IFC seeks to hire a financial and tax consultancy firm or a consortium of financial and tax consultancy firms (the “Consultant”) to support IFC with all the financial and tax aspects related to the structuring and implementation of the Project, including but not limited to the following:
- Reviewing relevant financial and tax data/analyses, identifying red flags (if any) and proposing mitigation measures in the context of applicable tax, financial and accounting regulations.
- Preparing, maintaining and optimizing the financial model for the various Project stages (shadow bid model for tender preparation and the tender phase, VFM model amendment before bid submission).
- Preparing, maintaining and optimizing the Availability payment calculation tool – draft during the tender process and final version based on the final tender documentation.
- Advising on all tax and accounting issues relevant to the Project, IFRS and CAS issues related to obligations of the parties to the PPP agreement.
- Advising on treatment of the Project under ESA rules (in relation to financial aspects).
- Advising on FX and IRS aspects (hedging advisory).
- Advising on all relevant aspects of the Project during the competitive dialogue procedure and assisting with the same throughout the competitive dialogue process.
- Participation in all relevant meetings on financial and tax issues, ensuring proper information transfer and coordination with other stakeholders.
- Drafting and revising during the tender process the financial, tax and accounting provisions of the PPP agreement and tender documents, including financial metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
- Assisting with all relevant financial and tax aspects of the Project until commercial close (i.e. signing of the PPP agreement).
- Providing relevant support until financial close (i.e. signing of the financing agreements).
The Consultant will have to actively cooperate with the other consultants hired by IFC to coordinate advice and prepare joint deliverables.
Expressions of Interest (“EOI”)
Expressions of Interest shall not exceed 50 pages, excluding CVs.
Candidates must disclose in the EOI submission the identity of the key staff that will be forming part of the team for the assignment (team leader, partners, key staff members against main deliverables) and demonstrate how key staff fulfill the evaluation criteria. Key staff shall not be removed at the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage, unless it is replaced with a staff with at least the same level of experience and qualifications.
The Consultant must demonstrate knowledge of international best practice and relevant experience, as well as knowledge and experience of the Czech tax framework, either through its own internal resources or by partnering with another firm. Therefore, the candidate may be a single firm, a consortium of several firms, or a lead firm with a subconsultant.
Candidates who pass the EOI evaluation in a consortium or with subconsultant will not be allowed to remove consortium members/subconsultants at the RFP stage.
Candidates must disclose any past or present engagement with IFC or SZ in relation with the Project which may constitute a potential conflicts of interest to IFC at the EOI stage, so that IFC can consider the circumstances and determine (in its absolute discretion) whether such candidate may proceed with the bidding process and (if appropriate) what mitigation measures IFC would require.
Candidates who are not currently registered in the World Bank Group’s vendor database will need to register. Although unregistered bidders may submit EOIs, we encourage candidates to register as early as possible. For details, please follow the link:
https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/corporate-procurement/vendors/potential-vendor-registry
EOI Evaluation Criteria
To be shortlisted to be invited for the RFP stage, candidates must be authorized to provide tax advice in Czechia and demonstrate that their key staff proposed for the assignment (either by themselves or with staff from other firms that are bidding in a consortium or through subconsultant) meet ALL of the following criteria:
Criteria # Description
1) Demonstrate relevant recent PPP experience on either sell or buy side in the transport sector. Preference will be given to candidates with at least 1 PPP project in Europe in the transport sector with the investment amount of at least EUR 200m, which included the following aspects: ESA treatment, competitive dialogue, financial close negotiations.
2) Demonstrate relevant recent experience in project finance. Preference will be given to candidates with at least 3 transport projects (experience in railway infrastructure will be considered a plus) with the investment amount of at least EUR 200m. Experience with at least 1 large project finance / PPP transaction (CAPEX over 1bn EUR equivalent) will be considered a plus.
3) Demonstrate relevant recent experience in PPP projects on either sell or buy side in any sector in Czechia or Slovakia.
4) Key staff must possess relevant professional experience (preference will be given to candidates with key staff having at least 10 years of relevant professional experience, including at least 5 years in the area of PPP.
