Consultancy for Economic Evaluation of the Santa Catarina Development Fund (FESC)

Description

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) calls for specialized consulting firms to carry out the Economic Evaluation and Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) of the Santa Catarina Development Fund (FESC).

The central objective of the consultancy is to measure the potential economic benefits of the FESC in facing local market failures — such as information asymmetry, restrictions on long-term credits, and risk aversion in the financial system — structuring a robust diagnosis of the demand for financing and the impacts of interventions in the state.

1. Economic and Fiscal Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)
Financial impact modeling: Structure a complete economic Cost-Benefit Analysis, identifying, quantifying and monetarily valuing the direct and indirect costs and benefits linked to the Fund's performance.

Comparative fiscal evaluation: Develop a segregated fiscal CBA and complement to economic analysis. The focus will be on contrasting the efficiency of public catalytic financial instruments against traditional tax incentive schemes, mitigating any risk of double counting of benefits within the project's financial flow.

Counterfactual isolation: Define and empirically substantiate the counterfactual investment scenario, mandatorily incorporating the projections and systemic impacts resulting from the Brazilian Tax Reform (EC 132/2023).

2. Demand Assessment, Leverage and Crowding-in
Measurement of the attraction effect: Quantify the effects of crowding-in, validating the assumptions of financial leverage of the FESC based on empirical evidence from comparable funds in Brazil or from established international references.

Mapping focused on MSMEs: Assess the potential demand for the Fund's resources with a strict emphasis on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). The results must be disaggregated by business size (micro, small, medium and large) and, whenever feasible, by priority economic sector of Santa Catarina.

Guarantee of scale: Ensure methodological and mathematical coherence between the estimated volume of demand and the actual financial scale of the Fund's budget design.

3. Cross-Cutting Gender Mainstreaming
Mapping of access barriers: Incorporate gender markers in the analysis of demand and economic impact, identifying the asymmetries in access to credit and the main bottlenecks and restrictions faced by women-led companies in the Santa Catarina market.

Quantification of benefits: Estimate and value the expected social and economic impacts resulting from the strategic allocation of FESC resources to strengthen female entrepreneurship.

4. Expected Operating Activities and Products
Initial programmatic review: Analyze in detail the normative, operational and financial parameters of the FISCAL+INVEST SC Program and the structural design of the FESC.

Methodological validation with the Bank: Define analytical assumptions and secondary data sources in full alignment with the IDB's methodological guidelines for economic evaluations of development funds.

Iterative reporting process: Prepare, adjust and refine the interim technical reports, incorporating the reviews and contributions of the IDB's technical teams and state counterparts until their ratification and final approval.

Note: Interested companies should review the requirements on the BEO Bidder Portal.