OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS n!i,.., THE WORLD BA.NK ~ 18RO • IOA ! WOIILOBMKCIIOU? H.E. Henry YA V MULANG Minister of Finance Ministry offinance Boulevard du 30 Juin Commune de la Gorn be Kinshasa I, Democratic Republic of Congo Re: Republic Democratic of Co11go: Advance Agreement for Preparation of Proposed Additional Financing to the Agriculture Rehabilitation and Recovery Support Project Preparation Advance No. V06:!IO Honorable Minister: In response to the request for financial assistance made on behalf of Republic Democratic of Congo ("Recipient"), lam pleased to infonn you that the [ntemational Development Association ("World Bank") proposes to extend to the Recipient an advance out of the World Bank's Project Preparation Facility in an amount not to exceed one million five hundred thousand Dollars (US$1,500,000) ("Advance") on the terms and conditions set forth or referred to in this letter agreement ("Agreement''), which includes tne attached Annex, to assist in financing the activities described in the Annex (''Activities"). The objective of the Activities is to facilitate the preparation of a proposed project designed to increase the agricultural productivity and improve the marketing of crops, and animal products in targeted areas ("Project"). for the carrying out of which rhe Recipient has requested the World Bank's financial assistance. Tne Recipient represents, by confinning its agreement below, that: (a) it understands that the provision of the Advance does not constitute or imply any commitment on the part of IBRD or IDA to assist in financing the Project; and (b) it is authorized to enter into this Agreement and to carry out the Activities, repay the Advance and perform its other obligations under this Agreement, all in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement. Please confirm the Recipient's agreement to the foregoing by having an authorized official of the Recipient sign and date the enclosed copy of this Agreement, and returning it to the World Bank. Upon receipt by the World Bank of this countersigned copy, this Agreement shall become effective as of the date of the countersignature; provided, however, that the offer of this 1813 H S1reet NW • Washington, DC 20433 LSI\ -2- Agreement shall be deemed withdrawn if the World Bank has not received this countersigned copy within 90 days after the date of signature of this Agreement by the World Bank. unless the World Bank has established a later date for such purpose. Very truly yours, INTERNATIONAL DEVELOP[l;IENT ASSOCIATION Ahmadouloustapha Ndiaye Country Director for the Republic Democratic of Congo Africa Region AGREED: OFC?!/0 Enclosures: (1) ·'Standard Conditions for Advances Made by the World Bank under its Project Preparation Facility", dated July 31, 20 lO; and (2) Disbursement Letter for the Advance of the same date as this Agreement, together with .. World Bank Disbursement Guidelines for Projects", dated May l, 2006. -3- PPA No. V0680 ANNEX Article I Standard Conditions; Definitions 1.01. Standard Conditions. The "Standard Conditions for Advances Made by the World Bank under its Project Preparation Facility" dated July 31, 20 l O (.. Standard Conditions"), constitute an integral part of this Agreement. 1.02. Definitions. lJnless the context requires otherwise, the capitalized terms used in this Agreement have the meanings ascribed to them in the Standlard Conditions or in this Agreement and the following term has the following meaning: (i) "National Project Coordination Unit" or "NPCL'" means the implementation unit of the IDA financed Agricultural Rehabilitation and Recovery Support Project (Grant Number H555-ZR), dated May 20, 2010. Article II Execution of the Activities 2.0I. Description of the Activities. The Activities for which the Advance is provided consist of the following parts: (i) Identification of stakeholders for the Project. (ii) Carrying out the institutional diagnostic of the agricultural advisory and extension system, and development of reform proposals to be implement1~d under the Project. (iii) Update of implementation manuals for the Project. (iv) Identification of additonal roads and other market infrastructures to be financed under the Project. (v) Carrying out of an impact evaluation of agrimultiplicateurs, market infrastructure, storage facilities and village/seed storage financed under the 01iginal Project. (vi) Carnying out preparatory activities for the implementation of the network of veterinary pharmacies to be executed under the Project. (vii) Operational support to the NPCU. 2.02. Execution of the Activities Generally. The Recipient declares its commitment to the objectives of the Activities. To this end, the Recipient shall carry out the in accordance with the provisions of: (a) Article II of the Standard Conditions; (b) this Article II; and (c) the "Guidelines on Preventing and Combating Fraud and Corruption in Projects Financed by IBRD Loans and IDA Credits and Grants", dated October 15, 2006 and revised in January 2011 and as of July I, 2016. 