Guidelines for Employment of Consultants under JBIC ODA Loans

Section 3.01 General

• (1)The BANK normally requires Borrowers to adopt the following procedures in the selection and employment of Consultants.
  • (a) Preparation of the Terms of Reference and cost estimates;
  • (b) Preparation of a Short List of Consultants;
  • (c) Invitation to submit proposals;
  • (d) Evaluation of proposals; and
  • (e) Negotiation of a contract.

Consultants' proposals for services shall be evaluated solely on the basis of the qualifications of the firms and their staff members for the work, and of the quality of their proposals as regards approach and methodology. Discussions concerning costs and other financial matters, therefore, shall be conducted only with a consultant who has been selected to be invited to enter on contract negotiations.

• (2) The BANK may, however, accept the Borrower's employment of a specific consultant in cases of the following:
  • (a) where the consultant has already satisfactorily carried out services for the project concerned, such as preparation of a preinvestment study;
  • (b) where the consultant has satisfactorily carried out services on a project closely related and/or similar to the project concerned;
  • (c) where the consultant is considered to be the only firm qualified to provide the services required;
  • (d) where the consultant is considered to be the best for the services required for other adequate reasons.
• (3)Should two or more consultants jointly submit a proposal for consulting services, the same procedures as outlined in this Part are to be followed.
• (4)Where the Borrower wishes to employ an individual consultant, the Borrower shall consult with the BANK on the selection procedures to be adopted.
• (5)All documents relating to the selection and employment of consultants should be in English. If another language is used in those documents, a full English text shall be incorporated in them and it shall be specified which is governing.

Section 3.02 Misprocurement

The BANK does not finance expenditures for services provided by consultants who, in the BANK's opinion, have not been selected in accordance with the agreed procedures in the Loan Agreement, and the BANK will cancel that portion of the Loan allocated to the services provided by consultants who have not been properly selected. The BANK may, in addition, exercise other remedies under the Loan Agreement. It is the BANK's policy to require that consultants, as well as Borrowers, under contracts funded with ODA Loans of the BANK and other Japanese ODA, observe the highest standard of ethics during the procurement and execution of such contracts. In pursuance of this policy, the BANK;

• (a)will reject an evaluation of proposals if it determines that the consultant evaluated as the highest-ranked has engaged in corrupt or fraudulent practices in competing for the contract in question;
• (b)will recognize a consultant as ineligible, for period determined by the BANK, to be awarded a contract funded with ODA Loans of the BANK if it at any time determines that the consultant has engaged in corrupt or fraudulent practices in competing for, or in executing, another contract funded with ODA Loans of the BANK or other Japanese ODA.

Section 3.03 Preparation of Terms of Reference

• (1) The first step in the engagement of a consultant is for the BANK and the Borrower to agree on the need to use a consultant, on the Terms of Reference for its services, on the type of consultant to be employed and on the approximate amount of funds required for the consulting services.
• (2) The Terms of Reference shall describe the scope of the consulting services in as much detail as possible, especially as regards alternative solutions the consultant is expected to explore in the course of its work and as to how much authority will be delegated to it to act on the Borrower's behalf. In addition, the Terms of Reference shall provide information on the background of the project, on the availability of relevant basic data , on national and/or other standards and the specifications to be used in the design of the project, and on the conditions under which the work shall be performed. (See Annex I)
• * Coverage, scale and accuracy of the available maps and aerial photographs, data on climate, hydrology and subsoil, facilities available (office space, housing, transportation, counterparts), etc. (back)
• (3) In the case of projects classified as Category A or Category B in accordance with JBIC Environmental Guidelines for ODA Loans, consulting services related to environmental consideration, such as those described in Section 2.01, shall be included in the scope. (See Annex I)

Section 3.04 Preparation of Short List of Consultants

• (1) Once the BANK and the Borrower have agreed on the Terms of Reference for the consulting services required, as described in paragraph (2) of Section 3.03, the Borrower shall prepare a Short List of Consultants to be invited to submit proposals, taking into account the factors mentioned in Parts I and II. (See Annex II)
• (2) Such a Short List shall normally consist of not less than three and not more than five consultants. There is usually little advantage in inviting more than five consultants to submit proposals, because with a larger number some are likely to be less interested and the quality of proposals is likely to suffer.
• (3) Should the Borrower find it difficult to compile a satisfactory Short List of qualified consultants from the information available to it from its own past experience and other sources, the BANK will, at the request of the Borrower, make available information on consultants, from which the Borrower may draw up its own Short List.

