1. Background
The Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (the Alliance) is a public-private partnership for trade led growth jointly hosted by the World Economic Forum, the International Chamber of Commerce and the Center for International Private Enterprise in cooperation with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
The Alliance’s work is designed to help governments in developing and least developed countries implement the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). It brings together governments and businesses as equal partners to identify trade facilitation issues such as customs delays and unnecessary red-tape at borders, and design and implement targeted reforms that deliver commercially quantifiable results.
The Alliance is supported by the governments of Canada, the European Union, Germany, and Sweden and works with private sector partners from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to the world’s largest multinationals.
The services required relate to the investigation of a Project (“UNICEF Sri Lanka Project”) for the facilitated importation of UNICEF health & other program related products into Sri Lanka.
The selected consultant will provide the technical expertise and know-how required to validate the Alliance’s current understanding of the challenges and evaluate the feasibility of developing a project to address these challenges.
2. The Services
2.1 Introduction
The objective of the services is to validate and add detail to the Project concept, the Alliance’s current understanding of the business process and associated challenges (these have been documented and are available upon request).
The services will be delivered in 2 stages:
- Stage 1 – Preparation
- Stage 2 – Project Validation
It is expected that total effort for this will not exceed 20 person days.
2.2 Stage 1 – Preparation
During Stage 1 the consultant will prepare and submit a Project Validation Plan outlining the activities that will be carried out in Stage 2 for approval by the Alliance Programme Manager.
2.3 Stage 2 – Project Validation
During Stage 2 the Consultant will conduct activities in accordance with the approved Project Validation Plan. These will consist primarily of conducting, documenting, and analysing in-country meetings with relevant government and private sector stakeholders. The expectation is to improve understanding of the:
- Trade facilitation problems
- Validate the existing flow diagram for ‘AS-IS’ process (available upon request)
- Investigate the challenges. This should include attention to:
- Mechanisms for payment of import duty and tax by government ministries
- Application of VAT law to UN agencies
- Approvals at relevant government organisations including:
- National Medicine Regulatory Authority
- Import Export Control Department
- Ministry of Health Donation Committee
- Detail the challenges in detailed Problem Statement
- Potential solutions to address the identified problems
- Project environment
- Provide insight into the project environment and assess both opportunities and risks associated with such a project.
- Verify the commitment of the public sector stakeholders.
Stage 2 will culminate in the presentation of findings to stakeholders.
Throughout Stage 1 and Stage 2 the consultant will liaise with UNICEF’s Project Team and the Alliance’s Programme Manager to ensure that objectives are met.
2.3 Expected Outputs
Stage 1
- Project Validation Plan
Stage 2
- Project Validation Report – including
- Stakeholder map
- Validated process diagram of interactions from export preparation to delivery (including documentation requirements at each step)
- Validated problem statement
- Potential solutions
- Analysis of commitment of the public sector stakeholders.
- Stakeholder workshops (if considered necessary)
- Process owners
- Other interested public and private sector stakeholders.
2.3 Timelines for Deliverables
The Consultant will provide the Alliance with the following deliverables (the “Deliverables”):
- Within five working days of contract signature, the Project Validation Plan
- Within forty five days working of contract signature, the Project Validation Report.
3. Requirements
The Consultant must possess:
- A proven track record of implementing trade facilitation projects.
- Strong stakeholder engagement skills with experience with public-private partnerships.
- An understanding of customs clearance procedures in Sri Lanka including:
- Mechanisms for import payment of duty and tax by government ministries
- Application of VAT law to UN agencies
- Knowledge of approval processes at other relevant government organisations including:
- National Medicine Regulatory Authority
- Import Export Control Department
- Ministry of Health Donation Committee
- Strong written and oral communication skills in English.
The Consultant must be based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and be able to travel to meetings in both locations.
4. Submission of Proposals
Interested consultants should submit a technical and financial proposal in PDF format to: Christopher Holden (christopher.holden@iccwbo.org) with the subject line: “Project Validation – Sri Lanka [YOURNAME]” by 11:59pm on 06-Oct-25.
Please note that submission of a proposal in the manner described above will deem all terms and conditions of this Request for Services have been accepted by the Bidder and incorporated into its proposal unless specifically notified otherwise.
5. No Obligation to Award
The issuance of this Request for Services (RFS) does not constitute a commitment by the Alliance to award a contract to any respondent. The Alliance reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to reject any or all proposals, to cancel the RFS process at any time, and to take no action based on the proposals received.