National Consultant to Develop Customs-business-business Broker Partnership

REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (RFQ)
RFQ No. National -22-001

TO:                                       Potential Bidders

FROM:                                  Claudio Dordi, Chief of Party
                                            USAID Trade Facilitation Program

ISSUANCE DATE:                 Sept 15, 2022

APPLICATION DEADLINE:   Sep 23, 2022 5pm U.S. EST

RE: Seeking qualified National Consultant for Activity 4.3.4 – Develop customs-business-business broker partnership

Annex A. Technical Instructions

SCOPE OF WORK (SOW)

Proposed Personnel:            Name TBD
                                             Customs Brokers’ Assessment Specialist

PeriodofPerformance:           o/a Sept 30 2022 – December 31, 2022

Level of Effort:                      50 days

Origin/Destination:                Place TBD toHanoi, Vietnam

TravelDates:                          NA.

Activity No.:                           FY2023 Activity 4.3.4 – Develop customs - business- customs broker partnership

MEL indicator(s):                   TBD

ProjectBackground:

The USAID Vietnam Trade Facilitation Program is a five-year project that aims to support the adoption and implementation of a more risk-based approach to customs and specialized inspection institutions in Vietnam. The program will work with the General Department of Vietnam Customs (GDVC) to strengthen the National Trade Facilitation Committee (NTFC) of Vietnam and its Working Groups; streamline border clearance procedures (including specialized inspection implemented by other line ministries and agencies); harmonize the implementation of risk-based approaches between the national and provincial levels; train national and provincial customs officers and staff from other ministries on risk management; and facilitate dialogue between customs and business and between stakeholders in Hanoi and in the provinces.

Activity Background

Objective: The aim of the activity is to provide technical assistance that will support the GDVC, who will cooperate with Vietnam Logistic Association (VLA) in developing criteria for assessing the capacity of the customs brokers in Vietnam.

Background:

Customs brokers in Vietnam, at the end of 2020, consist on 970 enterprises employing more than 1,700 individuals equipped with specific codes for implementing for implementing customs procedures. There quality and the effectiveness of services provided by customs brokers, however, raised concerns within customs authorities, as testified by the fact that in 2020 GDVC removed 306 agents employed by customs brokers’ companies as considered ineligible or incapable to operate and suspended the operations of 388 agents that violated the regime of periodical reporting or failed to operate at the registered address with the customs authorities. In 2019 GDVC launched a plan to develop and improve the quality of customs brokers in the period 2019-2022, focused in particular on supporting professional and reliable customs brokers.

Ranking customs brokers based on the scores and weights assigned to each specific criterion will contribute to creating a market environment based on their capacity to deliver results and raise their credibility to importers and exporters. The GDVC has requested the Program for support with developing criteria for assessing the capacity of the customs brokers in Vietnam based on the international good practices and existing situation in Vietnam. The Program has engaged the International consultants to provide good practices internationally in terms of benchmarking criteria, assessment methods and management of customs broker services. In terms of customs brokers situational assessment, the GDVC will cooperate with Vietnam Logistics Associations and reached out to its membership, including freight forwarders, customs brokers, transport companies and logistics service providers both nationally and internationally. The situational assessment of customs brokers will be implemented by a questionnaire-based survey.

Methodology:

The Program will mobilize a qualified and experienced National Customs specialists (STTA) to undertake this activity.

Based on the international good practices and draft Indicators Framework, the National Customs specialists will draft the questionnaire and seek for comments and inputs from the Internaional STTA,  the GDVC CRMB and VLA. Once finalized, the National Customs specialists will deploy the questionnaire and facilitate to obtain at least 30 responses from the targeted customs brokers. The National Customs specialists will then extract, cleanse and analyze the data (responses) to synthesize the stylized facts and produce the draft survey report (English or Vietnamese). The National Customs specialists will then obtain the comments and inputs from International STTA and GDVC CRMB to finalize the survey report. At the request of the Program, the National Customs specialists will participate and present at the workshop.

Tasks and Responsibilities

The STTA will be responsible for the following key tasks:

• Conduct desk research and prelimiary assessment of regulatory framework and existing practices of customs brokerage
• Propose draft indicators framework for capacity assessment of customs brokers based on international good practices, and
• Conduct the survey of customs brokers, owners represented by customs brokers, and customs officers in the three regions, on draft indicators framework for assessment and existing practices of customs brokerage
  
  • Develop the survey questionnaire (draft and finalized) and approach to survey the target customs brokers;
  • Propose the list of the target customs brokers;
  • Deploy the survey questionnaire and undertake measures to promote the response rate
  • Extract, cleanse and analyze the survey data (responses)
  • Draft the survey report with assessments, stylized facts, and recommendations
  • Seek comments and inputs from International STTA and GDVC CRMB and finalize the survey report

As necessary, the National Customs specialists will participate in online meetings to discuss with the International STTA and at the request of the Program, participate and present at the workshop to discuss the survey results.

Deliverables

• Desk research report on regulatory framework and existing practices of customs brokerage; and draft indicators framework
• Draft and finalized survey questionnaire and suggested written approach to survey the target customs brokers
• List of the target customs brokers to be surveyed
• Cleansed and analyzed survey data
• Draft and finalized survey report with assessments, stylized facts, indicator frameworks and recommendations
• Presentation slides
• Consultancy assignment report containing full details of all work carried out.

Qualifications

• Master's degrees or higher in international trade, customs administration, trade policy, economics, computer science, business administration, or similar field;
• Minimum 10 years of experience coordinating with host government counterparts on programs of a similar focus, on topics such as trade facilitation, international trade agreements, National Single Windows, customs procedures, ICT and automation, regional economic integration, etc.;
• Proven experience and track record of working with, or practical knowledge of, customs Broker operations and licensing;
• Robust understanding and experience of the WTO and WCO instruments such as the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC);
• Strong English written, oral, and presentation skills; and
• Ability to travel to and within Vietnam.

Reporting

The Customs specialist will report to:

Mr. Pham Minh Tu, Customs and Trade Facilitation Expert; ([email protected])

How to apply:

Proposals should be submitted to [email protected] no later than September 23, 2022.

1. Cover letter (no longer than 1 page)
2. CVs (see attached template); 
3. Updated USAID 1420 form (see attached template)
4. Cost proposal (See attached template)”