REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (REOI) (CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT SELECTION METHOD) - ICT

Assignment Title: Hiring of an ICT Consultant for the Liberia Business Registry (LBR) Re. No.:  LR-MOCI-358442-CS-INDV

Duration: Forty (40) working days

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 an Individual Consultant (ICT Consultant), for the Liberia Business Registry, under the Liberia Investment, Finance and Trade Project (LIFT-P).

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 References (TORs) for the assignment is attached below.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry now invites eligible Individual 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 below. 

The Individual Consultants must have minimum qualifications and experiences as per the Terms of References.
The Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Individual Consultant Selection method 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 Wednesday May 17, 2023. Please indicate the assignment of your interest in your submission with subject: 
“Re: Hiring of an ICT Consultant for the Liberia Business Registry (LBR) Re. No.: LR-MOCI-358442-CS-INDV”. 

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 

Post Title: Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Consultant   

Location Post: Headquarters of the Liberia Business Registry (LBR), Old French Cable, Nelson Street, Central Monrovia

Contract Duration: Forty (40) Working Days

Reporting Line: Director General of LBR and the PIU Project Coordinator

Recruitment: ICT Expert (International)

Type of Contract: Individual Consultant Selection 

Background 

The Government of Liberia, through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI) is implementing a five-year 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 Liberia Business Registry (LBR).

While it is true that the direct beneficiary of these consultancies is the Liberia Business Registry, 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 a Job 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 the 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 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 the 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 to 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 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 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.  

Component I of the LIFT-Project focuses on improving the Liberia’s Investment Climate by strengthening institutions providing Government to Business (G2B) services covering investment support, business entry and international trade.
Under Component 1.2, the Government of Liberia (GoL) seeks to streamline and strengthen the systems to help potential formal firms enter the market by minimizing the complexity involved in starting a business. To do so, the GoL envisions LBR becoming a service-oriented agency capable of immediately responding to business needs. Therefore, the project complements an IFC AS operation to support a modern business registration process that incorporates business licensing. The objective of the Sub-component C1.2 is to enable LBR to eventually function as an effective, automated One-Stop-Shop (OSS) for businesses, and to use its regulatory function to provide a robust information management system available to policy makers, lenders and creditors, and potential business partners. Importantly, the GoL is considering forms of legal, regulatory, and operational good practices found in countries like Serbia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, as a downstream option for institutional reform. LBR is preparing a Business Registry Options Paper which will outline options for institutional best practice.
The project has partnered with IFC to support a three-pronged Business Entry Reform program.  First, following a business process reassessment, the project will upgrade the 2011 ICT system to one that is “cloud based” and decentralized. Following the design of a robust system that allows businesses to register online, the project will support the GoL to procure the new system according to international standards. Secondly, the project will support the LBR’s program to incorporate into the on-line registration system the requirements and processes for obtaining business, trade, and public interest licenses. The reforms will include identifying licenses regulating business activity and posting the information online, and process mapping and reengineering for key processes administered by the LBR and other institutions to be involved in the OSS and providing them with transactional (online processing) functionality.  Finally, based on the Business Registry Options Paper prepared with IFC, the project will support the strengthening of the LBR, including support for preparation of related documents (law, regulations, articles), a business plan covering sources of revenue and nature of expenditures, along with ongoing capacity building for staff. During the design of OSS options for entrepreneurs with limited or no access to the Internet and/or online systems or in remote regions, the work will include physical portals/kiosks where users can log in. 

Rationale for the New Online Registration System
The current system for registering and licensing a formal business to operate in Liberia is cumbersome and inefficient.  Currently, like Denmark, France and Rwanda, Liberia requires only 5 procedures to register a business, fewer than 110 other countries. On the other hand, unlike those countries where registration takes five days or less, in Liberia, it officially takes 18 days: better than only 54 other countries. This indicates that the procedures in Liberia are significantly slower. Anecdotal evidence based on private sector consultations reveal that in practice, six to eight weeks and considerable management attention may be expected to obtain a business registration without additional facilitation fees. The time taken is therefore a binding constraint on business activity, with burdensome procedures disproportionately affecting smaller firms. The primary body for regulating entry is the Liberia Business Registry (LBR) which is institutionally under MOCI, and as such is constrained, particularly during times of fiscal consolidation and restraint from revenue generation, adequate budgeting, including staffing.  As a result, recent gains made could not be maintained and the program for modernization and innovation has suffered. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is therefore seeking an ICT Expect whose work or reports will inform the purchasing of the online business registration system.

Scope of the consultancy (ICT Expert)

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, through the Liberia Business Registry intends to purchase new software that will facilitate online business registration. Depending on the report submitted by the ICT Expert, the system will either be a standardized off the shelf software/hardware that will be the new business registry platform or a customized platform. The scope of the assignment is, therefore, to analyze the existing registration system considering corporate governance and best practice, the need for registration in Liberia and, most importantly, recommend on the new software/hardware to be bought. The report of the ICT Expert will be a full terms of reference that will lead to the recruitment of the firm that will develop/purchase the software and deploy the relevant hardware as well as develop an e-government implementation framework and shared service as indicated in the preamble for the Liberia Business Registry.  

Key Deliverables (ICT Expert)
The ICT Expert will deliver on the following:
⦁    Conducts a physical assessment of the current system for business registration to determine the demand, corporate governance, revenue generation capacity and efficiency, etc.
⦁    Outlines identified gaps within the current system with corresponding recommended solutions.
⦁    Based on his or her experience and taking cue from best practice countries where online registration is real time (2 to 4 hours), develops a full report in the form of a term of reference (ToR) that will be used to recruit the firm that will design, develop, install and operationalize the new online platform. 
⦁    Recommends if the new system to be developed can be decentralized.
⦁    Serves as an advisor and spearheads the recruitment of the firm and serves as the technical monitor of the new system until it is fully operational and
⦁    Clears the report of the firm, etc.

Expected Outcomes (ICT Expert)

A successful delivery of the assignment will produce two major outcomes:
⦁    A recommended solution in the form of a ToR that will be used to recruit the firm to develop design, develop and install a state of the art online business registration platform.
⦁    A clean report certifying the new installed system.

Approach and Implementation Arrangements 

The assignment will be executed by the consultant and will be monitored by the LBR’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 Liberia Business Registry or its focal person to deliver on this assignment.  

Qualification and Experience (ICT Expert)

The Project is seeking to hire the services of an ICT consultant that possesses the following attributes: 
⦁    This assignment requires an experienced ICT expert with a minimum of at least 5 years of experience in software development and implementation (Preferably a Business Registration System); 
⦁    Must have the knowledge and understanding of developing state of the Art Systems. 
⦁    Must know the different functions of an online business registration system and can easily navigate the system. 
⦁    Must have worked or be working in a software development firm
⦁    A master’s degree in ICT 

Duration of Consultancy
The duration of the assignment is forty (40) working days.

Reporting Arrangements 

The successful consultant will sign a contract with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry through the Project Implementation Unit. The LBR and the PIU will provide oversight for the implementation of the assignment. The Consultant will provide updates and/or reports to the LBR and the PIU through the LBR Director General 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 education background

Note: The ICT Expert’s recommendations will include, amongst other things, the actual TORs for the new registration platform.