Water and Sanitation RS II, Finance contract between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska and the European Investment Bank

Bosnia and Herzegovina represented by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury (the “Borrower”) and Republika Srpska represented by the Ministry of Finance of Republika Srpska (the “Promoter”) has received a loan from the European Investment Bank – EIB– for financing the costs of the Project “Water and Sanitation Project II in Republika Srpska” (the “Project”). The Project will include construction and rehabilitation of water supply, wastewater and storm water infrastructure in the 24 participating municipalities.

This international call for Expression of Interest (EoI) relates to the service contract for Supervision of Works and financial reporting for the Project.

Authorized consulting companies are invited to express their interest in conducting the below-mentioned services in accordance with the provisions contained in this notice. Applications which meet the criteria given in this notice will be included in the shortlist.

The scope of the Contract shall be supervision of works and financial reporting in the 24 municipalities.The main operations should be located in Republika Srpska.

The services will include supervision of works (and technical assistance for preparation of designs and tender documentations, if instructed). The scope of the Works to be supervised includes a diversified range of water supply and wastewater components, such as (not be limited to) rehabilitation modernisation and extension of water intakes, water treatment plants, raw or treated water transmission mains, water supply networks including pumping stations and house connections, sewer networks including house connections and pumping stations, wastewater treatment plants, purchase of specialised vehicles, storm water collectors. The services also include the approval of the Contractors' design for the design and build contracts (mainly for the water and wastewater treatment works), issuing variations and reporting and assessing claims from the Contractor.

The Works contracts follow the FIDIC Red Book, Pink Book and Yellow Book model. The estimated total value of the Works to be supervised is approximately EUR 60 million.

Financial and other reporting: establishing and operating financial management of activities that involves assistance in consolidating financial data, drafting Financial Monitoring Reports, assisting in the monitoring of the coherence of the investment plan with the budget and the actual expenditures; revising and adjusting; assisting with regular reporting of creditors and donors.

Interested consultants should submit their application to demonstrate that they are qualified in the fields of above-mentioned services. Information shall be submitted in Standard Forms available upon request.

Tender procedures will be carried out in line with EIB Guide to Procurement (2018) which can be reached with the link: https://www.eib.org/en/publications/guide-to-procurement.htm

There are no eligibility restrictions; firms originating from all countries of the world are eligible to bid. Pursuant to its Sanctions Policy, the EIB shall not provide finance, directly or indirectly, to or for the benefit of, award a contract under any EIB Project to, or enter into any relationship with, an individual or entity who is subject to financial sanctions imposed by the European Union pursuant to Chapter 2 of Title V of the Treaty on European Union or article 215 of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union, either autonomously or pursuant to the financial sanctions decided by the United Nations Security Council on the basis of article 41 of the UN Charter.

EoI must quote the reference number of this notice, and the information and documentation requested in this notice must be included. Candidates may elect to submit their EoI:

1. by recorded delivery (courier or registered postal service);

2. by hand-delivering (in person or by any representative of the candidate);

In the first case, the application must be sent before the date and time limit for submission, as evidenced by the postmark or deposit slip , but in the second case it is the acknowledgment of receipt given at the time of the delivery of the application which will serve as proof.

In case of recorded or hand delivery the Consultant shall submit one original and three copies of the EoI in sealed envelope and marked as follows:

• name and address of the candidate,

• name and reference number of this notice,

• address of the Ministry of Finance of Republika Srpska.

Candidates may alter or withdraw their applications by written notification prior to the deadline for submission of EoIs. No application may be altered after this deadline.

The attention of interested parties is drawn to the aim of this notice: the compilation of a list of candidates who could be invited to respond to a specific invitation to tender. This procedure cannot, in itself, lead to the award of a contract.

The short list shall comprise from maximum 8 candidates. If the number of eligible candidates meeting the selection criteria is less than 3, the contract notice will be reissued.

If more than 8 eligible candidates fully meet the selection criteria, the relative strengths and weaknesses of the applications of these candidates must be re-examined to identify the 8 best applications for the tender procedure. The ranking will be based on the following sub-criteria/factors:

• Primary factor is the number of the reference contracts fulfilling the Technical capacity criteria, which were carried out by the candidate (as the lead or with a minimum share of 50% in the consortium/joint venture which implemented the reference contracts);

• Secondary factor will be implemented if more than eight candidates remain after the Primary factor is applied. Secondary factor is the cumulative value of the reference contracts fulfilling the Technical capacity criteria, which were carried out by the candidate (as the lead or with a minimum share of 50% in the consortium/joint venture which implemented the reference contracts).

No more than one application can be submitted by legal person whatever the form of participation (as an individual legal entity or as leader or member of a consortium submitting an application). In the event that legal person submits more than one application, all applications in which that person has participated will be excluded.

Candidates will be disqualified from taking part in this contract if they:

a — are bankrupt or being wound up, if their affairs are being administered by the court or if they have entered into an arrangement with creditors, if they have suspended business activities, if they are the subject of proceedings of this nature or if they are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure under national laws or regulations,

b — have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment which has the force of res judicata,

c — have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the contracting authorities can justify,

d — have not fulfilled their obligations to pay social security contributions or taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of their country of residence or with those of the country of the contracting authority, or those of the country where the contract is to be carried out;

e — have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organization or any other illegal activity detrimental to the Union's financial interests;

f — have been declared to be in serious breach of contract for failure to comply with their contractual obligations, following another procurement procedure or grant award procedure financed by the Union budget.

• For EIB ethical conduct requirements please refer to EIB Guide to Procurement, inter alia the clauses 1.4 and 3.6. (available on the EIB website).

Extension of works supervision contract to align with possible extension of works contract.

Clarifications if any may be requested no later than 15 calendar days prior to the submission deadline and shall be responded no later than 7 calendar days prior to the submission date. The clarification will be distributed to all firms who notified the procuring entity about their interest to submit an EoI.

The reference period which will be taken into account will be the last three years from submission deadline. Criteria for legal and natural persons:

• At least 15 permanent staff (year 2021) working for the candidate in the fields related to this contract.

• The candidate should have a back-up capacity other than the team to conduct the supervision work.

• The candidate has to provide the company organization chart and company description in his application.

It is recommended that proposed resident engineers have experience in Western Balkan countries, have required local licences and permits for design and supervision services in Republika Srpska and are able to communicate in local language. Evidence of obligatory licenses shall be requested from the successful bidder prior to the signature of the service contract.

• The average annual turnover of the candidate must exceed 1,000,000 EUR for the last 3 financial years (2018, 2019 and 2020).

• Current ratio (current assets/current liabilities) in the last year for which accounts have been closed (2020) must be at least 1. In case of a consortium this criterion must be fulfilled by each member.

In case of candidate being a public body, equivalent information should be provided. The reference period which will be taken into account will be the last three years for which accounts have been closed.

Under the Technical and professional ability, the candidates shall satisfy the following four sub-criteria, i.e. demonstrate the following experience:

• Experience with technical assistance – supervision and design in the environmental sector with a minimum value of 1,000,000 EUR in a single project (proportion carried out by the candidate). For the purpose of this procurement procedure, the Environmental sector means the Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) sector, e.g. water supply schemes, drinking water treatment plants, municipal wastewater collection and treatment projects, and similar;

• Experience with construction supervision for a wastewater treatment plant construction project, having a design capacity of minimum 15,000 population equivalent;

• Experience with construction supervision for a project including construction of a minimum of 50 km of pipeline works for drinking water and sewerage schemes, in a single programme; and

• Experience with construction supervision for any kind of construction which is governed by FIDIC contract conditions.

The candidate shall have successfully completed at least 2 service contracts which satisfy each of the above four criteria. The experience can be demonstrated either under single projects (e.g. one project demonstrating experience under two or more of the above criteria), or separate projects for each criterion under separate reference. The reference period which will be taken into account will be the last five years prior to the submission deadline of this application. Only successfully completed projects shall be considered.

Previous experience which caused breach of contract and termination by a Contracting Authority shall not be used as reference.

An economic operator may, where appropriate and for a particular contract, rely on the capacities of other entities, regardless of the legal nature of the links, which it has with them. When the candidate relies in the majority on the capacities of other entities or when it relies on key criteria, it may not be considered appropriate by the Contracting Authority . If the candidate relies on other entities it must in that case prove to the Contracting Authority that it will have at its disposal the resources necessary for performance of the contract, for example by producing an undertaking on the part of those entities to place those resources at its disposal. Such entities, for instance the parent company of the economic operator, must respect the same rules of eligibility and notably that of nationality, as the economic operator. Furthermore, the data for this third entity for the relevant selection criterion should be included in the tender in a separate document. Proof of the capacity will also have to be furnished when requested by the Contracting Authority.

The consultant shall have a capable and experienced team of professionals, including but not limited to: Team Leader and supervisors with FIDIC experience, i.e. civil engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, geotechnical engineer, surveyors, etc., in compliance with the requirements those will be provided in the tender documents.

The consultant shall consider the prospective peaks of the construction activities and ensure the adequacy of staff levels during such periods.

Subcontracting will be allowed up to 30% of the contract amount.

Information about staff responsible for the performance of the contract: Obligation to indicate the names and professional qualifications of the staff assigned to performing the contract

The Promoter of this procurement is Ministry of Finance of Republika Srpska.

Candidates should alert the Promoter in writing, with a copy to the European Investment Bank, in case they should consider that certain clauses or provisions of the PQDs might limit international competition or introduce an unfair advantage to some candidates.

Any appeals and complaints on the actions of Promoter and/or Procuring Entity should be made first to the Procuring Entity in writing, with a copy to the Promoter, after notification of shortlist within seven (7) days. The Procuring Entity shall promptly respond, within fourteen (14) days, in writing answers to the complaints. If the complainant is not satisfied with the outcome, or response, it is entitled to escalate their complaints to the Complaints Committee for Water and Sanitation in RS EIB 90.345 which members shall be appointed by Government of Republika Srpska, to review any activity within its terms of reference.

Any appeals and complaints on the actions of the EIB in respect of an instance of maladministration in their procurement due diligence should be made to the EIB complaint mechanism in accordance with the article 1.8.2 and Annex 8 of the EIB’s Guide to Procurement.