REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (REOI) (CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT SELECTION METHOD): Ref: LR-MOCI-374724-CS-INDV

Assignment Title: Hiring of Consultant to Assess the Environmental Licensing Regime and how it supports SMEs Activities in Liberia. Ref: LR-MOCI-374724-CS-INDV

Procurement Method: Individual Consultant Selection

Duration: 50 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 to Assess the Environmental Licensing Regime and how it supports SMEs Activities in Liberia, 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 Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be found 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 as per the Terms of Reference attached. 

The Individual Consultants must have minimum qualifications and experience as per the Terms of Reference.
The Consultants 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 Friday August 25, 2023. Please indicate the assignment of your interest in your submission with subject: 
“Re: “Hiring of Consultant to Assess the Environmental Licensing Regime and how it supports SMEs Activities in Liberia, Ref: LR-MOCI-374724-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

Background and General Description

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 support for improving SME’s capabilities for accessing finance and new market opportunities, to contribute to economic growth, competitiveness and job creation. The project implementation will be 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). The full implementation of the project commenced late October 2022 and will run for five years.

The project is comprised of the four components, below, and this consultancy is under component 2.  

Component 1: Investment Climate and Trade; Improves Liberia’s investment climate by strengthening institutions providing government to business (G2B) services covering investment support, business entry and international trade.

Component 2: SME Access to Markets and Finance; Improves capabilities and competitiveness of SMEs through targeted TA linking them to markets; and access to finance, through TA and a Line of Credit. 

Component 3: Digital Financial Services Infrastructure; Supports access to DFS, through a new National Electronic Payments Switch, and a Credit Reference System for individuals and firms.

Component 4: Project Implementation, M&E and CERC: This component supports strengthening for coordination, design, and implementation of the project; administrative, technical, procurement of goods and services, and accounting of the project-by-Project Implementation Unit (PIU) under the oversight of Project Steering Committee.

Objectives of the Components  

Component 2: The component aims to address key market failures that hinder SMEs access to markets by (a) launching a program delivering TA (soft and hard skills training, and tailored advice) to facilitate market access by SMEs and improving functional capacity of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and (b) improving access to finance through capacity building of financial institutions to better serve underserved SMEs and a Line of Credits (LOC). Under this component, it is important that the TA (Sub-component 2.1) and finance (Sub-component 2.2) outlined below are mutually supportive and reinforcing, to ensure that the Project objectives with respect to supporting SMEs are met, given key constraints they currently face within the country. Sub-component 2.1 will also provide SMEs training to help them access financing under Sub-component 2.2, that is, to provide them with training to submit bankable proposals for financing, especially if the financing required is linked to accessing high-value markets that the TA seeks to provide. Particular attention will be paid to firms making their production process more sustainable, go ‘green’, and address the needs of women-led SMEs.

This component also seeks to support firm capabilities, access to finance and investments in Climate Change Adaptations (CCAs). While inadequate access to finance and firm capabilities (skills, the adoption of technology, business, and organizational practices) constrains the capacity of firms to produce and improve their means of production, there is a lack of dedicated support services to help firms address these deficiencies. There are also demand-side factors firms being unaware about the needs and availability of local suppliers (that is, information failures). In addition, SBA has limited institutional capacity to play its coordinating role (that is, coordination failures). This component aims to alleviate demand-side constraints through providing direct financial and non-financial support, improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem and strengthen the coordinating role of the SBA.

Meanwhile, the objective of this component is to enable trade and investment environment through supports for private investment, automated business licensing, National Single Window for Trade (NSM); upscaling SMEs access to finance and market through innovative lending schemes and technical support to strengthen SMEs capacity to create viable jobs and beneficial economic opportunities; supporting SMEs access (including cost reduction) to benefit from digital financial infrastructures for efficient business management and credible business processing including tendering and credit reference systems.  
Given the core role the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plays in permitting/licensing business activities, there is a need to assess the Agency’s processes, procedures and systems and identify bottlenecks that hinder business start-ups and registration. For instance, currently, the EPA licensing processes, conditions and fees appear not to differentiate between business types, nature, scale, magnitude of risks and impacts, etc. Consequently, there is a general perception about the system being complex and costly which serves as a disincentive to emerging businesses. 

Scope of the consultancy 
The selected consultant will undertake the following tasks:
Task 1 Conduct thorough review of EPA Environmental Permitting/Licensing Procedures and processes and automation requirements
⦁    Review of the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia
⦁    Review of the EPA 2021 revised ESIA procedures, guidelines and process flow in reference to permitting/licensing for business activities
⦁    Review of any other sectoral environmental guideline and regulations with emphasis on SMEs  
⦁    Conduct review of the procedures required for all applicants (project developers or SMEs), and timescale requirement, prior to issuance of environmental license. 
⦁    The consultant will also assess the bottlenecks and challenges relative to practical operation practice and recommend corrective measure and international best practice. 
⦁    Review the automation needs of the EPA permitting/licensing processes and identify possible areas or gaps in the license acquisition processes that could be automated to enhance efficiency in business registration. This should be guided by good international industry practices.
⦁    Provide indicative cost of automation, if any, based on the identified areas mentioned above.
⦁    Recommend suitable systems for automation considering at a minimum  the local context, skills, sustainability, and ease of operation.
⦁    Provide economic viability of automating EPA processes regarding permit/license acquisition for business.  

