Project name:  Supporting progress in key areas of public administration reform in Lebanon

Donor: European Union

Implementing agency:               Expertise France

Beneficiary:                                   Public Procurement Authority

Duration of the mission:  35 Man/Days to be completed by the 31^st of October 2027

Assignment location:  Beirut, Lebanon

Job title:  Laravel Expert in web development

Deadline for application:         November 6^th, 2026 at 4:00 PM

I. Context and justification of the need

Expertise France (EF) is a public agency created on the 1st of January 2015, and it has joined AFD Group as of January 1, 2022. EF offers program engineering and technical assistance by developing and implementing international cooperation actions worldwide. Expertise France is the French public agency for international technical assistance.

Project: Supporting progress in key areas of public administration reform in Lebanon

Since 2019, Lebanon has been facing one of the worst economic crises globally since the mid-nineteenth century according to the World Bank, with 2 major events intensifying its impact, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Beirut port explosion in 2020. As the financial and economic situation unfolds, the downfall can be seen in all of the country’s aspects, from the availability of state services to the functioning of public administrations. Understanding the extent of this downfall requires an overview of several key facts that could represent Lebanon’s new reality.

Lebanon has also been facing political and economic crises for several years. The country has a complex political system that is based on power-sharing arrangements among its religious sects. However, this system has led to political gridlock, corruption, and a lack of accountability, which has resulted in a deteriorating economic situation and social unrest. The political deadlock in Lebanon refers to the ongoing inability of the country's political leaders to form a functioning government. This deadlock has been repetitive and has always persisted for multiple months and sometimes years.

The country’s worsening context has severe consequences on all sectors, with Lebanese public administrations being the most affected due to the reduction of available public funds. This has affected the core of public services and the basic functioning of administrations.

A new EU Program Action started in December 2023 that aims to support progress in key areas of public administration reform in Lebanon through enhancing the integrity, transparency and accountability of its public administration aligned with the principles of a modern public administration. It consists of three outcomes:

1. Safeguarding integrity of the public administration, mainly in the area of public human resources management (i.e. civil service reform);

2. Enhancing transparency in public administration systems, mainly in the area of public procurement at central and local level (i.e. public financial management reform) and access to public information (i.e. accountability);

3. Strengthening accountability of the administration by reinforcing the role of the main oversight bodies (i.e., Central Inspection Board, Court of Audits and National Anti-Corruption Commission) in implementing reform, fighting and preventing corruption.

The Outputs to be delivered contributing to the outcome 2 on public procurement reform are:

2.1. Centralized and decentralized public procurement systems more transparent by setting up the e-procurement platform;

2.2 Skills of procurement officers and stakeholders enhanced and public procurement function created;

2.3 The public procurement system is regulated by an independent authority committed to the principles of transparency, fair treatment of all bidders and equal opportunities to participate;

2.4 The role of civil society organizations in supervising and monitoring public procurement enhanced.

Needs justification

Albeit the financial crisis, almost all Lebanese governmental entities have suffered from budget cuts that affected negatively on their IT infrastructure and IT systems spending. The complications have multiplied with the financial crisis and political gridlock in the country, leaving most public administrations in dire need of support.

The PPA, officially established on July 29, 2022 in accordance with the law, is a public procurement regulatory authority, whose missions defined by article 76 of law 244/2021, and include:

- Assistance and control of contracting entities in their public procurement operations.

- The variation of the law in secondary legislation.

- The definition of national public purchasing policies.

- The creation of public buyers’ professions and the definition of a national training policy.

- The establishment of an e-procurement system.

- International cooperation in public procurement.

The project aims to support the IT and Capacity building needs of the public procurement authority. Digitalization and reliance on IT solutions are key to the success of the PPA, especially with the international standards for transparency in public procurement. To carry out the project activities, Expertise France will rely on an expert specialized in web development, with experience in working with public administrations to continue the development the web portal for the authority as a corner stone for its work in the few years ahead.

II. Objectives and desired results

1) General objective

       The Procurement Authority is responsible for managing and overseeing the procurement processes within the republic of Lebanon. To enhance efficiency, transparency, and accessibility, the authority started to develop a comprehensive web portal dedicated to procurement activities, announcements, and more according to the Public Procurement Law and its amendments

2) Specific objectives

· Provide Web development for emerging requirements arising during the operational use of the PPA portal.

· Enable easy access to procurement-related information according to international standards, guidelines, and documents.

· Facilitate communication between the Public Procurement Authority and stakeholders.

· Allow the PPA to control and validate the procurement related information and effectively monitor this process.

3) Anticipated results

- A responsive web portal with intuitive user interface is available and accessible by all stakeholders.

