Request for Quotation # 6, 2010

Development of a System of Indicators for Measurement of State-Driven Policy and Activities in the Competition Policy Area

June 2010

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Office in Yerevan

Date:		28 June 2010

From:		Ms Olga Jukova, Chief of Fund Administration, OSCE Office in Yerevan

No of Pages:	10

RFQ No:	ARM_RFQ # 6, 2010

Subject:	“Development of a System of Indicators for Measurement of State-Driven Policy and Activities in the Competition Policy Area”

REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (RFQ) No ARM_RFQ #6, 2010

Dear Sir/Madam:

1.	The OSCE Office in Yerevan (hereinafter called “the OSCE”) invites you to submit your quotation for “Development of a System of Indicators for Measurement of State-Driven Policy and Activities in the Competition Policy Area” (hereinafter called “the Services”) as specified in this Request for Quotation and its attachments (hereinafter called “the RFQ Documents”).

2.	Quotations sent by email and facsimile will be accepted.  Your quotation shall be addressed and submitted to:

#64/1, Sundukyan Street, Yerevan, Armenia
Fax: (37410) 22 96 15
E-mail: arm_tender-am@osce.org 

3.	The deadline for receipt of quotations is July 12, 2010, 18:00. 

4.	Any quotation received by the OSCE after the above deadline will be rejected.

5.	Your quotation and all correspondence shall be made in English. 

6.	Your quotation shall be prepared in accordance with the following instructions:

(i)	Your quotation shall include the duly completed and signed Forms contained in Section II “Quotation Forms” and any other documents and/or information specified in the RFQ Documents. Failure to complete the Forms and provide required documents and information may result in the rejection of your quotation;

(ii)	Your quotation shall contain documentary evidence, to the OSCE’s satisfaction, that establishes you are duly authorized/certified to perform the Services;

(iii)	The price(s) in your quotation shall cover all costs for performing the Services including but not limited to remuneration for staff, reimbursable expenses, transportation, equipment and materials, insurance, surveys, etc.;

(iv)	All prices shall be quoted in Euro;

(v)	All prices shall be quoted excluding taxes;

(vi)	Your quotation shall be valid for at least 30 calendars days past the deadline for receipt of quotations;

(vii)	Your quotation shall bear the RFQ Reference Number and Title indicated above.

7.	Prior to the detailed evaluation, the OSCE will examine the received quotations to determine whether they are complete, whether the documents have been properly signed, and whether the quotations are generally in order. The OSCE may waive any minor informality, nonconformity, or irregularity in a quotation which does not constitute a material deviation, reservation or omission. If a quotation is not substantially responsive, it will be rejected by the OSCE and may not be made later responsive by the Bidder correcting the nonconformity.

8.	Arithmetical errors will be rectified on the following basis:

i.	if there is a discrepancy between words and figures, the amount in words shall prevail, unless the amount expressed in words is related to an arithmetic error, in which case the amount in figures shall prevail subject to (i) and (ii) above.
9.	The OSCE will apply the below described evaluation methodology:

Least Cost Selection:

The quotations will be evaluated on the basis of their responsiveness to the technical requirements contained in the RFQ Documents by applying the evaluation criteria and point system specified below. 

(i)	Specific experience related to the assignment			20 points

(ii)	Adequacy of proposed work plan and methodology in 
	responding to the Terms of Reference (Section I)			40 points

(iii)	Qualifications and competence of the proposed key staff 			40 points

								Total points:			100 points

The minimum technical score (St) required to pass is: 80 points.

A quotation shall be rejected at this stage if it does not respond to important aspects of the RFQ Documents, particularly the Terms of Reference, or if the quotation fails to achieve the minimum technical score indicated above.

Only the quotations that pass the minimum technical score will be evaluated further. Award will be made to the Bidder whose quotation is the lowest priced one among those that pass the minimum technical score. 

10.	During the evaluation of the quotations, the OSCE may ask you to clarify your quotation. The request for clarification and the response shall be in writing, and no change in the prices (except for the correction of arithmetical errors pursuant to paragraph 9) or the substance of the quotation shall be sought, offered, or permitted.  Failure by you to timely and duly respond to a request for clarification may result in the rejection of your quotation.

11.	Unless the RFQ Documents specify otherwise, the OSCE General Conditions of Contract applicable for the type and nature of the contract under consideration (to be viewed at http://www.osce.org/tenders) shall apply to any contract awarded as a result of this RFQ. 