2.03. Institutional and Other Arrangements. Without limitation upon paragraph 2.02 above, the Recipient shall maintain throughout the implementation of the Advance the National Project Coordination Unit (1'.'PCU) with terms of reference, composition and resources satisfactory to the -4- World Bank, which shall be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day implementation and fiduciary aspects of the Advance. 2.04. Monitoring, Reporting and Evaluation of the Activities. The Recipient shall monitor and evaluate the progress of the Activities in accordance with the provisions of Section 2.08 of the Standard Conditions. 2.05. Financial Management. (a) The Recipient shall ensure that a financial management system is maintained in accordance with the provisions of Section 2.09 of the Standard Conditions. (b) The Recipient shall ensure that interim un-audited financial reports for the Activities are prepared and furnished to the World Bank not later than forty-ti ve (45) days after the end of each calendar quarter, covering the quarter, in form and substance satisfactory to the World Bank. (c) The Recipient shall have its Financial Statements audited in accordance with the provisions of Sections 2.09 (b) of the Standard Conditions. (i) If, on or before the Refinancing Date, a Refinancing Agreement has been executed by all of its parties, the Recipient shall have the Financial Statements included in the first audit of financial statements required under the Refinancing Agreement. (ii) If, by the Refinancing Date, no Refinancing Agreement has been executed by all of its parties, such audit of the Financial Statements shall cover the period of the Advance, commencing with the fiscal year in which the first withdrawal under the Advance was made. The audited Financial Statements for such period shall be furnished to the World Bank not later than six months after the end of the Recipient's fiscal year in which the Refinancing Date occurs. (iii) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (i) and (ii) of this Section, the World Bank may request an audit of the Financial Statements prior to the Refinancing Date, covering such period as is indicated in-its request. The audited Financial Statements for such period shall be furnished to the World Bank not later than six months after the end of such period. 2.06. Procurement (a) General. All goods, non-consulting services and consultants' services required for the Activities and to be financed out of the proceeds of the Advance shall be procured in accordance with the requirements set forth or referred to in: (i) Section I of the ··Guidelines: Procurement of Goods, Works and Non- Consulting Services under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits and Grants by World Bank Borrowers" dated January 20 I I (revised July 20 l 4) ("Procurement Guidelines"), in the case of goods, works and non-consulting services; (ii) Sections r and IV of the ··Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits and Grants by World Bank Borrowers" dated January 20 I I ( revised July 2014) ("Consultant Guidelines") in the case of consultants' services; and -5- (iii) the provisions of this Section, as the same shall be elaborated in the procurement plan prepared and updated from time to time by the Recipient for the Activities in accordance with paragraph 1.18 of the Procurement Gmdelines and paragraph 1.25 of the Consultant Guidelines ("Procurement Plan"). (b) Definitions. The capitalized terms used in thie following paragraphs of this Section to describe particular procurement methods or methods of review by the World Bank of particular contracts, refer to the corresponding method described in Sections II and III of the Procurement Guidelines, or Sections II, III, IV and V of the Consultant Guidelines, as the case may be. (c) Particular Methods of Procurement of Goods and Non- Consulting Services (i) Except as otherwise provided in sub--paragraph (ii) below, goods and non- consulting services shall be procured under contracts awarded on the basis of [International Competitive Bidding] (ii) The following methods, other than International Competitive Bidding, may be used for procurement of goods, works and non-consulting services for those contracts specified in the Procurement Plan: (A) National Competitive Bidding, subject to the following additional pro'visions referred to the paragraph below; (B) Shopping; (C) Direct Contracting; and (E) Procurement from United Nations Agencies. Additional Provisions for National Competitive Bidding National Competitive Bidding may be used subject to using the open procedure ("appel d'offres ouvert") set forth in the Recipient's Public Procurement Law No 10/010 dated April 27,2010 (the "PPL") and the Manual of Procedures of the PPL as per Recipient's Decree No I 0/22 dated June 2, 20 IO (the "Manual of Procedures''); provided however that such procedure shall be subject to the provisions of Section I and Paragraphs 3.3 and 3.4 of Section III of the Procurement Guidelines and the additional following modifications: (i) Standard Bidding Documents: All standard bidding documents to be used for the Project under NCB shall be found acceptable to the World Bank before their use during the implementation of Project; (ii) Eligibility: Eligibility of bidders and acceptability of their goods and services shall not be based on their nationality and/or