JOB TITLE RFP: FINANCIAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT
LOCATION: NG (PRIMARY)
CATEGORY: PROCUREMENT
JOB DESCRIPTION

Solicitation Number:	ICS-2020.10.002
Date of Issue of Request:	22 October 2020
Deadline for Questions	26 October 2020
Deadline for Offers:	28 October 2020
Description:	Financial Product Development Consultant
For:	Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Activity (FTF)
Funded By:	USAID
Implemented By:	CNFA
Submit Proposals to:	operations@ag-invest.org

SECTION A: OFFER INSTRUCTIONS
1. Introduction to Offerors: The Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Activity (FTF) is a USAID program implemented by CNFA in Nigeria. The goal of the Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Activity (FTF) is to strengthens the business enabling environment to promote private sector investment in agriculture. To achieve this goal, the activity focuses on four interrelated components: 1)improving the ease of doing business in the agricultural sector;2) broadening access to finance by mitigating the credit risks of agribusinesses; 3)promoting investment opportunities for agribusinesses to expand and scale up operations; 4) enhancing the performance standards of agribusiness MSMEs. In line with the U.S. and Nigerian Government’s commitment to growing the non-oil-based economy, these efforts will increase the quality, quantity, market access, and diversification of Nigeria’s agribusiness sector.

Ebonyi State Government (ESG) has resolved to grow the State’s economy, stimulate economic growth and business activities in the State for job creation, and prepare the State on the path of global economic dominance. The State has recently approved the disbursement of funds to assist the establishment of new businesses for startups and expansion of existing ones for intending entrepreneurs and the entire business community in the State.

The N3 billion MSME Fund will target industrial clusters situated in the Ebonyi North, Ebonyi South and Ebonyi Central senatorial zones, aquaculture hatchery development, livestock businesses, agro-processing businesses, production and manufacturing based businesses, among others. The State’s MSME Development is being coordinated and managed by the Ministry of Business Development with the support of other MDAs and development partners in the state.

As part of project activities, CNFA requires the services of an Independent Consultant, a Financial Product Developer to design the MSME Development Fund Implementation plan. Section B provides full details on the required Scope of Work. The purpose of this solicitation is to solicit quotations from qualified offerors.

Offerors are responsible for ensuring that their offers are received by CNFA in accordance with the instructions, terms, and conditions described in this Solicitation. Only Independent Consultants are eligible for consideration in response to this solicitation. Failure to adhere with instructions described in this solicitation may lead to disqualification of an offer from consideration. Please reference the solicitation number in all responses.

2. Offer Deadline and Protocol: Offers must be received no later than 12:00PM, GMT, on 20 October 2020. Offers must be submitted by email to operations@ag-invest.org and indicate “Financial Product Development Consultant ICS2020.10.002” in the subject line.

Offers received after the specified time and date will be considered late and will be considered only at the discretion of CNFA. The cover page of this solicitation summarizes the important dates of the solicitation process. Offerors must strictly follow the provided deadlines in the cover page to be considered for award.

Only the written answers issued by CNFA will be considered official and carry weight in the solicitation process and subsequent evaluation. Any verbal information received from employees of CNFA or any other entity should not be considered as an official response to any questions regarding this solicitation.

3. Questions: Questions regarding the technical or administrative requirements of this solicitation may be submitted no later than 12:00PM on 28 October by email operations@ag-invest.org . Questions must be submitted in writing; phone calls will not be accepted. Questions and requests for clarification—and the responses thereto—that CNFA believes may be of interest to other offerors will be circulated to all solicitation recipients who have indicated an interest in bidding.

Only the written answers issued by CNFA will be considered official and carry weight in the solicitation process and subsequent evaluation. Any verbal information received from employees of CNFA or any other entity should not be considered as an official response to any questions regarding this solicitation.

4. Quotations: Quotations in response to this solicitation should be priced on a daily rate with Level of Effort (LOE). The rate must be presented in Naira. Quotations must remain valid for not less than 60days. The offeror shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of the quotations up to the final award of the contract. CNFA will in no case be responsible or liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the procurement process.

5. Taxes and VAT: All prices must be presented exclusive of any taxes, duties, and VAT. The selected offeror is responsible for all taxes in accordance with the applicable law.

