Romania Women in Business Technical Co-operation Programme for Partner Financial Institutions

Romania Women in Business Technical Co-operation Programme for Partner Financial Institutions

Location:

Romania

Business sector:

Financial institutions

Project number:

77175

Funding source:

SBIF – EBRD – Small Business Impact Fund

Contract type:

Consultancy Services

Notice type:

Invitation for expressions of interest (CSU)

Issue date:

13 Feb 2019

Closing date:

13 Mar 2019   at  12:00   London

Access eSelection

Single Stage Open Competitive Selection – Request for Proposals

Project Description:

The Bank has recently developed the Romania Women in Business Programme (the “Romania WiB” or the “Programme”) with the goal of promoting a more inclusive and competitive banking market in Romania by promoting women’s entrepreneurship by improving women entrepreneurs’ access to finance and know-how, non-financial business development services and promoting a strong Women small and medium-sized enterprises (the “MSMEs”) sector.

The development of the Programme builds on the Bank’s extensive experience with deploying this programme, now operational in 18 countries across the EBRD region.

In Romania, the gender access to finance gap is assessed as ‘Medium’ and the gender employment gap as ‘Large’, indicating substantial structural challenges that are holding back women-led SMEs to reach their economic potential. In terms of financing, women entrepreneurs remain an untapped clientele for SME banking; with a lack of adequate financial products that fit the business needs of women SMEs

According to the World Bank, only 53 per cent of women in Romania have a formal financial account compared to 62 per cent of men. This gap is larger than in neighbouring countries, including, Bulgaria (no gap), Ukraine (4p.p.) or Croatia (7p.p.). In addition, Romania’s women tend to borrow less and save less than men, whereas only 1.4 per cent of women borrowed to start or operate a business in the past year compared to 4 per cent of men . Beyond access to finance, women-led enterprises are still facing considerable challenges and barriers that have kept de facto gender equality lagging significantly behind, particularly with regards to access to networks and business development services.

The components of the Programme are structured to optimize the impact on partner financial institutions (the “PFI”s) and MSMEs at the market level, promoting both finance and advice to the Women-led MSME segment.

To reach its goals the Programme integrates four integrated components:

• Dedicated credit lines of up to €90 million for up to four PFIs.
• First Loss Risk Cover (the “FLRC”) of up to 10% of the loan portfolio, with a cap of 70% for any single sub-loan. The availability of the FLRC provides an incentive to PFIs to lend to eligible women-led SMEs as they become accustomed to the opportunities and challenges. The FRLC will address market failure associated with banks’ perceived risk towards the women-led SMEs segment which has discouraged them from lending to women entrepreneurs to date;
• A Technical Cooperation programme for capacity building to PFIs and programme support (the “PFI TC”) of up to €1 million to build the capacity of PFIs in lending to women-led SMEs and support programme-wide activities; and
• The Advice for Small Businesses component managed separately by ASB in co-ordination with FI activities. The ASB activities will enable women entrepreneurs’ access know-how to develop their businesses.

Assignment Description:

The Bank now intends to engage a consultant (the “Consultant”) in order to build the internal capacities and skills of the participating PFIs to more accurately understand and serve the financial needs of women-led MSMEs, assess the PFIs portfolio, business models and delivery mechanisms in order to implement the objectives of the Programme as described above (the “Assignment”).

The overall objective of the assignment as further defined below is to support the Programme by:

1. Strengthening participating PFIs capacities to effectively serve women-led MSMEs through facilitating a process for the PFIs to develop a strategy to target women-led businesses, including institutional strengthening of the PFIs, development of new or improved financial and non-financial products, business models and delivery mechanisms to target them and engaging with PFIs to support the development of an eligible WIB sub-loans portfolio;
2. Ensuring effective synergies between the full range of activities provided under the Programme, including financial products, advisory services and other non-financial services; and
3. Implementing relevant Programme management functions, including monitoring, marketing, and visibility and reporting.

The detailed scope of work and services (the “Services”) are further described in the full Terms of Reference (the “ToRs”) attached hereto:

http://www.ebrd.com/documents/procurement/tors-77175.doc

Consultant Selection Procedure:

Single stage open competitive selection

Interested firms or groups of firms are invited to submit a Technical and Financial Proposal.

Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in Q2 of 2019 and has an estimated overall duration of 36 months.

Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 1,000,000 (exclusive of VAT).

The Contract award is subject to availability of funding, the performance of the selected Consultant and the business needs, the Assignment may be extended beyond the current scope.

The Consultant must determine whether any VAT would be chargeable on the services and the basis for that determination, without taking into consideration the special status of the Bank as an IFI and state this to the Bank in their response to the Invitation for Expressions of Interest. To the extent that a Consultant incurs input VAT on goods and services purchased in connection with the provision of services (e.g. VAT on airline ticket) which is not otherwise recoverable by the consultant from the local tax authority, the gross cost to the consultant of such expenses shall be treated as a reimbursable expense.

Funding Source:

It is anticipated that the Assignment will be funded by the EBRD’s Small Business Impact Finance Fund (the “Fund“).

Eligibility:

There are no eligibility restrictions based on the consultant’s nationality.

Consultant Profile:

Corporate services are required.

The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms preferably with substantial previous project experience in:

• The implementation of multi-faceted MSME lending schemes at commercial banks in emerging markets and similar operating environments with the ability to upscale and downscale the level of engagement in the field depending on project needs;
• The use of solid economic/econometric survey skills in order to establish baseline assessments using published data, client data and target group interview
• Delivering institutional strengthening technical assistance to commercial banks in emerging markets aiming at improving their capacity to target women-led MSMEs, via the design and implementation of new or improved products processes, and trainings);
• Working with women-led MSMEs directly;
• Knowledge of the banking and MSME sectors and an office presence in Romania (will be an advantage but not an absolute requirement).

The Consultant’s expert team is expected to include the following key experts (the ‘Key Experts’):

– Key Expert 1: Team Leader with preferably 10 years of experience in

• Successfully managing the implementation of MSME lending schemes at commercial banks in emerging markets and similar operating environments, including in managing multi country/complex programmes;
• Negotiating with third parties including banks, associations, ministries, regulatory authorities and other stakeholders on behalf of International Financial Institutions;
• Women entrepreneurship and women’s access to finance; and
• Fluent spoken and written English is essential. Command of Romania is an advantage.

– Key Expert 2: Senior Women in Business Financing Expert with preferably 10 years of experience in:

• Working as a gender specialist in emerging markets and in similar operating environments, in particular ingender institutional development in the financial sector/commercial banks.
• Conducting gender analysis of banks’ portfolio, institutional strategies, business models and delivery mechanisms to reach out to women-led MSMEs;
• Conducting qualitative research and gender institutional analysis;
• Negotiating with a wide range of stakeholders, including associations, ministries, regulatory authorities and other stakeholders; and
• Fluent spoken and written English. Command of Romanian, although not and absolute requirement would be appreciated.

– Key Expert 3: Senior Communications and Marketing Manager(s) with preferably 10 years of experience in:

• Implementing marketing and sales initiatives in commercial banks;
• Advising commercial banks on the factors contributing to successful product development or refinement based on market forces and strategic goals;
• Facilitation of meetings and workshops; and
• Fluent spoken and written English essential. Command of Romanian, although not and absolute requirement would be appreciated.

–Key Expert 4: Senior Banking Expert(s) with experience in:

• Implementing SME lending schemes at commercial banks in emerging markets and similar operating environments, including in implementing multi country/complex programmes;
• Liaising with bank staff and management on ongoing basis; and
• Fluent spoken and written English is essential. Command of Romanian, although not and absolute requirement would be appreciated.

