Announcement on the beginning of the procedure of procurement of services of external experts in the framework of realization of the Grant Agreement between German organization GIZ GmbH and the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry dated from 24th of September, 2019

Given the above, the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UCCI) announces the beginning from 18^th of October, 2019 of the procedure of procurement of services of external experts in order to perform the aforementioned tasks.

Considering the need for continuous use of English language in the implementation of the Grant Agreement, inter alia for comprehensive reporting and systematic communication with the grantor (German organization "Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH"), as well as the possibility of attracting of international contracting-organizations, terms of reference, procedure of proposals awarding, offers and any other information from the potential contractor must be set out in English language.

Terms of reference and procedure of proposals awarding are contained in additions to this announcement.

We also inform you that the procurement of procurement of services of external experts                               is conducted through a tender among potential contractors.

This procurement procedure includes the following steps:

In case of any additional questions, please send them to the following e-mails:                            [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected].

Electronic documents from potential participants should be sent by 1 email. Submitted electronic documents must be in Word, Pdf or Zip formats. The total volume             of email with all attachments should not exceed 10 megabytes.

All documents should be sent to the following e-mail address: [email protected]

The deadline for submitting documents from potential participants                              is 3^rd of November, 2019 inclusive.

Aditions: 1) Terms of reference on 4 pages;

                2) Procedure of proposals awarding on 1 page.

TERMSOFREFERENCE

DevelopingofSustainable operating model of the Export Support Systems of Ukrainian Chambers of Commerce and Industry

1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 In Ukraine, the dynamic process of formation of a trade ecosystem that reacts dynamically to the needs of exporters requires the development of strong institutions which are capable to offer a wide range of services from trade intelligence to export development to business promotion to trade facilitation to advocacy. The strength and capability of a Trade Support Institution (TSI) directly impacts its business sectors’ ability to grow. Delivering quality services is among the most important aspects of a TSI’s work.

Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Ukraine traditionally play a central role in foreign economic relations, providing a wide scope of export-related services to Ukrainian businesses; perform the UCCI’s mission – a “developed and competitive Ukrainian business on world markets”. To support this mission, in 2015, sixteen Export Support Centers (ESCs) were established in regional CCIs with coordination of activities and functions by the Export Support Coordination Center at UCCI, which together form the Export Support System of Ukrainian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (ESS). The ESCs provide Ukrainian and foreign entrepreneurs with business and legal information, organize seminars, conferences, exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad, provide business negotiations on economic issues and provide a line of other services for business activities mainly related to foreign trade activities. As of today, Ukrainian CCIs and their ESCs still mainly provide export-related services, covering only a limited range of export support services, which is neither complete nor consistent across regional centres.

To respond to the needs of Ukrainian exporters in terms of export support and export promotion Ukraine-wide, and to become a strong and more effective pillar of the national trade ecosystem, the ESCs need to enhance, widen and systemize their export support services and improve coordination.  Therefore, a coordinated system of consistent Services need to be developed and offered by all ESCs (minimum standard set of services) including: Marketing & Promotion of services defined; a Service delivery model (including standards) developed and; a Monitoring & evaluation system established.

1. SCOPE OF SERVICES:

The objective of the services required for this position (the Assignment) is to develop  comprehensive, standardized set of new and/ or improved export support services, correspond to business needs and the process of national trade ecosystem development, that is based sustainable systematic approach based on 4 components - Services portfolio, Promotion & Marketing, Service delivery model and Monitoring & evaluation system of ESS and ESC’s - was developed and prepared for implementation in pilot regional chambers.

Specific activities will include:

• Participation as facilitators in the 1st (kick-up) workshop (2-day, all regional Chambers are invited):

• Present and discuss 4 components of the ESS (Services portfolio (minimum standard set of services), Marketing & Promotion of services, a Service delivery model (including standards) and a Monitoring & evaluation system.)
• Identify and discuss needs, problems and gaps in the ESS of UCCI;
• Discuss models, both operational and financial, of coordination and cooperation between regional Chambers (horizontal level) and the National CCI (vertical level);
• Motivate regional chambers to play a more proactive role in the ongoing export support system development process – to participate in working group meetings and pilot implementation of new model.

Participants: top-level leaders from regional Chambers and UCCI, regional chambers experts (working groups), external international experts as facilitators for discussions and ideas generation process (altogether 27 participants).

• Development stage: Design a draft version of the ESS operating model, prepare presentations for the workshop, discussion and improvement process with the working group (2 x 1-day working group meetings, the UCCI + 4 - 6 regional Chambers). Perform tasks, identified during 1st workshop. Identify actions, design working plan, identify milestones and expected results (6-8 participants).

• Export support services development

To develop sustainable models within the National UCCI system, including the regional chambers of commerce and functioning Export Support Centers (ESCs) in the regional CCIs to deliver export advisory services. This will inter alia include preparation of a unique package of high quality services for the Quality Export Infrastructure that will be discussed with each regional and the central Chamber, considering special needs and conditions of working in each region.