Task 2 Work with a team of EPA technicians to conduct a full desk review:
⦁    of the current EPA certification and permitting (ESIA Licensing Regime) in operation and Licensing regimes prevalent at relevant agencies/ministries in the African region. Based on project categories (Class A, Class B, & Class C/CBEs)
⦁    Assess the literature on appropriate methodologies for establishing permit fees based on project categories. The following factors should be incorporated (this list is not exhaustive but rather a minimum requirement): 
⦁    project’s capital outlay/investment
⦁    nature of project activities
⦁    level of environmental pollution
⦁    proximity of project to human settlement
⦁    proximity of the project to critical or sensitive ecosystem 
⦁    potential impacts of the project on environment
⦁    potential impacts on the socio-economic life of the project affected community (PAC)
⦁    occupational health and safety
⦁    benefits of the project 
⦁    Option of the project to promote green development, or environmental sound technology. 
⦁    fees requirement for internal or external review of the project
⦁    potential project fees subject to public disclosure 
⦁    monitoring fees (percentage by category)
⦁    any restorative measures for the environment
⦁     steps including procedures to obtain the license  
⦁    Key Departments
⦁    Compliance Enforcement
⦁    Compliance Enforcement Office
⦁    ESIA Unit
⦁    ERS Unit
2.2 Environmental Research Radiation & Safety (ERRS)  Department 

Task 3 Assess the appropriate Independent Environmental Consulting firm and individuals:
⦁    for development and conduct of environmental studies reports (Environmental assessment forms, environmental Project Briefs, Environmental Management Plans, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, Environmental and Social Audit Reports, etc.)

⦁    The consultant is expected to engage with the Union of Certified Environmental Consultants (UCEL) on its scope of operations as the umbrella independent body accredited by EPA to conduct Environmental and Social Impact Assessment and other related Environmental Studies in Liberia. 
⦁    Engage individually with independent Consultancy firms and obtain full understanding on the requirement of fees charges in undertaking contract for conducting and developing environmental studies reports consistent with EPA procedures.  

Task 4 Assess public perception about SMEs’ ease of accessing EPA services and level of compliance by Project Developers (SMEs)
⦁    The consultant will engage and consult with business start-up, SMEs etc. and assess the challenges in accessing EPA services and clearly prescribe measures to resolve these challenges. As much as possible, the consultant will rank and financially cost these mitigation measures, drawing on lessons from good international practices. 

⦁    The consultant is expected to conduct gap analysis and assess the level of compliance by SMEs relative to fees requirement by both the independent environmental consultant and the EPA. 

⦁    The consultant will also assess the level of awareness based on the EPA revise ESIA procedure and fees regime published in 2022. The objective is to recommend possible risk mitigation associated with fees requirements that could hinder environmental compliance of SMEs. 

Task 5 Assess current compliance requirement relative to monitoring, audit, and submission of reports by project proponent.
Objective is to identify best practice on supervising, monitoring, and auditing activities of project proponent to ensure compliance as required by the EPA. This should take into consideration factors including, but not limited to:
⦁    intensity of the potential impacts of the project on the environment
⦁    intensity of the potential impacts of the project on the socio-economic life of the project affected communities (PACs)
⦁    complexity of the nature of the project 
⦁    complexity of the project site
⦁    concession or total size of the amount of land the project is to occupy.
⦁    other potential impacts such as (adverse, direct, indirect, cumulative, positive) of the project that are readily undetectable at the time of the processing of the permit.
⦁    Capture all the various activities base on industry and sector as per Section 6 (Annex I) of the Environment and Protection Law of Liberia (EPML) 
⦁    Ensure that all work is in line with the EPML, while also remaining conscious that outcomes are sensitive to investment in Liberia.

Task 6 Assess EPA monitoring Capacity for project proponents with focus on community-based enterprise (CBEs). 

