_______________

January 24, 2003

Dear Sir/Madam,

1. The Government of the Republic of Armenia has received a grant from the International Development Association in various currencies and intends to apply the proceeds of this grant to eligible payments for conducting works on Justification for CRM (Client Relationship Management System) Software Development and Customization for the Armenian Development Agency.
2. The Foreign Financing Projects Management Center (FFPMC) of the Ministry of Finance and Economy of the RA now invites Expressions of Interest from consultants to conduct works on Justification for CRM (Client Relationship Management System) Software Development and Customization for the Armenian Development Agency. Further details of the services are provided in the Terms of Reference attached at Appendix A.
3. This letter of invitation has been sent to the following ACT consultants:

a. CI Corporation;

b. Oakhurst System, Inc.;

c. Innovative Solutions, Inc.;

d. Market Technology Associates; 

e. MTBW Services, Inc.;  

f. Zip City Solutions, Inc.

and to the following CRM, and Goldmine consultants:

a. Savtec Computer Technology Ltd; 

b. Stuart Dyson Associates Ltd.;  

c. Eureka Systems BV

1. A firm will be selected under Selection Based on Consultants’ Qualifications, as described in the Bank’s Guidelines for the Selection and Employment of Consultants dated January 1997, revised January 1999, and procedures described in this letter of invitation.
    
2. Your firm / organization is invited to submit an Expression of Interest in response to this Invitation Letter. If you are interested in being considered a candidate for selection to undertake this activity, you should submit your Expression of Interest to us at the address indicated below. A suitable Expression of Interest would provide information to be used in determining your qualifications and competencies, including the following:

• Background information on your firm's / organization's structure, scope of employees, and recent business activities (e.g., past 2 - 3 years);

• Organizational departments and their general / specific expertise and/or functions;

• Technical competence with respect to information technologies sector developments in Armenia;

• Summaries of your recent consulting accomplishments / References (see forms attached in Appendix B) relevant to the Terms of Reference included herewith;

• Curriculum Vitae for staff you would propose to apply to the proposed assignment, recently signed by the proposed professional staff and the authorized representative submitting the Expression of Interest, should be submitted in the format provided at Appendix C to this letter.

1. Expressions of Interest should be submitted in English language by fax or E-mail. Consultants are not required to submit a Technical or Financial Proposal at this stage.
    
2. On the basis of its evaluation of the experience and qualifications of the consultants and of the curricula vitae submitted, the Selection Committee will select the consultants and will invite them to submit a combined Technical and Financial Proposal, which will be subject to negotiation with the FFPMC and ADA which may form the basis of a contract between the consultants and the Bank.
    
3. The address for submission of Expressions of Interest is:
   

Mr. Robert Harutyunyan
Executive Director
Foreign Financing Projects Management Center
Ministry of Finance and Economy
Government House 1, Republic Square,
Yerevan, Republic of Armenia

Telephone: (3741) 523 470
Fax: (3741) 545 700
E-mail: rharut@mfe.am
 

4. Expressions on Interest must be submitted no later than 31 January,2002.

 
5. The commencement of services is required to take place in February 2003.
    
6. Associations between invited consultants are not permitted.
    
7. Please inform us, upon receipt:
1. that you have received this Letter of Invitation;
2. whether or not you intend to submit an Expression of Interest.

Yours faithfully

Robert Harutyunyan

Executive Director,

For the Armenian Development Agency (ADA)

The objectives of Armenia’s Fifth Structural Adjustment Credit (SAC5) are to support Government’s reform program to consolidate macroeconomic stability, accelerate private sector development, and sustain reform process in social protection and education. SAC5 has three major components: (1) accelerating private sector development, (2) strengthening regulatory framework in infrastructures, and (3) sustaining social protection and education reforms. The components of SAC5 are closely associated with reform program initiated under the Fourth Structural Adjustment Credit (SAC4). Since Armenia gained independence, the Government successfully carried out several major structural reforms, including liberalizing prices and trade regime and establishing banking and financial infrastructures. In addition, the Government improved private sector environment through strengthening consultative mechanisms between public and private sectors, and eliminating many of the administrative barriers on investments. SAC5 will support additional measures to build the investment climate conducive for private sector initiatives.

The Government’s reform program considers further private sector development vital for sustaining growth, job creation and investment and export promotion. This is one of the key elements for private sector promotion strategy and is supported under SAC5.

