Chemonics International Inc.

USAID Pakistan Investment Promotion Activity (IPA)

Requirements Gathering Exercise through Technical-Operational examination and evaluation of the existing systems of Prime Minister’s Office, Board of Investment, Pakistan

SOW # IP&T 04

1.     Position Title& Department:

(STTA) Expert Consultant – Investment Promotion (2 positions)

2.     General Summary:

Chemonics International is implementing Pakistan Investment Promotion Activity (IPA), which is a 5-year, $16.8 million project that is aimed to strengthen Pakistan’s policy & regulatory regime and build institutional capacities to increase domestic and foreign investment, along with increasing bilateral trade between the United States and Pakistan.

The goal of the project is to work closely with the Government of Pakistan (GoP) and the Provincial Governments to streamline their business practices, improve operational transparency and governance, promote regulatory reforms and competition with an aim to reduce the administrative burden on businesses, strengthen the investment climate for foreign investors in Pakistan and promote opportunities for enhanced trade and investment between U.S. and Pakistani businesses. 

To this end, it is expected that the project will:

• Leverage $25 million dollars of Pakistani private sector investment to support $75M of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
• $40M in U.S.-Pakistan trade increased
• 2000 meetings between US and Pakistan companies facilitated.

IPA will be achieving its targets through three major segments (1) Business Enabling Environment, (2) U.S.-Pak Bilateral Trade and Investment and (3) IPA Fund.

IPA plans to carry out a technical/operational review of the specific requirements that needs to be carried out in the following areas:

a)    Branding / Marketing Collateral and Websites of Board of Investment (BOI)

BOI as per it's mandate is undertaking activities in the domain of Investment Promotion, Facilitation, Industrialization, Investment Policy, Ease of Doing Business- and business-related regulatory reforms. Such activities require adequate marketing for the awareness of business community. Assessment of its existing content including brochures, pitchbooks, guides, documentaries and online platforms especially website, social media handles and related campaigns is required to identify the specific gaps and need for accelerating investment promotion, attraction and facilitation activities.

b)    Facilitation Center

BOI is undertaking an activity to establish a facilitation center as per lines of International best practices. Such activity requires adequate resources for establishment. Specific activities are required to be identified on which USAID will be able to support.

c)    Electronic Regulatory Registry

BOI is undertaking "Regulatory Reform & Guillotine" activity. This terminology pertains to a specific process which is used for fast-tracking cataloging of regulations and eliminating unnecessary, duplicate, or primitive regulations / requirements. Regulatory Registry is a central registry online platform for business regulation processes mapping to create certainties for domestic and foreign investors. Quick technical and operationalization assessment from business / resource requirement point of view is required to advice recommendations for rolling out the Electronic Regulatory Registry for Business regulation mapping and analysis is required.

d)    Projects Management Information System (PMIS)

Over the years, BOI has made a significant progress towards digital transformation to provide e-services to investors. Post COVID-19, BOI has further increased its focus in adopting technology-based solutions to facilitate the investors with the aim of significantly improving Pakistan's value offering. In this context, BOI has indigenously developed an online projects portal. BOI envisages making this projects portal a significant tool in augmenting its efforts to further attract investment. This platform will also enable investors to interact with the relevant stakeholders directly in a transparent manner and provide easy access to Information about investment opportunities. Technical and operationalization assessment is needed for potential support in implementing and rolling out the PMIS along with necessary analysis.

e)    Investor Grievance Redressal System (IGRS)

A custom-built system by BOI to address issues faced by investors in Pakistan. The system enables easy access to investors to lodge complains. Technical and operationalization assessment is needed for potential support in rolling out the IGRS along with necessary analysis.

f)      Capacity Building of Officers

Technical assessment is needed for potential support in capacity building of BOI’s own officers as well as officers of public sector organizations through a series of workshops on digital transformation, investment promotion & facilitation, regulatory reforms, communications, economic diplomacy, digital economy and Special Economic Zones and for operationalization of the above systems.

