GHANA

Support to sustainable infrastructure financing


CONSULTING SERVICES
Expressions of Interest

Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (“GIIF”) has applied for a financing from Agence Française de Développement ("AFD"), and intends to use the funds thereof for payments under a Technical Assistance (“TA”) contract to support the identification and appraisal of sustainable infrastructure debt financings.
The Services of the consultant shall consist of Technical Assistance to GIIF, for a total amount of maximum 400,000 euros, to support the development and financing of green and social infrastructures, whith a focus on renewable energy, telecommunication, water and sanitation, public transportation, hospitals and universities.
GIIF hereby invites Applicants to show their interest in delivering the Services described below.
This Request for Expressions of Interest is open to:

q Consulting firms q Individual consultants

q NGOs q Joint Venture between NGO(s) and consulting firm(s)

Eligibility criteria to AFD financing are specified in sub-clause 1.3 of the "Procurement Guidelines for AFD Financed Contracts in Foreign Countries", available online on AFD’s website: http://www.afd.fr.
The Applicant shall submit only one application, either in its own name or as a member of a Joint Venture (JV). If an Applicant (including any JV member) submits or participates in more than one application, those applications shall be all rejected. However, the same Subconsultant may participate in several applications.
If the Applicant is a JV, the expression of interest shall include:
 a copy of the JV Agreement entered into by all members,
or
 a letter of intent to execute a JV Agreement, signed by all members together with a copy of the Agreement proposal,
In the absence of this document, the other members will be considered as Subconsultants.
Experiences and qualifications of Subconsultants are not taken into account in the evaluation of the applications.
Interested Applicants must provide information evidencing that they are qualified and experienced to perform those Services. For that purpose, documented evidence of recent and similar services shall be submitted.
Determination of the similarity of the experiences will be based on:
 The contracts size: should be above 300 000 EUR (excluding tax);
 The nature of the Services: support to financial institutions in appraising and structuring green and social infrastructure loan financings ; drafting terms of reference for feasibility or detailed technical studies ; managing tenders ; reporting and monitoring international donor funded projects (including : impact measurement, support to project administration and procurement processes) ; work on technical assistance program, capacity building, trainings.
 The technical area and expertise: experience in technical and financial analysis of climate and SDG-related projects ; experience in the banking industry and with credit lines ; experience in project finance and credit risk assessment ; climate and gender mainstreaming activities in the context of infrastructure development ; renewable energy technologies ; environnemental and social safeguards ; carbon footprint tools and SDG impact measurement ; avoid-reduce-offset methodologies with a focus on forest and biodiversity protection ;
 The location: in developing and emerging countries; in West Africa; and in Ghana.

The Client will also take into account for the evaluation of the applications the following items:
 Skills and availability of in-house technical back-up experts provided to the on-site experts;
 Local representatives/partners.
Among the submitted applications, GIIF will shortlist a maximum of six (6) Applicants, to whom the Request for Proposals to carry out the Services shall be sent.
The Expressions of Interest must be submitted to the address below no later than Friday, 17th April, 2020 .
The Chief Executive Officer
Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund
Post Office Box CT9300, Cantonments, Accra
9th Floor, Accra World Trade Centre

Telephone: +233 (0) 24 221 1320
Email: kwadwo.kgyan@giif.gov.gh , kwame.osei@giif.gov.gh, kkgyan2018@gmail.com
Interested Applicants may obtain further information at the address above during office hours:
9:00am to 5:00pm GMT .



