RE-ADVIRTISE EXPRESSION OF INTEREST N^o: 01/06/2024/BRD/HC&CS/CS

Assignment Title: Request for Expression of Interest (EOI) for Technical Assistance including Capacity Building to Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs) staff for CDAT.

1. Background:

The Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) is implementing a Five-Years World Bank financed project titled Commercialization and De-Risking for Agricultural Transformation Project (CDAT). The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to increase the use of irrigation and commercialization among producers and agribusiness firms in supported value chains, and to increase access to agricultural finance. The mandate of BRD is to increase the number of agri-MSMEs and farmers obtaining agricultural long-term loans through Direct Lending and through participating financial institutions.

Scope of work:

Objective 1:One of the main objectives of this program is to enhance the capacity of financial institutions in effectively structuring and financing agricultural loans. Specific objectives include:

• Providing comprehensive knowledge in structuring agriculture loans.
• Providing comprehensive understanding of agricultural financing principles and credit practices.
• Equipping participants with tools and techniques for assessing agricultural projects.
• Enhancing risk management strategies related to agricultural lending.
• Providing relevant tools to participants on the creation and importance of sustainable relationships between financial institutions and agricultural players (farmers, etc).
• Promoting the adoption of innovative or customized financing models tailored to agricultural sector needs and farmers.
• Agricultural loans monitoring practices.
• Development of agriculture strategies to PFIs

Objective 2: Development or design of new agricultural products, to boost the loans uptake to farmers, that could be implemented on the Rwandan market.

 Key Deliverables

1. Comprehensive training plan based on at least 4 areas of common weaknesses/ gaps identified from the assessment.
2. Training of Banks, MFIs and SACCOs.
3. FIs supported in the process of developing agriculture pipeline.
4. Development of agriculture strategies for PFIs.
5. Agriculture loans initiation and creation processes/tools developed for PFIs.

2. Contract duration:

The technical assistance for this particular work is estimated to take approximately 36 months. The contract can be extended to increase the scope, level of effort and/or duration, as determined by the BRD and in line with WB procurement policy. The Consultant’s performance will be assessed regularly based on the number of trained staff.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be found at the following website:  www.brd.rw under publications

The Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) now invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate express the interest in providing the above stated services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The shortlisting criteria are the following:

1. At least Five (5) years of experience working in fields related with financial institutions in the region particularly in Rwanda.
2. Demonstrate capacity in developing agriculture strategies of PFIs.
3. Demonstrate capacity in developing or designing new agricultural products of PFis.
4. Demonstrating good knowledge and familiarity in working with Rwanda Private Sector
5. Demonstrate knowledge of, exposure to, and experience working with staff training programs that are suited for emerging economies. Rwanda’s banking sector will be an advantage.
6. Fill, signed and submission of application form for establishing business relationship with political exposed person (PEP form with all information requested should be mandatory filled)
7. The technical and managerial organization of the firm. (Provide only the structure of the organization, general qualifications, and number of key staff. Do not provide CV of staff). Key Experts will not be evaluated at the shortlisting stage and at least the best five (05) firms will be shortlisted for the next stage.

3. Selection process

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” July 2016 revised up to September 2023) (“Consultant Guidelines”) setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

Consultants may associate with other firms to enhance their qualifications but should indicate clearly whether the association is in the form of a joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy. In the case of a joint venture, all the partners in the joint venture shall be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) method set out in the Procurement Regulations.

Interested Consultants firms are invited to download the full Terms of Reference and template to be downloaded from BRD website www.brd.rw under Publications from 07/06/2024. Further information can be submitted at the following email addresses: procurement@brd.rw and copying to the brd@brd.rw during office hours (8:00 am to 6:00 pm, Local time).

The expression of interest must be delivered in written form addressed to the Chief Executive Officer of Development Bank of Rwanda on the following address: procurement@brd.rw and copying to the brd@brd.rw not later than 28/06/2024 at 6:00pm Kigali time (GMT +2).

N.B: All bidders submitted their expression of interest are encouraged to update their Expression of Interest based on the revised shortlisting criteria.

Sincerely,

Nadine TETA MBABAZI Kampeta SAYINZOGA

Head of Human Capital and Corporate Services Chief Executive Office