Jobs and Careers

COMPETITION TYPE : 

Call for Proposals

DETAIL DESCRIPTION : 

GIZ intends to award a contract to a local company for Supporting the MTAI in the analysis of the Armenian legislation governing local tax collection in the scope of Integrated Municipal Development project. The detailed Terms of Reference (ToR) of the assignment and the relevant Annexes are attached to this Call for Proposals.
If you are awarded the contract, you are not excluded from bidding for the implementation of the following project phase. However, a prerequisite for participation in a subsequent tender is that you do not benefit from your involvement in the previous contract and that the equal treatment of all bidders is ensured.

Context
The “Integrated Municipal Development in Armenia” (IMD) project aims to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and citizen-orientation of local self-governments. By advising and supporting partner organizations, the project seeks to improve the framework for local development while closely collaborating with selected municipalities known as transformation partners. These efforts focus on implementing reforms to enhance service quality and accessibility, foster local economic growth, optimise local self-governance, and empower citizens in municipal decision-making. Throughout the project duration from April 2024 to March 2027, success stories and lessons learned from transformation partners will be shared through various exchange platforms, ensuring the replication of successful models for integrated municipal development across Armenian local self-governments.
The projected is implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and in partnership with the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure (MTAI).

Background
In Armenia, the territorial and administrative division inherited from the past, along with limited decentralization, posed significant challenges to local self-governance, effective service provision, and efficient use of financial resources. With 915 municipalities of varying population sizes and capacities, the municipal landscape was highly fragmented, with many municipalities unable to fulfil their functions effectively. In 2015, the Government of the Republic of Armenia (RA) launched a large-scale structural transformational process called the Territorial and Administrative Reform of Armenia (TARA) to address these challenges.
The goal of TARA was to create a conducive framework for local self-governance and to build viable structures at the local level. The reform aimed to renew policy approaches to municipal planning, governance, management, and resource allocation within the governance system. By late 2022, TARA succeeded in establishing a new territorial-administrative framework, reducing the number of municipalities to 71, with 64 consolidated into larger entities and 7 remaining as single municipalities.
While this reform has significantly reshaped the local self-governance landscape, it has also highlighted the need for updated legal and administrative mechanisms to support the newly structured municipal framework. To ensure effective operation, it is crucial to review the legislation pertaining to local taxes’ collection, administration, and the compulsory enforcement of liabilities in Armenia to improve the financial management of municipalities and support the increase of municipalities' own revenues. This includes also revising the methodological guide for organizing the compulsory enforcement of these liabilities. The previous version of this guide was developed before the implementation the reform, and the consolidated municipal structures and new realities necessitate a comprehensive analysis of the entire legal framework and an update of the guideline.
This assignment involves supporting the MTAI in analysing the RA legislation on local tax collection, administration, and compulsory enforcement of liabilities, as well as developing a new edition of the methodological guide. This task is vital to ensure that the newly established municipal structures operate efficiently and effectively. The aim is to equip municipalities with the necessary legal and administrative tools to better manage their financial resources, enhance their capacity to deliver services, and ensure financial stability, ultimately benefiting the community and fostering sustainable local development.

Tasks to be performed by the contractor
The contractor is responsible for providing the following services:

Task 1: Analysis of the Republic of Armenia's legislation governing local tax collection, administration, and the compulsory enforcement of monetary liabilities.
This analysis should encompass, but not be limited to:
- Analysis of legal relations under the Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia pertaining to the administration of immovable property and vehicle property taxes, the determination and calculation of arrears, application and collection of fines, conversion into non-appealable administrative acts and the corresponding actions of Local Self-Governance Bodies (LSGs).
- Analysis of the key provisions of the Administrative Procedure Code of Armenia concerning the preliminary examination and adjudication of non-appealable administrative acts, including an analysis of the guarantees for judicial protection against damages suffered by the municipality.
- Analysis of legal relations concerning the right of pledge, limitation of property rights, imposition of liens on property, liens on monetary assets, and their distribution under the RA Civil Code.
- Analysis of enforcement procedures under the RA Law "On Enforcement of Judicial Acts" for non-fulfilment or improper fulfilment of local taxes’ liabilities, including the initiation of enforcement actions for non-appealable administrative acts and the procedural legal analysis of LSG’s actions in this context.
- Analysis of the stages of the administrative proceedings under the RA Law "On Fundamentals of Administrative Action and Administrative Proceedings”.
- Analysis of legal regulations outlined in the RA Law "On Fundamentals of Administrative Action and Administrative Proceedings" concerning non-appealable administrative acts.

