The ECOWAS Commission has received a grant from the International Development Association (World Bank) to finance the costs of the West African Food System Resilience Program (FSRP) and intends to use part of this funding to pay for the services of a consultant (firm).

The consultant's services concern "developing the commercial capacity of rice millers, modules, training materials for trainers of trainers (FDF) and rice mills within the framework of the ECORICE academy".

The ECOWAS Commission, represented by the RAAA, hereby invites eligible consultants (firms) to express their interest in providing these services. The present notice calls for legally constituted and qualified firms (experience and operating capacity) to carry out the study. To this end, the firm must have the following minimum experience and qualifications:

1. Legally incorporated for at least 5 years;
2. At least five (5) years' successful experience in developing rice marketing capacity and training rice mills;
3. Good knowledge of agricultural and trade policies and of regional players in rice sector development.

To carry out the assignment, the firm must have a staff comprising :

Expert 1: A team leader

1. Master's degree in economics, business administration or equivalent;
2. Fluent in English and French;
3. 10 years of general professional experience in the ECOWAS region in agricultural development with a focus on private sector agribusiness development;
4. 4 years' experience in the West African rice value chain
5. 8 years' experience in supporting processing and agro-industry companies
6. 4 years' experience in conducting market research and developing business strategies and plans;
7. 8 years' management/leadership experience as a project team leader or manager in a company with more than 5 employees;
8. 10 years' experience in projects in the ECOWAS region ;
1. 10 years' experience in development cooperation projects in one or a combination of the following areas: agricultural sector, value chains, private sector development.

Expert 2: Project manager and coach

1. Master's degree in business administration, public administration, communications, economics or equivalent;
2. Fluency in English and French;
3. 3 years' professional experience in project management, communications and adult education;
4. 5 years' specific professional experience in marketing and business development
5. 5 years' training and management experience in projects, companies or other organizations, with leadership responsibility for a group of people;
6. 2 years' professional experience in the ECOWAS region
7. One year's experience in managing education and development projects.

Expert 3: agri-food expert and coach

1. Master's degree in agronomy, economics or agriculture-related courses;
2. Fluency in English and French;
3. 5 years' experience in market research (consumers, wholesalers, retailers) and 7 years' experience in developing private-sector marketing strategies for food manufacturers, particularly in the rice sector;
4. 5 years' experience in learning design for training initiatives in the private sector. This experience should include marketing course design, course development, training of trainers, working with learning designers to develop new course materials, such as manuals, assignments and learner training ;
5. 2 years' experience in the ECOWAS region;
6. 5 years' experience in development cooperation projects in the agricultural sector, value chains and private sector development;
7. 3 years' experience in facilitating action learning, with particular emphasis on putting theory into practice in the workplace.

Expert 4 : Expert in adult education and training

1. Master's degree in Adult Education Science, Adult Learning and Coaching , Instructional Design and Technology, Organizational Development or Training;
2. Fluency in English and French;
3. 8 years' experience in adult and higher education;
4. 5 years' professional experience in blended learning, educational technology and facilitation;
5. 2 years' experience in the ECOWAS region;
6. 1 year experience in managing development cooperation projects;
7. ICT skills are an added advantage (use of the learner management system).

Expert 5: Rice Miller Business Trainer /Business Development Service Expert & Coach

1. have a Master's degree in business administration (MBA), development studies, project management, economics or entrepreneurship
2. fluency in French and English;
3. 8 years' experience in higher education;
4. 4 years' experience in learning and teaching design;
5. 10 years' administrative experience;
6. 1 year's experience in the ECOWAS region.
7. 3 years' experience in development cooperation;
8. be familiar with digital platforms for the provision of business support services, including e-learning tools for distance coaching and development programs;
1. Certified miller business trainer (RMBT) as a trainer of trainers (FdF).

Expert 6: Technical and research expert on RMBT

1. Master's degree or higher in agricultural economics, business management or a related field focusing on agricultural development;
2. At least 5 years' experience in agricultural development, particularly in the rice value chain;
3.    Proven experience in capacity building, training development and implementation in the agricultural context;
4. Strong understanding of rice industry operations, quality grading and standards;
5.    Experience in developing training materials and organizing training sessions for a variety of audiences;
6. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to liaise effectively with stakeholders at different levels;
7. Ability to work collaboratively in a multicultural environment, fostering partnerships and teamwork;
8. Fluency in English and French is essential, given the bilingual nature of the training material and the commitment of the stakeholders involved.

Expert 7: pool of up to 8 experts (national experts)

These experts will be selected from the pool of ToTs already trained in the four existing modules. The ERO will draw on its counterpart's comprehensive database, and the consultant will use a set of criteria to select the experts who will use these modules to train rice mills in their respective countries.

Non-technical skills of team members

In addition to their specialist qualifications, all team members must also possess the following qualifications:

1. Team spirit
2. Taking the initiative
3. Communication skills
4. Social and intercultural skills
5. Effective working methods focused on partners and customers
6. Interdisciplinary thinking

Further information can be found in the terms of reference available via the OneDrive link: https://bit.ly/4c4ArYg.

Interested firms/firms are invited to draw their attention to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16 and 3.17 of the World Bank's "Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers", July 2016, revised November 2020
("Procurement Regulations"), which sets out the World Bank's policy on conflicts of interest.

Firms may join forces with other firms to reinforce their respective skills in the form of a joint venture. In the event of a joint venture, all members of the joint venture will be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected.

Following the evaluation of expressions of interest, one firm will be selected following the "Selection Based on Consultant Qualifications (SQC)" method as described in the World Bank's Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers, July 2016, revised November 2020.

Expressions of interest must include the following information:

1. A letter of expression of interest ;
2. If the consultant is part of a consortium, a copy of the consortium agreement or a letter of intent to form a consortium;
3. A brochure presenting the firm or group (including administrative documents) ;
4. Produce information demonstrating that they are qualified and experienced to carry out the present services. To this end, they must provide references for recent and similar services. To meet the qualification criteria listed in point 3 above, these consultants must provide tangible evidence and detailed references for all statements made in terms of experience and capabilities, similar assignments, availability of appropriate skills among their staff, etc.
5. Each reference supplied must be summarized on a project sheet and will only be considered and accepted if the applicant encloses supporting documents indicating the contact details of the contracting authorities in order to facilitate verification of the information supplied, the contracts quoted or copies of certificate(s) of satisfactory performance of each contract presented, as issued and signed by the Customer.
6. A technical offer including :
   • An understanding of the objectives and expected results of the assignment, as well as the technical concept and methodology that the consulting firm or consortium intends to implement (not to exceed 10 pages, not including cover page, list of abbreviations, table contents and brief introduction);
   • The applicant must also draw up a list of experts, giving details of their commitments (number of working days, travel) and ensuring that it is well defined for ease of understanding;
   • CVs for proposed personnel should not exceed three pages. CVs should clearly indicate the position held by the person proposed, the tasks performed, and the contact details of the reference persons for each of the assignments indicated.
7. A financial offer clearly indicating fees and other costs (air tickets, perdiem, local transport, communication, etc.).
8. Expressions of interest must be submitted no later than 4^th mai 2025- at 9 : 59 GMT PM via OneDrive download link : https://bit.ly/4kV6Pkd

The expression of interest must be in the form of a single PDF file. The ARAA reserves the right not to consider files that do not comply with the above submission conditions.

Interested consultants can obtain further information by writing to the following e-mail addresses:procurement@araa.org cc : ctienon@araa.org,Lbarnabo@araa.org , with subject line " AMI06-Formation des rizeries-FSRP".