ICT Market Definition and Significant Market Power Assessment — The Gambia Fiscal Management Development Project

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

CONSULTING SERVICES – QUALITY AND COST-BASED SELECTION METHOD

Country: The Gambia

Name of Project: The Gambia Fiscal Management Development Project (P166695)

Grant No.: D6190

Assignment Title: ICT Market Definition and A Significant Market Power Assessment (SMP)

Reference No.: GM-PPPPE-264481-CS-QCBS

The Government of The Gambia has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the Gambia Fiscal Management Development Project anchored within the Ministry of Finance & Economic Affairs (MoFEA) as the Implementing Agency of the Project and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services.

The overall objective of this assignment is to assist the authority to develop a consistent regulatory practice for the PURA to impose Significant Market Power remedies when lack of effective competition is caused by the dominance. Based on the market analysis, the consultant firm should seek simple, flexible, technology-neutral regulatory decision to drive long-term growth.

Specifically, the consultant firm contracted for the assignment will be expected to develop the SMP guidelines with a good guidance on the parameters that could be tracked to assess the level of competition in a given market, or sub-market.

The service required under this assignment include market research and analysis; financial modeling; legal advice and technical support.

The following constitute an integral part of the assignment:

• Proposing a segmentation of the telecommunication market, and related markets, for the purposes of determining SMP in The Gambia;

• Identify level of competition and any market player/s which may enjoy a position of Significant Market Power (SMP) in each of the identified markets, taking into account both Supply and Demand factors;

• Studying the evolution of market pricing in different market segments;

• Where the analysis concludes that there is/are market player/s enjoying SMP; identify the competition challenges present in the market and propose adequate regulatory interventions to address these challenges.

• Determine the markets which will be subject to review and/or additional ex‐ante regulations

• Conducting a cost-benefit analysis of potential remedies, providing an evaluation of their strengths and weaknesses, as well as guidance on when, how, and with what data they can be most usefully employed in impact assessment

• Undertake demand-side and supply-side substitutability tests

• Undertake Small but Significant Non-Transitory Increase in Price (SSNIP) test for market definitions

• Assess resource requirements, i.e. Spectrum and the possible competitive impacts

• Benchmarking market development, based on other indicators in similar economies

• Assisting the Authority in conducting public stakeholder consultations, and analysing the inputs received from interested parties

• Work with the PURA team to develop relevant reporting templates for a systemic approach towards market assessment and identifying possible instances of market failure or dominance

• Training and transfer of knowledge to identified PURA staff integral to the assignment especially in regulating designated SMP operators

• Drafting the associated competition, tariff and SMP regulations to guide the Authority in implementing the associated recommendations.

The Gambia Fiscal Management Development Project now invites eligible consultant firms to express their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services.

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” July 2016 and revised November 2017 and August 2018 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. In addition, please refer to the following specific information on conflict of interest related to this assignment: conflict of interest related to the assignment as per paragraph 3.17 of the Procurement Regulations.

A Consultant firm shall be selected in accordance with the Quality and Cost-Based Selection Method (QCBS) set out in the Procurement Regulations. Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours from 09:00am to 16:00pm.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person or by e-mail) no later than 27 December 2021 at 12:30pm GMT.

Gambia Fiscal Management Development Project

Attn: Project Manager

Ashobee Store Building, 2ND Floor

Banjul The Gambia

E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected]