Request for Information

MFES Entity Human Resources (HR) Recruitment Services

Issue date:22.11.2023

Closing date and time: 06.12.2023

1. Background

The Government of the Republic of Kosovo (the “Government” or “GoK”) and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (“MCC”), a United States government agency, signed a grant aimed at poverty reduction through economic growth in Kosovo on July 15, 2022, in the amount of US $202,000,000 (the “Compact”) and a corresponding contribution from the Government of approximately US $34,670,600.

The Compact consists of three proposed projects:

Energy Storage Project: The objective of the Energy Storage Project is to support Kosovo’s energy security and transition to a cleaner energy future, as reflected by: (1) usage of energy storage systems, (2) availability of the energy storage system, and (3) reduced cost of securing adequate electricity for Kosovo. The Energy Storage Project consists of the following three activities:

1. Frequency Restoration Response Activity.
2. Multi-Functional Energy Storage (MFES) Activity.
3. Energy and Climate Policy Support Activity.

Just and Equitable Transition Acceleration (JETA) Project: The objectives of the JETA Project are to: (1) produce graduates who are hired in relevant jobs in the energy and adjacent sectors; and (2) increase employment of women among employers participating in the Inclusive Energy Sector Workforce Activity. The JETA Project consists of the following two activities:

1. Energy Skills for the Future Activity
2. Inclusive Energy Sector Workforce Activity

American Catalyst Facility for Development (ACFD) Project: The objective of the ACFD Project is to facilitate the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)’s complementary investments in Kosovo. The project aims to leverage DFC’s financing to support one or more blended finance transactions to catalyze private investment in Kosovo in areas that support or complement the objectives of the Energy Storage Project and JETA Projects.

In order to implement the MFES Activity of the Energy Project (“Project’), the Government plans to establish the MFES Entity, a Publicly Owned Enterprise (POE) under the Laws of the Republic of Kosovo in accordance with the terms of the Compact. Until such time as the MFES Entity is established, the GoK Ministry of Economy is acting on behalf of the MFES Entity in certain matters related to the Project, including the recruitment services of the MFES Entity personnel. Accordingly, MCA-Kosovo will conduct a procurement to hire the recruitment services contract on behalf of the Government.

  II. Purpose of HR services and Legal regulations

MCA-Kosovo is in early stages of preparation to recruit the executives and staff for the MFES Entity. It is anticipated that the MFES will be staffed with a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), several senior executives, and several staff who, collectively, will be the first set of employees of the newly formed MFES Entity.  The recruitment will cover all the areas such as: Finance, General Counsel, Internal Audit, Operations Department, Corporate Services, Health and Safety, Gender and Social Inclusion, Environmental and Social, Human Resources, these will be a total of 15 people for which the senior management will be recruited before the technical and support staff.

The objective of the assignment will be to manage the recruitment process of the MFES Entity as directed by MCA-Kosovo, specifically, identifying and recruiting highly qualified and suitable candidates using the most transparent, cost effective and efficient method. Additionally, it should follow due process, maintain accountability, and be characterized by a high level of confidentiality.  The completion of the activity is expected to be during a period of 12 months.

The recruitment process should be organized in a fair, transparent, non-discriminatory, and auditable manner. The process shall adhere to the laws of Kosovo pertaining to employment and recruitment.  MFES Entity will be a Publicly Owned Enterprise operating under the Law on POE’s (Law no. 05/L-009 on amending and supplementing the Law no. 03/L-087 on POE amended and supplemented by the Law no. 04/L-111)^[1] and the legal form of MFES will be that of a joint stock company in accordance with the Law on Business Organizations (Law no. 06/L -016)^[2].

Employment relations between the employer and the employee for POE’s in Kosovo are governed by the Law on Labour (Law no.03/L –212)^[3], and the recruitment process for POE’s staff in Kosovo is conducted in accordance with the aforementioned Law. Specifically, the recruitment process for POE staff is regulated with Administrative Instruction no.07/2017 for Regulation of Procedures for Competition in Public Sector^[4]. Therefore, the recruitment rules to be applied for this process are stipulated in the above-mentioned administrative instruction. 

III. Purpose of RFI

This is a Request for Information (RFI), which offers the opportunity for interested organizations/consultants to provide recommendations on approaches to contracting the expected services in an efficient process and timeline. 

Gathering information, obtaining the specialized market feedback and operational details of the engagement and refinement of the action steps is very important to be described in the Terms of Reference prior to issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP).

With this RFI, all specialized firms are requested to provide information that will help MCA-Kosovo to develop an effective approach to successfully complete the future procurement as per requirements and needs for MFES Entity HR recruitment services. The information requested are under table below:

Responses to this RFI are voluntary. Responders are free to address any or all questions, as well as to provide additional information they think is relevant. MCA-Kosovo will not compensate respondents for any information provided in response to this RFI. Any future solicitations related to the MCA-Kosovo initiative will be announced at www.dgmarket.com, www.devbusiness.com as well as in local newspapers at a later date.

Information Requested

  IV.  Instruction

Interested Firms to provide information to MCA-Kosovo shall register their interest by sending an email providing full contact details of the Consultant to the MCA-Kosovo Procurement Agent at [email protected] with a copy to [email protected]

Please send your responses to the questions in this RFI to the email: [email protected] with a copy to [email protected] by December 6, 2023, 17:00 hours (local time).

In addition to response to the questions, to identify interested and potential qualified consultants/organization/firms, the Consultants are requested to provide full contact details of the Consultant:

• Company Name:
• Contact Person Name and Title:
• Address:
• Telephone Number:
• Contact’s Email Address:

Important:

This is not a Request for Proposals or Request for Expressions of Interest. This is also not intended to be a shortlisting/pre-qualification process. The purposes of this Request for Information notice are as follows:

• Request Information from prospective Organization/Consultants to help MCA-Kosovo to gather useful market information for the preparation of an upcoming procurement for MFES Entity Human Resources (HR) Recruitment Services.
• Identify interested and potential qualified Consultants.

This RFI does not commit MCA-Kosovo to contract for services nor to pay any cost incurred in response to this RFI. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation in any future Request for Proposal (RFP).