REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
(CONSULTING SERVICES– FIRMS SELECTION)

Country: 		Ukraine
Project: 		Public Finance Management Support Programme for Ukraine
Grant:			TF0B6630
Assignment Title: 	Capacity building in PIM
Reference No.:	ME-CQ-1

BACKGROUND
Ukraine has received financial assistance from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Development Association (“World Bank”), acting as administrator of the grant funds provided by the European Commission on behalf of the European Union (“Donor”) under the EC - World Bank Partnership Program Part III for Europe and Central Asia Programmatic Single-Donor Trust Fund (TF073423) in an amount of three million eight hundred nine thousand Euro (EUR 3,809,000) (“Grant”) toward the cost of Public Finance Management Support Programme for Ukraine Project. The Letter Agreement regarding the Grant TF0B6630 was signed between the Ukraine and the World Bank on 09.02.2022 (“Letter Agreement”). 
The Project is aimed to better manage public resources and consists of four parts: Part A “Country-wide launch of the HRMIS” (Project`s Part A), Part B “Enhancing Public Investment Management” (Project’s Part B), Part C “Better Governance and Oversight of State-owned enterprises” (SOEs) (Project’s Part C), and Part D “Project Management and Implementation Support”.
The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine (MoE) is responsible for the implementation of Project`s Parts B, C, and partly D, the total amount of which is nine hundred forty-two thousand Euro (EUR 942,000).
The MoE (Client) is the lead institution responsible for the management of public investments in Ukraine.  Since 2015, the Government has progressed towards improving country’s PIM system, which includes: transparent appraisal and selection procedures for public investment projects have been established; MoE developed basic procedures for monitoring of public investment projects; cost-benefit analysis (CBA) methodology adopted for Ukraine through a specific value of the social-discount rate and the MoE has applied the methodology to selected projects; state PIM Committee comprising the key Ministers and members of the Parliament’s Budget Committee has been established. However, substantial deficiencies remain, such as the lack of strategic prioritization, non-efficient investment portfolio management with manual-based PIM procedures; capacity constraints within PIM stakeholders and MoE etc. Strengthening the PIM system is one of the main objectives of the Government’s Strategy for reforming the Public Finance Management System for 2022-2025 adopted on 29 December 2021. 
The MoE, within its Project’s activities aimed at strengthening and improving the efficiency of the Public Investment Management (PIM) system in public administration institutions (Part B) is going, inter alia, to i) establish a comprehensive database of the public investment portfolio and automation of the public investment decision making and management processes; ii) deliver capacity building of participating stakeholders for better management of public investment projects, including their coordination and monitoring, and iii) strengthen MoE’s capacities to coordinate and monitor public investments.
OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The objective of this assignment is to provide support to the MoE in enhancing its PIM system through capacity building in PIM.
The MoE is going to contract through a competitive selection an experienced consulting company to achieve the objective of the assignment through i) developing Guidelines for Project Implementation Management, ii) developing a training strategy, training curriculum/modules aimed at skills development for selection, appraisal, and implementation of public investment projects, and its implementation; and iii)carrying out PIM-related business processes analysis, and support for the change management process.
Estimated timeframe for the assignment is four (4) months, beginning from January 2023.
The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine now invites eligible consulting firms (the Consultants) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services.   

