The Borrower should designate a counterpart project manager with adequate technical qualifications, managerial experience, and power of authority. In cer-tain instances, involving large and complex projects, a steering committee comprising high-level representa-tives of the Borrower and the consultant may be formed to exercise arm’s length supervision over the assign-ment. The steering committee shall always act through the counterpart project manager and the consultant’s team leader. It can be particularly useful when the Borrower’s executing agency and the consultant must coordinate their work with other Borrower agencies.
The opportunity to regularly report to such a commit-tee can facilitate collaboration and understanding be-tween the Borrower and consultant on disputes over important technical and contractual issues. The steer-ing committee should convene for specific purposes and on important assignment or contractual deadlines.
19.2.2 Amendments
The Borrower or the consultant may propose amend-ments to the contract when either unforeseen events or the Borrower’s decisions make it necessary to modify the TOR or the consultant’s scope of work. In Bank-funded assignments subject to prior review, any deviation resulting in a contract price increase of more than 15 percent or any other substantial modi-fication requires a Bank “no objection” and a contract amendment.
19.2.3 Disputes
During execution of the assignment, disputes may arise between the Borrower and consultants. The parties in-volved should attend to such disputes promptly and constructively. Unresolved disputes relating to techni-cal and administrative matters, such as interpretation of the contract, payment of services, or replacement of 107
108 SUPERVISING CONSULTANTS Disputes
1 9 . 2 . 3
personnel, should be treated in accordance with the provisions of the contract.
19.2.4 Unsatisfactory Performance
Poor performance may involve one or more particular staff from the consultant’s team, or the whole team.Based on the provisions of the contract, the Borrower will advise the consultant to take the necessary meas-ures to address the situation. Poor performance should not be tolerated; therefore, the consultant should act quickly to comply with a reasonable request to improve the performance of the team or to replace any particu-lar staff member who is not performing adequately. If the consultant fails to take adequate corrective actions, the Borrower may consult with the Bank and, if the contract is subject to prior review, request the Bank’s
“no objection” to terminate the contract.
19.2.5 Delays
Consulting services may be delayed for a variety of rea-sons. The consultant should notify the Borrower and explain the causes of such delays. If corrective action re-quires extra work and the delay cannot be attributed to the consultant, the extra work should be reimbursed in accordance with the contract.
19.3 Completing the Assignment
The draft final report contains the conclusions of the consultant’s work and its recommendations. Given the delay in publishing the formal final report, the final draft is often the document used by the Borrower to in-form its decision-making process.
This draft final report is distributed, as indicated in the official distribution list, for review to all counter-parts, relevant government departments, local author-ities who could be affected by the project, and the Bank.
The consultant collects and reviews the comments made by all parties and, in agreement with the Bor-rower, addresses these comments in the final report. If additional work is necessary to address important com-ments, such work may have to be financed (with or without a contract amendment) out of the contingen-cies provided for in the contract, by government funds, or through additional financing.
Any mistake or incomplete work on the part of the consultant should be remedied at no extra cost to the Borrower. Furthermore, the consultant is responsible for the technical integrity and impartiality of its find-ings and recommendations. The preferred way to han-dle significant disagreements on technical matters is to substantiate dissenting views in the report. Before the final payment, the consultant must have completed the services, and the Borrower must have acknowledged completion of the assignment.
19.4 Bank Role in Supervision
In accordance with para. 1.4 of the Consultant Guide-lines, the Borrower is responsible for preparing and im-plementing the project and, therefore, for selecting the consultant and awarding and subsequently administer-ing the contract.
Bank staff have no direct supervisory role over the consultant. Any contact with the consultant should occur with the Borrower’s permission (and preferably in the Borrower’s presence). Bank staff are often asked to help review the consultant’s work and may be called upon to bridge differences between the Borrower and the consultant on matters that may range from late pay-ments to major technical issues. Bank staff should assist where possible, exercise impartiality, and encourage a sound Borrower-consultant relationship. (The main steps of consultant supervision are illustrated in the flow chart in figure 19.1.)
SUPERVISING CONSULTANTS 109
Bank Role in Supervision 1 9 . 4
Figure 19.1 Supervising the Consultant
Contract effectiveness
The consultant issues the detailed Quality Plan (if required), including the procedures for executing the assignment.
The Borrower and the consultant agree on the detailed content of inception, progress, and final reports to be delivered by the consultant.
The draft final report is issued by the consultant, reviewed by the Borrower’s project manager, and sent to the Bank.
The consultant incorporates into the final report the comments received. Accounts of the assignment are closed.
Consultant’s mobilization The Borrower & the consultant check the following:
- Supervision/monitoring arrangements are in place.
- Counterpart staff are made available.
- Facilities to be provided by Borrower are made available.
- All parties involved in the assignment are informed.
- The Borrower’s project manager is appointed.
- Guarantees and advance payments are implemented.
- Data and background information are made available.
- Authorizations (if needed) are provided.
The Borrower’s project manager supervises the assignment by - monitoring progress of work,
- reviewing progress reports (and sending them to the Bank), - monitoring key staff employed,
- monitoring money expended, and
- deciding on possible modifications of the scope of work.
The Bank’s project officer, while on mission, may be asked by the Borrower’s project manager to assist in supervising the assignment.
110
20.1 Individual Consultants versus Consulting Firms
Borrowers often engage individual consultants on Bank-financed assignments. Individual consultants are also employed extensively by the Bank itself to as-sist in all areas of Bank operations. The policy cover-ing their selection and management when they are engaged by the Bank is explained in AMS 15.00.