- The transparency of the public procurement system is enhanced

III. Description of the expert’ mission and Deliverables

To effectively execute the guidelines outlined in Chapter 4 of Law 244 on public procurement, the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) is establishing a robust, adaptable, and user-friendly web portal built upon an open-source content management framework.

This portal will cater to approximately 2,000 registered entities, each granted access based on their respective roles and permissions. The PPA portal is therefore poised to become a central hub for transparent, efficient, and user-friendly access to procurement-related information and services that empowers stakeholders to participate effectively in public procurement processes, promotes integrity and accountability, and drives efficiency and value for money in government spending. The envisioned outcome is the creation of a secure portal that is fully compliant with legal stipulations and operational requirements.

1) Scope of Work

The selected Web Expert will be responsible for:

· Supporting PPA in addressing technical and functional requirements that may arise during the assignment and that are necessary for the effective operation, continuity, security, compatibility, or usability of the PPA portal. This may include minor enhancements, configuration changes, technical adjustments, patches, and other limited interventions that could not reasonably have been identified at the time of preparation of these Terms of Reference. Such requests shall remain within the general technical scope and architecture of the PPA portal and shall not constitute the development of major new modules or substantial new functionalities.

· Complying with the cybersecurity requirements, controls, and corrective actions identified through the ongoing cybersecurity assessment and implementation process applicable to the PPA web portal.

· Providing training sessions and user support for the civil servants of the PPA dealing with the portal.

· Delivering documentation, including user manuals and technical guides for the web development work, ensuring the ability to amend and expand the portal in the future.

2) Technology Stack

· Frontend: HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, Bootstrap for responsive design.

· Backend: latest stable Laravel framework.

· Database: Maria DB for storing procurement data securely.

· Version Control: Git for code management and collaboration. GIT credentials must be shared at all times with PPA Team, the Expert must ensure that her/his latest code is synced on the GIT repo on daily basis. The GIT repo will be at PPA disposal during development and post-delivery with no incurring and/or recurring cost on PPA’s end.

3) Accessibility

All fixes, technical adjustments, and minor enhancements implemented under this assignment shall, where applicable, follow the Portal's existing accessibility and responsive design standards and recognized good practices, including WCAG principles, keyboard accessibility, and usability across mobile, tablet, and desktop devices. This requirement applies to work performed under this assignment and does not constitute a requirement for full accessibility or responsiveness remediation of the existing Portal.

4) Agile Methodology and Sprint Delivery requirements

The Expert shall follow a flexible and iterative approach for addressing emerging and unforeseen requirements throughout the assignment. Requirements shall be reviewed and prioritized with PPA and Expertise France based on urgency, operational impact, complexity, and available man-days.

The Expert shall implement and deliver agreed fixes, patches, technical adjustments, and minor enhancements on an ongoing basis, allowing for timely validation and feedback.

5) Staging Environment

Provide and maintain a staging environment for the duration of the assignment, aligned with the production environment, to enable the testing and validation of fixes, patches, technical adjustments, and minor enhancements before deployment to the live PPA Portal. The staging environment shall be accessible to designated PPA and Expertise France focal points for validation, as required.

6) Governance

A project steering committee, comprising representatives from PPA and Expertise France, will oversee the project's progress and provide guidance thus regular progress updates and reports will be presented to the steering committee for review and decision-making. Successful Expert will be required to submit bi-monthly reports on the development advancement and make sure the Development environment is always up to date with the latest phases releases.

7) Deliverables

The Expert shall provide the following deliverables throughout the assignment:

All deliverables shall be subject to review and acceptance by PPA and Expertise France. Individual interventions shall be prioritized and approved during the assignment based on operational needs and shall remain within the overall scope and approved 35 man-days of the contract.

IV. Place, duration, and terms of performance.

1) Remote with onsite visits when needed hence required by  Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and/or Expertise France.

2) Start date: On contract signature

3) Delivery date: October 31^st, 2027

V. Required expertise and profile

              The ideal candidate for the Web development expert position should possess the following qualifications and expertise:

· Proven experience (5+ years) in Web Development of web and mobile applications, with a strong portfolio showcasing successful projects and Similar complexity to the PPA portal.   Preference will be given to candidates with a portfolio of delivery services for public entities.

· Proficient in the following  

· Front End Development

· Proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

· Experience with responsive design techniques.

· Understanding of web accessibility standards and best practices.

· Backend End Development

· Strong grasp of server-side programming languages such as JavaScript (Node.js), Python, PHP, or Go.

· 5+ years proven hands on experience with Laravel Framework (PHP).

