REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

AFRICAN LEGAL SUPPORT FACILITY (ALSF)

In-house Legal Consultant for The Gambia PPP Unit

Date limite: 31/03/2020

The African Legal Support Facility (“ALSF” or the “Facility”) hereby invites individual consultants to indicate their interest in the following assignment : In-house Legal Consultant for The Gambia PPP Unit.

1. Introduction :

Presentation of the ALSF :

The African Legal Support Facility (the “ALSF” or the “Facility”) is an international organization hosted by the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The ALSF’s main objectives include: (i) assisting African Governments in defending against litigation brought against them by vulture funds (and other such entities); (ii) providing legal advisory services to African Governments in the structuring and negotiation of complex commercial transactions relating to extractives and natural resources, infrastructure, PPPs, sovereign debt, and related commercial agreements; capacity building for lawyers and government professionals related to the above; and (iv) development of knowledge products.

Invitation to express interest and request for proposal

ALSF invites you to submit an expression of interest together with a technical and financial proposal for the provision of advisory and capacity building services to The Gambia. The scope of work will consist in supporting the Public Private Partnership (“PPP”) Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs of The Gambia (“MOFEA”) in the structuring and implementation of infrastructure / PPP projects (“MOFEA Projects”) through analysing, drafting, and negotiating project documents, advising on feasibility studies and conducting capacity building activities for the relevant stakeholders within the Government of The Gambia (“GoTG”) (the “Project”).

All expressions of interest and joint proposals must be submitted to the ALSF at alsf@afdb.org with copies to the ALSF task managers listed in these Terms of Reference (p.atugonza@afdb.org) on or before 31 March 2020 at 18h00 GMT.

The technical offer must include comprehensive answers to questions raised in these terms of reference, as well as all additional information deemed useful and relevant. The Consultant will be selected after an in-depth analysis of the proposals, based on the basis of the criteria defined to respond to the needs and requirements of the Government and ALSF.

The ALSF expects the selected Consultant to provide high-quality services, reflecting good international practices, as well as ALSF’s objectives and mission.

Incomplete proposals, late proposals, or proposals that do not fulfil the criteria established in these terms of reference shall not be considered.

1. Project Context ;
2. Project description : The Project consists in the procurement of an individual in-house legal counsel (the “Consultant”) to support the MoFEA with the structuring and implementation of infrastructure / PPP projects through analysing, drafting, and negotiating project documents, advising on feasibility studies and conducting capacity building activities for the relevant stakeholders within GoTG for a period of twelve months.

The appointed legal counsel will also be required to provide training to the relevant staff members of the MoFEA as well as any relevant stakeholders.

The “Consultant” will be hired and remunerated by the ALSF.

3. scope of services :

Project workstreams :

The scope of services of the Consultant shall include, without limitation, the following :

• Provision of legal advisory services to the MoFEA for the structuring, drafting and negotiation of project documentation that ensures a fair balance between the interests of the private sector and The Gambia’s own financial and economic interests, in line with The Gambia’s development strategies; and
• Provision of capacity building assistance to the MoFEA and other related stakeholders to strengthen The Gambia’s capacity in structuring, negotiating and managing infrastructure / PPP sector contracts.

Assistance requested by the Government shall be subdivided into two workstreams described below. The workstreams may overlap, depending on the methodology proposed by the Consultant

Workstream 1: Provision of legal advisory services to the MoFEA in the structuring, drafting and negotiation of PPP documentation

Activities :

The Consultant’s activities under this workstream shall include :

• Review of project documents in relation to MOFEA Projects and making recommendations on pending and critical issues, taking into account community and social interests such as resettlement, water supply, security, environmental impact and health, in order to inform the GoTG’s position, if necessary ;

• Providing an analysis and advising on positions and actions to be taken by the GoTG during negotiation meetings in relation to MOFEA Projects (this does not involve representation of the GoTG during such negotiations) ;

• Defining the expected legal characteristics of project documentation based on the project documents reviewed by the Consultant in relation to ongoing MOFEA Projects ;

• Discussing and identifying the GoTG’s position with respect to the key contractual terms of project documents; and
• Providing options to the GoTG for the most acceptable standard of PPP documents for projects of the relevant nature.

