Local Consultant on Investment – Chemonics عودة إلى الفرص

Title: Local Consultant on Investment

Length of Assignment: Short-Term

Reports to: Team Leader for JOBS Business Enabling Environment

BACKGROUND

Tunisia JOBS, financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is delivering  technical assistance to Tunisian SMEs to enable enterprise growth and employment. JOBS is helping the private sector and the Government of Tunisia (GOT) forge a more competitive business enabling environment by jointly identifying policy and regulatory constraints to business growth.

As part of the year two work plan, JOBS selected among its policy priorities market access for investors, specifically streamlining administrative authorizations specified in Decree 417 of May 2018, which will encourage greater investment in the Tunisian economy.

In 2019, the OECD and MCC finalized a Competition Assessment Review that analyzes the  impacts of regulatory barriers to competition that exist in the freight-transport, wholesale, and  retail trade sectors. The review identified 259 potential regulatory barriers in 251 legal texts. This  report makes 220 specific recommendations that if implemented could have a positive effect for  the Tunisian economy ranging between TND 574.6 million and TND 645.8 million.

Decree 417 provides an inventory of the licenses and permits/authorizations required for all economic sectors. It is comprised of three pages of general provisions and the following four annexes:

• Annex 1: The list of 100 economic activities subject to authorization.
• Annex 2: The list of 27 economic activities for which authorizations will be deleted;
• Annex 3: The list of 143 administrative authorizations required for a project; and
• Annex 4: The list of 26 authorizations for which the principle of silence does not apply. This principle says that authorization is granted if the responsible public institution does  not provide an explicit authorization by the official deadlines stated in the related regulatory documents.

Several public and private entities – the Ministry of Development Investment and International Cooperation’s (MIDCI’s) Management by Objectives Unit (MOU), which is responsible for  revision of the authorizations for economic activities, GOT agencies (mainly Tunisia Investment Authority/TIA and Industry Promotion Agency/APII), and professional organizations – all recognize that Decree 417 is too long (222 pages). This length and complexity make it very difficult for an investor to identify rules and regulations required for a specific sector.
To address this concern, MDICI has requested JOBS’ assistance to develop an action plan to reduce regulatory barriers with the following activities.

• Benchmarking international best practices on investment regulations for reducing administrative procedures and proposing an action plan for Tunisia (scope of work for an international consultant submitted separately to USAID).
• Digitizing Decree 417 and the related regulations pertaining to specific sectors (scope of work for an IT firm will be developed separately by JOBS); and
• Identifying key messages and main provisions for major economic sectors to be shared broadly in a digital format. Under this SOW, JOBS will hire a local consultant to work  closely with the international consultant and the IT firm that will develop the digital  tool for Decree 417. This local consultant will use his or her expertise in investment
  regulations to summarize key messages related to required approvals, authorizations, and procedures; the Ministries or GOT agencies involved; and conditions required for any investment in Tunisia.

OBJECTIVES

• The local consultant will:
• In coordination with the international consultant who will elaborate an action plan on streamlining administrative authorizations based on international best practices, make actionable recommendations to adapt the action plan to the Tunisian investment climate and economy.
• Simplify complex regulatory information in Decree 417 and its annexes into the most critical information required for investment to be communicated in a digital format. The local consultant will work closely with the IT firm to allow better accessibility, widerdissemination, and a clearer understanding for local and foreign investors.

The simplification of the decree will attract additional investments, modernize the business climate.

DETAILED RESPONSIBILITIES

Detailed responsibilities are outlined below:

• Provide technical expertise on Tunisia’s investment regulations and sectors for the international consultant. The local consultant will provide recommendations on how to adapt international best practices to the Tunisian context.
• Review the translation to English of the three first pages of the official Arabic and French versions of Decree 417 to ensure it is accurate and maintains important regulatory nuances.
• Direct the IT firm that JOBS will hire to digitalize Decree 417 to maintain important information and regulatory nuances of the decree and its annexes for key economic sectors (e.g. agribusiness, industry, environmental assessments, information and communication technologies, and pharmaceuticals, as well as flexibility for any future content).

DELIVERABLES:

• A summary of the content of the Decree 417 and its annexes in three languages, including the main information and key messages suitable for the digital tool.
• Adjustments/edits to the summarized content, based on feedback from JOBS’ IT subcontractor and the team leader, to finalize the digital tool so that it is accessible and helpful to potential investors.

These deliverables will be prepared using standard USAID/Tunisia JOBS templates and appropriate branding and marking.

REPORTING:

The consultant will report to USAID/JOBS Business Enabling Environment team leader.

LEVEL OF EFFORT AND PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE

This scope of work includes two related short-term assignments totaling 40 LOE. The first assignment will start from July 20th and will include 15 LOE focused on providing technical expertise on Tunisia’s investment regulations and sectors for the international consultant

The second assignment will start once the IT agency will be hired and will include 25 LOE focused on directing the IT firm to digitalize Decree 417.