GOVERNMENT OF BELIZE ENHANCING THE BELIZE NATIONAL QUALITY INFRASTRUCTURE

CONSULTANCY SERVICES FOR THE DESIGN AND DELIVERY OF TRAINING MODULES TO BUILD CAPACITY IN THE AUDITING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ISO/IEC 17025:2017 STANDARDS BASED QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

The Government of Belize (GOB) has received financing from the CDB in an amount equivalent to EUR 115,959 towards the costs of “Enhancing the Belize National Quality Infrastructure” Project and intends to apply a portion of the proceeds of this financing to eligible payments under a contract for which this invitation is issued.  Payments by CDB will be made only at the request of GOB and upon approval by CDB, and will be subject in all respects to the terms and conditions of the Financing Agreement.  The Financing Agreement prohibits withdrawal from the financing account for the purpose of any payment to persons or entities, or for any import of goods, if such payment or import, to the knowledge of CDB, is prohibited by a decision of the United Nations Security Council taken under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.  No party other than GOB shall derive any rights from the Financing Agreement or have any claim to the proceeds of the Financing.

The Belize Bureau of Standards (BBS), the implementing agency, now wishes to procure consultancy services for a Technical Consultant for the capacity building of BBS staff and selected stakeholders in ISO/IEC17025:2017 standard.

The objective of this consultancy is to design and deliver virtually a capacity development module for stakeholders of BBS and BBS staff to audit and implement ISO/IEC 17025:2017 based quality management systems. The duration of the assignment is expected to be for ten (10) person-days over a period of eight calendar weeks. Further details can be found in the draft Terms of Reference (TOR) which can be made available upon request by contacting the first email address and copied to the third email address below.

BBS now invites interested eligible firms to submit Expressions of Interest indicating qualifications and experience required to provide these consultancy services.

Consultants shall be eligible to participate if:

• in the case of a body corporate, it is legally incorporated or otherwise organised in an eligible country, has its principal place of business in an eligible country and is more than 50 percent beneficially owned by citizen(s) and/or bona fide resident(s) of eligible country(ies) or by a body(ies) corporate meeting these requirements;
• in the case of unincorporated firms, the persons are citizens or bona fide residents of an eligible country;
• in all cases, the consultant has no arrangement and undertakes not to make any arrangements, whereby any substantial part of the net profits or other tangible benefits of the contract will accrue or be paid to a person not a citizen or bona fide resident of an eligible country; and
• Consultants from member countries of CDB, as well as EU Member Countries which are not CDB Member Countries, and other countries which are eligible under EU procurement provisions, will be eligible to participate in these procurement opportunities[1].

In the assessment of submissions, consideration will be given to qualifications and experience on similar assignments, existing commitments and specifically:

• A bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Social Sciences (with a strong concentration on scientific methods of research design) or a relevant professional qualification or designation.
• Ten years of experience in auditing and implementing ISO/IEC 17025 based QMSs, with at least two years involving ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standards.
• Three years of experience teaching the auditing the implementation of ISO/IEC 17025 based QMSs, with at least one year involving ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standards.
• A senior lead auditor and implementer certified in ISO/IEC 17025:2017 from an institution accredited from an approved body of the International Accreditation Forum.

Consultants are advised to review the detailed eligibility criteria detailed in Section 4 and conflict of interest provisions in Section 5 of the Procurement Procedures for Projects Financed by CDB (January, 2021), as published on CDB’s website.

All information must be submitted in English.  Further information, if necessary, may be obtained from the first email address and copied to the third email address below between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Monday to Friday.

An electronic copy of the Expressions of Interest must be sent in PDF format to the email in the first address below no later than 3:00 p.m. on Friday December 31, 2021 and one electronic copy must be sent simultaneously to CDB at the second email address below.  The Expression of Interest will be deemed to have been received at the time that it is received by BBS at the first email address below.  The burden of proving receipt of the e-mail will be on the applicant and will not be met solely by a read receipt or sent items report generated by the Consultant’s computer.  The e-mail containing each submission should include the name and address of the applicant.  The subject line shall be clearly marked “Consultancy Services for The Design and Delivery of Training Modules to Build Capacity in The Auditing and Implementation of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Standards Based Quality Management Systems, Belize – Enhancing the Belize National Quality Infrastructure – CDB Project”.

Following the assessment of submissions, the most technically capable and appropriately experienced applicant will be invited to negotiate a contract to provide the consultancy services.  If this applicant is unsuccessful, the process shall repeat with the next best qualified and experienced applicant.  BBS reserves the right to accept or reject late applications or to cancel the present invitation partially or in its entirety. It will not be bound to inform or assign any reason for not engaging the services of any applicant and will not defray any costs incurred by any applicant in the preparation and submission of Expressions of Interest.

[1] See eligible countries listed in Part II of Annex A2a of the European Union Procurement procedures and practical guide at: https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/document.do?isAnnexes=true