Develop a standard set of Export Services across Chambers and Export Support Centers in regional chambers (ESCs):

• Develop manuals, standard terms of reference for specific identified export services on a sustainable basis (identifying resources needed to deliver services and means of finance);
• Present, explain & promote these services to Regional CCIs and ESCs (and potentially other BSOs);
• Undertake workshops to determine the scope, KPIs and resources needed within regional chambers, and ESCs;
• Guide National and Regional Chambers staff as mentors to establish services as a business;
• Develop Monitoring and Evaluation functions at the National CCI to ensure quality services across the Chamber (and wider export development framework in Ukraine) system;
• Workshop for staff of UCCI and 4 – 6 potential pilot chambers to develop an export support services delivery programme;

Deliverables:

• A system of quality delivery that will be implemented at the National CCI’s level;
• A series of 16-18 Service Delivery Manuals to be used by the RCCIs. Each Delivery Manual should provide an outline for business advisers to deliver a Service. This manual should set out the “standard generic” outline for the service and include detailed activities (step-by-step) and tools (tables, examples, templates) needed to prepare and deliver sector seminar to business.

As an example, Group Compliance Plan manual should include:

• Fixed Terms of Reference (TOR) for this service: to be shared with the Client(s) to define the specific scope of the service and when accompanied by standard terms and conditions of the service delivery organization, the TOR will provide the basis for the contract;
• Promotional Marketing information (that could be presented as a leaflet) to shortly explain one day Sector specific Workshop;
• Template of the “standard generic” seminar: outline of the topics and information that will provide the basis for the seminar;
• Template of the Technical File for the Companies to be completed: outline of the sections and information that will provide the basis for completion;
• Service Delivery Guideline: setting out the methodology for the business advisor to undertake the preparation of the Workshop and to guide and work in groups to prepare the Technical File within the prescribed time.

The set of 16-18 Export Consultancy Services will thematically be covered by the following consultancy areas:

- Product Compliance: Compliance Helpdesk Operations, Individual Compliance Company Planning, Specific Product Compliance Review, Sector Specific Seminar for business, Group Compliance Plan;

- Export Preparation: Export Helpdesk Operations, Sector Specific Market Briefs, Market Profiles, Seminars (general overview or sector specific), Export Capacity Audit (ECA) -full diagnostic of export readiness, Market research services (individual or group) [opportunity scan or full market report], Export Marketing Strategy (EMS); 

- B2B Support /export: Buyer lists (list of buyer decision makers by market/segment), B2B channel information (e.g. trade fairs by sector), Validated buyer lists (named persons), Marketing Materials Review (either review of existing or new materials to support), Participation in Trade fairs: group and individual (both attendance and exhibition), Trade mission and networking events: individual and group.

1. QUALIFICATION

The following qualification is required:

Consultant Profile: Consulting firm that have access to individual consultants services are required. The successful firm that will present best CV(s) of individuals or teams should have the following qualification:

 Academic background

• At least MA degree or equivalent in the field of economics, business or commerce, or international trade.

Professional experience

• At least 10 years of proven experience in supporting and helping build the Export Marketing Management System in the Trade Support Institutions in Ukraine and internationally in a series of projects;

• Established and good relationships and understanding with both national and regional chambers, as well as in depth knowledge of the trade export services and their quality that are currently being delivered;
• Extensive experience in developing export marketing training materials;
• Experience in developing and delivering export marketing courses and training the trainers to representatives of national and regional chambers of commerce as well as line Ministries and State owned agencies responsible for business support.
• Experience in developing Service Delivery Manuals for staff of trade support institutions,;
• Experience in developing training and seminar packs for business to take the first steps towards exports;
• At least 5 years working experience in Ukraine;
• Good knowledge of the GIZ’s practice, policies and strategies, inter alia, the Procurement Policies and Rules;
• Fluent in Ukrainian and English in listening, writing, speaking and effectively communicating;Good business presenter, negotiator and facilitator.

1. REPORTING

Throughout the implementation of the activities, selected the Implementer will report to UCCI on a regular basis after implementation of separate activities or milestones defined. A schedule of reporting will be developed and agreed with UCCI. The final report will be provided after the implementation of the whole work plan. Each report will include technical and financial report for a specified period.

Technical report: The technical report describes all related activities that have taken place in the reporting period. It is furthermore to give an insight into the upcoming activities, possible activity shifts/ variations with regards to the initial work program. The technical report will be backed up by all relevant documents (e.g.: mailings, articles, signed participant’s lists, minutes, reports, event agendas, event information, press clippings, etc.)

Financial report: The financial report will include all eligible expenses that were incurred during the reporting period (activities performed).

Procedure of proposals awarding                      

Location: Kyiv, Ukraine

Contract type: Consultancy Services

Consultant Selection Procedure:Single stage open competitive selection. Either individuals or a team of experts may be proposed through a firm and must submit a Technical Proposal. Consulting Firms shall submit Short methodology and approach to this assignment together with Corporate brochure illustrating specific experience and CV’s of experts forming the technical bid.

Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions based on the firm country of origin.

Selection Method and Evaluation Criteria:

1. Technical Proposal Evaluation Criteria

(a)        Experts’ previous experience in Ukraine (30%)

(b)       Experts’ experience of preparing staff service delivery manuals in (30%)

(c)        Experts’ experience in TSI in other countries (5%)

(d)       Knowledge of GIZ and/or other international financial institutions, their institutional  

            priorities, policies and procedures (5%).

(e)        Language (Ukrainian and English) skills (10%)

Submissions will be ranked according to their technical score (TS) as following: TS=a+b+c+d+e.

The minimum technical score required to pass is 70%.

1. Opening of Financial Proposals

After the technical evaluation is completed, only the submissions which score 70% or above of the total marks available for the technical criteria will be eligible to have their financial proposals opened.

1. Combined Technical and Financial Evaluation

Proposals are then ranked according to their combined technical (TS) and financial (FS) scores using the weights (T = 80; F = 20) T + F = 100.

The highest-ranked Consultant will be selected and invited to negotiate the contract, subject to availability of funding.