Selection of a Firm for the Recruitment of a New Director of Administration and Finance

The West African Power Pool (WAPP) is a specialized institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in the energy sector, with management autonomy. It was established in 2006 to integrate the operations of national energy systems into a unified regional electricity market with the ultimate goal of providing stable, reliable and affordable electricity to ECOWAS member countries. The WAPP Secretariat, headed by the Secretary General, is the administrative body that conducts the day-to-day management of WAPP activities necessary to support the Executive Board in achieving the mission of the Organization.

The WAPP General Secretariat intends to use the services of a qualified firm (recruitment Agency) to assist in the selection of the new WAPP Director of Administration and Finance (DAF).
The Agency's overall mandate is to support the WAPP General Secretariat, assisted by the WAPP Human Resources and Governance Committee (HRGC), in recruiting a candidate for the position of Director of Administration and Finance.

Specifically, the Agency will, among other things: (i) prepare a recruitment dossier including the job description and required qualifications; (ii) support the WAPP General Secretariat in publishing the call for applications; (iii) evaluate the applications received; (iv) support the WAPP General Secretariat in the testing and interviewing phase of short-listed candidates and, finally; (v) prepare a final report to be submitted to the HRCG and the Executive Board for approval.

Agency Profile

Interested recruitment Agencies must:

1. Be duly registered and legally established in one of the ECOWAS countries and have activities therein. In the case of a joint-venture between a recruitment Agency operating in the ECOWAS zone and another outside, the lead Agency must necessarily be the Agency established in the ECOWAS zone.
2. Have at least ten (10) years of proven experience in recruiting personnel (high-level executives - at least director level) for regional organizations and projects, banks, insurance companies or institutions comparable to WAPP.

The consulting firms may associate with other firms to enhance their qualifications and shall indicate clearly whether the association is in the form of a Joint-Venture and/or a sub-consultancy. In the case of a Joint-Venture, all the partners in the Joint-Venture shall be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected. In the case of a Joint Venture between a recruitment Agency operating within ECOWAS and another from outside the region, the lead Partner shall be from the ECOWAS region. The association agreement or preliminary agreement between firms must be provided.

The total duration of the assignment is estimated at four (4) months after commencement. The expected start date is August 2024.

The detailed Terms of Reference (ToR) for the assignment can be found HERE.

Please note that these ToR are indicative and could change before the publication of the Request for Proposals that will be sent to the short listed Agencies.

The WEST AFRICAN POWER POOL now invites eligible consulting Agencies to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested consulting Agencies should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The Shortlisting Criteria are:

1. Eligibility: the Agency (or lead partner in the case of a consortium) must be registered and legally established in one of the ECOWAS countries and have activities there, with at least ten (10) years of proven experience in recruiting personnel (high-level executives - at least director level) for regional organizations and projects, banks, insurance companies or institutions comparable to WAPP (exclusive criterion).
2. References for similar services and comparable recruitment assignments over the past ten (10) years in general;
3. References for similar services and comparable recruitment assignments in the ECOWAS zone over the last ten (10) years.

The relevant references submitted by the Agency must clearly indicate for each assignment: the year in which the assignment was carried out, the Client, the country, the exact title of the assignment, a brief description of the assignment, its duration, the amount of the contract and the reference persons (provide their email and telephone numbers). Bidders must also provide proof of their references (excerpts from contracts or certificates of services rendered, etc...). Undocumented references will not be taken into account in the evaluation. Similarly, firm references as subcontractors will not be considered.

It is strongly recommended that only references relevant to the assignment should be submitted.

Key experts will not be evaluated at the stage of pre-selection of Agencies; they will be evaluated at the stage of evaluation of technical proposals to be requested from short-listed firms. Agencies are therefore requested not to submit the CVs of experts in the expression of interest file. CVs will be requested in the second phase of the Agency's recruitment process, i.e. the request for technical and financial proposals.

The Agency will be selected in accordance with the Least Cost-based Selection (LCS) method set forth in the WAPP Procurement Code, which can be found on the WAPP website www.ecowapp.org
More information can be obtained at the address below.
Email: msdiedhiou@ecowapp.org
cc: ektoe@ecowapp.org; andorere@ecowapp.org

Expressions of interest must be submitted (in soft copy) by email in French or English language at the choice of the Agency (max 30 pages, A4 format). The signed Expression of interest shall be marked "Original”. A translation into the other language will be required for evaluation purposes and both versions will be submitted together. The document in the language of application chosen by the applicant Agency will be used as the reference document in case of discrepancy between the French and English versions. Applications must be submitted no later July 01, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. local time in Cotonou to the  address procurement@ecowapp.org  with copy to : andorere@ecowapp.org and msdiedhiou@ecowapp.org.

Applications will be opened on the same day, July 01, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. local time (Cotonou).

Email applications should be clearly marked "Expression of Interest for the Selection of an Agency for the Recruitment of the WAPP DAF”.

Hard copies shall not be accepted and any hard copy sent to the WAPP Secretariat will not be opened, and shall be rejected. Likewise, any application received by WAPP after the deadline may be rejected.

A Microsoft Teams link to connect will be sent to all bidders before the opening. It is strongly recommended that bidders do not send their bids at the last minute, in order to avoid any internet connection issues.

The Minutes of the opening session of the expressions of interest shall be sent to all bidders.