Task 2: Development of the new edition of the Methodological Guide on “Organization of Works to Ensure Compulsory Enforcement of Local Taxes’ Liabilities by LSGs”.
With the new edition, the methodological guide should at least include, but not be limited to the following:
- Description of terms/timeline of payment of liabilities.
- Description of the toolset for calculating fines.
- Description of the procedure for making a decision regarding the collection of overdue tax amounts.
- Description of the procedure to ensure proper notification of the decision made.
- Description of the process for making a decision to place a lien/ban on the debtor's property.
- Description of the procedure for sending the decision on placing a lien/ban on the debtor's property for enforcement.
- Description of the procedure for organizing the payment of the obligation through a schedule.
- Description of the procedure for sending the decision on collecting the unpaid amount for enforcement.
- Exemplary templates of administrative acts for the collection of immovable property and vehicle property taxes.
- Templates of non-appealable administrative acts and references.

Task 3: Finalization of the package
- Present, discuss the package delivered with the MTAI and GIZ, revise based on provided comments and finalize the documents.
- Submit the final documents to the MTAI and GIZ.

Any further task arising during the implementation of the assignment needs prior agreement between the Contractor and GIZ.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES : 

If you are interested in performing this work, please submit a bid in accordance with the GIZ bidding conditions described below till 15 August 2024, 17:00 (date of receipt at GIZ). Proposals received after the deadline will not be considered.

Your bid shall be submitted electronically.

Electronical offer
Your bid, comprising the technical offer (company’s background, relevant experience, CVs of involved experts, rough concept with a workplan and timetable, etc.) and the price offer (signed document, calculation based on expert days must be clearly marked as such, and submitted as two separate emails. The technical offer should be in English language. Please send your bid to [email protected]  with the following subject line: 

For technical offer with the subject line: 83470456 Technical Offer 
For financial offer with the subject line: 83470456 Financial Offer 

All documents must be submitted in PDF format. Please do not put any other recipient in copy.

Price offer
The payment will be done in local currency.
Tax and customs privileges shall apply to this procurement. Please take this into consideration while preparing your company’s offer.
The Tax Identification Number of GIZ is 02898241


Procedural questions
Please address any commercial, technical and procedural questions at an early stage. Questions will be answered if they are received at the latest two working days before the closing of the tender. Questions must be raised in writing by email only to:
Mrs. Liana Nikoghosyanemail: [email protected]
Non-compliance may result if your bid is not being considered.

Evaluation of Offer
GIZ will evaluate the technical and price information in the received bids (see Annex).
After the technical evaluation, only the price offers of bids with more than 500 points will be opened and evaluated. Technical offers below 500 points will be considered as technical not acceptable. The technical offer has a weighting of T: 70%, the price offer F: 30%.
The final result is an overall ranking, headed by the most cost-effective bid. Contract negotiations will be initiated on the basis of this overall ranking.

Please clearly mention in your application letter that you learned of this job opportunity through Career Center and mention the URL of its website - www.careercenter.am, Thanks.

ATTACHMENTS:

83470456AssessmentGrid.pdf - Assessment Grid 83470456GeneralTermsOfContractARM.pdf - Contract in Armenian 83470456GeneralTermsOfContractENG.pdf - Contract in English 83470456CallforProposals.docx - Call for Proposals 83470456ToR.docx - ToR