Early this year, Sida issued the invitation to tender to provide consultancy services under three Framework Agreements on Agriculture and Forestry, Infrastructure and Sustainable Services, and Market Development. As part of a consultancy consortium led by the Adam Smith International (ASI), the EfD Initiative submitted a bid on the Framework Agreement on Infrastructure and Sustainable Services. ASI is a leading independent governance and economic consultancy based in London, Nairobi and Delhi and with project offices throughout the world. They have a long-established reputation and extensive experience of delivering development projects that work, and contribute to sustainable outcomes. Like the Environmental Economics Unit (EEU) at Gothenburg University which coordinates the EfD Initiative, they have a long standing relationship with Sida.
At the end of April, the Department for Policy Support at Sida finished the adjudication of the bids and, for each Framework Agreement, three consultancy consortiums were assigned. The ASI-led consortium came second on the Framework Agreement on Infrastructure and Sustainable Services.
This week, on 13 June, Sida organized a meeting in Stockholm to roll out more information about the structure of the new Framework Agreements. The EfD Initiative was represented at this meeting where it was clarified that, in each Framework Agreement cluster, the consortium ranked first in the contract award will get all call-offs, and the consortium ranked second will only get a chance should the first consortium fail to propose a team or methodology of sufficient quality. The third consortium will only get a call-off should the second consortium also fail to present qualified team or methodology. Over two years, Sida will release about 10 consultancy projects under each Framework Agreement valued at SEK10million. The ASI-led consortium is hopeful that a good number of call-offs will filter through to them.
The EfD Initiative also stands ready to exploit the available opportunities under the Framework Agreement on Infrastructure and Sustainable Services of proposing studies directly to embassies. Such opportunities are very important for the EfD Initiative, which entered a consolidation phase with a new four-year agreement signed with Sida in December 2010. In the consolidation phase, the EfD Initiative is prioritizing the establishment of a very solid institutional basis and deepening research collaboration both across centers and with other key stakeholders in the respective constituent countries.