Workstream 2 : Development of capacity building activities for the MoFEA and other related stakeholders

Activities :

The Consultant’s activities under this workstream shall include :

• Conducting a training needs assessment to ascertain the GoTG’s training needs ;
• Developing a summary of the proposed training content and a course curriculum in the PPP sector to be agreed by the MoFEA and the ALSF ;
• Working with The Government’s local lawyers on PPP transactions to ensure knowledge and skills transfer ;
• Developing practical exercises for training workshops ;
• Delivering training workshops for the PPP Sector.

The provisional schedule of the Consultant’s mission is indicated in the following table :

ALSF shall closely monitor the relationship between Government and Consultant in order to ensure that the Project’s forecast results have well and truly been attained.

4. Working method :

The selected Consultant shall apply internationally recognised working methods and standards for the realisation of this type of State advisory and institutional support mission. He/she must offer the Government a suitable methodology.

The selected Consultant must work together with the in-house legal counsel.

5. Duration :

The duties will be carried out over a duration of 12 (twelve) months. The Consultant shall be expected to start on 1 May 2020 The Consultant shall be stationed in the PPU Unit at the Directorate of the MoFEA in Banjul in The Gambia.

6. Proposal content :

The proposals must be sent to ALSF at the latest on 31 March 2020 at 18h00 GMT and must to include a technical proposal and a financial proposal.

Technical Proposal :

The Technical Proposal must include the following :

1. Legal expertise and reputation, including with regard to public sector and handling matters on behalf of governments and international institutions. The applicant shall hold at least a Master’s degree or equivalent in law, be admitted to the Bar, or hold a diploma to practice law, in an AfDB member country. Alternatively, a first university degree plus a relevant combination of academic qualification in law (e.g. Juris Doctor (JD) plus admission to the Bar, or diploma to practice law in an AfDB country. The Consultant shall have previous experience working in an established international law firm, or an international financial institution with proven technical competence and experience in development law. Experience with a Development Bank and knowledge of Multilateral Finance Institutions is highly desirable ;
2. Experience and knowledge of The Gambia or the relevant sub-region, as well as the legal, economic and socio-political situation ;
3. Commitment to capacity building, particularly in Africa as well as emphasis on methodologies and strategies to transfer skills to national relevant counterparts ;
4. Demonstrated excellent technical skills, excellent communication and interpersonal skills, good writing and analytical skills ;
5. Proposed methodology including :

• Understanding of the ALSF and Government expectations (including appreciation of issues at stake of the project) ;
• Overview of the proposed methodology for approaching each of the workstreams (scenarios, strategy, action plan, and proposed stages) ; an
• Implementation schedule of the entire mission and each phase ;
• Potential conflicts of interest ;
• Adequacy for the assignment: Maximum 3 to 5 recent and relevant case studies concerning the performance of this type of mission and experience in similar conditions mentioning the following data.

Financial proposal :

The Financial Proposal will consist of a fixed fee corresponding to a non-revisable monthly lump sum, comprising fee, subsistence or other incidentals, for the duration of the assignment. The ALSF will cover travel and field mission costs (if any) as per African Development Bank rules in this regard.

Annexes :

1. CV of the Consultant (including contact details, language capabilities and citizenship of each team member, registration/certificates of good standing) ;
2. Conflicts of interest, confidentiality and legal value.

Your client in this matter will be the Government of The Gambia. In your proposal, please state any necessary information related to potential and/or real conflicts of interest related to this project.

In the situation where a conflict of interests arises, we invite the Consultant to propose measures to minimize potential conflicts of interests.

Any legal counsel who would like to submit an offer in the context of these terms of reference should carry out all the necessary investigations and formally confirm that there is no existing or potential, real or apparent conflict of interest for the realisation of the mission.

8. Expression of Interest and Submission of Proposals :

Interested individual consultants may obtain further information by email to Ms. Primah Atugonza, Legal Counsel at ALSF (p.atugonza@afdb.org).

Expressions of Interest together with the technical and financial proposals must be received jointly by email to alsf@afdb.org, copying Ms. Primah Atugonza, Legal Counsel (p.atugonza@afdb.org), no later than 31 March 2020 at 18h00 GMT, specifically mentioning “ALSF – In-house Legal Consultant for The Gambia PPP Unit” in the subject heading.