81273921-Pan-African e-Commerce Initiative - Boosting African Digital Trade in Africa - Providing technical advice on e-Commerce

Kurze Beschreibung

The project "Pan-African e-Commerce Initiative - Boosting African Digital Trade in Africa N.A." (PeCI) aims to improve the framework conditions for companies in selected African countries, with an initial focus on Kenya and Rwanda, to participate in cross-border e-Commerce. At the strategic level, it contributes to deepening the economic integration of Africa, increasing exports from Least Developed Countries (LDC), implementing the Marshall Plan with Africa, the BMZ Aid for Trade Strategy, the BMZ Sector Strategy for Private Sector Development, the BMZ Digitalisation Strategy, and the BMZ "Digital Africa" Initiative.
The core problem is that the essential prerequisites for African companies to participate in cross-border electronic trade have not been met, for example the availability of electronic payment systems, the trust of consumers and companies in e-Commerce, as well as beneficial regulatory frameworks.
The target groups of the project are owners and employees of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs), including SMEs run by women, as well as users of e-Commerce platforms in selected African countries, initially in the East African Community (EAC). Industry associations and technology companies act as intermediaries in the EAC.
The methodological approach consists in the implementation of measures at pan-African, regional and country levels to improve the conditions for companies from the selected African countries to participate in cross-border e-Commerce. Close cooperation with the international and African economy as well as technical cooperation measures in East Africa in the creation and use of outputs is planned.
The main outputs are: (1) The capacities of the private sector for customer-oriented use of e-Commerce have been strengthened in Kenya and Rwanda; (2) Private and public actors are increasingly contributing to the development of regional approaches for cross-border e-Commerce within the EAC; (3) Public and private actors are increasingly contributing to improving the Pan-African framework conditions for e-Commerce.

Beschreibung der Beschaffung

The services to be procured by the current tender comprise three work packages:
Work package 1: e-Commerce advice to stakeholders in Ghana:
Ghana is a middle-income country that has performed well in the past two decades, although economic growth has been slowing in recent years. Although e-Commerce has been growing and has a lot of potential, Ghana does not have a national e-Commerce strategy yet. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is planning to start the process of developing a regional e-Commerce strategy. It is envisaged that political, economic and regulatory aspects of e-Commerce will be high on the agenda in Ghana. National stakeholders, such as the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, as well as private sector associations will need advise on the core topics of (cross-border) e-Commerce, such as e-Payments, logistics, trade facilitation, data security etc. The links between the national level and the regional ECOWAS as well as Pan-African (e.g. the African Continental Free Trade Agreement - AfCFTA) levels will also play a role.
The services to be procured include:
- Facilitate consultative workshops in Accra on selected e-Commerce topics with relevant public and private stakeholders
- Elaborate an analysis of the e-Commerce ecosystem in Ghana
- Advise relevant public and private stakeholders on e-Commerce topics, as needed; including on regional and Pan-African aspects
Work package 2: Developing concepts for pilot projects in the EAC, ECOWAS and COMESA regions for the cross-border e-Payments Blueprint for the facilitation of digital trade under the Smart Africa Alliance (SAA).
The Smart Africa Alliance (SAA) is a bold and innovative commitment from African Heads of State and Government to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development through more inclusive access to broadband, information and communication technologies, and digitalizing African economies and societies. Against this background, Smart Africa developed an e-Payments Blueprint for the facilitation of digital trade across Africa. The Republic of Ghana, one of the Smart Africa member states, has committed to champion the development of this Blueprint within the Alliance. As part of this process, a regional e-Payments Working Group (WG) led by Ghana, with experts from member states, the private sector, international organisations, academia, and entrepreneurs was established to provide input and guidance and create ownership among the members of the Alliance. It is envisaged to implement the cross-border e-Payments Blueprint in countries within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and ECOWAS regions with pilot activities. The Blueprint outlines (1) the most relevant opportunities and challenges of the development and use of e-Payments for the facilitation of digital trade across Africa and how to address them, and (2) makes concrete policy recommendations to harness the potential and mitigate potential risks associated with the adoption of e-Payments in African countries.
The services to be procured include:
- Organise a kick-off workshop with the SAS and members of the SAS Working Group to get a better understanding of the assignment and their expectations.
- Based on a desk review of relevant literature and interviews with the SAS and members of the SAS Working Group, review the shortlist and recommend three pilot projects to be further developed, including which countries should be selected to participate in each of the pilots.
- For each pilot project, conduct an in-country mission to develop a detailed project concept and implementation plan, including interviews with key stakeholders.
Work package 3: Providing capacity building on e-Commerce for SMEs and local service providers in Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda
Barriers exist to the participation of SMEs in e-Commerce across Africa, particularly for women. The aim of this work package is to improve the capacity of the private sector (with a focus on women-led enterprises) in Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda to utilise e-Commerce in a customer-focused way and thus make companies more confident to buy and sell goods via e-Commerce platforms.
The assignment focuses on delivering trainings for and coaching companies on developing and implementing innovative business plans and models to improve their e-Commerce turnover. To a more limited extend, the assignment also has the objective to build up capacities at relevant local organisations (training of trainers) that could offer trainings on their own in the future. Through a mix of practical small group training sessions and individual coaching, SMEs will be able to develop their knowledge, skills, and experience across a range of topics such as online marketing, managing payments and cash flow, working with e-Commerce platforms, customer service, data protection and privacy, and their legal obligations. The goal of this capacity development is to enable the firms to sustainably increase their e-Commerce turnover by at least 30%.
The contractor shall provide e-Commerce trainings for 108 SMEs in Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda (36 SMEs per country), which will be complemented by virtual coaching sessions for the same participants with the objective of increasing their e-Commerce turnover until September 2022.
The services to be procured include:
- Develop training material for the SME trainings in Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda to develop a business plan to increase the turnover through e-Commerce and how to implement it
- Deliver trainings and coaching for 36 SMEs in each country (108 companies in total) on developing and implementing a business plan to increase their turnover through e-Commerce.
- Conduct virtual coaching to the same 36 SMEs in each country
- Conduct train the trainers workshops in each country to expand the capacities of local trainers on e-Commerce.

Beschreibung der Verlängerungen

It is possible to continue key elements of each work package specified in the tender, together or separately, as part of a follow-on measure within the context of the basic project and/ or to assign additional services in a similar extent by way of a contract amendment to the contractor.
Precondition is the award of the follow-on phase to GIZ The contract for the follow-on phase by GIZ"s commissioning party.

Beschreibung der Optionen

It is possible to continue key elements of each work package specified in the tender, together or separately, as part of a follow-on measure within the context of the basic project and/ or to assign additional services in a similar extent by way of a contract amendment to the contractor.
Precondition is the award of the follow-on phase to GIZ The contract for the follow-on phase by GIZ"s commissioning party.

Liste und kurze Beschreibung der Bedingungen

1. Trading name and address, commercial register number.
2. Eligibility declaration that no grounds for exclusion in Section 123, 124 of the German Act Against Restraints of Competition (GWB) apply.
3. Eligibility declaration subcontractors if applicable.
4. Association clause if applicable.

Liste und kurze Beschreibung der Auswahlkriterien

1. At least 5 reference projects in the technical field private sector development, at least 2 reference projects in the technical field of financial sector development and at least 5 reference projects in the region of AFRICA in the last 3 years.
2. The technical assessment is only based on reference projects with a minimum commission value of 300.000 EUR.

Genaue Informationen über Fristen für Überprüfungsverfahren

According to Article 160, Section 3 of the German Act Against Restraint of Competition (GWB), application for review is not permissible insofar as
1. the applicant has identified the claimed infringement of the procurement rules before submitting the application for review and has not submitted a complaint to the contracting authority within a period of 10 calendar days; the expiry of the period pursuant to Article 134, Section 2 remains unaffected,
2. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that are evident in the tender notice are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for the application or by the deadline for the submission of bids, specified in the tender notice
3. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that first become evident in the tender documents are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for application or by the deadline for the submission of bids,
4. more than 15 calendar days have expired since receipt of notification from the contracting authority that it is unwilling to redress the complaint.
Sentence 1 does not apply in the case of an application to determine the invalidity of the contract in accordance with Article 135, Section 1 (2). Article 134, Section 1, Sentence 2 remains unaffected.