The purpose of the Candidates' Services will be to provide intellectual services, publish documents and communication materials, logistical organization of workshops, training, conferences and fiduciary management of funds related to activities implemented in ECOWAS countries, Chad and Mauritania.

ECOWAS, through the Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (RAAF), invites Candidates to express their interest in providing the Services described above.

This Call for Expressions of Interest is addressed to individual consultants, consulting firms and NGOs, publishing and communication agencies and accounting firms.

The eligibility criteria for FDA financing are specified in Article 1.3 of the "Guidelines for the Procurement of Contracts Financed by FDA in Foreign States", available online on FDA's website: http://www.afd.fr.

Candidates may submit only one application in their own name or in a Group. If a Candidate (including the member of a Group) submits or participates in more than one application, they will be eliminated. On the other hand, the same Subcontractor may participate in several applications.

If the Candidate is constituted as a Group, the Expression of Interest must include:

• A copy of the Grouping Agreement concluded by all its members,
• A letter of intent to form a Group, signed by all its members and accompanied by a copy of the proposed Grouping Agreement.

In the absence of this document, the other members will be considered as Subcontractors.

The references and qualifications of Subcontractors are not taken into account in the evaluation of applications.

This Call for Expressions of Interest concerns three types of services:

• Part 1: realization of studies, design of strategies and mechanisms, capitalization, evaluations, design and publication of reports;
• Part 2: management of financial resources allocated by the RAAF to work programs implemented by the 15 ECOWAS countries, Chad and Mauritania, and reporting of expenditures with supporting documents;
• Part 3: logistical organization of national training programs for local stock managers, management of financial resources allocated by the RAAF and reporting of expenses with supporting documents.

The implementation of these activities requires the following needs in terms of intellectual services, logistical organization and fiduciary management, edition and communication:

Interested Candidates are invited to submit their expressions of interest by providing information demonstrating that they are qualified and experienced to perform these Services, specifying their areas of interest (use IS references).

As such, they will justify that they have references to recent and similar services.

The similar character of the references will be analyzed according to:

• The size of the markets;
• The nature of the Services;
• The field and technical expertise(s), as referenced above;
• The Geographical context: ECOWAS region, Chad and Mauritania.

The RAAF will also examine the relevance of the Expressions of Interest with regard to the following criteria:

• Be regularly established and have been in practice for at least three (3) years;
• The degree of organization of the structure at the regional level and in the ECOWAS countries, Chad and Mauritania for fiduciary management services.
• Have permanent key personnel and non-permanent human resources available to the bidder in relation to the services requested;
• Have carried out at least three (3) missions or services of a similar nature over the last five (5) years. Experience in the West African region is an asset;
• Have the relevant qualifications, skills and experiences for the targeted service areas;

The RAAF will draw up a short list of a maximum of six (6) Applicants for each category of services covered by this Call for Expressions of Interest, pre-selected on the basis of the applications received, to which it will send the Request for Proposals for the provision of the required Services.

Expressions of Interest must be submitted to the address below, no later than 6th January  2020 at 5:00 pm GMT, by hand delivery or e-mail, to the following addresses: 

Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (RAAF)

Boulevard de la Paix, 83, Rue de la Pâture, Lome, Super Taco, Togo

01 BP 4817 .Telephone: +228 22 21 40 03

E mail: procurement@araa.org

In subject: "Expressions of Interest for the constitution of short lists of service providers relating to intellectual services, logistical organization, fiduciary management, edition and communication services within the framework of the Support Project for food security storage in West Africa"

Interested service providers can obtain additional information by e-mail at the following address: procurement@araa.org.

The Expression of Interest will include:

• A letter of expression of interest;
• The Declaration of Integrity, Eligibility and Environmental and Social Commitment provided in the Annex to the Call for Expressions of Interest (CEI), duly signed;
• Proof of their legal existence;
• If the company is incorporated as a group: a copy of the grouping agreement concluded by all its members or a letter of intent to form a Grouping, signed by all its members and accompanied by a copy of the proposed Grouping agreement;
• The list of key personnel and the main Curricula vitae of these key personnel in relation to the intellectual services requested;
• The main references/experiences related to the services requested;
• The description of the organization of the structure for services relating to fiduciary management;
• Turnover and results for the last three financial years.

Suppliers will be selected using only the Method of Quality Based Selection (SBS).