The European Bank Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD” or the “Bank”) is scaling up its operations of Green Economy Financing Facilities in Romania. In 2007 the EBRD launched its first the Energy Efficiency Finance Facility (“EEFF”), and the Romania SME Sustainable Energy Finance Facility (“RoSEFF”) in 2011.
Building on the experience and lessons learnt from EEFF, RoSEFF and other EBRD financing facilities for the residential sector, the EBRD is launching the a new Green Economy Financing Facility in Romania, focusing on the residential sector (the "Facility").
With energy intensity almost three times higher than the EU-28 average, Romania remains one of the most energy and carbon-intensive economies in the EU. The residential sector has the highest final energy consumption of all sectors in the country with about 90% of the building stock in need of modernisation.
Romania has adopted a national target to reduce primary energy consumption by 19% (approximately 10 Mtoe) by 2020 and the residential sector has an important part to play in meeting this target. A study commissioned by the Romanian Energy Regulator and overseen by the EBRD, estimated that energy efficiency upgrades in the residential sector could make the largest sectoral contribution towards achieving the national target. The study also found that the energy saving potential from thermal insulation of multi-family apartment blocks was approximately 40%.
The EBRD is planning to launch a Romania Green Economy Financing Facility to support the investment needs of the residential sector. Through the Facility, the EBRD aims to on-lend up to EUR 70 million through Participating Financial Institutions ("PFIs") to eligible Sub-borrowers (the "Sub-borrowers"). It will be the first dedicated EBRD operation in Romania targeting investment in the residential sector, covering energy efficiency, building-integrated renewable energy and water efficiency measures.
Assignment Description:
The implementation of the Facility will be supported by a dedicated technical cooperation (“TC”) package for a period of up to three years to support both PFIs and Sub-borrowers (including service providers and intermediaries).
The Bank now intends to engage a consulting company (the “Consultant”) to support the implementation of the Facility by carrying out a number of key tasks to establish and maintain an infrastructure to implement the Facility; undertake coordination work; and monitor and report on the proposed investments (the “Assignment”).
The support delivered through the Assignment will be essential for the implementation of the Facility by raising awareness among PFIs and their clients of best available technologies and benefits of resource saving investments.
The Assignment will therefore play an important role in developing and maintaining a necessary infrastructure that enables the PFIs and ultimate beneficiaries to quickly identify eligible opportunities. The Assignment shall enable the EBRD to record and report on the impact achieved by the investments financed under the Facility.
The selected Consultant is expected to provide the following services:
(a) Establish an operational base in Bucharest and develop, maintain and update the Facility’s operational tools, web-based tools, legal advisory tools, documents, reports as required;
(b) Develop, maintain and further populate a Technology Selector (database of eligible materials, equipment and suppliers and installers) that includes pre-defined categories of technologies with specific minimum technical and environmental characteristics proven to result in fundamental and straightforward efficiency improvements;
(c) Prepare a communication plan and promote the Facility through communication activities including via a Facility website;
(d) Develop and implement a capacity building plan, which will target PFIs, Sub-borrowers and local experts;
(e) Organise the Facility Launch Event and an Award Ceremony with the objective to promote and encourage uptake of the Facility;
(f) Ensure that the technical eligibility criteria of the Facility are adhered to, including via desk-based appraisal and a sample selection of on-site visits;
(g) Assist perspective Sub-borrowers in identifying financing opportunities by assessing the technical and economic feasibility of the Sub-projects including carrying out project assessments as necessary, in the format provided by the EBRD. Sub-projects at the building-level shall require an assessment.
(h) Liaise with the EBRD as necessary to monitor and report on the implementation of the Facility;
(i) Prepare case studies and a database of lessons learned;
(j) Prepare a market survey at the end of the assignment. The market survey will reflect the market penetration of high-performing building technologies and will assess the overall impact of the Facility (e.g. changes in market size, number of suppliers of eligible measures, capacity and awareness rates).
Status of Selection Process: Interested firms or groups of firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.
Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in March 2017 and has an estimated overall duration of 36 months. It is envisaged that the Consultant will be contracted initially for 18 months with a contract extension for further 18 months subject to the successful uptake of the Facility, satisfactory performance of the Consultant and availability of Donor funding. The Facility may be extended further than the originally envisaged three years subject to the EBRD requirements, satisfactory performance of the Consultant and availability of Donor funding.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment: The initial budget is up to EUR 900,000 (for the first 18 months of the Facility implementation) with the possibility of extension up to EUR 3,000,000 (exclusive of VAT).
