We are looking for consultants to undertake the due diligence of shortlisted applicants

Nefco, as the Facility Manager, is now looking to procure consulting services from a qualified consulting company or a consortium of companies to undertake the due diligence of shortlisted applicants and their proposed projects for the first funding round (MCFA1).

The overall objective of this Assignment is to conduct a thorough due diligence of shortlisted applicants and their project proposals to ensure conformance with MCFA guidelines, verify that information provided by the applicants in their project proposals is materially correct and to assess the overall commercial, financial, social and environmental feasibility of the project proposals and identify any related risks. Subject to successful due diligence process, Nefco will enter into contract negotiations with the applicants.

The Modern Cooking Facility for Africa (MCFA) is supporting access to clean and affordable, higher tier 4-5 cooking solutions and will develop new markets for the clean cooking sector in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (the project countries) through offering catalytic grant and results-based financing for private sector actors.

The MCFA originates projects through a two-stage competitive Call for Proposals, divided in a pre-qualification stage and a subsequent final application stage. The pre-qualification stage of the first MCFA Call for Proposals (MCFA1) was completed in August 2022. The final application stage will be launched in September when selected applicant’s will be invited to submit detailed business plans and financial models.

Assignment

In order to meet the objectives of the Assignment, the Consultant shall undertake the following main activities/tasks:

Task 1: Establishment and organisation of the due diligence process and procedures, including revision and finalisation of the draft MCFA1 due diligence report template, establishment of communication protocols and a list of due diligence documents the CSPs will be requested to submit.

Task 2: Carrying out technical and financial due diligence on shortlisted applicants, their possible consortium members and/or project partners and the project proposed for MCFA1 funding in accordance with the due diligence report template. The scope of the due diligence to be carried out includes, but is not limited to:

Assignment start date and duration: The Assignment is expected to start in January 2023 and be completed at the latest by Q3/2023. Each individual due diligence assignment should be carried out in a phased manner within the time frame of six weeks from when the due diligence assignment has been called-off by Nefco. Nefco seeks to call-off due diligence assignments in batches of three or four assignments at a time. Based on initial findings, some projects may not proceed to a full due diligence and may be replaced by others.

Maximum budget available for the Assignment: Up to EUR 750,000 (exclusive of VAT).

Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions on the nationality of the Consultant. It should be noted that the key experts of the Consultant contracted for this Assignment will be asked to confirm that they do not have a conflict of interest which may impact their ability to carry out the due diligence assignment, for example that they have not been directly involved in the writing of the project proposal nor form part of the project.

Questions and Answers

Any questions on this Invitation for Expression of Interest shall be provided in writing to Nefco by e-mail: at procurement@nefco.int with copy to emma.yrjola@nefco.int no later than 20 September 2022 after which all questions will be compiled by Nefco without any editing in the form they are sent to Nefco. Answers to the questions will be published at this page.

The Questions & Answers document is available here

Submission of Expressions of Interest

Expressions of Interest shall be submitted in English in one pdf file by email to Nefco at procurement@nefco.fi with copy to emma.yrjola@nefco.int with subject: “MCFA1 FA Stage Evaluators – Expression of Interest” to reach Nefco no later than 11 October 2022 at 12:00 hrs Eastern European time (EET).

For more details, kindly see the Expression of Interest documentation.