The short listing criteria are as follows:
The Consultant shall be either a local or an international company, knowledgeable in development training strategy for state investment policies and experienced in project implementation management particularly in public investment management. 
The Consultant, as a firm, shall meet the following qualifications and experience requirements:
Mandatory requirements:
•	At least 5 years of relevant professional consulting experience on training strategies, including experience in development trainings/modules f2f, online and digital, similar assignments in the countries in Europe and/or Central Asia;
•	Experience in developing guidelines, draft legislation, and in conducting business process reviews;
•	Experience in development training courses/modules on investment project management under project cycle standards particularly in public investment management;
•	Experience in preparing and implementing programs and projects with donor organizations and / or international financial organizations, in particular on the development training system;
•	Availability of relevant staff and resources to carry out the required work, including access to international knowledge base;
•	Experience in delivering trainings with verified certification of participant results;
•	The availability of at least the following experts: investment project management specialist, public investment management specialist, legal specialist, trainer on public investment project management, web-based training modules developers all with at least 5 years of relevant practical experience.
Desirable requirements:
•	Experience of cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and / or any other central executive bodies on the implementation of reforms in Ukraine;
•	Experience in developing web-based training courses.
The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to paragraphs 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 in Section III of World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers, dated November 2020 (The Regulations) setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.
Consultants may associate with other firms in the form of a joint venture or a sub consultancy to enhance their qualifications.
A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the CQS method described in details in the Regulations. 
Further information may be obtained at the address below during office hours from 10:00 to 17:00 local time.
Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form in Ukrainian to the address below (in person, by courier or by mail, or by e-mail) by 15:00 December 30, 2022. The expressions of interest shall be marked in subject line: "ME-CQ-1: Expression of Interest".

The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine
12/2, Grushevskogo Str., Kyiv, 01008, Ukraine
Attn.: Yuliya Skubak
+38(044) 596-68-26
skubak@me.gov.ua, with mandatory copy to vshpytalna@me.gov.ua
Enclosure: Terms of Reference # ME-CQ-1

Ministry of Economy of Ukraine
Project: Public Finance Management Support Programme for Ukraine/ Grant # TF0B6630
Part B. Enhancing Public Investment Management
TERMS OF REFERENCE 
for Consulting Services 
for Capacity building in PIM 
(contract reference: ME-CQ-1)

I.	BACKGROUND
Ukraine has received financial assistance from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Development Association (“World Bank”), acting as administrator of the grant funds provided by the European Commission on behalf of the European Union (“Donor”) under the EC - World Bank Partnership Program Part III for Europe and Central Asia Programmatic Single-Donor Trust Fund (TF073423) in an amount of three million eight hundred nine thousand Euro (EUR 3,809,000) (“Grant”) toward the cost of Public Finance Management Support Programme for Ukraine Project. The Letter Agreement regarding the Grant TF0B6630 was signed between the Ukraine and the World Bank on 09.02.2022 (“Letter Agreement”). 
The Project is aimed to better manage public resources and consists of four parts: Part A “Country-wide launch of the HRMIS” (Project`s Part A), Part B “Enhancing Public Investment Management” (Project’s Part B), Part C “Better Governance and Oversight of State-owned enterprises” (SOEs) (Project’s Part C), and Part D “Project Management and Implementation Support”.
The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine (MoE) is responsible for the implementation of Project`s Parts B, C, and partly D (Project), the total amount of which is nine hundred forty-two thousand Euro (EUR 942,000).
The MoE (Client) is the lead institution responsible for the management of public investments in Ukraine. Since 2015, the Government has progressed towards improving country’s PIM system. Few to mention include: transparent appraisal and selection procedures for public investment projects have been established; MoE developed basic procedures for monitoring of public investment projects; cost-benefit analysis (CBA) methodology adopted for Ukraine through a specific value of the social-discount rate and the MoE has applied the methodology to selected projects; state PIM Committee comprising the key Ministers and members of the Parliament’s Budget Committee has been established. However, substantial deficiencies remain, such as the lack of strategic prioritization, non-efficient investment portfolio management with manual-based PIM procedures; capacity constraints within PIM stakeholders and MoE etc. Strengthening the PIM system is one of the main objectives of the Government’s Strategy for reforming the Public Finance Management System for 2022-2025 adopted on 29 December 2021. 
The MoE, within its Project’s activities aimed at strengthening and improving the efficiency of the Public Investment Management (PIM) system in public administration institutions (Part B) is going, inter alia, to i) establish a comprehensive database of the public investment portfolio and automation of the public investment decision making and management processes; ii) deliver capacity building of participating stakeholders for better management of public investment projects, including their coordination and monitoring, and iii) strengthen MoE’s capacities to coordinate and monitor public investments.
Specifically, these tasks will be implemented through i) developing Guidelines for Project Implementation Management, ii) developing a training strategy, training curriculum/modules aimed at skills development for selection, appraisal, and implementation of public investment projects, and its implementation; and iii) carrying out PIM-related business processes analysis, and support for the change management process.
To get support in implementing these tasks, the MoE is going to contract through a competitive selection an experienced consulting company to provide relevant services set out in this Terms of Reference (ToR).

II.	OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGEMENT
The objective of this assignment is to provide support to the MoE in enhancing its PIM system through capacity building in PIM.

III.	SCOPE OF SERVICES, TASKS, AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES

The Consulting firm (the Consultant) shall provide the following services under two directions during the assignment:
Capacity building in PIM

(1)	Guidelines development
•	Develop the Guidelines for Project Implementation Management particular for the public investment project (Guidelines) based on the best international practice with focus on the specific EU requirements/standards and consider the current Ukrainian legal framework.
The Guidelines shall describe in details managerial procedures to be followed by their users at each stage of the investment project cycle. The Guidelines are aimed to improve understanding and knowledge of the implementing agencies in public (state) project investment management and guide them during different project stages as per their roles. The Guidelines should show how the process of planning can comprehensively help in implementing the project according to the plan and get tool to initiators to understand of how to plan during project development mitigating typical risk that lead to weak disbursements of investment projects. 

The Consultant shall i) develop draft Guidelines, ii) present and discuss them with MoE and MoF if needed, iii) finalize the Guidelines taking into account comments received.

•	Conduct seminar on use of these Guidelines for PIM stakeholders.

(2)	Developingandpilotingweb-based version of the training modules
Develop a training system (training strategy and modules) aimed at developing public investment project managing skills of PIM stakeholders and relevant public officials. 
•	Develop draft modules and pilot them by conducting trainings for PIM related staff in all line ministries and implementation agencies (see requirements below). Upon the successful completion of each training module, it is expected that civil servants will be issued a training certificate (verified certificate with score).
•	Update the modules (if necessary), based on the results of the pilot trainings.  
•	Analyze options of the online training platforms, based on benchmarking against good international practices, which inter alia includes integration with or development of the on-line platform to ensure web-based accessibility of training modules on PIM area.
•	launch web-based training modules with providing verified certificate that will become obligatory for PIM staff of line ministries and desirable for stakeholders;
Requirements for preparing training strategy and curriculum: 
•	The whole investment project cycle shall be covered: initiation and preparation, appraisal/expertise, selection, implementation and monitoring of implementation.
•	A training strategy and training modules, covering each project cycle stage as mentioned above, should be also adopted for responsibilities and needs of three groups of PIM stakeholders. These groups are: (i) initiator, owner of project, user of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) for project appraisal, project implementation agency, (ii) authority responsible for project evaluation, and checking results of CBA, (iii) member of selection body (intergovernmental commission), top management, able to understand results of CBA, and the way to respond to these needs.
•	Modules shall be properly designed to be easily adaptable for any platform and useable for web-based versions of trainings.
•	Module on project appraisal shall include a fiscal risk analysis for public investments, this part shall be developed and delivered in close coordination with the Ministry of Finance.
•	PIM training is expected to be a mandatory one with verified certification of those who successfully completed each training module.

Requirements for PIM trainings:
•	Training module contents shall be based on the best international practice with focus on the specific EU requirements/standards and consider the current Ukrainian legal framework.
•	Trainings should be conducted both face-to-face and/or virtually, as circumstances will permit.
•	Appropriate result of delivered pilot training is minimum 60 persons from more than 20 institutions having attended online and web-based trainings. MoE will provide the Consultant with the lists of stakeholders and staff to be trained.
•	The Consultant shall provide detailed proposal for training schedule, duration of each training session etc.