One frequently asked question is: should individual experts or a consulting firm be hired for this particular assignment? The TOR of the consultancy assignment provide the basis for the decision. Individual consult-ants are engaged on assignments for which (a) the experience and qualifications of the individual are the predominant considerations, (b) no support from a home office is needed, and (c) teamwork or a multi-disciplinary approach is not necessary.
On the other hand, when integrated technical work and collective responsibility for the consultants’ output are crucial elements (for example, in preparing a feasi-bility study), a consulting firm is required. Individuals can be considered for advisory services assignments or technical opinions on specific matters, in which spe-cialized individual knowledge is the key issue.
It is a misconception that employing a group of individual consultants is cheaper than hiring a con-sulting firm. In fact, the opportunity cost of taking valuable Borrower staff from their assigned duties to supervise and manage teams of individual consultants can be high and is justified only when the task at hand has to be executed under direct Borrower control. The hiring of individual consultants instead of a firm has other hidden costs, including the cost of replacing ill and unsuitable staff and professional liability for the end product.
In addition, the Bank believes that a policy of hir-ing individual consultants as opposed to a firm may lead to abuse and other undesirable practices such as nepotism. As a practical rule, if three or more individ-C H A P T E R
20 Selection of
Individual Consultants
uals are needed for an assignment, it is often better to hire a consulting firm so that the firm can be respon-sible for (a) identifying the best experts, (b) ensuring cohesiveness and technical solvency, and (c) provid-ing backup and transparent administration.
Nevertheless, when hiring a team of independent individual consultants appears to be the most suitable solution, the Borrower should consider designating one of them as the team leader if the scope of work requires some degree of coordination. The team leader should be assigned clear responsibilities and authority com-mensurate with the tasks of the team. This responsibil-ity may range from playing the role of the spokesperson on a panel of experts to being the technical leader or co-ordinator of a team of experts, with or without admin-istrative responsibility. The TOR of each team member should define his or her relationship to the team leader.
20.2 Selection of Individual Consultants
The process by which Borrowers select individual consultants under Bank funding does not strictly fol-low the selection methods used for firms. It is worth describing here the steps that Borrowers are required to take into account in this process. The Consultant Guidelines also have applicability for the selection of individual consultants.
20.2.1 Terms of Reference
Borrowers should first prepare a TOR for the consult-ant assignment, including the scope of work and its estimated cost. Bank staff responsible for the project should review the TOR and provide the Bank’s “no objection” for any assignment whose cost is estimated to be above the prior review threshold established for individual consultant contracts in the Loan Agreement.1
20.2.2 Advertising
Advertising is not required; however, in some cases, Borrowers may consider the advantage of advertis-ing (for example, for individual assignments of a long duration—say, 12 months or more). Borrowers may decide to proceed in the same way for shorter assignments if potential suitable candidates are un-known. The request of expressions of interest should include a short description of the task or job descrip-tion and the criteria for selecdescrip-tion.
20.2.3 Selection
Individual consultants do not need to submit propos-als; they are selected based on their qualifications for the assignment. They shall be selected by comparing the qualifications of at least three candidates among those who have expressed interest in the assignment or have been approached directly by the Borrower.
Individual consultants considered for the comparison of qualifications shall meet the minimum relevant qualifications, and the one selected to be employed by the Borrower shall be the best qualified and shall be fully capable of carrying out the assignment.
An individual consultant may be selected on a single-source basis (with due justification) in excep-tional cases such as the following: (a) for a task that is a continuation of previous work that the consultant has carried out and for which the consultant was se-lected competitively, (b) for an assignment with a total expected duration of less than six months, (c) in an emergency situation resulting from a natural disaster, and (d) when the individual is the only consultant qualified for the assignment. For key assignments, in-terviews may be set up, and invited candidates should be paid travel and subsistence, as needed.
Capability of the candidates should be evaluated, based on their background, experience, and knowledge of local conditions (such as local language, culture, ad-ministrative system, and government organization).
The aspects to be considered in the evaluation are sim-ilar to those indicated in para. 17.2 of this Manual.
Contracts normally take the form of a simple letter of appointment with TOR and employment conditions covering remuneration and direct expenses (including
medical, leave, insurance, housing, and so forth).
The Sample Contract for Consulting Services: Small Assignments, which appears in the Bank SRFP, can also be used.
From time to time, permanent staff or associates of a consulting firm may be available as individual consultants. In such cases, the conflict-of-interest pro-vision described in the Consultant Guidelines will apply to the parent firm.
20.3 Hiring of Government Officials and Academics
Government officials and civil servants may be hired under consulting services contracts financed under Bank loans, credits, trust funds, and grants only if they (a) are on leave of absence without pay, (b) are not being hired by the agency they were working for im-mediately before going on leave, and (c) their employ-ment would not give rise to any conflict of interest.
University professors or scientists employed by re-search institutes can be contracted individually under Bank financing if they have had full-time employment contracts with their institution and have regularly ex-ercised their function for a year or more before they are contracted under Bank funding.
20.4 Nepotism
Cases arise in which individual consultants seek to be engaged by the Borrower agencies where their rela-tives, associates, or friends are employed in positions of influence. These cases may cause perceived, poten-tial, and real conflict-of-interest situations for the em-ployee, as well as for the consultant, while discouraging deserving candidates with no inside connections. The Bank will not fund such candidates under any circum-stances. Also see para. 4.3.3 of this Manual.
Note
1. OP/BP 11.00, Annex A, July 2001.
SELECTION OF INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANTS 111
Nepotism 2 0 . 4
Contents
Appendix 1.1 Bank’s Comments/No-Objection to Request for Proposals 114 Appendix 1.2 Bank’s Comments/No-Objection to Technical Evaluation 115 Appendix 1.3 Bank’s Comments/No-Objection to Contract Award 116 A P P E N D I X