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Expression of Interest for selection of a consultant for "Technical assistance to the ECOWAS Commission for the overall coordination and management of the Project. Call for expressions of interest for the selection of a consultant for "Technical assistance to the ECOWAS Commission for the overall coordination and management of the Project" Publication date: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 Submission deadline: Tuesday, May 19, 2026 1. The Commission of the Economic Community of West African States ( ECOWAS , the Client ) has received financing from the French Development Agency ( AFD ), and intends to use part of the amount thereof to make payments under the Regional Project to Strengthen a Platform of Solutions in Support of Pastoralism and Livestock Farming in West Africa ( PEPISAO-2 ) (the Project ). 2. The Candidates Services will consist of providing Technical Assistance to the ECOWAS Commission for the overall coordination and management of the Project (the " Services "). A brief description of the expected Services is provided in Annex 1. 3. The ECOWAS Commission invites Candidates to express their interest in providing the Services described above. 4. This Call for Expressions of Interest is addressed to: q. Design offices and groups of design offices; Public establishments of an industrial and commercial nature (EPIC) can participate as a member of a Group, without being the leader. 5. The eligibility criteria for AFD financing are specified in Article 1.3 of the "Guidelines for Procurement financed by the AFD in foreign states" (new version dated February 2024), available online on the AFD website: http://www.afd.fr . 6. Candidates may submit only one application, either individually or as a consortium. If a candidate (including a member of a consortium) submits or participates in multiple applications, all applications will be rejected. However, a single subcontractor may participate in multiple applications. 7. If the Candidate is a Group, the Expression of Interest must include: · a copy of the Grouping agreement concluded by all of its members, Or · a letter of intent to form a Group, signed by all its members and accompanied by a copy of the proposed Group agreement. In the absence of this document, the other members will be considered as subcontractors. The references and qualifications of subcontractors will not be taken into account in the evaluation of applications. 8. Interested candidates must provide information demonstrating their qualifications and experience to perform these Services. To this end, they must provide evidence of recent and similar services they have provided. Each candidate may submit a maximum of fifteen (15) references . The similarity of the submitted references will be assessed based on their relative relevance to the Services to be implemented as described above. 9. In particular, candidates are expected to provide references for contracts with characteristics similar to one or more of the following criteria: · The scope of the contracts (size and complexity) : contracts will be assessed based on their size (amount, duration, volume of effort in expertise) and their complexity, particularly when they concern regional or multi-country projects or programs, involve the coordination of several institutions (regional organizations, ministries, implementing agencies, etc.), combine strategic support, operational management and monitoring and evaluation, and require a team structure similar to that expected for this mission (long-term expertise supported by specialized ad hoc missions). · Nature of Services : support for the coordination and implementation of programmes/projects, particularly regional ones, involving several stakeholders at local, national and regional levels; · Technical expertise and field of study : expertise on agricultural policies and regional integration; on approaches to developing the livestock sector, particularly pastoral; on issues of social cohesion, climate resilience, natural resource governance, conflict prevention & management and stabilization of fragile territories; on financial engineering, communication and visibility, as well as institutional and human capacity building; · Geographical area of intervention : experience in West Africa (within the twelve (12) member states of ECOWAS), in the Sahel (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger) as well as in Chad, Mauritania and Cameroon, particularly with the various stakeholders mobilized on the issues of agro-pastoral systems in cross-border areas. References (active phone numbers and/or email addresses of beneficiaries or donors) must be provided for each criterion/experience presented. CVs will not be reviewed at this stage . 10. ECOWAS will also examine the relevance of the Expressions of Interest with regard to the following criteria: · From the candidates network : their ability to mobilize skills outside their core business and their local contacts/partners; · Internal skills and availability in terms of technical support provided to the experts to be mobilized (technical assistance team); 11. Due to the security risks in the areas where the Services are to be performed, the evaluation of Expressions of Interest will verify that applications meet the following criteria: · The Candidate has at least one (1) experience of providing services in a similar security risk area, for which he will provide proof of implementation of security measures (invoice or contract with security provider, proof of security awareness training before departure on site, etc.); · The Candidate has internal security management procedures: he will provide a description of his monitoring system and his crisis management system; · The Candidate has, for services performed abroad, an assistance and repatriation contract for his employees: he will provide the certificate justifying it; · The Candidate will describe their standard process for preparing to leave on missions in sensitive areas, and will attach evidence of its implementation (mission orders with associated instructions, certificates of awareness-raising or training activities, etc.). In the case of a Group, its agent (regardless of its country of registration) as well as any member whose registered office is outside the Clients country, must meet each of these criteria. Any application that does not meet any of these requirements will be rejected . 12. The ECOWAS Commission will draw up a shortlist of a maximum of six (6) Candidates, pre-selected on the basis of the applications received, to whom it will send the Request for Proposals for the performance of the required Services. 13. Expressions of Interest must be sent by email to the following address: https://bit.ly/4e5Nk7s , with a copy to ctienon@araa.org and awaki@araa.org ; with the subject "AMI PEPISAO-2 AT" no later than: May 19, 2026 at 12:00 GMT (UTC) = corresponding to the deadline for submitting Expressions of Interest. 14. Expressions of Interest must follow the format and include the following elements: Format One (1) single, uneditable PDF file ; Limit of thirty (30) pages all inclusive (excluding the presentation brochure). Content Letter of Expression of Interest, drawn up according to the model in Appendix 2; If the Candidate is constituted as a Group: a copy of the Group agreement concluded by all of its members OR a letter of intent to constitute a Group (signed by all of its members) and accompanied by a copy of the proposed Group agreement; The duly signed Declaration of Integrity , without modification, as provided in Annex 3; A brochure presenting the Candidate (individual or Group); The list of references for similar experiences, including information to assess the similarities mentioned in paragraph 9 above, and active telephone numbers and/or email addresses of clients (beneficiaries or funders). CVs will not be evaluated at this stage . 15. Any incomplete application and/or application submitted after the deadline for submitting expressions of interest will be automatically rejected . 16. The Client will confirm receipt of each Expression of Interest sent to the above email address within 24 hours. If the Client does not receive such confirmation within 24 hours of sending their Expression of Interest, the Applicant is advised to verify receipt of their Expression of Interest with the Client. 17. Interested Candidates may obtain clarifications by sending a written request to the email addresses mentioned above, no later than five (5) working days before the deadline for submitting expressions of interest; with the subject "AMI PEPISAO-2 AT Request for clarifications " to the following addresses: procurement@araa.org with copy to ctienon@araa.org and awaki@araa.org . 18. The Client will respond to requests for clarification in writing, by publishing the response on the same media as the initial publication of this Call for Expressions of Interest, without identifying the source of the request for clarification. * * * * Appendix 1 to the Call for Expressions of Interest Presentation of PEPISAO-2 and Expected Services 1. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The 7 million PEPISAO-2 funding consists of a Minka grant for the implementation of the second phase of the Integrated and Secure Livestock and Pastoralism Project in West Africa (PEPISAO). The main objective is to support the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS) in their role of providing all stakeholders with a platform of solutions for the sustainable development and security of (agro-)pastoral systems, particularly in critical transboundary are Tender Link : https://www.araa.org/fr/recrutements
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