Capacity building for the Serbian Commisson for the Protection of Competition and the creation of a regional forum of competition (примерный перевод: Наращивание потенциала для сербского комиссара для t "Защита конкуренции" и создание регионального форума по конкуренции) ( - Тендер #2837887) | ||
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Страна: международный Организатор тендера: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Номер конкурса: 2837887 Дата публикации: 13-02-2018 Источник тендера: Европейский банк реконструкции и развития |
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Serbia
Project number:72506
Funding source:EBSF - EBRD Shareholder Special Fund
Contract type:Consultancy Services
Notice type:Invitation for expressions of interest (CSU)
Issue date:12 Feb 2018
Closing date:05 Mar 2018 at 23:59 London
Project Description: Competitive markets lie at the heart of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s ("EBRD" or the "Bank") mandate to foster transition to open market
oriented economies. An increase in competition leads to a more efficient resource allocation, higher levels of innovation, increased productivity, and ultimately to higher growth.
According to the latest accession report prepared by the EU in 2016 (2016 Communication on EU Enlargement Policy), the Serbian legislative framework is broadly in line with the EU acquis. The
law on protection of competition is largely aligned with Articles 101 on restrictive agreements and Article 102 of the TFEU on abuses of dominant position. It also provides for ex ante control
of the effects on competition of mergers above certain turnover thresholds, in line with the Merger Regulation.
Secondary legislation providing further substantive rules and guidance on how competition rules should be applied is also in place and in line with the relevant regulations and Commission
guidelines. However, horizontal merger guidelines and guidelines for restrictive agreements are missing and should be developed. Furthermore, the existing glossary of the competition
terminology, adopted by the CPC, is out-of-date and needs to be revised and brought in line with the existing EU terminology to facilitate the harmonisation of the competition legal framework
with that of the EU.
As regards the institutional framework, the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) is responsible for the implementation of the legal framework. The CPC is an operationally independent
authority governed by a President and four Council members selected by parliament among legal and economic experts. Thepowers of the CPC are broadly comparable to those of the European
Commission. While the implementation of the legislative framework is improving and the number of antitrust cases remains stable, the overall number and level of fines remains modest. The CPC
needs to strengthen its enforcement record, in particular by imposing more dissuasive fines and promoting its leniency programme more intensively. Since the number of CPC staff is considered
adequate, their expertise, in particular in economics and econometrics, may need to be further increased.
Also, the relationship and coordination between the CPC and sectoral regulators may need to be strengthened, which will to help improve the effectiveness of competition law enforcement in the
relevant regulated sectors. The sectors in question may include finances, energy, telecommunications, transport and local public utilities.
Against this background, the CPC has requested the EBRD to provide technical assistance to strengthen its institutional capacity as a regulator (the "Project").
Assignment Description: The Bank now proposes to engage a consulting firm or group of firms (the "Consultant") to provide capacity building, strengthening of advocacy role, and support
with reviewing of legislation for the Client (the "Assignment").
The expected outcome of the Assignment is: (i) strengthening the skills and competencies of the CPC officials and case handlers on competition law enforcement through formal classroom-based
training; (ii) developing secondary legislation (guidelines) in the areas of "horizontal mergers’ assessment" and "restrictive agreements and the revision of the glossary of the competition
terminology; (iii) strengthening the relationship between the CPC and sectoral regulators to improve the effectiveness of competition law enforcement in regulated sectors.
The selected Consultant is expected to provide the following services:
Activity 1: Purchase of econometrics software(s) and associated training
The Consultant will purchase four new licenses and one upgrade of the econometric software STATA, which will enable the CPC to conduct econometric research in furtherance of its activities.
Also, the Consultant will purchase five upgrade licenses of the econometric software E-Views. A maximum of EUR 10,000 has been allocated under the budget for this activity to fund the initial
purchase of the licenses for the CPC. Upon purchase of the STATA software, the Consultant will provide training to up to 5-8 CPC staff case-handlers with an economics background on the
installation and use of the software.
