THE ALSF ADOPTED on 07 June 2022, its revised Procurement Manual for the acquisition of consulting services required for the implementation of a project or other assignment financed, in part or in whole, by the ALSF. The revised Manual also aims to allow for the establishment of a Panel of preselected law firms for the provision of advisory services and the development of capacity building activities to the ALSF’s beneficiary countries. The establishment of the ALSF Legal Panel through Framework Agreements is intended to increase the efficiency of the operations of the Facility. By standardizing and pre-negotiating its engagement terms, the ALSF can manage more efficiently its project costs, better allocate its resources, develop synergies, reduce duplication and thus provide better assistance to beneficiary countries.
The Panel A is composed of law firms with international expertise. Panel A is divided into five distinct lots, each of which covers expertise in a specific sector of intervention of the ALSF. The lots are the following:
The law firms constituting Panel A can only provide services for projects under the lot(s) for which they have been pre-selected.
The Framework Agreements were signed with the law firms’ members of Panel A on 05 April 2024, following a competitive process for the renewal of Panel A. The composition of the renewed Panel A is as follows:
The Panel B is composed of law firms with local expertise in African jurisdictions and licensed to practice in those jurisdictions. Panel B is divided into six distinct lots, each of which covers a specific region in Africa.
The Framework Agreements were signed with the law firms who are members of Panel B, on 27 October 2023, following a competitive process that lasted several months. The composition of the Panel B is as follows:
Under the Framework Agreements, the Code of Conduct of the Advisor, a document developed as part of the G7 CONNEX initiative to improve the advisory services provided to low-income countries, is applicable to the services rendered by the members of the Panel. This Code imposes high professional standards on legal counsel, including specific ethical obligations regarding corruption and conflicts of interest.
For each specific mission, the ALSF launches a downstream competition and issue a specific request for proposal to a minimum of three law firms depending on the lot they are part of, the language of the project, the legal system of the beneficiary country and a principle of rotation. In certain exceptional situations, the ALSF can directly award a project to a Panel law firm.
The lots in both Panel A and B are intended to cover almost all the areas falling within the scope of the ALSF's mandate and all the regions where the ALSF operates. For Panel A, if the ALSF needs expertise not covered by any of the lots, it can invite law firms that are members or not members of the ALSF Panel to submit proposals for a specific project. Procurement of consultancy services outside of the ALSF Panel only occurs in exceptional situations.
For The initial term of membership of a law firm in ALSF Panel A is set at 3 years from the signing of the Framework Agreement. The ALSF has the option to extend this period to a maximum of 12 additional months.
The initial term of membership of a law firm in ALSF Panel B is set at 5 years from the signing of the Framework Agreement. The ALSF has the option to extend this period to a maximum of 12 additional months.
A new global request for proposal will be issued a few months before the expiry of each Panel in effect.
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