Consultancy services for the selection of 2 individual consultants for the establishment of electronic ECOWAS certificate of origin (eCO)

Financing Agreement reference: Grant No 5900155016360
Project ID No. P-Z1-KF0-065
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
CONSULTANCY SERVICES FOR THE SELECTION OF 2 INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANTS
FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ELECTRONIC ECOWAS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN
(eCO)

1. This request is for expression of interest following the General Procurement Notice (GPN) for
the above mentioned project that appeared in Development Business.

2. The ECOWAS commission has started a group of projects which aim at the removal of nontariff barriers, lowering of trading costs at borders, improving trade infrastructure and
automation of customs procedures, the Digitization of Certificate of Origin including its
acquisition, transmission and reception. The actions planned under this Program specifically
complement ECOWAS plans to be a single trade and investment area in which tariffs, and
other impediments to the movement of goods, services, capital, and people will be removed.
The general objective of the Program is to contribute to deepening regional integration,
improving inclusive regional economic growth and enhancing competitiveness of the
ECOWAS region. As a result, ECOWAS Commission in partnership with GIZ intends to apply
a portion of the African Development Bank Grant for the Selection of 2 Individual
Consultants for the establishment of electronic ECOWAS Certificate of Origin (ECO)

3. The Services expected to be carried out by the Consultants are, but not limited to the
following:
a) Develop the e-HUB with a standard application programming interface (API) for
interfacing/integration of the eCo Middleware/Library (locate at members states) system
and handover to the ECOWAS commission any source code that may be applicable
related to development of the system;
b) Develop Middleware/Library that will interface the customs system of the member state
with the e-Hub and handover to the ECOWAS commission any source code that may be
applicable related to development of the system;
c) Developing and operationalizing user-friendly WEB Application for e-Hub and handover
to the ECOWAS commission any source code that may be applicable related to
development of the system;
d) Implement a strong authentication system to support the e-Hub and other systems
around it and handover to the ECOWAS commission any source code that may be
applicable related to development of the system;
e) Develop an e-Co Client module for the ASYCUDA World Customs System and make it
communicate with e-Co middleware and handover to the ECOWAS commission any
source code that may be applicable related to development of the system;
f) Provide expertise advise on public key infrastructure (PKI), Modality for interfacing the
eCO system (Hub, Middleware/Library) and Customs systems, process and modalities
to implement eCO and digital signature, required legislative amendments and ICT
equipment and infrastructure for full implementation of eCO system based on
international best practices and standards;
g) Assist in the configuration (installation, backups, replication) of the database systems
used by the e-Co ecosystem;
h) Assist in the configuration (installation, backups) of the operating systems used by the
e-Co ecosystem;
i) Assist in the configuration (installation, management) of the authentication systems used
by the e-Co ecosystem;
j) Assist in the configuration (installation) of the firewall systems used by the e-Co
ecosystem;
k) Assist in configuring web load balancers for the e-co ecosystem;
l) Assist in the configuration of the monitoring systems for the entire e-co ecosystem;
m) Assist the project team in defining access policies to the systems;
n) From start to finish of project, produce project Documentation.
o) Provide technical assistance and capacity building support to Regional developers,
Deployment Team on deployment procedures and eCO System, Member states on
operational procedures;
p) Assist in preparing progress report of implementation of the eCO system; monitoring and
evaluation of the impact of eCO system implementation and prepare recommendations
to improve the implementation and a sustainability strategy and plan after the end of the
project;
q) Undertake other related tasks as may be required by the supervising Directorate of the
ECOWAS commission and GIZ

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