Tender Advertisement #1345583

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS (Open Tender)

REVIEW OF FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA’S TRADE POLICY FRAMEWORK AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

Background

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) is one of the 14 Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS), consisting of 2,100 islands with a total land area of 1,000 square miles. It has an exclusive economic zone of 1.3 million square miles with a population of 116,225 (2021). The FSM economy is dependent on external grants and access fees from commercial fishing activities. Government plays a central role in incentivizing economic growth and alleviating poverty through sound economic policies. It has a small private sector which is dominated by non-traded goods production and a limited export base. It also has a small, nascent tourism sector.
In its Strategic Development Plan 2004 -2032, the FSM government recognizes the need to develop the private sector to sustain the economy in the long term, sustainably reducing its over-dependence on overseas grants. To achieve this, the government recognizes the urgency to create a conducive and business-enabling environment for the private sector to flourish as a source of sustainable economic growth. This, however, poses formidable challenges in itself.
In 2011, Congress adopted the first-ever Trade Policy for FSM, a significant milestone as it identifies the main obstacles to private sector development and, more importantly, recommends specific and targeted actions to address them. The vision of the National Trade Policy is to encourage and facilitate local and foreign direct investment in agriculture, fisheries, tourism, human resources development, and other supporting services to enable the private sector to produce, quality and competitive goods and services both for the local and the export market, in order to promote export-led economic growth, and sustainable development, with the ultimate objective of creating employment, alleviating hardship and raising the living standards of FSM citizens.
The Trade Policy is set to be reviewed every three years. The first review was initially scheduled to take place in 2014 but was continuously deferred due to the delay in the kick-off of the trade policy implementation and political changes in 2015. The main reason for delaying the review was due to the lack of capacity within the FSM Department of Resources and Development after funding of the previous Trade Advisor under the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Hub and Spokes Program was discontinued.

Purpose
The purpose of the short-term consultancy is:
• To undertake a review of FSM’s Trade Policy Framework and Implementation Plan through extensive consultations with relevant national and state stakeholders and assist in preparing a report and a policy statement that outlines FSM’s priorities for implementation.
Scope of Work
The Consultant will deliver the following Key Result Areas (KRAs):
• Key Result Area 1 (KRA1): Action Plan for the activities to be covered in Results 2 to 4.
• Key Result Area 2 (KRA2): Inception Report.
• Key Result Area 3 (KRA3): Prepare tools and templates for the review, including questionnaires and face-to-face consultations with key stakeholders.
• Key Result Area 4 (KRA4): Facilitate the national validation workshop and produce a final report on FSM’s Trade Policy review, which shall include a revised Implementation Matrix and a draft Trade Policy statement.
• Key Result Area 5 (KRA5): Written Technical Brief to the Forum Secretariat, including recommendations for Key Result Area 4 (KRA4).

Requirements

The Consultant must be an Expert in International Trade and Development, and should possess the following qualifications and experience:
i. Bachelor’s degree in economics, business administration, or a related field.
ii. 5+ years of professional experience as an economic consultant or similar role.
iii. Exceptional analytical and research skills.
iv. Proven experience in trade policy analysis and formulation.
v. Strong writing and presentation skills.
vi. Ability to work independently and with a team to meet deadlines.
vii. Proficiency in Microsoft Office, with the aptitude to learn new software and systems.


HOW TO APPLY

Submissions should be entitled:
[OPEN TENDER] – [REVIEW OF FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA’S TRADE POLICY FRAMEWORK AND IMPLEMENTATION PLAN]
Method of Submissions:
Submissions must be forwarded in PDF format following the instructions at www.tenders.net/forumsec
Note: Tenders must be submitted with clear labelling on the T.8.23 - Response Template
The electronically submitted documents should be converted to the PDF format.
Deadline for Submissions:
Submissions need to reach the Secretariat by 4. 00 pm Tuesday 28th February 2023.
Late or incomplete tenders will not be considered.
Questions and Answers
All queries or request for information must be submitted via the Question and Answer Forum at www.tenders.net/forumsec . Tenderers may submit questions in writing to the mentioned Question and Answer Forum before the stated “deadline for requesting clarifications” [tbc]. The Secretariat has no obligation to provide clarification after this date.
Note: The Secretariat will not be responsible for non-receipt/non-delivery of the Bid documents due to any reason whatsoever.

Any complaints regarding the Secretariat’s tender must be directed to the following email: Tender.Complaints@forumsec.org. This email address will forward your complaint to a person that is independent and removed from the tender process. Complaints must be well founded and should not be used as a mechanism for notifying displeasure with the outcome of a tender award. Further information on making a complaint can be found on the Policies & Information page at http://tenders.forumsec.org.
In the event that further information is required by the Secretariat in relation to the tender for consultancy, the Secretariat reserves the right to seek the required information without the need for calling for resubmission of proposals.