⦁    The objective is for the consultant to assess EPA human resource and logistical capacity relative to conducting environmental monitoring, to ensure CBEs activities comply (follow) with the environmental protection and management laws of Liberia. 
⦁    The consultant will also assess the challenges associated with conducting and ensuring effective environmental compliance monitoring and recommend corrective alternative. 
⦁    Key sessions 
⦁    Department of Compliance & Enforcement (Manager C&E, ESIA Unit, ERS Unit, Inspectorate Unit)
⦁    ERRS department 

Task 7 Convene validation meeting with all stakeholders relative to Task 1-6 inclusive of representation of SMEs
⦁    Conduct first validation meeting with the EPA based on report generated from the scope of the assessment.
⦁    Convene meeting with both EPA, Independent Environmental Consultants, SMEs

Expected Outcomes
⦁    Obtain full understanding and awareness of EPA Licensing procedures and processes as applied to business start-ups, SMEs, investments etc. 
⦁    Full understanding of EPA permitting and licensing regime as applied to businesses, SMEs and start-ups with clear gap analysis and corrective action
⦁    Gaps in EPA automation processes and recommendations based on good international industry practices.  
⦁    Full understanding of cost and economic viability of automating the EPA licensing/permitting processes for businesses. 
⦁    Awareness and understanding of Fees schedule charges for conducting environmental studies.
⦁    Gain full understanding on the level of awareness of project developers (SMEs) on the fees requirement to comply with EPA. 
⦁    Obtain understanding on the requirement for Project Developers (SMEs) to comply with environmental audit and Monitoring. Depending on the nature, scale and impacts of the project
⦁    Understanding EPA’s capacity to monitor the implementation of SMEs to ensure environmental compliance.
⦁    Validation report of EPA licensing and regime with understanding of challenges and gaps associated with investment and compliance of SMEs and other Project Developers
⦁    Recommendations for minimizing challenges and gaps associated with the investment and compliance of SMEs and other project developers, and the ways for improving process and procedures,
⦁     An indicative item wise budget for implementation of recommendations made in the study  
 

Deliverables and Timetable
The consultant will be responsible to submit in five (5) hard and soft copies (MS Word) an inception report, a Technical report and a validation report:
 

Approach and Implementation Arrangements

The assignment will be executed by the selected consultant who will coordinate all the activities relating to the deliverables of the contract.  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 on the contract in a timely manner. The assignment will be delivered through an inclusive stakeholders’ participation and stakeholder driven approach. The consultant will work closely with the PIU. 

Client’s Input & Counterpart Personnel

The EPA’s Manager for Compliance and Enforcement will provide administrative support consistent with the contract. The Environmental Specialist and Social Specialist at the LIFT PIU of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry shall verify reports and clear with the World Bank before payment request is made. Request for payment shall be submitted to the Minister of Commerce and Industry upon completion of each deliverable as specified in the schedule table below. 

Qualification and Experience

The consultant must possess the following experience and competencies: 
⦁    Masters Degree in Environmental Engineering or Science, Natural Science, Geology, Geoscience, Economics or similar field from recognized higher institution of learning. 
⦁    At least five (5) years’ experience in the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) Administration and fees regime
⦁    At least five  (5) years’ experience in drafting regulations, guidelines and standards relating to environmental protection and management.

⦁    At least five (5) years of professional environmental sector experience in Africa and experience in working with Government Entities, Agencies, Ministries as well as small, medium and large-scale companies or concessions, or experience in working with World Bank, African Development Bank or donor-funded projects is preferred.

⦁    Must have provided consultancy services and training relating to environmental and social safeguards development and country-level approach; experience in providing such services to Government agencies in Sub-Saharan Africa is an added advantage.

⦁    Excellent and effective research skills, communication (verbal and written) skills, including ability to prepare reports and conduct presentations by clearly formulating positions on issues, articulating options concisely conveying maximum necessary information, making and defending recommendations; ability to convey difficult issues and positions.
⦁    Good understanding and knowledge of environmental impact and strategic environmental assessments
⦁    Good understanding and knowledge of EPA licensing/permitting requirements as applicable to SMEs, businesses, and investments.
⦁    Excellent computer skills, particularly with Microsoft Excel or related packages
⦁    Familiarity  with Liberian regulatory frameworks and national circumstances; working with a local firm is an added advantage
⦁    Must have an advanced level experience in ESIA administration and licensing works in Liberia and the sub region.

Other skills:
In addition to the  consultant qualifications, the following  are also required of the consultant: 
⦁    Good teamwork ability
⦁    Initiative
⦁    Strong communication skills
⦁    Sociocultural competence
⦁    Efficient, partner- and client-focused working methods
⦁    Interdisciplinary thinking
⦁    Ability to work under pressure

Methodology for Selection
This shall involve the collaboration of both EPA, PIU and the World Bank 
For specific expertise, either of the above-mentioned institution shall be contacted during the evaluation of the selection process.
The EPA shall be contacted for issues relevant to Liberia Environmental regulatory processes.
The PIU shall be contacted for issues relevant to the safeguard’s issues of the project 
The World Bank shall be contacted for issues relevant to the Bank requirements. 

Reporting Arrangements
The consultant shall report to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry through the  Project Implementation Unit. of the LIFT Project. 

Selection Criteria 
The shortlisting criteria are: 
⦁    Consultant Experience relevant to the Assignment 
⦁    Competency/Qualification of the consultant relevant to the Assignment 
⦁    Consultant experience in similar context in the West African region.
⦁    Consultant networking capacity and links to regional and international institutions.