Republic of Liberia
Ministry of Public Works
P.0 Box 9011, South Lynch Street
Monrovia, Liberia

Country Name: Republic of Liberia
Project Name: Monrovia Integrated Development Project/Liberia Urban Resilience Project
Assignment Title: Consulting Services for Involuntary Resettlement Audit “South Triangle Site” (Community Corner, Lakpazee)

CONSULTING SERVICES
Request for Expressions of Interest

The Government of the Republic of Liberia through the Ministry of Public Works/ Project Management Unit has received a financing from Agence Française de Développement ("AFD"), and intends to use part of the funds thereof for payments under the Monrovia Integrated Development Project/Liberia Urban Resilience Project.
The Services of the consultant shall consist of conducting an Involuntary Resettlement Audit in order to clarify the compliance of the intervention undertaken by the Liberian government on the Community Corner 1 in Lakpazee site, both from the point of view of the national legislation and the World Bank ESSs, especially the ESS5 “Land acquisition, restrictions on land use and involuntary resettlement”. Consultations with local population and authorities confirmed that a resettlement / eviction process has indeed been undertaken by Local Government in order to prepare the site for the AFD project.

The Ministry of Public Works/ Project Management Unit hereby invites qualify firms to show their interest in delivering the Services described above.
The objective of the assignment is to conduct a Resettlement Audit (independent evaluation) on the Community Corner 1 in Lakpazee, which involves:
 Thorough desk-based review, site visits and adequate engagement, clarify the resettlement / eviction process that the local authorities have undertaken between April and September 2021.
 Analysis of the compliance of this process with: (i) the national legislation and (ii) the Updated RPF (July 2022) prepared for this project, and (ii) the World Bank’s ESSs.
 In case of non-conformities, define the actions to be taken for the development of a compliant RAP or LRP. The recommendations can be formalized through a Resettlement Process Compliance Plan.

This Request for Expressions of Interest is open to all interested Consulting firms meeting the criteria:
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.
Interested Applicants must provide information evidencing that they are qualified and experienced to perform the 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, type and role(in case of firms responsibility) of the services performed

For technical area and expertise
• At least 7 years of experience in conducting RAP, LRP and resettlement audit using World Bank ESSs procedures especially ESS5, ‘Land acquisition, restrictions on land use and involuntary resettlement”
• Demonstrate / provide evidence of strong expertise in public consultation and participatory approach with a gender perspective.
• Expertise in databased and GIS usage;
- The location
• Good knowledge of the Liberian context and national regulations relating to national legislation, regulations and practices on resettlement. References in the Country would be an advantage.

 The Client will also take into account for the evaluation of the applications the following items:
• A Bachelor’s degree in or its equivalent) in Social Sciences including Sociology, Socio-economics, Socio-anthropology, Geography, or any other relevant discipline from a recognized University. Possession of an advanced degree in a relevant field is desirable.
• Quality assurance procedures and certifications of the Applicant- ISO 9001 or other relevant environmental and social certification;

An application that does not meet any of these requirements will be rejected.
Among the submitted applications, Ministry of Public Works/Project Management Unit will shortlist a maximum of six (6) applicants, to whom the Request for Proposals to carry out the Services shall be sent.
Interested applicants may obtain further information at the address below during office hours 08:00 am till 04:00 pm Liberia time (GMT).
The Expressions of Interest must be submitted to the address below no later than May 30, 2023 at 2:00pm Local Liberian Time

Mr. Gabriel S. Flaboe Sr.
The Project Coordinator
Liberia Urban Resilience Project(LURP)/
Monrovia Integrated Development Project(MIDP)
Ministry of Public Works
Tel: +231-886513239/779111985
E-mail: lurp.midp@gmail.com

Appendix to The Request for Expressions of Interest
(To be submitted 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: ___________________________________________________