CLOSING DATE AND TIME: NOVEMBER 30, 2017 @ 4:00 PM EST
A.1 Background
1.1 The Pacific Payments Remittances and Securities Settlement Initiative (PAPRI) is an initiative of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Payment Systems Development Group (PSDG) of the World Bank. It seeks to promote policies and actions for the harmonisation of payment systems throughout the Pacific region, in line with international standards and best practices. It builds on the PSDG’s previous successful experience of promoting similar payment systems initiatives in other regions including Latin America and the Caribbean, the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Arab region, and South Asia.
1.2 Countries within any particular region often face similar challenges in developing and modernising their financial sector infrastructure. The ability to share experiences, problems and solutions across countries with a shared regional outlook can strengthen (and accelerate, through peer pressure) the policies that each nation adopts, and also reduce the time and cost of modernisation. This latter consideration is of especial importance in the Pacific region, where the countries are very small in terms of both populations and economies, and where distances are very great both between and within countries, which militates against local country-specific initiatives. By working together, countries may also identify areas where harmonising policies would be beneficial. The PAPRI initiative particularly addresses the needs and aspirations of a group of Pacific island nations to modernise their national payments systems infrastructures within a heavily constrained context. Constraining factors include the facts that:
- Their populations are very small;
- They each comprise a number of small islands;
- They all face economic difficulties;
- Traditionally telecommunications services have been difficult and in general confined to the main population centres, although this is changing rapidly with the extensive roll-out of mobile telephone services;
- In each country the economy is heavily cash-based;
- There are very few bank branches and virtually no other providers of financial services;
- The percentage of the population with bank accounts is not very great.
A.2 Objectives
2.1 Taking the above considerations into account, the PAPRI project wishes to establish a set of common electronic payment systems in the three countries of Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. These systems are: an enhanced Automated Transfer System (ATS+); and a Central Securities Depository (CSD).
2.2 The ATS+ will be based on a standard Automated Transfer System software package such as has been implemented in a number of countries in recent years. These packages provide real time gross settlement (RTGS) and automated clearing house (ACH) functionality integrated into a single seamless package. ATS+ will extend the functionality of an ATS with an integrated Instant Funds Transfer (IFT) capability.
2.3 The CSD will be based on a standard application software package and will provide the Central Banks of each country with the functionality necessary to manage public sector ( Central Bank and/or Government) securities.
Objective of the REI
2.4 To support this initiative, IFC seeks a Contractor who will implement the ATS+ and CSD systems. While using a common software package, each system will be tailored to suit the specific circumstances and requirements of each country during implementation.
The solicitation may be obtained by sending an email to the designated Category Manager, referencing the following information:
1. Solicitation Number
2. Company Name
3. Contact Person Name and Title
4. Address
5. Telephone Number
6. Fax Number
7. Contact's Email Address
A copy of the solicitation will be sent to organizations that have replied to and are eligible to receive this advertisement. All requests and questions regarding this solicitation shall be directed to the following designated Corporate Procurement Category Manager:
Dianne Seetahal @ Dseetahal@worldbank.org
The WBG reserves the right to publicly disclose contract award information, including but not limited to, name of company receiving the award, brief description of services, and contract award amount, for any contract award valued over US$250,000. Offeror's proposal and contractual documents will remain confidential and therefore not subject to disclosure.
The World Bank reserves the right to reject any or all responses without recourse.