The Consultant must determine whether any VAT would be chargeable on the services and the basis for that determination, without taking into consideration the special status of the Bank as an IFI and state this to the Bank in their response to the Invitation for Expressions of Interest. To the extent that a Consultant incurs input VAT on goods and services purchased in connection with the provision of services (e.g. VAT on airline ticket) which is not otherwise recoverable by the consultant from the local tax authority, the gross cost to the consultant of such expenses shall be treated as a reimbursable expense.
Funding Source: The Assignment is expected to be funded by the EBRD's Donor funded Technical Cooperation Funds Programme. Please note selection and contracting will be subject to the availability of funding.
Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions.
Consultant Profile: The Project Consultant will be a firm or a consortium of firms, whose experts will be required to perform the assignment across Romania on a full-time basis and preferably with 15 years of previous project experience related to:
1. Implementation of similar facilities or assignments related to energy efficiency management projects;
2. Marketing and capacity building experience ideally with a financial services and financial products focus;
3. Energy and resource efficiency financing (lending) expertise and good knowledge of the market for energy efficiency technologies for buildings, preferably in Romania.
4. The key expert team will be composed of professionals with relevant resource efficiency, technical, marketing and financial/economic background supported by engineers and architects in order to ensure compliance of conceptual designs with relevant legislation across Romania.
The Consultant’s expert team is expected to include Key Experts as follows:
Key Expert 1: Project Manager with preferably more than 10 years previous project experience in
- energy efficiency project management;
- project implementation planning including experience related to energy management, energy efficiency financing schemes; water efficiency and waste use minimisation and management;
- experience in public outreach and marketing;
- experience of working with banks in developing countries;
- language skills: Fluent in spoken and written English. Romanian language skills are an advantage;
The Project Manager should demonstrate a good knowledge of the local market and the ability to cover wider geographical reach and capacity to mobilise experts quickly.
Key Expert 2: Lead Engineer with preferably more than 10 years previous project experience in residential building energy management, residential building resource efficiency design and standards, knowledge of EU, international and local building regulations and relevant standards in relation to energy consumption and performance.
Key Expert 3: PFI Relationship Manager with significant experience in financial analysis and capital investment appraisal preferably in the field of energy/energy efficiency; knowledge of commercial banks’ procedures for project assessment and approval; knowledge of retail loan products and strong client relationship skills;
Key Expert 4: Communications Manager with significant experience in print and internet based communications, with a focus on financial products in cooperation with financial institutions and/or technology vendors; strong spoken and written English and Romanian language skills.
Key experts shall spend a minimum of 75% of their working time in Romania. Any home-based activities shall require justification and the prior approval of EBRD.
Submission Requirements: In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants seeking to be shortlisted for this Assignment, the information submitted should include the following:
1. Company/group of firms’ profile, organisation and staffing (max. 2-4 pages).
2. Details of previous project experience or similar assignments particularly undertaken in the previous five years, including information on contract value, contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided (if different from duration) , main activities, objectives.
3. CVs of key experts who could carry out the Assignment detailing qualifications, experience in similar assignments, particularly assignments undertaken in the previous five years, including information on contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided, assignment budget, main activities, objectives.
4. Completed Consultant Declaration Form and Contact Sheet, the template for which is available from the following web-link:
http://www.ebrd.com/pages/workingwithus/procurement/notices/csu/contact_sheet.doc.
The above information should not exceed 30 pages excluding CVs, Contact Sheet and Consultant's Declaration.
The complete expression of interest (including CVs, Consultant Declaration and Contact Sheet) should be submitted, in English electronically through e-Selection, to reach the Bank not later than the closing date. The expression of interest shall be one file (pdf). The EBRD reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file. Only if the permissible file size is exceeded (4MB), the Consultant may split the expression of interest into further files.
Bank Contact Person:
Larissa Gosling
Technical Co-operation
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: + 44 20 7338 7088
e-mail: GoslingL@ebrd.com (submissions should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address)
Notes:
1. Following this invitation for expressions of interest, a shortlist of qualified firms will be formally invited to submit proposals. Consultant selection and contracting will be subject to availability of funding (from an appropriate donor - dependent on whether or not donor has approved funding).
2. The shortlisting criteria are:
i) firm's previous project experience in implementation of similar facilities or assignments related to the origination and financing of energy efficiency improvement programmes in the building sector (50%);
ii) firm's previous project experience in marketing and capacity building within financial services sector (20%);
iii) firm's previous project experience in energy and resource efficiency financing (lending) especially knowledge in the market of energy efficiency technologies for buildings, preferably in Romania (20%);
iv) CVs of Key Experts (10%).
Source: EBRD announcement
