Project description and activities

Procurement

Goods and services funded by the project will be procured by the PCU and by the private CPMCC and NTC. Procurement by the PCU will concern the recruitment of the service providers, all goods and services delivered directly by the PCU to the service providers, all goods and services required for the PCUs own functioning, and the special services required for monitoring and evaluating project performance and impact and for audits. Procurement will be in accordance with the stipulation of the loan agreement.

To the extent possible, vehicles and equipment will be procured in lots in order to obtain the best possible prices. International competitive bidding will be used for the supply of goods and services estimated to cost more than USD 100 000; local competitive bidding for supplies and services estimated between USD 100 000 and USD 7 000; and local shopping for less than USD 7 000.

Contracts with MINAGRI, OCIR-Café, OCIR-Thé, and TWIN (as project technical partner and co-financier of the project) will not be subject to tendering. Invitation to bid for contracts to private service providers (other than TWIN), will be limited to a short-list of national NGOs or other national private enterprise, pre-selected on the basis of experience, record of performance, and capacity for delivering the services requested by the tender documents. With a view to avoiding long delays and misunderstanding experienced by other IFAD projects, pro-forma contracts for each one of the activities envisaged will be prepared under SOF financing, with technical assistance from IFAD. All contracts will be reviewed by IFAD and the Cooperating Institution.

The CPMCCs and the NTC established with project funding channeled through the RDB will procure all goods and services required for their investment and commercial operations. Procurement procedures will be set to be compatible with the procedures imposed by the RDB on their clients, and will be approved by IFAD and the CI. The RDB has entered agreements with several International Development Banks (WB & AfDB for example) regarding procurement procedures, and will ensure that IFAD specific requirements will be complied with. In its double capacity as major lender to the company and of representative (Trustee) of the shareholders in the Board of Directors of the companies, the RDB will ensure that such procedures are actually followed.