Consulting Firm for Specialized Assistance Services for the Management of Competitive Funds

Description

The objective of the Program is to reduce the skills gap of the workforce in Panama. The Specific Objectives are: (i) to encourage the productive sector to train its workers with the required skills through a financing scheme that encourages their leadership and participation; (ii) promote the improvement of the institutional capacity of the providers of technical-professional education and training through a quality assurance system; (iii) support the implementation of a relevant information system on the supply and demand of skills, with a gender perspective.

The objective of the consultancy will be to provide the Strategic Secretariat for Development and Competitiveness (SEDCO), attached to the Ministry of the Presidency of the Republic of Panama, Specialized Assistance services for the Management of Competitive Funds (FC) of the Support Program to productivity through Human Capital, in accordance with the provisions regarding its scope, costs, times, risk, quality and satisfaction of those involved.

Indicatively, not limitingly, the UGT shall provide technical assistance to the SEDCO / UEP in the development and implementation of actions related to:

• Guarantee the access of the key actors of each economic sector of the regions to funds to improve the quality of human resources, allowing them to improve their competitiveness.
• Ensure the quality of the training offer to be financed within the framework of the project.
• Guarantee the relevance of the training actions financed by the project, ensuring that they meet the needs of the productive sector.
• Support business associations in strengthening their capacities to promote an area of human capital development in their organizations.
• Support SEDCO in its institutional strengthening, especially in the consolidation of a management area related to the formation of human capital.

The consulting firm must demonstrate the following experience:

• The consulting firm must demonstrate experience of no less than five (5) years in the management of social or productive development projects. Evidence that at least one year of experience is in social projects or production development executed in the Republic of Panama.
• The consulting firm must demonstrate experience of no less than five (5) years in the management of projects linked to development programs and human capital training. Evidence that at least one year of experience is in social projects or production development executed in the Republic of Panama.
• The consulting firm must demonstrate experience in at least five (5) projects in the financial management of third-party funds.
• The consulting firm must demonstrate experience in at least two (2) projects in the management and handling of contract contracts with the State. Evidence that at least one project was executed in the Republic of Panama.
• The consulting firm must demonstrate experience in at least one (1) project in the management of initiatives that link the public sector and the private sector for social or economic development purposes.

Consulting firms must present the documentation that accounts for the required experience. For each experience presented, they must indicate a brief description of the scope of the work, the name of the client, the amount of the contract, the execution period and any other relevant information. Every contract and order to proceed must be accompanied by a note to the satisfaction of the services provided by the end customer.

Consulting firms must indicate the nationality of the firm and the name of the legal representative. They may be associated with other firms in the form of a joint venture or subcontractors in order to improve their qualifications. For the purposes of establishing the short list, the nationality of the firm will be that of the country in which it is legally constituted or incorporated and in the case of a joint venture, it will be the nationality of the firm designated as representative. 

Short lists must include a minimum of five (5) and a maximum of eight (8) eligible firms with broad geographic representation.

Background:

Component I of the Program - Development of training initiatives guided by employers (Competitive Funds), promotes training in the skills required by companies through a financing scheme that encourages leadership and participation in the productive sector. Through a competitive process, resources from a CF will be assigned to finance training, evaluation or certification of skills initiatives whose design and implementation is led by the productive sector.

Training initiatives can be aimed at the unemployed, high school graduates and / or active workers.

The actions of this component will be aimed at supporting proposals in the Western Region (including the provinces of Chiriquí, Bocas del Toro and the Ngäbe Bugle Comarca) in four strategic sectors that were identified as sectors that present high potential, both for the creation of new jobs, such as to increase their productivity: logistics, agro-industrial, tourism and construction. In the event that there are changes in the scope of the beneficiary regions and sectors, these will be explained and justified in the respective calls and will be incorporated as an annex to the respective governance instruments, with the prior approval of the IDB.

Interest groups (example: companies, or group of companies, producer associations or cooperatives) linked to the four aforementioned sectors, as well as those that are relevant in the sector's value chain, may choose to present their training initiatives. / or that are part of the sectoral agglomeration (cluster). In each case, an association with a Training Offeror (OF) with proven capacities to carry out the planned training / training actions must be demonstrated. The latter could present proposals according to each call for proposals as long as they are endorsed by a group of companies.

Likewise, training and / or training entities in the Western Region that require updating or innovating their teachers in specific knowledge and / or techniques directly related to improvements in productivity and competitiveness of productive companies may benefit, provided that the proposals are presented by a group of companies or Business Association.

Financing activities. In addition to financing training programs through FCs, resources will be used to finance the different stages of their implementation, including: (i) preparation of a registry of technical-professional education and training institutions; (ii) communications strategy to make a broad invitation to the private sector and bidders to prepare proposals and to disseminate the objectives and characteristics of the CF; (iii) specialized technical support to proponents during proposal design; and (iv) operational support during the selection processes to ensure compliance with eligibility and evaluation protocols.

The consulting services (“the services”) include: Selection of a Consulting firm that would act as the Technical Management Unit (UGT) to provide specialized assistance for the Management of Component I of the Productivity Support Program through Human Capital.