Brief Description of Main Deliverables/Outputs:
Global objective
Support to local infrastructure for social and economic cohesion.
Specific objective(s)
The specific objective of this assignment was to create a short-list of at least 30 viable and sustainable local infrastructure project proposals within the major municipal competencies decentralized since 1st July 2005.
In particular:
Design and conduct a competitive open call for municipal proposals. Municipalities will be invited to propose their first-priority infrastructure projects within the major municipal competencies decentralized since 1st July 2005: social welfare and child protection, sport and recreation, health care, education, culture, fire and rescue, urban planning and construction, or a combination of them. In principle, each project should include technical specifications, bill of quantities and drawings, as well as an environmental impact assessment and a feasibility study to take into consideration, inter alia, the technical and financial sustainability of the project (e.g. capacity of the municipality to guarantee the long-term availability of funding for operation and maintenance costs).
Establish sound selection criteria for the projects based on experience gained during the CARDS 2002-2006 Development of Local Infrastructure Programme. The definition of selection criteria shall be done in close cooperation with MoLSG and to the Delegation of the European Commission. Relevant socio-economic indicators (such as number of beneficiaries, gender, age, activity rate, employment rate, equitable ethnical representation….) that will benefit from the projects, as well as cross-cutting issues (minority inclusion, gender equality and environment protection) will have to be considered when developing the selection criteria and application package for municipalities. Experiences from the relevant Governmental bodies (like the Bureau for Economically Underdeveloped Regions which is under the auspices of the MoLSG) and of other donor’s projects could also be considered for comparative purposes
Organize information seminars presenting the application package and providing to the municipalities assistance in project identification and prioritization, financial analysis, assessment of management and maintenance cost with fee and pricing forecasts and strategies to collect these
Prepare a base line study containing objectively verifiable indicators and checklist for environmental impact assessment for each project that will be checked during the site assessment of selected projects as well as after their completion. Site visits will be performed by the Contractor to establish the short-list of projects. The Contractor under this contract is expected to define project success indicators “under optimal operation”.
Participate in the evaluation of submitted municipal proposals and projects’ selection. Approximately 30 municipalities with the best project proposals will be submitted to the attention of the Steering Committee and the European Commission for approval.