6. Evaluation: The award will be made to a responsible offeror whose offer follows the solicitation instructions, meets the eligibility requirements, and is determined via a trade-off analysis to be the best value based on application of the below evaluation criteria. Best value determination will consider both technical and financial proposals, i.e., the best approach and anticipated results in combination with a reasonable cost. Proposed costs must reflect and clearly match the degree of sophistication of the technical approach. The relative importance of each individual criterion is indicated by the number of points below:

Technical, 60 points

Evidence of a minimum a university degree in finance, banking, business development, business administration, international development, or in other relevant field – 10 points
Proven expertise in financial product development for MSMEs and expertise in financial product development for agribusiness MSMEs – 20 points
Evidence of previous experience in providing technical advisory services in MSME financing, experience in providing financial business advisory to agribusinesses – 20 points
Experience in working with donor-funded projects especially with USAID -10 points
Cost Proposal, 40 points – overall price and payment terms for the services procured

Best-offer proposals are requested. It is anticipated that award will be made solely on the basis of these original proposals. However, CNFA reserves the right to conduct any of the following:

CNFA may conduct negotiations with and/or request clarifications from any offeror prior to award;
While preference will be given to offerors who can address the full technical requirements of this solicitation, CNFA may issue a partial award or split the award among various suppliers, if in the best interest of the Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Activity (FTF) Project;
CNFA may cancel this solicitation at any time;
CNFA may contact a shortlist of offerors for additional screening interviews following review of initial offers received.
Please note that if there are deficiencies regarding responsiveness to the requirements of this Solicitation, an offer may be deemed “non-responsive” and thereby disqualified from consideration. CNFA reserves the right to waive immaterial deficiencies at its discretion.

7. Payment and Award: The award will be awarded to the offeror whose quotation represents the best value to the Project. Award will be issued only to the entity which submits an offer in response to this solicitation. CNFA will not issue an award to different offerors, entities, or third-parties other than the selected offeror(s). Any award and payment resulting from this solicitation is anticipated to be in the form of an Independent Consultant Agreement. This award is subject to the Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Activity (FTF) Project’s terms and conditions as stipulated in Annex 3.

8. Offer Format Instructions: All offers must be formatted in accordance with the below requirements:

English language only
Include the offeror’s name, date, Solicitation number, and page numbers as a header or footer throughout the document.
The Official Offer must be in the format provided in Annex 1 (Official Offer Template)
Cover letter signed by the offeror (see Annex 2)
CV/Resume
Provide two contacts for references from organizations/individuals for which the offeror has successfully performed similar work
Section B: Scope of Work

1. About CNFA:

Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA), an international development organization, specializes in designing sustainable, market led agricultural initiatives. We build strong local and global partnerships, incorporate innovative approaches into our programs, and foster inclusive development to offer enhanced opportunities to under-served groups. Since 1985, CNFA has managed more than $600 million in donor funded agriculture development programs and has worked in 46 countries across the world in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Central Asia.

2. About Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Activity (FTF):

The five-year USAID Feed the Future Nigeria Agribusiness Investment Activity (the Activity), implemented by CNFA as part of the United States Government’s Feed the Future Initiative, strengthens the business enabling environment to promote private sector investment in agriculture. To achieve this goal, the activity focuses on four interrelated components:1) improving the ease of doing business in the agricultural sector;2) broadening access to finance by mitigating the credit risks of agribusinesses; 3)promoting investment opportunities for agribusinesses to expand and scale up operations; 4) enhancing the performance standards of agribusiness MSMEs. In line with the U.S. and Nigerian Government’s commitment to growing the non-oil-based economy, these efforts will increase the quality, quantity, market access, and diversification of Nigeria’s agribusiness sector.

3. Assignment Summary:

Ebonyi State Government (ESG) has resolved to grow the State’s economy, stimulate economic growth and business activities in the State for job creation and prepare the State on the path of global economic vibrancy. The State is currently disbursing funds to assist the establishment of new businesses for startups and expansion of existing ones for intending entrepreneurs and the entire business community in the State.

The Ongoing Zenith, Firstbank and UBA MSME fund will target Agro Processing Businesses, Livestock Businesses, Retail and Services, production and manufacturing based businesses among others.

The Ebonyi State Government is looking to expand on its drive to further support the growth and development of businesses in the State and intends to make commercially viable financial injections in form of loans to MSME’s in targeted sectors of its economy, prioritizing agribusiness amongst others. The State intends to undertake this plan using COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (CARES) program, her partnership with the Bankers Committee Abakaliki and other MSME Development finance institutions to pilot low interest loans to deserving beneficiaries.