TERMS OF REFERENCE AND ANNEXES ARE ATTACHED

Call for Expressions of Interest
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Recruitment of a Project Management Unit (PMU) to support the ARAA
for the overall coordination of the Project
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1. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has received funding from the European Union under the Project to Support the Regional Food Security Storage Strategy in West Africa. This agreement is implemented through three contribution agreements implemented respectively by the French Development Agency (AFD), the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC/OECD). Within the framework of the Contribution Agreement concluded between the EU and AFD, the ECOWAS Commission, through the Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food (ARAA), intends to use part of the resources delegated to AFD to make payments under the Support Project for the Regional Food Security Storage Strategy in West Africa.
2. The Applicant's services will consist of providing support in the form of a Project Management Unit (PMU) to the ARAA in charge of the overall coordination and implementation of the Project. The details of the expected services are specified in Appendix 1.
3. To this end, the ARAA invites interested Applicants to express their interest in providing the services described below.
4. This Call for Expressions of Interest is aimed at design offices and groups of design offices or firms. Public industrial and commercial establishments (EPIC) may participate as a member of the Group, without being the lead partner.
5. The eligibility criteria for AFD funding are specified in Article 1.3 of the "Guidelines for the Procurement of Contracts Financed by AFD in Foreign States" (new version dated February 2024), available online on the AFD website: http://www.afd.fr.
6. Candidates may submit only one application in their own name or in a consortium. If a Candidate (including a member of a Group) submits or participates in several applications, these will be eliminated. On the other hand, the same Subcontractor may participate in several applications.
7. If the Candidate is constituted as a consortium, the Expression of Interest must include:
- A copy of the Grouping agreement concluded by all its members,
or
- A letter of intent to set up a Consortium, signed by all its members and accompanied by a copy of the proposed Consortium's agreement.
In the absence of this document, the other members will be considered as Data Processors. The references and qualifications of Subcontractors will not be taken into account in the evaluation of applications.
8. Interested Candidates must provide information demonstrating that they are qualified and experienced to perform these Services. As such, they will justify that they have references of recent and similar services. The similarity of the references presented will be analysed according to their relative relevance to the services to be implemented as described above.
9. In particular, Candidates are expected to submit references for contracts with characteristics similar to one or more of the following criteria:
 The size of the contracts (size and complexity ): contracts will be assessed with regard to their size, in particular when they relate to a duration equal to or greater than five (5) years and to a volume of services greater than 500,000 euros. Their complexity will also be taken into account, in particular when they concern the management or coordination of regional or multi-country projects, involving several stakeholders, various institutional arrangements, as well as a structured operational and financial organization.
 The nature of the Services : support for the management, coordination and implementation of projects, particularly regional or multi-country, including administrative and financial management, operational planning — AWPB, logical framework, timetable — as well as the management of long-term technical expertise. Experiences in the delivery, monitoring and quality control of technical support services, as well as the realization of detailed technical studies on request, will also be valued.
 Field and technical expertise : expertise on agricultural policies and food systems, regional integration, storage, prevention and management of food, nutrition and pastoral crises. Experiences relating to strengthening the institutional and human capacities of national and local actors, structures and mechanisms, as well as gender, "do no harm", financial engineering, communication and visibility themes will also be taken into account.
 The geographical area of intervention: experience in West Africa, in the twelve (12) ECOWAS Member States, the three countries of the Alliance of Sahel States, as well as in Chad and Mauritania. Particular attention will be paid to the experiences conducted with the various stakeholders working on food, nutrition and pastoral security issues, as well as to interventions carried out in at least two ECOWAS institutional languages.
References (active telephone contacts and/or email addresses of beneficiaries or donors) must be specified for each experience presented. CVs or expert profiles will not be analysed at this stage.
10. The ARAA will also consider the suitability of the Expressions of Interest against the following criteria:
 The candidates' network: their ability to mobilise skills outside their core business and their local correspondents/partners;
 Internal skills and availability in terms of technical support provided to the experts to be mobilized (technical assistance team);

11. Due to the security risk in the areas where the Services are to be carried out, the evaluation of the Expressions of Interest will verify that the applications meet the following criteria:
 The Candidate has at least one (1) experience of providing services in a similar security risk area, for which he/she will provide proof of implementation of security measures (invoice or contract with a security service provider, proof of security awareness before departure on site, etc.);
 The Candidate has internal security management procedures: it will provide a description of its monitoring system and its crisis management system;
 The Candidate has, for services provided abroad, a contract for the assistance and repatriation of his employees: he must provide the certificate justifying this;
 The Candidate must describe its standard process for preparing for departure on a mission in sensitive areas, and will attach supporting documents for its implementation (mission orders with associated instructions, certificates of awareness-raising or training actions, etc.).
In the case of a Consortium, its representative (regardless of its country of registration) as well as any member having its registered office outside the Client's country, must meet each of these criteria.
An application that does not meet any of these requirements will be rejected.

12. ARAA will draw up a shortlist of up to six (6) Applicants, pre-selected on the basis of the applications received, to whom it will send the Request for Proposals for the performance of the required Services.
13. Expressions of Interest should be sent electronically to the following address: https://bit.ly/3QwE8iV with the reference: "UGP STOCK II-2026", no later than 23 July 2026 at 12:00 GMT (UTC).
14. Expressions of Interest must follow the format and include the following:
Format • One (1) single non-editable PDF file;
• Limit of thirty (30) pages all-inclusive (excluding presentation brochure).
Contents • Letter of Expression of Interest, drawn up according to the model in Appendix 2;
• If the Candidate is constituted as a Group: a copy of the Grouping agreement concluded by all its members OR a letter of intent to set up a Grouping (signed by all its members) and accompanied by a copy of the proposed Grouping agreement;
• The duly signed Declaration of Integrity, without modification, as provided in Appendix 3;
• A brochure presenting the Candidate (individual or Group);
• A list of references, experiences and similar, including information to assess the similarities mentioned in paragraph 9 above, and active telephone contacts and/or email addresses of clients (beneficiaries or funders).

15. Any application that is incomplete and/or submitted after the deadline for submitting expressions of interest will be automatically rejected.
16. The ARAA will confirm within 24 hours the receipt of each Expression of Interest it has received at the above email address. In the absence of such confirmation received from the Client within 24 hours of sending their Expression of Interest, the Candidate is invited to check with the Client that their Expression of Interest has been received.
17. Interested Candidates may obtain clarification by sending a written request to the above-mentioned email addresses, no later than five (5) working days before the deadline for submission of expressions of interest; with the subject line "UGP STOCK II-2026 - Clarification" to the following addresses: [email protected] with copies to [email protected] and [email protected].
18. The ARAA will respond to requests for clarification in writing, publishing the response in the same media as the initial publication of this Call for Expressions of Interest, without identifying the source of the request for clarification.