Needs Assessment of Governmental Regulatory Bodies and Agencies in their Efforts to Procure Consulting Services

Brief Description of Main Deliverables/Outputs:
The main objective of this Phase II Study (“Needs Assessment”) was to: Conduct a in-depth blue-print analysis of the current procurement practices within the Governmental Regulatory Bodies and Agencies, and evaluate where potential opportunities for consultancy reside; Develop a gap analysis that will highlight what challenges the targeted agencies are presently facing in their efforts to successfully implement relevant laws, procedural requirements and enforcement programs; Produce a set of tangible recommendations for the Governmental Regulatory Bodies and Agencies to address operational and enforcement issues; All above actions will help establish an overall competitive business environment, increase regulatory transparency, foster a healthy consultation with key players and stakeholders, and prepare the MBEA project staff to approach the consultancy services market on a fee bases and perform private consulting work; The Needs Assessment will identify the areas of possible MBEA staff’s involvement, as well as the private sector and NGOs’ participation and provide the Governmental Regulatory Bodies and Agencies with consulting services; and The following Agencies will be included in the Needs Assessment: Agency for Electronic Communications; Energy Regulatory Commission; Fund for regional and Motor Ways Roads; Health Insurance Fund; Employment Service Agency; MAPAS; Customs Administration; Public Procurement Bureau and Securities and Exchange Commission.

Role on the Assignment

In order to conduct in-depth research aimed at producing the Needs Assessment the project implementation team was composed by 5 experts (Team leader, Legal expert, 2 economists and an Infrastructure/Transport engineer) addressing the following strategic business planning issues:

Conducted a baseline analysis of current practices, and challenges in procuring consulting services in targeted Agencies. The analysis included details about:

Agencies’ procurement budget and organizational structure;

On-going and planned consulting services outsourcing;

Current consulting services procurement needs;

Short and long-term strategic plans for development; and

Anticipated consulting services in the next five years, with or without donors’ assistance.

Conducted gap analysis defining the optimal structure under which the targeted agencies will agree to procure core services relevant to MBEA’s staff expertise. The gap analysis highlighted:

the bottlenecks in the legal framework, procurement procedures, and other internal and external factors limiting the current procurement process.

the steps that shall be taken to reach that optimal framework of operation.

co-sponsorship opportunities between Regulatory Bodies and Agencies and (i) the GoM; (ii) the donor’s community; and (iii) the private sector (PPP) Conducted analyses on the competition: current players (size, profile etc…) their approach and core services provided.