlisting criteria are: 
⦁    Consultant Experience relevant to the Assignment 
⦁    Competency/Qualification of the Consultant relevant to the Assignment 
⦁    Consultant regional experience in similar context as Liberia.
⦁    Consultant networking capacity and links to regional and international buyers

Expressions of Interest may take any format to represent the consultant’s qualifications and experience.