Request for Expressions of Interest - Assignment "Foundry industry in Russia: benchmarking and development of a reference guide"

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) through its Advisory Services in Europe and Central Asia and via its Russia Cleaner Production Program intends to finance the assignment "Foundry industry in Russia: benchmarking and development of a reference guide".

Dear Sirs:

Subject: Assignment "Foundry industry in Russia: benchmarking and development of a reference guide"

Request for Expressions of Interest

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) through its Advisory Services in Europe and Central Asia and via its Russia Cleaner Production Program intends to finance the assignment "Foundry industry in Russia: benchmarking and development of a reference guide".

IFC estimates the following schedule for the Project:

Letter of Interest: to be submitted by 11 May, 2009 till 18.00 Moscow time

Shortlisted results: 12 May, 2009

Request for proposals 12 May, 2009

Proposal submission: 12 June, 2009

Consultant Selection end June, 2009

Contract Signed early July, 2009

The IFC expects that the assignment should be completed within six months of a contract being issued by the IFC. The Consultants will operate in Russia.

The IFC via its Russia Cleaner Production Program now invites eligible consultants to indicate their interest in providing their services by submitting a response to this Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI). Please note that Consulting Firms may associate with other interested firms or individuals to enhance their qualifications. Firms that have been determined to be qualified through the evaluated results of this first stage will be invited to submit proposals for the Request for Proposals (RFP) that will be issued at a later date.

Included with this REOI are the following documents:

Annex A: Brief Description of the Work

Annex B: Evaluation Criteria

Annex C: Form for submission of the proposal

Interested consultants must provide the following information that will indicate that they are qualified to perform the services:

• Provide an Executive Summary which shall include a high-level description of your proposed approach and methodology including functional highlights.

• Provide information on your expertise and experience with any prior similar assignments; experience in similar conditions; availability of appropriate skills among staff, etc.

• Demonstrate a capability to meet the World Bank Group's Vendor Eligibility Criteria as found on www.worldbank.org/corporateprocurement

• Please note that Marketing Brochures should only be provided as attachments and will not be considered as a substitute for written responses. Elaborate artwork is not required or encouraged.

Responses must be delivered in accordance with the Form Attached in Annex C to the below mentioned personnel by e-mail no later than 11 May, 2009, 18:00 Moscow time and shall not exceed 4 (four) pages. If the submitted response exceeds four pages, IFC reserves the right to read only the first four.

Firms shall not receive, offer or solicit anything of value to influence the outcome of the procurement process. Firms shall not misrepresent facts in order to influence the procurement process. Collusive practices among firms or individuals to establish artificial non-competitive levels shall not be tolerated and may result in rejection of responses.

IFC reserves the right to limit the number of qualified firms shortlisted for efficiency. IFC reserves the right to verify any information provided, or to request additional information after EOI packages are received.

All correspondence related to this REOI should be addressed in writing only by sending an e-mail to kturilova@ifc.org (Ms. Kristina Turilova) with the carbon copy to dkonarovskaya@ifc.org (Ms. Daria Konarovskaya). IFC is not responsible for any verbal explanation or interpretation of these documents.

Sincerely,

Kristina Turilova

Deputy Project Manager

Russia Cleaner Production Program

IFC Advisory Services in Europe and Central Asia

Tel: +7 (495) 411 75 55 ext 2079; +7 (831) 416 06 10

Cell: +7 905 661 00 21 E-mail: KTurilova@ifc.org

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Annex A. Brief Description of the Work

The Russian foundry industry is a major supplier to the Russian machine building industry. Foundry industry is comprised of 1200 units (largely these are foundry workshops at bigger industrial plants and limited number of independent foundry plants). Starting from nineties the Russian foundry industry has suffered from the general economic decline, sharp reduction of offers and almost zero upgrade in technologies and equipment. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union system of industry specific ministries, the Russia foundry sector faced negligence from the point of view of strategic development as well as no industry benchmarking has been conducted.

As the result, owners and technical personnel of foundries lack knowledge to benchmark themselves against their competitors (local and foreign) in terms of resource efficiency, quality and structure of operational costs.

This assignment limits itself to ferrous segment because over 80% of Russia foundry sector output is iron and steel casting.

The main goal of this assignment will be threefold:

1. Develop resource efficiency reference guide for the Russia ferrous foundry sector;

2. Conduct benchmarking of the Russia ferrous foundry sector;

3. Conduct stakeholders consultations to ensure data collection and viability of results

Specific objectives and tasks include:

Objective 1. Develop "Resource efficiency reference guide"

The Consultant shall develop a resource efficiency guide for the Russia ferrous foundry sector, which will be a result of the fulfillment of tasks specified bellow.