In this regard the Government of Armenia has also initiated building of the capacity of the Armenian Development Agency (ADA) program to stimulate Armenia’s exports and foreign direct investment levels. The program is targeted towards strengthening the ADA, which is responsible for foreign investment promotion and facilitation and export development and seeks to make the ADA effective both in terms of reacting to investor enquiries and in terms of proactively seeking out new potential investors and export opportunities for Armenia. It is therefore anticipated that the volume of ADA’s business contacts will increase quite dramatically. As a consequence, the effective management, tracking and sharing of contacts among the various departments in the agency becomes of utmost importance.

Today’s most successful economic development agencies all use so-called Client Relations Management (CRM) systems to manage and track the huge number of their business contacts. A CRM system, customized to suit investment and export promotion activities, is essential to enhance communication and information sharing among the departments in the agency, strengthens management oversight, facilitates reporting, and allows staff to efficiently schedule meetings and other activities. The CRM system enhances the agency’s overall targeting efforts by facilitating outreach to potential investors and exporters and shortening response time to received enquiries.

Software must be the solution that is most cost effective, most sustainable and richest in functionality and offer excellent value for money. Long term support and product upgrades must be ensured.

In April 2002, ADA needs a CRM system evaluated and the following requirements collected:

1. Ability to Enter Full Contact Information (including e-mail and Website addresses)
2. Internet/Web Integration of the CRM system
3. Calendar Functions
4. Integration with Existing Applications (Word, Access, Excel)
5. Network-based
6. Capability to send e-mail through the CRM system
7. Reporting functionality
8. Unlimited Record Capacity

Based on these requirements, Consulting services are needed to implement a client relationship management system in ADA as follows:

• Development (Upgrading): The consultant will develop new or upgrade already available off-the-shelf software on designated networked computers and servers using assistance from ADA’s in-house technology coordinator. It is envisaged to install the software on approximately 25 PCs in the agency.
• Customization: The consultant will customize the client tracking system to suit the needs of an investment and export promotion agency. Specifically, customization will allow ADA to generate reports on the current status of the investment and export "pipeline" for Armenia, produce statistical and graphical analysis of foreign investment and export data for Armenia and evaluate marketing activities undertaken by the organization with regard to their effectiveness in generating new contacts. Furthermore, investment and export promotion relevant tools, such as currency converter, useful links to online business information resources, industrial classification codes, etc. will be loaded into the software to allow efficient lookup and research for ADA staff. ADA will be able to track the progression of client contacts from the stage of initial contact to implementation and even post-implementation phase. ADA will have the opportunity to review and provide further requirements for customization.

• Training: The consultant will provide user training for ADA staff receiving the software and administrator training for ADA IT staff.

Consultant will be experienced in development and customization of CRM systems, have a track record in delivering similar assignments, have excellent skills and experience in analyzing various technical solutions to find off-the-shelf software with additional customization to be the solution that is most cost effective, most sustainable and richest in functionality.

The consultant will report and work closely with Mr. Vahagn Movsisyan, Director of Armenian Development Agency and with Mr. Karen Grigoryan, Economist of the World Bank’s Yerevan Office. The assignment will be implemented within the period between February 2003 and March 2003.

Using the format below, provide information on each assignment for which your firm/entity, either individually as a corporate entity or as one of the major companies within an association, was legally contracted.

Firm’s Name:

Proposed Position:

Name of Firm:

Name of Staff:

Profession:

Date of Birth:

Years with Firm/Entity: Nationality:

Membership in Business Associations:

Detailed Tasks Assigned:

[Give an outline of staff member’s experience and training most pertinent to tasks on assignment. Describe degree of responsibility held by staff member on relevant previous assignments and give dates and locations. Use about half a page.]

[Summarize college/university and other specialized education of staff member, giving names of schools, dates attended, and degrees obtained. Use about one quarter of a page.]

[Starting with present position, list in reverse order every employment held. List all positions held by staff member since graduation, giving dates, names of employing organizations, titles of positions held, and locations of assignments. For experience in last ten years, also give types of activities performed and client references, where appropriate. Use about two pages.]

[For each language indicate proficiency: excellent, good, fair, or poor in speaking, reading, and writing.]

I, the undersigned, certify that to the best of my knowledge and belief, these data correctly describe my qualifications, my experience, and me.

Date: February 10, 2002

[Signature of staff member and authorized representative of the firm] Day/Month/Year

Full name of staff member:

Full name of authorized representative: ___________________________