-Key Expert 5: Senior IT Expert & MIS Specialist with preferably 7-10 years of experience in:

• Assisting commercial banks in emerging markets and similar operating environments in implementing IT and MIS Systems in relation to MSME lending schemes;
• Previous project work involving tasks related to gender and women’s access to finance would constitute an advantage; and
• Fluent spoken and written English is essential. Command of Romanian, although not and absolute requirement would be appreciated

Submission Requirements:

Interested consultants are now invited to submit a completed Technical and Financial Proposal as per the standard templates and instructions available hereto:

http://www.ebrd.com/documents/procurement/single-stage-package.docx

• The Technical Proposal shall be submitted in English electronically via eSelection not later than the Closing Date, as one single PDF file. The technical proposal should not exceed 20 pages excluding the Declaration Form and CVs (Form 1- TP 1 and Form 1 – TP 6).
• As part of the technical proposal, Consultants are l required to complete a case study, using the template attached hereto: http://www.ebrd.com/documents/procurement/case-studyd.docx. Please note that the 6 pages of the case study will not be calculated in the 20 pages of the Technical Proposal.
• The case study should be based on one project carried out by the consultant in the last 5 years, with anonymized data where necessary. The case study must not exceed 6 pages.
• The Financial Proposal (Form 2 – FP 1 and FP2) shall be submitted in English separately by email only to the Bank Contact Person. Consultants are reminded of the requirement to ensure the confidentiality of the Financial Proposals.
• A Technical Proposal that contains elements of a financial proposal shall be declared non-responsive. A Financial proposal submitted together with the technical proposals via eSelection shall be declared non-responsive.

Bank Contact Person:

Aspasia Tsekeri, Associate Advisor

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

One Exchange Square

London EC2A 2JN

e-mail: tsekeria@ebrd.com

For the avoidance of doubt, technical proposals should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address. Financial proposals should be sent to this email address and NOT through eSelection.

Deadline to Submit Clarification Questions: Via e-mail to the Bank Contact Person by two weeks prior the deadline for submissions.

Selection Method and Evaluation Criteria:

1. Technical Proposal Evaluation Criteria:
2. a)Firm’s experience in successfully managing the implementation of SME lending schemes at commercial banks in emerging markets and similar operating environments, including in managing multi country/complex programmes and the development and marketing of financial products, preferably inRomania 20%
3. b)Firm’s experience in designing and implementing institutional strengthening and product development initiatives that address women’s access to financial products/services at commercial banks in emerging markets, preferably in Romania – 15%
4. c)Firm’s technical proposal and the methodology – 25%
5. d)CVs of Key Experts 40%.

Interviews:

Following the evaluation under the technical criteria from (a) to (d) inclusive above, firms with a combined score of minimum 80 (%) or above will be invited to interviews.

The interviews must be attended by the following Key Experts: 1) Team Leader, 2) Senior WiB financing Expert; and 3) Senior Marketing Expert and 4) Senior Banking Expert.

EBRD will advise the Consultant regarding the format (e.g. Webex or conference call etc.) and date of the interviews at the time of the invitation. Please note that all and any costs incurred by the Consultant in connection with attendance to interviews shall be borne by the Consultant.

In combining the scores for the written submission and performance in the interviews, the following formula will be used:

(Technical proposal 80% + Interviews 20%)= T

2. Opening of Financial Proposals

After the technical evaluation and interviews are completed, only Consultants which score 80 % or above of the total 100 % available for the technical evaluation, described as T above, will be eligible to have their financial proposals opened.

3. Technical and Financial Evaluation

The lowest evaluated Financial Proposal (Fm) is given the maximum financial score (Sf) of 100.

The formula for determining the financial scores (Sf) of all other Proposals is calculated as follows:

Sf = 100 x Fm/ F, in which “Sf” is the financial score, “Fm” is the lowest evaluated Financial Proposal, and “F” the price of the Proposal under consideration.

Proposals are then ranked according to their combined technical (St) and financial (Sf) scores using the weights (T = 80; F = 20) T + F = 100 as follows: S = St x T% + Sf x F%.

Important Notes:

1. The proposal validity period is 120 days from the deadline date for the receipt of submissions. During this period, the Consultant shall maintain its original Proposal without any change, including the availability of the Experts, the proposed rates and the total price.
2. The selection will be made from the Proposals received in response to this notification only, on the basis of the submission requirements and selection criteria set out in this Procurement Notice. The highest-ranked Consultant will be selected and invited to negotiate the contract, subject to availability of funding.
3. Any updates of and clarifications on this procurement notice shall be announced as updates on this notice, without any other notification. In the event of changes consultants will need to download the updated versions. Consultants are required to periodically check the notice for updates. Failure to take the updates into account while preparing the Proposal may result in disqualification or penalties to the scores in the evaluation.