12.	At any time prior to the award, the OSCE reserves the right to accept or reject any quotation, to annul or suspend the process, whether in whole or in part, and to reject all quotations, without incurring any liability whatsoever.  In addition, the OSCE shall not have any obligation to provide reasons to bidders for its actions. 

13.	Nothing in or relating to the RFQ Documents shall be deemed, or interpreted as, a waiver of the privileges and immunities enjoyed by the OSCE.

14.	The OSCE will not notify unsuccessful Bidders.

15.	Please address any queries or questions in writing to the address below and kindly refrain from any telephone calls or personal visits.

OSCE OFFICE IN YEREVAN
#64/1, Sundukyan  Street, Yerevan, Armenia
Fax: + (37410) 22 96 15 
				E-mail: arm_tender-am@osce.org

Yours sincerely,

Attachments:

Section I “Terms of Reference”
Section II “Quotation Forms”

Section I – TERMS OF REFERENCE

“Development of a System of Indicators for Measurement of State-driven Policy 
and Activities in the Competition Protection Area”

About OSCE

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world’s largest regional security organization whose 56 participating States span the geographical area from Vancouver to Vladivostok.  It is active in early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation.

The OSCE comprises the Secretariat, Vienna, and three Institutions dealing with specific subjects of Human Rights (ODIHR), Warsaw, National Minorities (HCNM), Den Haag, and Freedom of the Media (FOM), Vienna.  Over the last five years, the OSCE has developed a field-oriented approach and today maintains an extensive field network with missions and field operations in 19 countries and regions.  Please refer to http://www.osce.org for additional information.

The Economic and Environmental dimension of the OSCE Office in Yerevan deals with economic and environmental issues, operating under the premise that promoting economic prosperity and co-operation on environmental problems can contribute to security and stability of the Republic of Armenia.

Project Summary

The project is aimed at addressing the issue of systematization of evaluating the policy and the specific interventions by the Armenian Government in the area of protecting fair economic competition. The State Commission on Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) will be the main beneficiary of the Project. As a primary outcome, the project beneficiary will be handed an effective methodological tool that will enable SCPEC to undertake assessment of efficiency and impact of the implemented measures in performing its key functions (both those implemented in the past and prognosis in the design stage for those yet to be implemented). 

Project Background

Over the last 15 years, Armenia as a relatively young economy in transition has been implementing legislative and governance reforms with the aim of the development of a private sector-dominant market economy. One of the critical problems that, as advised by international organizations and as admitted by the Armenian government, concretely impedes the economic development is the bunch of problems related to execution of one of the key functions of the State, i.e. the creating the rules and enabling the environment for fair economic competition. Foreign and local companies continue facing obstacles in entering certain high-demand branches of the Armenian economy, and a lack of competition has been registered, especially in the markets of goods in great demand, mainly for the reason that a few monopolies with high political backings control the importation of certain consumer goods.

Presumably, the Government of Armenia understands that the lack of competition can potentially jeopardize the growth sustainability in the-long term perspective and that it has already become a serious contributor to the existing abnormally deep polarization of wealth in the society. Thus, the need for an effective pro-competition policy has become especially critical within the past few years to offset the negative practices and broaden the opportunities for the economic policy to secure sustainable economic growth. 

The legislative basis for effective protection of competition has been developed, adopted and is now in place. The law on Protection of Economic Competition has been in force for almost ten years now. The law not only defined the competing relations and practices among market participants, but also provided legal grounds for the State Commission on Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) to be established. The main functions of SCPEC are promoting and protecting the economic competition, ensuring enabling environment for fair competition, and preventing anti-competitive practices. Other bits of legislation and following regulations (including the law on anti-dumping measures) were adopted to support the activities of SCPEC.

Initially, there were understandable concerns that SCPEC could become another element of the bureaucratic machine, which could join the “team” of inspecting and controlling institutions to harass the private business. Over time though, the Commission has gradually built up the necessary facilities, skills and the staff to operate more effectively. Though the first decisions and interventions of the SCPEC were in “soft” sub-sectors, over time it became successful also in “tough” areas where competition was obviously restricted. In 2009, for instance, SCPEC performed thorough analyses of 42 various goods markets, including such “tough” ones as the markets for medical drugs, gasoline and hard liquors. 

Project Objective

As advised by the GoA and the SCPEC, having passed the first phases of establishment and implementation of successful cases against the monopolies, it is now time to systematize the activities under the adopted pro-competition policies by introducing a system of indicators that could objectively measure the impact and efficiency of implemented interventions and activities. 
The primary goal of the Project is to develop a comprehensive system of indicators for measuring the efficiency and impact of pro-competition interventions and activities by SCPEC. 