IV.	REPORTING REQUIREMENTS AND TIME SCHEDULE FOR DELIVERABLES

During the Assignment, the Consultant shall prepare and submit the following deliverables
	Deliverables/ Content	Deadline
(weeks from the contract signing date)	
1	Inception Report
(including but not limited by details of Consultant’s approach to fulfil the assignment, detailed work plan, number and scope of modules).	
within 2 weeks
	
2	Guidelines on public project implementation management and report on seminar with relevant public officials is conducted	within 4 weeks (guidelines) and
6 weeks (report)	
3	Draft Report on the training modules	within 8 weeks	
4	Final Report on pilot trainings conducted **and launched web-based training modules
	within 10 weeks	
All deliverables shall be in a form and substance acceptable to the MoE. The deliverables shall be prepared in Ukrainian and submitted electronically (in doc/docx formats) and in hard copy (in 2 copies) to the Project Manager/Coordinator, appointed by the Client.
**Consultant’s reports on conducted trainings shall be supported by evidence confirming training delivery, including lists of trainees signed by each trainee for each training course delivered, training materials/PPP as relevant etc.  
The Client shall consider documents and reports submitted by the Consultant not later than within 15 business days from the day of the submission of a given report and either to provide its approval to the report or comments to be addressed by the Consultant. If no approval or comments are provided within these period, the documents and reports are deemed to be automatically accepted by the Client.
Acceptance of each deliverable shall be confirmed by the Acceptance Act signed between the Client and the Consultant. The signed Acceptance Act will be the basis for payments for service provided.

V. DURATION, PLACE AND WORKING ARRANGEMENTS
The Consultant is expected to provide services under this assignment during the period from January 2023 through April 2023. 
The Services shall be provided in Ukraine both remotely and directly in the Client’s office in Kyiv taking into account security aspects. In case of remote support, the Consultant shall visit the Client’s office as often as will be required by the Client and Project needs and as will be agreed between the Client and the Consultant.
Subject to MoE’s need, availability of financing, and satisfactory performance of the Consultant, the assignment could be extended or expanded upon the mutual written agreement between the MoE and the Consultant. 
The Consultant shall work under supervision of the Project Coordinator, appointed by the Client, and be accountable to him/her. 
The Consultant shall closely collaborate with the MoE Investment Department, as well as other departments of MoE and other government bodies as might be needed. 
The Consultant shall be responsible for all logistics and accommodations that will be required to carry out the assignment, as well as for interpretation and translation services. 

The working language under the assignment shall be Ukrainian. The Consultant shall use qualified interpreters, if needed, for interacting with MoE’s counterparts. 

VI.	CLIENT’S INPUTSAND COUNTERPART PERSONNEL
The MoE will provide the Consultant with the following services, documents, and facilities to ensure Consultant`s ability to perform its obligations under the assignment:
-  access to MoE`s premises as might be needed for the assessment;
-  all relevant documentation that might be required during the assignment;
- support the Consultant in arranging/holding needed meetings with relevant Government and others stakeholders;
-	list of stakeholders and staff to be trained;
The MoE will assign professional and support personnel to work with the Consultants’ team at the launch of the assignment implementation.

VII.	QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS
The Consultant shall be either a local or an international company, knowledgeable in development training strategy for state investment policies and experienced in project implementation management particularly in public investment management. 
The Consultant, as a firm, shall meet the following qualifications and experience requirements:
Mandatory requirements:
•	At least 5years of relevant professional consulting experience on training strategies, including experience in development trainings/modules f2f, online and digital, similar assignments in the countries in Europe and/or Central Asia.
•	Experience in developing guidelines, draft legislation, and in conducting business process reviews;
•	Experience in development training courses/modules on investment project management under project cycle standards particularly in public investment management;
•	Experience in preparing and implementing programs and projects with donor organizations and / or international financial organizations, in particular on the development training system;
•	Availability of relevant staff and resources to carry out the required work, including access to international knowledge base;
•	Experience in delivering trainings with verified certification of participant results;
•	The Consultant should have in its team at least the following experts: investment project management specialist, public investment management specialist, legal specialist, trainer on public investment project management, web-based training modules developers all with at least 5 years of relevant practical experience.

Desirable requirements:
•	Experience of cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and / or any other central executive bodies on the implementation of reforms in Ukraine;
•	Experience in developing web-based training courses.

The selection of the consultant will be performed in accordance with the CQS method described in details in the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers”, dated November 2020.