· Experience in RESTful APIs for communication between the front end and back end.

· Familiarity with authentication and authorization mechanisms like JWT, OAuth, or session management.

· Database Management

· Proficiency in designing and implementing database schemas.

· Experience with both relational databases (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL)

· Knowledge of database optimization techniques for improving performance.

· Version Control

· Proficiency in using version control systems like GitHub for code management and collaboration.

· Understanding of branching strategies and pull request workflows.

· Deployment

· Understanding of CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment) pipelines for automating the deployment process.

· Soft Skills

· Experience working in Agile or Iterative development environments is preferred.

VI. How to apply

The proposal should include:

· Completed and signed candidature form Stating the daily rate, along with all annexes attached to the form.

· Professional resume in English highlighting background, education, and proven experiences.

· Links to the candidate’s portfolio, namely portals developed of possible similar business line.

· 1 preferably 2 previous clients contacts, to be approached by Expertise France, for reference checking.

Please send your proposal through Gex Platform

Submission deadline

All proposals must be submitted no later than 6th November 2026.

1) Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation process will be conducted in the following stages:

1. Shortlisting: Applications will be reviewed against the qualifications, skills, and professional experience specified in the required profile. Only candidates who meet the requirements will be shortlisted.

2. Interview: Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview to assess their suitability for the assignment.

3. Proposal Submission: Following the interview, selected candidates will be invited to submit a technical offer detailing a proposed Service Level Agreement (SLA) clearly specifying response and target resolution times for critical and non-critical issues.

4. Final Evaluation: The submitted proposals will be evaluated based on technical quality and financial offer, in accordance with the criteria and weightings set out below

The best value for money is established by weighing technical quality against price on a 60/40 basis. The quality of each technical and financial offer will be evaluated in accordance with the following award criteria and the weighting:

The Expert will be appraised and given a score up to 100 points according to these criteria.

NB:

- Only experts with scores of at least 50 points on technical evaluation qualify for the financial evaluation.

- No other award criteria will be used. The award criteria will be examined in accordance with the requirements indicated in the Terms of Reference.

2) Confidentiality

The entire evaluation procedure is confidential, subject to Expertise France’s legislation on access to documents. The Evaluation Committee’s decisions are collective, and its deliberations are held in closed session. The members of the Evaluation Committee are bound to secrecy. The evaluation reports and written records are for official use only and may be communicated neither to the tenderers nor to any party other than Expertise France.

3) Assignment Invalidations

The following actions will nullify any contractual and financial obligations Expertise France has towards the expert.

1. Failure to deliver agreed emerging or unforeseen requirements within the mutually agreed scope, priority, timeline, and allocated man-days. Failure to provision, maintain(update) the project GIT repo and share it with PPA Team.

4) Service Level Agreement (SLA)

Given the operational importance of the PPA Portal, the Expert shall ensure timely response and resolution of reported technical issues.

· Critical Issues: Issues causing Portal unavailability or preventing critical procurement operations shall be acknowledged and troubleshooting initiated within a maximum of one (1) hour from formal notification.

· Resolution Times: The Expert shall propose, as part of the technical offer, clear and realistic target resolution times for critical and non-critical issues, taking into consideration issue severity, complexity, and technical dependencies.

· Commitment: The SLA proposed by the selected Expert and accepted by PPA/Expertise France shall become part of the contractual service requirements and shall be used to assess performance during the assignment.

· Dependencies: Delays demonstrably resulting from infrastructure, third-party systems, access restrictions, required approvals, or other circumstances outside the Expert's control shall be excluded from the applicable resolution time.

· Reporting: Issues shall be formally reported through the designated email or support channel. Phone or instant messaging may additionally be used for urgent notification.

The Expert's proposed response and resolution times for critical and non-critical issues will be evaluated based on their responsiveness, clarity, feasibility, and suitability for the operational criticality of the PPA Portal. The proposed SLA shall constitute a binding commitment upon contract award.

5) Payment

Payment shall be made against an official invoice issued by the selected expert for an amount corresponding to the total number of man-days approved and defined in the submitted proposal for the respective deliverable phase.

Payment shall be subject to formal acceptance of the deliverables, evidenced by a sign-off document duly signed by the PPA focal point. No payment shall be processed in the absence of such sign-off.

Any additional man-days incurred beyond those approved in the proposal shall be considered out of scope and shall not be eligible for payment under any circumstances.

Expertise France reserves the right to retain ten percent (10%) of the invoiced amount per phase as a performance guarantee. The retained amount for each phase shall be released and paid three (3) months after final contract delivery, subject to satisfactory completion of all obligations.