Appendix 1 to The Request for Expressions of Interest
(To be sumitted with the application, signed and unaltered)
Statement of Integrity, Eligibility and Environmental and Social Responsibility

Reference of the bid or proposal (the "Contract")
To: (the "Contracting Authority")

1. We recognise and accept that Agence Française de Développement ("AFD") only finances projects of the Contracting Authority subject to its own conditions which are set out in the Financing Agreement which benefits directly or indirectly to the Contracting Authority. As a matter of consequence, no legal relationship exists between AFD and our company, our joint venture or our suppliers, contractors, subcontractors, consultants or subconsultants. The Contracting Authority retains exclusive responsibility for the preparation and implementation of the procurement process and performance of the contract. The Contracting Authority means the Purchaser, the Employer, the Client, as the case may be, for the procurement of goods, works, plants, consulting services or non-consulting services.
2. We hereby certify that neither we nor any other member of our joint venture or any of our suppliers, contractors, subcontractors, consultants or subconsultants are in any of the following situations:
2.1 Being bankrupt, wound up or ceasing our activities, having our activities administered by the courts, having entered into receivership, reorganisation or being in any analogous situation arising from any similar procedure;
2.2 Having been:
a) convicted, within the past five years by a court decision, which has the force of res judicata in the country where the Contract is implemented, of fraud, corruption or of any other offense committed during a procurement process or performance of a contract (in the event of such conviction, you may attach to this Statement of Integrity supporting information showing that this conviction is not relevant in the context of this Contract);
b) subject to an administrative sanction within the past five years by the European Union or by the competent authorities of the country where we are constituted, for fraud, corruption or for any other offense committed during a procurement process or performance of a contract (in the event of such sanction, you may attach to this Statement of Integrity supporting information showing that this sanction is not relevant in the context of this Contract);
c) convicted, within the past five years by a court decision, which has the force of res judicata, of fraud, corruption or of any other offense committed during the procurement process or performance of an AFD-financed contract;
2.3 Being listed for financial sanctions by the United Nations, the European Union and/or France for the purposes of fight-against-terrorist financing or threat to international peace and security;
2.4 Having been subject within the past five years to a contract termination fully settled against us for significant or persistent failure to comply with our contractual obligations during contract performance, unless this termination was challenged and dispute resolution is still pending or has not confirmed a full settlement against us;
2.5 Not having fulfilled our fiscal obligations regarding payments of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of either the country where we are constituted or the Contracting Authority's country;
2.6 Being subject to an exclusion decision of the World Bank and being listed on the website http://www.worldbank.org/debarr (in the event of such exclusion, you may attach to this Statement of Integrity supporting information showing that this exclusion is not relevant in the context of this Contract);
2.7 Having created false documents or committed misrepresentation in documentation requested by the Contracting Authority as part of the procurement process of this Contract.
3. We hereby certify that neither we, nor any of the members of our joint venture or any of our suppliers, contractors, subcontractors, consultants or subconsultants are in any of the following situations of conflict of interest:
3.1 Being an affiliate controlled by the Contracting Authority or a shareholder controlling the Contracting Authority, unless the stemming conflict of interest has been brought to the attention of AFD and resolved to its satisfaction;
3.2 Having a business or family relationship with a Contracting Authority's staff involved in the procurement process or the supervision of the resulting Contract, unless the stemming conflict of interest has been brought to the attention of AFD and resolved to its satisfaction;
3.3 Being controlled by or controlling another bidder or consultant, or being under common control with another bidder or consultant, or receiving from or granting subsidies directly or indirectly to another bidder or consultant, having the same legal representative as another bidder or consultant, maintaining direct or indirect contacts with another bidder or consultant which allows us to have or give access to information contained in the respective applications, bids or proposals, influencing them or influencing decisions of the Contracting Authority;
3.4 Being engaged in a consulting services activity, which, by its nature, may be in conflict with the assignments that we would carry out for the Contracting Authority;
3.5 In the case of procurement of goods, works or plants:
a) Having prepared or having been associated with a consultant who prepared specifications, drawings, calculations and other documentation to be used in the procurement process of this Contract;
b) Having been recruited (or being proposed to be recruited) ourselves or any of our affiliates, to carry out works supervision or inspection for this Contract.
4. If we are a state-owned entity, and to compete in a procurement process, we certify that we have legal and financial autonomy and that we operate under commercial laws and regulations.
5. We undertake to bring to the attention of the Contracting Authority, which will inform AFD, any change in situation with regard to points 2 to 4 here above.
6. In the context of the procurement process and performance of the corresponding contract:
6.1 We have not and we will not engage in any dishonest conduct (act or omission) deliberately indented to deceive others, to intentionally conceal items, to violate or vitiate someone's consent, to make them circumvent legal or regulatory requirements and/or to violate their internal rules in order to obtain illegitimate profit;
6.2 We have not and we will not engage in any dishonest conduct (act or omission) contrary to our legal or regulatory obligations or our internal rules in order to obtain illegitimate profit;
6.3 We have not promised, offered or given and we will not promise, offer or give, directly or indirectly to (i) any Person who holds a legislative, executive, administrative or judicial mandate within the State of the Contracting Authority regardless of whether that Person was nominated or elected, regardless of the permanent or temporary, paid or unpaid nature of the position and regardless of the hierarchical level the Person occupies, (ii) any other Person who performs a public function, including for a State institution or a State owned company, or who provides a public service, or (iii) any other person defined as a Public Officer by the national laws of the Contracting Authority’s country, an undue advantage of any kind, for himself or for another Person or entity, for such Public Officer to act or refrain from acting in his official capacity;
6.4 We have not promised, offered or given and we will not promise, offer or give, directly or indirectly to any Person who occupies an executive position in a private sector entity or works for such an entity, regardless of the nature of his/her capacity, any undue advantage of any kind, for himself or another Person or entity for such Person to perform or refrain from performing any act in breach of its legal, contractual or professional obligations;
6.5 We have not and we will not engage in any practice likely to influence the contract award process to the detriment of the Contracting Authority and, in particular, in any anti competitive practice having for object or for effect to prevent, restrict or distort competition, namely by limiting access to the market or the free exercise of competition by other undertakings;
6.6 Neither we nor any of the members of our joint venture or any of our suppliers, contractors, subcontractors, consultants or subconsultants shall acquire or supply any equipment nor operate in any sectors under an embargo of the United Nations, the European Union or France;
6.7 We commit ourselves to comply with and ensure that all of our suppliers, contractors, subcontractors, consultants or subconsultants comply with international environmental and labour standards, consistent with laws and regulations applicable in the country of implementation of the Contract, including the fundamental conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and international environmental treaties. Moreover, we shall implement environmental and social risks mitigation measures when specified in the environmental and social commitment plan (ESCP) provided by the Contracting Authority.
7. We, as well as members of our joint venture and our suppliers, contractors, subcontractors, consultants or subconsultants authorise AFD to inspect accounts, records and other documents relating to the procurement process and performance of the contract and to have them audited by auditors appointed by AFD.

Name: In the capacity of:
Duly empowered to sign in the name and on behalf of :
Signature:
Dated:

 
Appendix 2 to the Request for Expressions of Interest
Description of Activities
I. Context and strategic challenges of the program

The Government of Ghana strongly promotes sustainable development, as expressed in the general development policy (« Coordinated Program of Economic and Social Development Policies – CPESD ») which was published following the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals and the signature of the 2015 Paris Agreement. The current President, Nana Akufo-Addo, wishes Ghana to pave the way in Africa in this field.
While Ghana is well positioned in the 2018 Africa infrastructure development index, ranking 12th overall and 1st in West Africa, the needs in infrastructure including sustainable infrastructure are significant. It was estimated in 2016 at around six billion USD per year over ten years, in order to support an economic growth ranging from 5 to 7% a year.
Still, the means for the Government of Ghana to reduce the gap and place the country on a sustainable development path are limited. Most of the State Budget is dedicated to wages, current expenditures and debt service. It is therefore necessary for the Government to find alternative financing sources. In this perspective, a strategy to increase infrastructure financing was developed in the early 2010s. The creation of the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) was one of the outcomes of such policy.
GIIF is a public financial institution created in 2014 whose mission is to “mobilize, manage, coordinate and provide financing to infrastructure projects for national development”. In order to achieve this goal, GIIF provides various financial instruments including equity, quasi-equity, and debt. The targeted sectors cover the entire economic infrastructures (energy, transport, telecommunication, agribusiness, heavy industries, oil and gas, mines, tourism) but also social infrastructures (health, education, social housing etc.). GIIF expresses a strong interest in building its capacities to finance sustainable development infrastructures and in this perspective has formalized a partnership with AFD in the form of a Grant Agreement to finance a technical assistance program. In addition, a credit line from AFD to GIIF to finance sustainable development projects is currently under preparation.

