Consulting services for assessment and improvement of legal frameworks regarding legal aid and mediation

Project: P178599 - Strengthening Foundations for Improved Justice Service Delivery Reference: CS-1-1-1 Procurement method: Quality And Cost-Based Selection Financing: World Bank REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (CONSULTING SERVICES - FIRMS SELECTION) ROMANIA COUNTRY: ROMANIA Strengthening Foundations for Improved Justice Service Delivery Project Loan No.: 9549-RO Assignment Title: Consulting services for assessment and improvement of legal frameworks regarding legal aid and mediation Reference No . CS-1-1-1 The Government of Romania has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the Strengthening Foundations for Improved Justice Service Delivery Project , and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services. The consulting services (“the Services”) objectives are to conduct an ex post assessment of the current legal framework regarding legal aid and mediation, in order to propose modifications for a revised framework, aiming to increase the access to justice. The consulting services (“the Services”) include: Component I - legal aid framework Activity I.1 - Identify all the pieces of legislation and other relevant administrative acts and protocols comprising the legal aid framework, bearing in mind at least the following: Government Emergency Ordinance (GEO) no. 51/2008 regarding legal aid in civil matters, Law no. 51/1995 on the organization and practice of the legal profession, GEO no. 80/2013 on judicial stamp duties, the protocol on lawyers' fees concluded between the Ministry of Justice and UNBR; Activity I.2 - