Request For Consultancy Proposal - Training Civil Society Organizations On Transparency Law And Law For Access To Information (Posted On Behalf Of Lebanese Oil And Gas Initiative - Logi).

1. About LOGI LOGI is an independent non-governmental organization based in Beirut that promotes the transparent and sound management of Lebanon’s oil and gas resources. It aims to develop a network of Lebanese experts in the global energy industry and provide them with a platform to educate Lebanese policy makers as well as Lebanese citizens on the key decisions facing the oil and gas industry. It focuses on public awareness, policy development, advocacy and capacity building to help Lebanon maximize the economic and social benefits of its oil and gas wealth – and avoid the resource curse. LOGI is the first and only Lebanese NGO member of Publish What You Pay (PWYP).    2. Introduction about the Gas and Oil sector in Lebanon  Petroleum exploration has a long history in Lebanon; however, the topic was kept aside until Noble Energy, a leading U.S. energy company, started searching the reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean Basin where it succeeded in December 2009 in discovering new oil and gas reserves. The Levant Basin is an 83,000 km2 region which engulfs Syrian, Lebanese, and Cypriot, as well as Israeli/occupied Palestine waters. It has been declared by Noble Energy that the Levant Basin’s hydrocarbon reserves are the largest resources screened by them up to this date. The above new facts gave the Lebanese authorities the motivation to start implementing serious measures since the year 2010 to tap any potential oil and gas reserves. On February 15, 2013 the Lebanese Minister of Energy and Water (MoEW) held a press conference launching the pre-qualification process for oil companies to bid on offshore oil and gas exploration. In January 2017, and after a three-year delay, Lebanon re-launched its first oil and gas licensing round. Lebanon has opened five offshore blocks (1, 4, 8, 9 and 10) for bidding in a first licensing round of offshore oil and gas exploration in Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone. In February 2017, Lebanon has also decided to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) to guarantee the transparency of the process. The petroleum sector in Lebanon is at an early stage, and there are currently no exploration or production activities. The existence and size of recoverable reserves remain unclear, nevertheless, the seismic surveys proved that the reserves are feasible to be excavated. Great expectations have come with the prospect of becoming a petroleum producing country, with ideas of wiping Lebanon’s monumental public debt clean, embarking on grand infrastructure projects and ushering in a new era of stability and prosperity. Unfortunately, Lebanon’s lack of experience in the area of energy reserves presents several challenges for effective and equitable management of its resources. It is worth noting that far from the politics and the debates, qualified people are working on this topic. If these actors were given the space and freedom to work and got the needed support the economy will start to witness prosperity.    3. Problem addressed Lebanon is the 136 least corrupt nation out of 175 countries, according to the 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index reported by Transparency International. Corruption effects all sectors of society and different governmental body and has a huge negative effect on the investment, economic growth and on judiciary system.  Corruption in Lebanon exists in all its forms including bribery, nepotism, favoritism, patronage, embezzlement, kick-backs, and vote-buying. There is no doubt that there are various causes for corruption in Lebanon some of which are: The lack of awareness on corruption, its causes and consequences; The absence of dysfunctional key anti-corruption institutions; The weak legal framework and the lack of proper legal implementation mechanisms This persisting problem has had tremendous political, financial and economic costs on the Lebanese economy and rendered the delicate the relationship between citizens and the state which resulted in a lack of trust and continuous accusations of corruptive acts regardless if the activity is based on corruption or not. Lebanon is currently embarking in the emerging sector where this industry has special features, including the potential for substantial economic rents, high-levels of government involvement, technically and structurally complicated operations, as well as complex and lengthy fiscal, legal, and commercial agreements which makes it more important to have high transparency standards in order not to manipulate revenue flows for political or personal gain, in turn fueling the resource curse. The Lebanese government have recently undertook huge steps and attempts towards promoting transparency in the oil and gas industry through expressing interest to join the EITI; another positive step was drafting oil and gas transparency law and the right to access to information law. However, it is very important to bear in mind that having a general law on transparency specifically targeting the oil and gas sector will not eliminate corruption and power abuse risks without having a strong actors who are well aware of the law and their ability to use it in order to access information and call for an act against any corruptive action. It is true that transparency is needed but it is not sufficient to produce accountability in the public sector. It takes several robust pillars to build a strong bridge; one of which is a civil society that is aware of the details of the laws and are able to hold the government accountable.    4. Project and Services to be Provided  The Lebanese Oil and Gas Initiative (LPA) is commissioning a training within the framework of its project on “Partnership for Oil for the Common Good in Lebanon”. The project is supported by Norwegian People Aid (NPA) Lebanon and funded by the Norwegian Development Agency (Norad). The goal of this training component is to assist the civil society through equipping them with the knowledge about two laws: transparency law and the access to information law). Accordingly, requested services would be: Conduct a review on the two laws and how they complement each other Conduct a two-days training workshop to brief CSOs on the two laws as well as ways to be utilize them in their work on oil and gas Develop a brief booklet that summarizes the laws in an easy understandable accessible way with guidelines on how to be best utilized by CSOs Participate in a conference to be held by NPA on the two laws Submit a final narrative that describes the training and conference outcomes and key recommendations for next steps. A. Approach The consultant must further optimise the overall consultancy proposal highlighted in the ToR. The researcher should propose the approach that s/he will use to deliver the consultancy service. Also it is very important for the consultant to submit details about the training techniques that will be used. The consultant will also develop a work plan with clear milestone deliverables and timelines in consistency with the set timeframe of this assignment. The proposed approach and work plan should be included in the consultancy proposal to be submitted to NPA.   B. Deliverables   Brief booklet in Arabic on the two laws (in MS Word) Two-days training workshop for CSOs on the laws A report on the training workshop that includes main findings, analysis and conclusions with associated evidence and data clearly illustrated.  LOGI in partnership with NPA shall decide which sections of the report to be considered as public and which are only accessible by LOGI and NPA.   5. Contract Period   Dates Action 13 October 2017 – 20 October 2017 Submission of proposals 21 October 2017 –  25 October 2017 Scanning of proposals and meeting applicants 30 October 2017 Agreement signature 1 November 2017 – 28 November 2017 Implementation of the research 27 November 2017 Submission of the first draft of the booklet 1 December – 6 December Conduct 2 days of workshop 6 December – 10 December 2017 Holding the conference 10 December 2017 Submission of the final guidelines   Periodical meetings will take place between LOGI focal point and the consultant during the period of the project. Adjustment of dates might be negotiated between LOGI and the consultants.   Budget   Max US 5,000. Please note that this amount must cover any taxes that may apply. Please also note that price is a selection criteria.     The tender will be evaluated and selected based on the following criteria:       The Qualifications of the Research Team/Researcher 20 % The Quality of the Proposal -          Understanding of the Requirements (10 %) -          Analytical Approach (20 %) -          Training Techniques (20 %) -          Implementation Plan (10 %) 60 % The Price 20 % Total 100 %