II. Objectives and contents of the program

The technical assistance program contains several objectives structured around four components:
• Component 1: develop a pipeline of eligible projects: support GIIF in the identification of sub-projects to be financed on the contemplated AFD credit line and meeting AFD’s eligibility criteria.
• Component 2: assistance in the appraisal of investment projects: given the limited size of its staff, GIIF currently mostly relies on external experts to undertake financial, environmental and social due diligences on investment projects. The TA program will support GIIF in the drafting of terms of references to recruit such experts and to review the deliverables.
• Component 3: capacity-building: the TA program will aim to build GIIF’s capacities to analyse and monitor environmental and social risks, credit risk assessment, the methodology and pricing tools for financial offers, etc.
• Component 4: develop and implement new procedures and products: at the moment GIIF possesses several draft strategies and policies. One objective of the technical assistance would be to support GIIF in the definition and implementation of new policies and procedures, with a focus on environmental and social risk management, climate change, gender equality, risk-sharing mechanisms, etc.

III. Stakeholders and modus operandi

GIIF will recruit a team of national and international consultants (“the Consultant”) to provide the services and will supervise the technical assistance program.

IV. Cost and financing

The technical assistance program is financed by AFD on a grant of a maximum amount of 400 000 EUR.

V. Main anticipated impacts

The technical assistance program will help GIIF to identify sub-projects to be financed on a contemplated AFD credit line and to check their eligibility against a set of climate, environmental and social risks and benefits. The program will also build the capacities of GIIF on the environmental and social aspects: operationally through a support to the environmental and social experts of GIIF and strategically through the development of E&S and climate policies and strategies. The program will also support the development of new financial products and tools to help GIIF provide a more comprehensive financial offer to potential clients in Ghana.
Overall, the technical assistance program will help GIIF, a key actor of infrastructure development finance in Ghana, to shift towards more sustainable development oriented investment strategies and projects, and become a leader in this field in the country.

VI. Expertise requested

The Consultant shall be an international consulting firm or a group of consulting firms with a locally-based support capacity, with relevant experience in all areas needed for the performance of the assignment as described above, including in relevant sectors and in Ghana.
In order to achieve the objective of the project and implement its activities, the Consultant will need to mobilize:
- a team of key experts, possibly based in Ghana and able to dedicate a large amount of their time working under GIIF’s supervision, composed of:
o A national or international team leader
o A national or international deputy team leader (optional)
- a pool of short term experts (national or international) in the following fields: renewable energy, telecommunication, water and sanitation, climate change (mitigation and adaptation), gender equality, E&S safeguards, project finance, and credit risk management.

The team will also be able to mobilize back-office support. It will be requested to provide locally-based qualified experts, as knowledge of the local market will be a strong asset.
The Consultant will be required to work and produce documents in English.


 
Miscellaneous
• Timeline: AFD’s credit facility is expected to be signed in the end of S1 2020. The beginning of the TA activities should be synchronized with the signing of the credit facility.
• The TA contract will be time-based. A financial envelope will be dedicated to operational expenditures, such as communication and visibility actions, trainings, seminars, etc.
• The Consultant will be recruited for a period of 24 months, extensible up to 36 months.
• Most TA activities will be based in Accra, but travels in Ghana will be required.

NOTA: GIIF is drawing consulting firms’ attention to the fact that they reserve their right to cancel the tender procedure at any point in time, prior to the signing of a contract.