Preferably, the system of indicators should be developed, tested and finalized in a way that it could be fully utilized by the SCPEC’s internal capacity. While some training of the staff on utilization of the system could be needed, the ability of the SCPEC staff to fully utilize it internally should be a prerequisite for the tool development. 

Expected Outputs 
The final outputs of the Project are expected to be the following:
•	Analytical report on the review of current input-based performance indicators used by SCPEC for internal evaluation and budget request purposes;
•	Recommendations on possible improvements thereof and linking those indicators on to-be-introduced output and outcome indicators;
•	Developed comprehensive system of indicators for measuring the efficiency and impact of pro-competition interventions and activities by SCPEC

Activities
•	Review and analysis of  performance indicators currently used by SCPEC for measuring the efficiency and impact of pro-competition interventions and activities;
•	Study the key achievements of economic theory in measuring effectiveness of economic competition promoting measures and adapt those for the Armenian realities;
•	Review the best practices applied by recognized government and quasi-government agencies, especially the most successful examples in transition countries as far as the evaluating pro-competition interventions and activities is concerned;
•	Develop a comprehensive system of indicators for measuring the efficiency and impact of pro-competition interventions and activities by SCPEC

Requirements for Implementing Agency
The agency to be selected to carry out the assignment should possess the following minimum characteristics:

•	Experience in designing similar tools, preferably in Eastern Europe and/or post-Soviet countries;
•	Strong expertise in the team with excellent theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience of implementing pro-competition policies;
•	Experience of working with the Armenian government-related institutions is a preference;

Expected duration of assighnment

15 weeks.

Section II – QUOTATION FORMS

Note:  It is mandatory that you duly complete and sign the Quotation Forms.  Failure to do so will result in your quotation being rejected.

Section II – A	Quotation Submission Form 

Date [Bidder to insert date]

RFQ No ARM_RFQ # 6, 2010
To:	OSCE Office in Yerevan

Dear Sir/Madam:

	Having examined your Request for Quotation and any addenda thereof, the receipt of which is hereby duly acknowledged, we, the undersigned, offer to provide the Services in conformity with your RFQ No ARM_RFQ # 6, 2010.

	We agree to abide by this quotation for a period of validity of 30 calendar days past the deadline for the receipt of quotations specified in the RFQ.  Our quotation shall remain binding upon us and may be accepted by the OSCE at any time before the expiration of that period.

We accept and agree that, unless the RFQ Documents expressly specify otherwise, the OSCE’s General Conditions of Contract will apply to any contract resulting from this RFQ.

	We understand that the OSCE is not bound to accept any quotation that it receives. 

Yours sincerely,

Authorized Signature:
Name and Title of Signatory:
Name of Firm:
Address:
Date: 

[seal]
Section  II – B	Qualification Information Form

General Information

1. Bidder’s Full Legal Name:		
2. Street Address:	Postal Code:
	City:	Country:	
3. P.O. Box and Mailing Address:		
4. Telephone Number: 		
5. Fax Number:		
6. E-mail Address:		
7. Web-site Address:		
8a. Contact Name:		
8b. Contact Title:		
9. Corporate Seat:		
10. Type of Business:		
11. Year Established:		
12. Number of Staff Employed:		
13. Parent Company, if any (full legal name): 		
14. Principal subsidiaries, associates, and/or representative(s), if any, that are relevant to the Services:	

Financial Information

15. For the last three financial years:	
Year	Turnover (EUR)	Working Capital (EUR)	

			

Experience

16. Contracts of similar scale/volume during the last three years:	
Customer Name and Contact Details	Value (EUR)	Year	Services Provided	Country	

					

Signature of Bidder: ____________
Section  II  – C	An Item-By-Item Commentary on the Terms of Reference and a Detailed Description of the Approach, Methodology and Work Plan for Performing the Services

Note to Bidders: You shall provide an item-by-item commentary on the Terms of Reference and a detailed description of the proposed approach, methodology and work plan for performing the Services in order to demonstrate the responsiveness of your quotation to the Terms of Reference.

Section  II – D	Key Personnel 

Note: You shall list the Key Personnel proposed for performing the Services and attach recently signed CV(s).

Name	Position	Task	

			

Signature of Bidder: _____________________
Section  II – E	Price Schedule 

Cost Component	Unit Price 
(if applicable)	Quantity 
(if applicable)	Total Price	

				
TOTAL QUOTATION PRICE:		

Signature of Bidder: _____________________