Section 3.05 Preparation of Letter of Invitation

• (1) The Letter of Invitation (See Annex III) shall request consultants to cover at least the points specifically mentioned in the Terms of Reference and shall clearly state that the selection of the first consultant to be invited to negotiate a contract will be made solely on the basis of the ranking of the proposals evaluated with respect to the qualifications of the firms and their staff members for the work and to the quality of their proposals regarding approach and methodology and, that consultants shall, therefore, not include in their proposals any information on the estimated cost or financial terms of their services.
  The Letter of Invitation shall also stipulate the details of the selection procedure to be followed, including the technical evaluation categories and an indication of the weight to be given to each.
• (2) Since it is advisable that consultants invited to submit proposals be able to visit the country and the project site before submitting their proposals, the invitation shall, as a rule, allow 45-60 days from the date of the actual mailing of the Letter of Invitation to the deadline for submission of proposals.
• (3) The Letter of Invitation shall also request consultants to notify the Borrower by cable within a specified time whether or not they intend to submit proposals.

Section 3.06 Sending of the Letter of Invitation to Consultants

After preparing the Short List, the Letter of Invitation and the Terms of Reference in accordance with the provisions of the foregoing Sections, the Borrower shall invite all the consultants on the Short List to submit proposals by mailing to them the Letter of Invitation (the Terms of Reference to be attached thereto).

Section 3.07 Evaluation of Proposals

• (1)Proposals received by the Borrower in response to the invitation shall be evaluated in accordance with the criteria stipulated in the Letter of Invitation. Such criteria shall normally include:
  • (a) The consultant's general experience and record in the field covered by the Terms of Reference;
  • (b) The adequacy of the proposed approach, methodology and work plan; and
  • (c) The experience and records of the staff members to be assigned to the work.
• (2) The relative importance of the three above-mentioned factors will vary with the type of consulting services to be performed, but in the overall rating of the proposals most weight shall normally be given either to the qualifications of the staff members to be assigned to the project or to approach and methodology, rather than to the fame or reputation of a firm.
• (3)To assess the qualifications of the staff members to be assigned to the project, their curricula vitae shall be evaluated on the basis of the following three criteria:
  • (a) General qualifications (education, length of experience, types of position held, length of service with the firm, etc.);
  • (b) Suitability for the project (experience of performing the duties which will be assigned to them in the project); and
  • (c) Familiarity with the language and the conditions of the country in which the work is to be performed or experience in similar environments.
• (4)In its evaluation of the proposals, the Borrower shall use numerical ratings and prepare an evaluation report including a summary evaluation sheet (a sample is shown in Annex IV) as soon as possible. The evaluation report shall normally give detailed information on the following items, supplementing the summary evaluation sheet:
  • (a) Selection Committee or other similar organization, if any, responsible for the evaluation, and the domestic laws, ordinances or orders which govern the establishment and/or functioning of the Committee or other similar organization;
  • (b) Selection criteria and relative weight distribution, with reasons for adopting each criterion and the basis for deciding the weight distribution;
  • (c) Rating: reason for arriving at the rating given for each item for each firm.

Section 3.08 Contract Negotiations

• (1) After evaluation of the proposals has been completed, the Borrower shall invite the highest-ranked consultant to enter on negotiations on the conditions (including costs and financial terms) of a contract between them.
• (2) If the two parties are unable to reach agreement on a contract within a reasonable time, the Borrower shall terminate the negotiations with the first consultant and invite the consultant who ranked second in the evaluation to enter on negotiations. The Borrower shall consult with the BANK prior to taking this step. This procedure shall be followed until the Borrower reaches agreement with a consultant.
• (3) While there should be some flexibility in work plans, staff assignment and major work inputs which have been previously agreed on as appropriate for the assignment shall not be materially modified to meet a budget.

Section 3.09 Informing Unsuccessful Consultants

Promptly after completion of negotiations with the selected consultant, the Borrower shall notify the other consultants on the Short List that they have been unsuccessful.