NOTIFICATION OF AWARD

Country: Republic of Moldova

Project: Education Quality Improvement Project

Project ID No.: IBRD-95360

Assignment Title: Training Services, Professional Development, and Study Visits for Teaching Staff Thematic Area: Inclusive Education, Innovative Pedagogy, and Educational Leadership

Reference No. (as per Procurement Plan): MD-MoEd-545104-CS-CQS

Method of Procurement/Selection: Consultant’s Qualification Based Selection (CQS)

 

1. The Consultant who expressed the interest:

• Date Inteligente SRL (Moldova)
• CH Group (Portugal)
• Universitatea de Stat din Moldova
• Universitatea Pedagogică de Stat Ion Creangă

1. The Qualification requirements and basis for evaluation (evaluation criteria) are:

• General experience (30 points):
• Be a legally registered entity in accordance with applicable national legislation.
• Experience in collaboration with public institutions in the education sector shall be considered an advantage.
• Experience in projects funded by the World Bank, the European Union, or other international donors shall be considered an advantage.
• Specific experience (70 points)
• Demonstrate experience in implementing projects in the field of education, professional development of teaching staff, or educational management, through at least 3 relevant contracts or projects.
• Have at least 5 years of relevant experience in organizing and implementing professional development activities for teaching and managerial staff, including the design of training programs, logistical coordination of sessions, and monitoring of results.
• Have adequate logistical and administrative capacity to manage multiple activities, delegations, or parallel tracks simultaneously.
• Have sufficient human resources, internal coordination mechanisms, and clear operational and financial management procedures.

 

Other candidates

 

CH Group – NOT SHORTLISTED

The Consultant demonstrates strong international experience in human resources, organizational development, leadership, capacity building, donor-funded projects, and public-sector assignments. The EoI also shows broad institutional capacity, access to a large pool of experts, and experience in projects financed by international development partners.

However, the EoI is only partially aligned with the specific requirements of the present assignment. The submitted document is largely a general corporate profile and does not sufficiently demonstrate direct experience in the Republic of Moldova, cooperation with Moldovan education institutions, or practical capacity to organize and deliver multiple training activities for teaching and managerial staff in local schools and districts. The Consultant does not clearly identify a local partner, local implementation team, Romanian-speaking trainers, or a concrete logistical mechanism for managing the activities foreseen under the ToR.

Therefore, while the Consultant has strong international credentials and relevant general experience in HR, leadership and capacity building, its relevance to this national CQS assignment is considered limited/partial due to insufficient evidence of local education-sector experience and operational capacity in Moldova.

 

Universitatea Pedagogică de Stat Ion Creangă and Universitatea de Stat din Moldova – NOT SHORTLISTED

During the eligibility screening of the Expressions of Interest (EOIs), the Evaluation Committee reviewed the legal status of the participating state higher education institutions.

Regarding Universitatea Pedagogică de Stat Ion Creangă, Article 6 (Section II, “Legal Status and Identity Elements of the University”) of its Charter explicitly states that its founder is the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova. Similarly, Article 1, sub-point 8 of the Charter of Universitatea de Stat din Moldova identifies the Ministry of Education as its founder.

Given that the contracting authority for this assignment is the Ministry of Education and Research (acting through the Education Quality Improvement Project), the Committee noted that both universities are state-owned institutions founded by the very same public authority managing this procurement process.

Under the World Bank Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers, state-owned enterprises or institutions in the Borrower’s country are eligible to compete and win contracts only if they can clearly demonstrate to the Bank that they meet three cumulative conditions:

They are legally and financially autonomous;

They operate under commercial law; and

They are not under the supervision of the agency contracting them.

Based on their own institutional charters, neither university could demonstrate compliance with these mandatory criteria. Most notably, they fail the requirement of being independent from the contracting agency's supervision. On the contrary, their charters confirm that their founder is the Ministry of Education / Ministry of Education and Research—which is the exact entity financing and overseeing this assignment.

Furthermore, the submissions provided no justification to show that the services offered by these universities are unique or exceptional, that no suitable private sector alternatives exist, or that their participation is critical to the project's success. Such arguments would have been necessary to back a request for a case-by-case exception from the World Bank.

Consequently, the Evaluation Committee concluded that Universitatea Pedagogică de Stat Ion Creangă and  Universitatea de Stat din Moldova do not meet the eligibility requirements for state-owned institutions under World Bank Regulations. As a result, they cannot be shortlisted or advanced to the next stage of evaluation under this procedure

 

1. The overall technical scores and scores assigned for each criterion to the consultant

 

	Results of evaluation of EOI:	Name of the short-listed consultant	Points
		Date Inteligente (iData)	93.00

 

1. Awarded Consultant: Date Inteligente (Moldova), fiscal code: 1016600020756, having its principal office located at Sfatul Tarii, 27 str., of. 33, MD-2012, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova.

 

1. Price: 2 518 400,00 MDL

Duration: August 2026 – July 2027