their origin; and association with a national firm shall not be a condition for participation in a bidding process; Therefore, except for the ineligibility situations referred to in paragraphs l.lO(a) (i) and l.lO(a) (ii) of the Procurement Guidelines, the eligibility of bidders must be based solely on their qualification, experience and capacity to carry out the contract related to the specific bidding process; (iii) Advertising and Bid Preparation Time: Bidding opportunities shall be advertised at least in a national newspaper of wide circulation and on the website of the Recipient's Procurement Regulator (Autorite de Regulation des Marches Publics) and bidders -6- should be given at least 30 days from the date of invitation to bid or the date of availability of the bidding documents, whichever is later; (iv) Criteria for Qualification of Bidders: Qualification criteria shall only concern the bidder's capability and resources to perform the contract taking into account objective and measurable factors. Such criteria for qualification of bidders shall be clearly specified in the bidding documents; (v) Bid Evaluation and Contract Award: A contract shall be awarded to the substantially responsive and lowest evaluated bidder provided that such bidder meets the qualification criteria specified in the bidding documents. No scoring system shall be allowed for the evaluation of bids, and no "'blanket" limitation to the number of lots which can be awarded to a bidder shall apply. The criteria for bid evaluation and the contract award conditions shall be clearly specified in the bidding documents; (vi) Preferences: No preference shall be given to domestic/regional bidders; to domestically/regionally manufactured goods; and to bidders forming a joint venture with a national firm or proposing national sub-contractors or carrying out economic activities in the territory of the Recipient; (vii) Publication of Contract Award: Information on all contract awards shall be published in at least a national newspaper of wide circulation or in the Recipient's Procurement Regulator (Autorite de Regulation des Marches Publics) web-site; (viii) Fraud and Corruption: In accordance with the Procurement Guidelines, each bidding document and contract shall include provisions stating the World Bank's policy to sanction firms or individuals found to have engaged in fraud and corruption as set forth in the Procurement Guidelines; (ix) Inspection and Audit Rights: In accordance with the Procurement Guidelines, each bidding document and contract shall include provisions stating the World Bank's policy with respect to inspection and audit of accounts, records and other documents relating to the bid submission and contract performance; ( x) Requirement for administrative documents and/or tax clearance certificate. The bidding documents shall not require foreign bidders to produce any administrative or tax related certificates prior to confirmation of awarding a contract; (xi) Modifications of a Signed Contract: Any change in the contract amount which, singly or combined with all previous changes, increases the original contract amount by 15% (fifteen percent) or more must be done through an amendment to the signed contract instead of signing a new contract. -7- (d) Particular Methods of Procurement of Consultants' Services (i) Except as otherwise provided in item (ii) below, consultants' services shall be procured under contracts awarded on the basis of Quality- and Cost-based Selection. (ii) The following methods may be used for the procurement of consultants' services for those assignments which are specified in the Procurement Plan : (A) Quality-based Selection; (B) Selection under a Fixed Budget; (C) Least Cost Selection; (D) Selection based on Consultants' Qualifications; (E) Single-source Selection of consulting firms; (F) Selection of Individual Consultants; (G) Single-source procedures for th,: Selection of Individual Consultants; (H) Selection of UN Agencies; and (I) Use of Non governmental Organizations (NGOs) (e) Review by the World Bank of Procurement Decisions. The Procurement Plan shall set forth those contracts which shall be subject to the World Bank's Prior Review. All other contracts shall be subject to Post Review by the World Bank. Article III Withdrawal of the Advance 3.01. Eligible Expenditures. The Recipient may withdraw the proceeds of the Advance in accordance with the provisions of: (a) Article III of the Standard Conditions; (b) this Section; and (c) such additional instructions as the World Bank may specify by notice to the Recipient (including the "World Bank Disbursement Guidelines for Projects" date:d May 2006, as revised from time to time by the World Bank and as made applicable to this Agreement pursuant to such instructions), to finance Eligible Expenditures as set forth in the following table. The table specifies each category of Eligible Expenditures that may be financed out of the proceeds of the Advance ("Category''), the amount of the Advance allocated to each Category, and the percentage of expenditures to be financed for Eligible Expenditures in each Category: I Category I Percentage of Amount of the Advanct: Expenditures to be Allocated Financed (expressed in Dollars) (inclusive of Taxes) (1) Goods, non-consulting 1,500,000 100% services, consulting services, Training, and Operating Costs ITOTAL AMOIDIT 1,500,000 • For the purpose of this section, the term: (a) "Operating Costs" means the reasonable costs approved by the World Bank for the incremental expenses incurred on account of the Activities, consisting of: vehicle operation and maintenance, communication and insurance costs, banking charges, rental expenses, office (and office equipment) maintenance, utilities, document duplication/printing, consumables, travel cost and per diem for Project staff for travel linked to the implem,:ntation of the Activities, and salaries -8- of contractual staff for the Advance (but excluding regular salaries of officials of the Recipient's civil service). (b) "Training" means the reasonable costs for training and workshops related to the implementation of the Activities including tuition, travel and subsistence costs for training and workshop participants, costs associated with securing the services of trainers and workshop speakers, rental of training and workshop facilities, preparation and reproduction of training and workshop materials, and other costs directly related to training course and workshop preparation and implementation (but excluding goods and consulting services). 3.02. Withdrawal Conditions. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 3.01 of this Agreement, no withdrawal shall be made for payments made prior to the date of countersignature of this Agreement by the Recipient. 3.03. Refinancing Date. The Refinancing Date is July 31, 2017. Article IV Terms of the Advance 4.01. Service Charge. The Recipient shall pay a service charge on the Withdrawn Advance Balance at the rate of three-fourths of one percent (3/4 of l %) per annum. The service charge shall accrue from the respective dates on which amounts of the Advance are withdrawn and shall be paid in arrears in accordance with the provisions of Section 4.02 of this Agreement. Service charges shall be computed on the basis of a 360-day year of twelve 30-day months. 4.02. Repayment. The Withdrawn Advance Balance shall be repaid by the Recipient to the World Bank (together with any service charges accrued thereon) in accordance with the provisions of Article IV of the Standard Conditions and the following provisions: (a) Refinancing under the Refinancing Agreement: If, on or before the Refinancing Date, a Refinancing Agreement has been executed by all of its parties, then the full amount of the Withdrawn Advance Balance shall be repaid to the World Bank (together with any service charges accrued on the Advance to the date of repayment) as soon as the Refinancing Agreement becomes effective, by means of a withdrawal by the World Bank of an amount of the Refinancing Proceeds equivalent to the Withdrawn Advance Balance plus such service charges, in accordance with the provisions of the Refinancing Agreement. (b) Repayment in the absence of a Refinancing Agreement.' If, on or before the Refinancing Date, no Refinancing Agreement has been executed by all of its parties, or if, by such date or at any time thereafter, it has been so executed but terminates without becoming effective, then: (i) if the amount of the Withdrawn Advance Balance does not exceed $50,000, it shall be repaid by the Recipient to the World Bank (together with service charges accrued on the Withdrawn Advance Balance to the date of repayment) on such date as the World Bank shall specify in a notice to the Recipient, which shall in no event be earlier than 60 days following the date of dispatch of such notice; and -9- (ii) if the amount of the Withdrawn Advance Balance exceeds $50,000, it (together with service charges accrued on the Withdrawn Advance Balance to the Notice Date) (the "Aggregate Balance") shall be paid by the Recipient to the World Bank in ten approximately equal semiannual installments, in the amounts and on the dates ("Payment Dates") which the World Bank shall specify in a notice to the Recipient. In no event shall the first Payment Date be set earlier than 60 days following the date ("Notice Date") of dispatc:h of such notice. The Recipient shall pay a service charge on the Aggregate Balance at the rate of three-fourths of one percent (3/4 of l %) per annum, payable in arrears on each Payment Date. The service charge shal.l be computed on the basis of a 360-day year of twelve 30-day months. Article V Recipient's Representative; Addresses 5.01. Recipient's Representative. The Recipient's Representative referred to in Section 9.02 of the Standard Conditions is the Recipient's Minister in charge of finance. 5.02. Recipient's Address. The Recipient's Address refen:ed to in Section 9.01 of the Standard Conditions is: Ministry of Finance Boulevard du 30 Juin Commune de la Gombe Kinshasa I, Democratic Republic of Congo Email: cabfinances@minfinrdc.com Tel.: +243 99 39 000 39 5.03. World Bank's Address. The World Bank's Address referred to in Section 9.01 of the Standard Conditions is: International Development Association 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433 United States of America Telex: Facsimile: 248423 (MCI) or (l )-202-477-639 l 64145 (MCI)