Task 1.1 Develop "Compendium on references of key performance indicators"

Compendium shall represent a collection of performance indicators with value ranges, referred to:

• Average and best practice level for Europe,

• Average and best practice level for Russia (obtained from the benchmarking study)

Consultant should ensure that presented indicators for Europe and Russia are comparable. Key performance indicators (KPI) should be also mapped against: type of ferrous foundry, size of casting products (high mass casting, medium mass casting and low mass casting), major types of casting applied. Within this assignment it is not expected that the Consultant conducts a benchmarking study of European indicators.

Task 1.2 Develop "Best Practice Guide"

Best Practice Guide should describe various techniques, technologies and tips that will effect KPIs of ferrous foundries in Russia and will help them to improve yield (and thereby their business performance).

Task 1.2.1 Showing effect of introduction of best practices on the change of KPI

• In the guide the Consultant should describe best practices (technologies and techniques) and show how introduction of best practices will effect change in the Russian KPIs.

• Improvement in KPIs should be shown as a physical change (% of increased or reduced value of a physical indicator) and provide a visual depiction how implementation of one of or set of best practices can move a foundry from one level of KPI to the best practice and how much such improvements might cost a foundry (estimates).

Task 1.2.2 Showing effect of improved KPIs on a foundry yield and performance

• In the guide the Consultant shall also show by means of case studies or examples the effect of KPIs improvements on a foundry bottom line (costs reduction and increase in profitability).

• Under this specific assignment it is not expected that the Consultant will do any additional research on status and availability of best available technologies in foundry industry.

Task 1.3 Develop "Diagnostics Guide"

• Diagnostics guide shall outline a step by step approach for a Russian foundry to conduct self diagnostics against KPIs listed in Compendium and Best Practice Guide and what actions can be recommended after self diagnostics is done.

• Diagnostics Guide shall include recommendations (tips) for a foundry for each step and being illustrated by real examples or cases from both Russia and Europe, where appropriate.

• The Diagnostics Guide shall be structured in an easy to us format and easy to read language, that not only technical specialists but also managers can understand it.

3.2 Objective 2. Conduct Benchmarking of Russia ferrous foundry sector

The Consultant will conduct benchmarking study of the Russia ferrous foundry sector. The study shall cover steel and iron casting foundry plants and workshops at medium and large machine building plants.

Task 2.1 Develop methodology and instruments for benchmarking study

• The Consultant shall develop methodology for analysis, survey questionnaire, sampling methodology and data collection approach. The methodology for analysis should describe differentiating factors for performance analysis, i.e. applied technologies and management techniques.

• It is desirable to capture the awareness level and the level of usage of best practice technologies and management techniques, including systematic implementation of low-cost efficiency.

Task 2.2 Run benchmarking, collect and analyze data

• It is essential that analysis of benchmarking data will follow the logic of analysis depicted in Best Practice Guide and KPIs obtained from benchmarking shall be compared with those from Compendium.

3.3 Objective 3. Conduct stakeholders consultations

The Consultant will initiate and implement consultations with external stakeholders to ensure:

• Information used and presented is reliable and accurate towards Russian conditions;

• Early consultations are held by Consultant in order to get the required local information and partnerships with stakeholders, including policy makers, think tanks, R&D and professional education institutions, industry associations and foundries by themselves;

• Structure and key messages of the Reference Guide fit to specific information needs of Russian stakeholders and the IFC;

• All important stakeholders concerns are addressed in the Reference Guide.

Annex B. evaluation criteria

Evaluation criteria under the stage of Expression of Interest include:

1. Relevant expertise of the Consultant to perform assignment;

2. Relevant technical expertise of proposed key team members;

3. Experience of the Consultant to perform a-like assignments and experience in working with Russian companies in Russia and in doing business in Russian language.

As an indication, the IFC envisages the following evaluation criteria for the stage of the Request for Proposal.

1. Relevant experience and quality of consortium (consortium composition and proven strong track record of a-like assignments)

2. Relevant expertise of proposed key team members (proven qualification of Consultant to implement assignment and proven expertise in foundry sector and in benchmarking)

3. Quality of methodology, inclusive:

• Adequacy of methodology for Reference Guide;

• Adequacy of methodology for Benchmarking study in Russia;

• Adequacy of proposed management and working plan and ability to convey ideas & information concisely and accurately.

4. Cost efficiency.

Annex C. FORM FOR SUBMISSION OF EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

1. Expression of Interest by (i.e, the identity of the Candidate)

2. Contact person for this application

Name
Organization
Address
Telephone/Fax/E-mail

3. Summary of Consultants strengths to perform the assignment

Not more than 2 paragraphs

4. Consultant references

Using the format below, provide information on the most recent 2 assignment, which are most relevant to this study for which your firm/entity, either individually as a corporate entity or as one of the major companies within an association, was legally contracted.

5. Fields of Expertise of the personnel

Please list key team members who will be involved in the assignment and indicate their expertise and relevant experience related to this assignment. It is advisable that information on the key team members is provided in a concise form, highlighting their key experience and expertise (one paragraph for each person).

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