Ministry of Energy with the assistance of the NCSE intends to elaborate and promote for government approval the necessary secondary legal framework that will enable NCSE to issue financial guarantees and compensations to homeowners’ associations within the framework of FEERM financing program.

Thus, in supporting the respective national authorities, Expertise France intends to acquire consultancy services to be provided by two qualified local consultants holding appropriate expertise and experience to carry out the following assignments:

1.       Collect and analyze international best practices and lessons learned for financial guarantee and interest compensation mechanisms. Calculate and propose an aggregate amount of financial resources for the implementation of such a mechanism in Moldova within a certain period of time. The focus should be on loans for homeowners' associations and similar entities involved in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. This includes reviewing the final package of documents for adoption, as detailed in the scope of work and indicative list of tasks for the Assignment no. 1 below;

2.       Draft, review and finalize the secondary legislation package. This includes participating in the public consultation process, as detailed in the scope of work and indicative list of tasks for the Assignment no. 2 below.

Scope of Work and indicative list of tasks:

In order to carry out the assignments mentioned above, under the supervision of the team leader of the TA project implemented by Expertise France and in coordination with representatives of Ministry of Energy (ME) and NCSE, the consultants will be responsible for the following scope of work, in accordance with the indicative list of tasks as follows:

Assignment no. 1:

ü  Conduct desktop research, review and document international best practices and experience in implementing financial guarantee and interest compensation measures on loans granted to homeowners' associations and other similar entities involved in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects;

ü  Conduct an analysis of credit risk and other risks specific to homeowners' associations or similar entities;

ü  Calculate the need for budgetary funds or from other sources, including development partners, for the implementation of the financial guarantee instrument and compensation of interest on loans granted for energy efficiency measures in residential buildings;

ü  Assess the banking sector and non-banking financial market in order to identify relevant eligibility criteria for creditors (banks and/or non-bank financial institutions);

ü  Elaborate proposals to regulate a financial guarantee and compensation mechanism for homeowners' associations. The proposals will be incorporated into the draft of the relevant secondary legislation;

ü  Draft the regulatory impact assessment as part of the draft legal acts’ substantiation note;

ü  Examine and revise the drafted legal acts, including ensuring their wording aligns with national legislative drafting requirements;

ü  Participate in public consultation process on various communication/discussion platforms of the drafted documents (Government, Ministry of Energy, NCSE, banking sector, professional associations, etc.);

ü  Review the final summary of objections to drafted documentation and formulate proposals for appropriate amendments thereto;

ü  Conduct a final review and coordinate the preparation of the final document package for presentation to the Ministry of Energy and NCSE.

The estimated workload for the local consultant to complete the Assignment no. 1 is 35 man-days.

Assignment no. 2:

ü  Develop draft legal acts to regulate the issuance of financial guarantees and the provision of financial compensation to homeowners’ associations, drawing on the findings from Assignment no. 1;

ü  Engage in public consultations with stakeholders and revise the drafts of the respective documents as necessary;

ü  Develop the summary of objections and proposals regarding the drafted legal acts;

ü  Finalize all the materials and prepare them for final submission to the Ministry of Energy and CNED, providing support for Government approval.

The estimated workload for the local consultant to complete the Assignment no. 2 is 30 man-days.

Expected deliverables and estimated deadlines:

The implementation of the respective scope of work will be confirmed by the following deliverables:

Work management arrangements:

To complete the full scope of work within the estimated timeline, Expertise France will hire two local consultants. They will work as a team, with each consultant taking the lead on one of the two assignments. They will also coordinate their efforts to ensure all deliverables are completed on time.

The consultant responsible for the Assignment no. 1 will serve as the overall coordinator for the entire scope of work. This person will also be in charge of preparing the final documents’ package for submission to the designated team members of the EF TAF project, Ministry of Energy and NCSE.

The consultants will work under the supervision of the Expertise France project team leader and in coordination with representatives from the Ministry of Energy and NCSE.

Financial arrangements:

Payment for the services will be made in one installment upon presentation of all deliverables related to each assignment and confirmation of their acceptability by Expertise France, based on the beneficiaries' opinion.