Activity 2: Producing relevant guidelines in support of the operations of the CPC
The Consultant will assist the CPC staff in the preparation of two sets of draft guidelines that
will support competition law enforcement in Serbia and will provide clear guidance to the general public about the CPC approach in two key areas: horizontal mergers’ appraisal and restrictive
agreements.
(1) Horizontal mergers assessment guidelines
The Consultant will support the CPC in drafting Guidelines for the CPC’s assessment of concentrations within the scope of the Serbian merger regulation. The draft guidelines prepared as part
of the Assignment will describe in full details the procedure that will be followed by the CPC in assessing the impact of a proposed concentration on the relevant market(s) affected. The draft
guidelines will be produced taking into account already existing guidelines of the EU, applied by the EC, but also some other guidelines, like US Department of Justice (in the case of the
mergers) and guidelines used in selected transition economies. Specific conditions in Serbia will be taken into account when the guidelines are drafted, answering the question which of the
features of already existing EU or other guidelines should be adopted and which should be amended.
(2) Guidelines for self-assessment of restricted practices
The Consultant will support the CPC in drafting Guidelines that will be made available to third parties for the self-assessment of restrictive agreements. The draft Guidelines will provide a
valuable tool for the business sector to form a judgement about the legality of certain agreements and will contribute to reduce legal uncertainty in relation to the CPC’s evaluation in
relation the compatibility of the agreements with the Serbian competition law. The draft Guidelines will be produced taking into account international best practice, both considering the
experience of advanced jurisdictions and of selected transition economies. Specific conditions in Serbia will be taken into account when the guidelines are drafted, answering the question which
of the features of already existing EU or other guidelines should be adopted and which should be amended.
Activity 3: Preparation of a glossary for standardisation of competition law terminology
The Consultant will assist the CPC in the preparation of a standardised glossary of competition law terminology in Serbian. The glossary will contribute to the common understanding of specific
technical terminology that is currently either not translated in Serbian (official and non-official documents generally use English, French or German terms), or not used in a standardised
way.
Activity 4: Organisation of short study visits to other competition authorities
The Consultant will organize five study visits for a selected number of CPC’s employees (two per
each study tour) at competition authorities located in Western Europe (i.e. Germany, Holland, the UK) or in advanced transition economies (i.e. Lithuania, Estonia). On approval of the
Consultant’s plan for the study visits, the Consultant will organise all relevant meetings with officials from the hosting country, all international travel, all accommodation for the
duration of the study visit. All such costs will be deemed to be included in the Consultant’s budget for this Assignment.
Activity 5: Delivery of a training programme on issues relating to the interface of sectoral regulation and competition law
The Consultant will develop and deliver a training
programme on specific issues concerning the interface between competition law and sectoral regulations. The training will be provided in the form of one-day seminars (for a total of six
seminars) and will be attended by both staff of the CPC and by staff of the different relevant sector regulators with whom the CPC collaborates. Each seminar will focus on the discussion of
specific cases that deal with the interface of competition law and sector regulation. The cases discussed will be important cases from selected EU countries.
While the Consultant will work closely with the Client, the contracting entity will be the Bank.
Consultants are advised to refer to the Terms of Reference ("ToR") under the link below for a more detailed description of service requirements: http://www.ebrd.com/documents/admin/tor72506.docx
Status of Selection Process: Interested firms or groups of firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.
Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in March 2018 and has an estimated overall duration of 26 months.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 225.000 (exclusive of VAT). Subject to availability of funding, the performance of the selected Consultant and the specific needs of the Bank the
Assignment may be extended beyond the current scope.
The Consultant must determine whether any VAT would be chargeable on the services and the basis for that determination, without taking into consideration the special status of the Bank as an
IFI and state this to the Bank in their response to the Invitation for Expressions of Interest. To the extent that a Consultant incurs input VAT on goods and services purchased in connection
with the provision of services (e.g. VAT on airline ticket) which is not otherwise recoverable by the consultant from the local tax authority, the gross cost to the consultant of such expenses
shall be treated as a reimbursable expense.
