Request for Proposal – Risk Management Specialist – Colombia

Request for Proposal – Risk Management Specialist – Colombia
Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation/Center for International Private Enterprise

 

1. Background information

The Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (the Alliance) is a public-private partnership for trade-led growth, supporting governments in developing and least-developed countries in implementing the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement. Alliance projects cut through red tape and end costly delays at borders by bringing together governments and businesses of all sizes as equal partners to deliver targeted trade reforms.  

The Alliance is led by the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), the International Chamber of Commerce, and the World Economic Forum, in cooperation with Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). It is funded by the governments of the United States, Canada, Germany, Denmark, and Australia.

CIPE works with local business leaders to expand the opportunity for inclusive growth through market-led solutions, develops programs to promote a rule-based system which emphasizes principles of democratic governance, enables entrepreneurship, opens trade, and fights corruption. CIPE and its global partner network create knowledge and practical tools to drive local change.

On behalf of the Alliance, CIPE is in the process of implementing a project to modernize the Colombian Institute of Agriculture and Livestock (ICA) and streamline the import and export process of goods under its purview by introducing a robust and modern risk management system.

Although ICA implemented a risk management system in 2016 for imports of agricultural and livestock products (known as SISPAP), this system is consistently underutilized and it does not enable ICA to fulfil its mandate of ensuring the safety of agricultural and livestock products, preventing the spread of plagues, protecting public health, and reducing time and cost for importers/exporters.

 

2. Objective

The overall objective of the project is to reduce the time and cost to import and export agricultural and livestock products under ICA’s purview by designing and deploying a robust risk management system.

 

3. Scope of work

To support the implementation of the project, CIPE wishes to hire the services of a Risk Management Specialist who will work closely with the Project Team, ICA, Colombian Customs (DIAN) and other relevant stakeholders to Propose and design a modern risk management strategy that will help ICA increase its targeting capabilities and efficiently and effectively differentiate between high risk and low risk shipments. The Specialist is expected to actively and continuously engage all project stakeholders to:

• Review the existing risk management practices, systems, business processes and human resource capabilities and gain a deeper understanding of the main gaps, challenges, and opportunities for improvement in the area of risk management from a multidimensional point of view: people, process and technology.
• Identify international best practices in the area of risk management of agricultural and livestock imports and exports and disseminate them with ICA officials.
• Recommend specific changes and solutions to the identified gaps and challenges with a view to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of ICA’s risk management strategy.
• Conduct workshops as needed with project stakeholders to identify and agree upon the main challenges, gaps, and weaknesses of the existing risk management approach and identify potential solutions.
• Develop new standard operating procedures to facilitate the adoption of the new risk manage strategy.
• Conduct the necessary training and awareness sessions with key ICA officials including at least three knowledge exchange sessions with ICA’s counterpart agencies worldwide to share risk management practices.
• Liaise with ICA officials to identify any concerns they might have about the implementation of a new risk management strategy and propose mitigation actions accordingly.
• Engage ICA’s leadership to ensure their buy-in and full understanding of the benefits and challenges of implementing a robust and modern risk management strategy.

Deliverables:

1. AS IS report of findings including an overview of the current risk management practices, weaknesses, and challenges. This situational analysis will, as a minimum, focus on the processes, human resources, IT capabilities, and expertise currently available at ICA for risk management purposes.
2. Develop a TO BE report based on best practices to strengthen ICA’s risk management practices. This report will represent the Risk Management Blueprint for ICA and should, as a minimum, provide a clear justification to implement the new risk management approach, identify the necessary data sources, risk criteria, variables and coefficients, and all the necessary changes related to IT, human resources, and processes that will facilitate the adoption of the blueprint. The consultant should also give special consideration to opportunities to exchange data and decisions within the complex ICA software architecture and with other border agencies (specially DIAN) to further simplify the overall clearance process of agricultural and livestock goods.
3. Develop new standard operating procedures and user manuals for the proper implementation of the new risk management practices.
4. Undertake the necessary training of ICA key personnel on the new risk management blueprint to fully maximize the potential benefits of the new risk management practices.
5. Develop a post implementation report including, but not limited to, an analysis of the effectiveness, efficiency, performance, and utilization rate of the new risk management blueprint, corrective actions to improve performance and expand user adoption
6. Produce monthly progress reports summarizing all activities conducted during the reporting period and objectives for the following month.
7. Final progress report summarizing all activities conducted during the assignment, full list of deliverables, lessons learned and recommendations for all stakeholders.

 

4. Selection criteria and characteristics

Proposals will be evaluated based on a combination of Quality (70%) and Cost (30%). The estimated total budget for the assignment is USD$58,500. The estimated duration of the assignment is 18 months.

Quality evaluation of the proposals will be based on the qualifications and experience of the candidate.

Cost evaluation will be as follows: The lowest compliant financial proposal (FP) is given the maximum financial score

(FS) of 30. The formula for determining the financial scores of all other proposals is:
FS = 30 x (FP/F)

In which “FS” is the financial score, “FP” is the lowest price, and “F” the price of the proposal under consideration.

 

5. Public official disclosures

Proposals should disclose whether any owner, senior officer or manager, or key employee of the provider is a public official or related by blood or marriage up to second-degree to a public official. “Public official” includes, a person holding a legislative, administrative, military, or judicial office for any country, an employee of a government-owned or controlled enterprise, an official of a public international organization and/or an official of a political party.

The fact that a public official is employed by or associated with an applicant will not disqualify a company from consideration, however no proposal will be considered unless it includes this information.

 

6. Application requirements

Candidates are requested to submit a response by August 13, 2021 to tradejobs@cipe.org and fbakija@cipe.org, Senior Program Officer, Trade Team with the subject line “Risk Management ICA”.

Submissions should include:

• A financial proposal (max 5 pages) in English inclusive of all taxes, fees. Traveling expenses (depending on the pandemic) both domestic and international will be covered separately by CIPE. ICA and relevant stakeholders will provide conference rooms and meeting spaces throughout the duration of the assignment.
• Candidate CV in English.

Required Skills and Experience:

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in relevant field to the assignment; Master’s degree preferred;
• Professional Experience
• Demonstrated at least 10 years of experience in Risk Management, and the modernization of sanitary and phytosanitary agencies. in line with IPPC and FAO recommendations.
• Strong working knowledge of IT systems and experience conducting business process reengineering activities
• Technical understanding of trade facilitation initiatives and guidelines recommended by international organizations such as the World Trade Organization, World Customs Organization and the World Bank Group.
• Familiarity with international donor-funded programs desired.

Other knowledge and skills:

• Excellent proven oral and writing skills in English and Spanish, with excellent analysis and synthesis skills;
• Knowledge of the country context, development issues, trade practice and challenges;
• Authorization to legally work in Colombia and the ability to travel within Colombia;
• Proactive, self-starter with strong attention to detail;
• Flexible and adaptable to changing environments.

 

7. Schedule of deliverables and payments

Currently, due to the COVID pandemic and unanticipated, government related project hurdles, there are expected delays. As a result, the schedule presented below is conceptual only. A schedule for delivery will be agreed during the inception period and updated as needed, by agreement between the Project Teams and the Specialist. Should the evaluation plan require revision, it will be conducted in agreement with CIPE project team.

Deliverable	Expected Timeline	Payment
Inception Report with an updated timeline of project deliverables	10 days after signing the contract	10%
AS IS Report	December 2021	25%
TO BE Report	March 2022	25%
Standard Operating Procedures and User Manuals	June 2022	10%
Training of ICA key personnel	July 2022	10%
Post Implementation Report	January 2023	10%
Final Progress Report	February 2023	10%