Serbia Accelerating Innovation and Growth Entrepreneurship

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

CONSULTING SERVICES – INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

Republic of Serbia

Serbia Accelerating Innovation and Growth Entrepreneurship (SAIGE)

Project ID No. P170185

Assignment Title:

• Members of the Independent Selection Panel (part-time) - three individual consultants, Reference No. SER-SAIGE-IC-CS-24-60

Serbia has received a loan from the World Bank (Bank), through the “Serbia Accelerating Innovation and Growth Entrepreneurship Project” (Project), to contribute to the country’s growth and competitiveness by improving (i) relevance and excellence of scientific research and (ii) innovative entrepreneurship and access to finance for enterprise growth.

The Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation (NITRA) needs to engage three individual Members of the Independent Selection Panel (part-time consultants).

Scope of Work

The Independent Selection Panel has a mandate to review and evaluate UTRL proposals on a competitive basis centered around a portfolio approach. The consultant's role will be to evaluate UTRL project proposals and select the most promising proposals to be funded as a part of the RDI transformation plans. In the future, the Panel may be asked to also do a similar evaluation process for the PoC projects from the RDIs.

Specifically, the Independent Selection Panel Members will have the following roles and responsibilities:

• Familiarize with the evaluation procedure and criteria of the UTRL projects, as provided in the RDI Transformation Operations Manual and Evaluation Guidelines document;
• Conduct evaluation of the submitted proposals and provide scores with justifications according to the evaluation criteria;
• Take part in joint meetings with SAIGE PIU and World Bank experts to discuss assessment and evaluation scores of the UTRL projects passing the pre-screening;
• Prepare written evaluations and feedback for all UTRL project proposals, including the ones not selected for financing.

Timing and Duration

The Consultants will be engaged on a part-time basis for one year with the potential for extension based on candidates’ performance and Project needs. The expected time effort for the assignment is up to 30 days per Consultant. Depending on the need there is a possibility of increasing the time effort.

The Consultant agrees to be engaged in no more than 48 hours per week cumulatively for this assignment plus any additional assignments/contracts.

Required experience and qualifications

• University Degree; minimum Master’s degree, preferably PhD;
• At least 10 years of relevant work experience in R&D and innovation field in the private sector, public sector, and/or academia;
• Experience serving on private or public investment committees focusing on technology development and innovation;
• Previous experience in the Serbian tech community or similarly young tech/entrepreneurial ecosystems will be considered an advantage;
• Previous experience in technology startup business development lifecycles and related key performance indicators gained through experience as an investor, founder and/or operator will be considered an advantage;
• International background will be considered an advantage;
• Communication and teamwork skills;
• Computer literacy and use of MS Office tools;
• Spoken and written English.

The detailed Terms of Reference for the above referenced consulting services is posted on the website of the NITRA https://nitra.gov.rs/cir/inovacije/projekat-saige.

The Central Fiduciary Unit (CFU) of the Ministry of Finance now invites eligible Consultants 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 evaluation criteria for the assignment:

•           General experience                                                ( 40 Points)

•           Specific Experience relevant to the Assignment      ( 30 Points)

•           Technical Skills and Expertise                                  ( 30 Points)

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to paragraph 3.14, 3.16 and 3.17 of the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers – Procurement in Investment Project Financing Goods, Works, Non-Consulting and Consulting Services (July 2016, revised November 2017 and August 2018) (“the Regulations”) setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. 

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Open Competitive Selection of Individual Consultants as set out in the Regulations.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 09:00 to 15:00 hours.

Expressions of interest in English language must be delivered in a written form to the email below, by September 2, 2024, 12:00 hours, noon, local time. Interested consultants must provide Cover Letter and CV representing description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions and availability of appropriate skills (scanned diplomas to be sent with CV).