Funding Source: It is expected that the Assignment will be funded by the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund. Please note that selection and contracting is subject to the
availability of funding.
Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions.
Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms preferably with previous project experience related to:
a) conducting technical cooperation programmes and delivering capacity building programmes for senior officials of a comparable nature, scale and complexity to that required under this
Assignment;
b) dealing with antitrust cases in the capacity of economic/legal consultant or as case handler in a competition agency;
c) dealing with regulatory issues, especially in the areas of energy, telecoms and financial regulation;
d) advising on advocacy and communication strategies of regulatory bodies;
e) legislation reviewing and policy advice in the area of competition, aligned to EU regulators and legislation;
f) demonstrated knowledge of Serbia, the Western Balkan region and its regulatory environment.
The Consultant’s expert team is expected to include key experts as follows:
a) Key Expert No 1 - (Team Leader) Competition Economics Expert with preferably 10 years or more of previous professional experience in the field of economics of competition and economic
regulation, preferably including market assessments; legislative review; regulation of network industries and financial markets; assessment of single and collective dominance issues; evaluation
of mergers.
b) Key Expert No 2 - Econometrician with preferably 10 years or more of previous professional experience in the field of econometrics; empirical industrial organisation;
evaluation and control of mergers; the conduct of market investigations; and
c) Key Experts No 3 - Competition Law Expert with preferably 10 years or more of previous professional experience in the field of international competition law. Experience with
legislation reviewing and providing advice on approximation with the EU acquis would be considered and advantage.
All Key Experts shall be fluent in written and spoken English. It is essential that the Consultant has access to members (e.g. an interpreter or a Key Expert) which can assist in communicating
in Serbian.
Submission Requirements: In order to determine the capability and experience of Consultants seeking to be selected for this Assignment, the information submitted should include the
following:??
1. Company/group of firms’ profile, organisation and staffing (max. 2-4 pages).??
2. Details of previous project experience or similar assignments particularly undertaken in the previous five years, including information on contract value, contracting entity/client,
project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided (if different from duration), main activities, objectives.
3. CVs of key experts who could carry out the Assignment detailing qualifications, experience in similar assignments, particularly assignments undertaken in the previous five years,
including information on contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided, assignment budget, main activities, objectives.??
4. Completed Consultant Declaration Form and Contact Sheet, the template for which is available from the following web-link: http://www.ebrd.com/pages/workingwithus/procurement/notices/csu/contact_sheet.docx
The above information should not exceed 15 pages excluding CVs and contact sheet.
The complete expression of interest (including CVs, Consultant Declaration and Contact Sheet) should be submitted, in English electronically through e-Selection, to reach the Bank not
later than the closing date. The expression of interest shall be one file (pdf). The EBRD reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file. Only if the
permissible file size is exceeded (4MB), the Consultant may split the expression of interest into further files.
Bank Contact Person:
Vivienne Lewis-Headlam
Procurement Operations & Delivery Department
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: + 44 20 7338 6885
e-mail: lewishev@ebrd.com (submissions should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address)
Notes:
1. The selection will normally be made from responses to this notification only. Consultants will not be asked to submit a proposal. The highest-ranked Consultant will be selected from a
shortlist and be invited to negotiate the contract, subject to availability of funding.
2. The shortlist criteria are as follows:
a) Firm"s previous project experience within the past five years in the successful delivery of capacity building programmes of a comparable nature, scale and complexity to that required under
this Assignment – 30 %;
b) Firm"s previous project experience within the past five years with legislation reviewing and policy advice, especially in the area of competition law aligned to EU regulators and
legislation. Demonstrated knowledge of Serbia, the Western Balkan region and its regulatory environment will be considered an advantage – 25%;
c) Firm’s previous experience within the past five years in organising study visits or exchange programmes for policy makers within the Western Balkan region or similar environments –
15%;
d) CVs of Key Experts – 30%.