CONSULTING SERVICES
EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

Country: The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Organization: Authority for Civil Society Organizations (ACSO)
Objective: Needs assessment for the digitalization of ACSO and modernization of the ACSO information technology system


The Authority for Civil Society Organization (ACSO) has received a financing from Agence Française de Développement ("AFD"), and intends to use part of the funds thereof for payments of the need assessment for the modernization of ACSO’s information technology.
The services of the consultant shall allow ACSO to :
- have a detailed needs assessment to digitalize its services and management, i.e. develop its database, a digital M&E and reporting system, an online registration system and digital archives, both in terms of equipment, software and of capacities or procedures within ACSO organization;
- design the ToRs in order to purchase the IT equipment and software that will allow ACSO to develop its capacities; and
- propose an action plan for capacity-building related both to the implementation of the new equipment/software and to the development of internal capacities and procedures.
The services include needs assessment for:
(i) registration and reporting database, and database development and implementation; need assessment on staff training in database use, and development of manuals and guidelines for database use;
(ii) digital M&E and reporting system and implementation of the digitalization of M&E and capacity gap analysis of the staff and CSOs in the use of the digital M&E system, and development of guidelines and manuals for users;
(iii) online registration system & licence renewal, design and implementation of the online registration system and staff training, development of manuals and guidelines for online registration use;
(iv) archives’ management and digitalization of archives, implementation of archives restructuring, archivists’ training, and development of manual and guidelines for archiving and archival management plan;
(v) equipment and software;
(vi) IT Unit capacities, procedures and tools, IT unit staff training.
The assignment will last 4 months.
The cost of the service shall be determined based on the proposal that will be provided by the consultant considering the provision of two experts each of them working for 30 hours for the duration of the contract.
The location of the assignment will be Addis Ababa.
The Authority for Civil Society Organizations (ACSO) hereby invites Applicants to show their interest in delivering the Services described above.
This Request for Expressions of Interest is open only to Consulting Firms
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 joint venture (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;
• The nature of the services as explained above,
• With regards to the required technical area and expertise, the consulting firm should be an independent legal institution having experience in:
o IT and digitalization of services,
o Experience of working in Ethiopia related to the request,
o Experience in conducting needs analysis related to the digitalization of services and modernization of IT system in public institutions,
o Strong experience in Information Technology (system) with good knowledge of public service operation, support tools, web technology,
o At least 3 years relevant experiences in IT system development in public institutions, knowledge of telecom issues related to the implementation of information systems (site interconnection, fibre optic network, etc), computer security,
o Experience of developing training plans, preferably in the public sector,
o Experience in working on digital Monitoring and Evaluation,

Among the submitted applications, the Civil Society Organizations Agency (ACSO) 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 July 13, 2022, 5:00pm
ACSO reserves the right to accept or reject any Application, and to cancel the procurement process and reject all Applications, at any time without thereby incurring any liability to the affected applicants or any obligation to inform the affected applicants of the ground for ACSO’s action.
The Application must be submitted either by hand to ACSO tender box with office address given below.

Authority for Civil Society Organization (ACSO)
Finance and Procurement Department, office no 606
Tewodros square, churchill avenue, united insurance building
P.O.Box 14340
Tel: +251-115-582370 or cell phone: +251912-181638/+251911-186386
Email: tesfayeshiferaw33@gmail.com, fassikaw@gmail.com
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Interested Applicants may obtain further information at the address: tesfayeshiferaw33@gmail.com, fassikaw@gmail.com or at the address mentioned above prior to July 07, 2022 during office hours 8:30 am ̶ 5:30 pm


Appendix 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: