INTENDED AUDIENCE: Policymakers, project managers, legal and financial procurement advisors, project implementers, and other professionals involved in purchasing and contracting in the public sector with special interest in the procurement of professional services, including consulting services for project design and implementation and technical and other professional services by procuring entities.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: This course provides hands-on training in the selection procedures, contractual issues, and negotiation techniques for hiring and supervising consultants and other providers of technical services for projects funded by the World Bank and other financial institutions. The course will also address the broader topic of policy and legal issues related to the hiring of intellectual and technical services: professional liability and conflicts of interest; provisions in the UNCITRAL model law; practices advocated by FIDIC and other professional associations; and practices followed in developed countries.

Course Outline:

• Services distinguished from goods, works and technical services
• Historical development and evolved practices
• Special features in hiring consultants
  • Cost as a selection factor
  • The burden of professional liability
  • Intellectual property
  • Conflict of interest
• Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP)

Typical Consultant Contracts

• Lump sum, time-based, indefinite delivery, percentage
• Important contract provisions: payments, liabilities, conflicts of interest and intellectual property

Hiring of Consultants in IFI-funded Projects

Harmonization of the Guidelines for the Selection of Consultants of the World Bank and Other IFIs

• Selection procedures
• Terms of Reference, Request for Proposal
• Choice of contract
• Evaluation of proposals
• Contract negotiations
• Supervision of consultants

Contracting Services under UNCITRAL, the U.S. Government, and Other Public Agencies including Performance Based Acquisition

Hands-on Exercises

• Preparation of TOR's, RFPs, Evaluation Report