REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (RE ADVERTISED)

(CONSULTING SERVICES– FIRMS SELECTION)

ASSIGNMENT TITLE: CONSULTING SERVICES TO CONDUCT DUE DILIGENCE ON SHORTLISTED FIRMS

The African Union Commission has received financing from the European Union toward the cost of establishment of a Command Control Communication and Information Systems (C3IS) for the African Standby Force (ASF), African-led Peace Support Operations (PSO). The commission had launched a bid and conducted technical and Financial Evaluation. The commission would like to engage a service of qualified firm to conduct post qualification (Due diligence) exercise on a selected firm prior to award of Contract.

OBJECTIVES

The main objective of the assignment is to conduct post qualification (Due diligence) exercise on a selected firm to Implement a continental C3IS structure that will enable the AU to rapidly deploy Strategic and Operational Communication, Command and Control Capabilities between the AU as Strategic Headquarters in Addis Ababa, the Regional Level Standby Forces and Field Missions.

SCOPE

The scope of the exercise is to determine the physical, technical and financial capabilities of the bidder that will be selected to undertake the contract.  This review shall include an assessment of the bidder financial and physical resources available to undertake the contract, including his current workload. In addition the consultant will undertake the following but not limited to:

• Conduct a site visit to the supplier stated location
• Verify supplier’ references in similar assignment (at least two)
• Undertake the necessary verification on the information that is provided in the firm proposal and to take the necessary steps to ensure the timeliness, sufficiency and accuracy of the disclosure of all material documents, statements and information which are submitted in offering documents
• Review the status of the supplier's own technology and the feasibility of its proposed solution based on the information provided by the supplier and literature search or through any other source;
• Review the strength of management team suitable to the needs of the company/project in its composition (i.e. in-terms of skills, experiences and backgrounds) to execute the proposed project’s implementation activities.
• Review the suitability, relevance and availability of the in-house capability to enable successful execution of the project without any delay.

Invitation to Firms

To this end, the African Union Commission now invites Expression of Interest from eligible consulting firms to indicate their interest in providing the Services.  Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services.   The shortlisting criteria are: (i) Core business and years in business; (ii) Qualifications and Specific experience in the field of the assignment; (iii) Technical and managerial organization of the firm; (iv) General qualifications and number of key staff. Consultants are requested to submit relevant information pertaining to the above four shortlisting criteria only. Request for Proposals, including detail Terms of Reference (TOR) would be sent to shortlisted firms only for the final stage of the selection process.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form following the above shortlisting criteria to the address below (in person, or by mail, or by fax, or by e-mail) by 1st November 2016 at 15:00 Hours Local Time, Addis Ababa.

African Union Commission, Attn: Carine Toure Yemitia, Head of Procurement Travel and Store Division, Building C, Room 327, P.O.Box 3243, Roosevelt Street, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Tel: +251 (0) 11 551 7700 – Ext 4305, Fax: +251 (0) 11 551 0442; +251 11-551-0430, E-mail: tender@africa-union.org