3.     Objective of the Consultancy:

4.     Principal Duties & Responsibilities:

Under the given assignment, the experts will be responsible for performing each task / activity related to the assignment as directed by the Deputy Chief of Party and/or his designee. All the activities performed by the experts must be in line with the awarded contract and scope of work. The experts will perform the activity by keeping in view the business protocols/scope and quality parameters defined in the contract as per Chemonics policies.

5.     Specific Tasks of the Consultants:

It is expected that both the consultant will collaborate to plan meetings and share information to complement efforts and avoid any duplication of effort. Following are some specific tasks for local and international consultants

The specific tasks under this consultancy for local consultant include:

1. Meet with relevant team members of IPA and BOI representatives to understand the specific requirements of the scope of work and design and submit work plan.
2. Visit Board of Investment and develop working level plan/schedule for interactions and meeting with Board of Investment focal persons.
3. Based on the initial orientation by the BOI staff, carry out technical/operational review of the BOI website, marketing and branding landscape assessment of the organization, electronic regulatory registry, Projects Management Information System (PMIS), Investor’s Grievance Redressal System (IGRS), capacity building of the officers and stakeholders in view of the specific requirements of the organization to operationalize and launch the systems and carry out effective marketing and branding campaign based on the collateral that is required to be developed.
4. Carry out assessment for sustainability mechanisms in technical terms of the existing portals such as Service Level Agreements.
5. Submit detailed report on all the identified areas on the approved format that will act as a requirement document for engaging relevant consultant to carry out the identified requirements and tasks.

The specific tasks under this consultancy for international consultant include:

1. Schedule online meetings with relevant team members of IPA and BOI representatives to understand the specific requirements of the scope of work and design and submit work plan.
2. Develop working level plan/schedule for interactions and meeting with Board of Investment focal persons.
3. Based on the initial orientation by the BOI staff, carry out technical/operational review of the BOI website, marketing and branding landscape assessment of the organization, electronic regulatory registry, Projects Management Information System (PMIS), Investor’s Grievance Redressal System (IGRS), capacity building of the officers and stakeholders in view of the specific requirements of the organization to operationalize and launch the systems and carry out effective marketing and branding campaign based on the collateral that is required to be developed. This exercise is to be carried out in the light of analysis of the international best practices and providing suggestions, feedback on benchmarking, identifying gaps if any, providing confirmations if the systems and approach adopted is already aligned with international best practices and finally identify specific and required activities 
4. Carry out assessment for sustainability mechanisms in technical terms of the existing portals such as Service Level Agreements.
5. Submit detailed report on all the identified areas on the approved format that will act as a requirement document for engaging relevant consultant to carry out the identified requirements and tasks.

6.     Job Qualifications

7.     Duty Station:

The local consultant is expected to engage and deliver tasks on site in Islamabad, Pakistan. The international consultant can be remote based work, as long as the objectives are achieved.

1. 8.     Workspace and Use of Personal Laptop and Software(s):

The experts will be required to use his/ her own personal laptop and must certify that all software used are genuine and licensed; to ensure that the project’s IT resources are protected from accidental destruction or deliberate attempts at sabotage by computer viruses and other hazards.

9.     Reporting:

The experts will report to the Deputy Chief of Party and shall be working closely with him and/or his designee from his team.

10.  Duration of the Assignment:

This job is planned to take place as per a start date of on or around Dec 20, 2022, and end date of on or before January 31, 2023, hereto for a total of 20 days LOE accumulative for both the consultants.

11.  Deliverables:

The timeline for the LOE assigned for each activity as mentioned in the following table will be discussed and agreed with the expert consultants.

Activity/Deliverables for Local Consultant

Activity/Deliverables for International Consultant

Note: The consultants are expected to coordinate their activities and collate their report into a single final submission. The consultants are expected to coordinate meetings with BOI especially initial fact-finding meetings and share relevant information with each other that can help avoid duplication of effort and compliment the efforts.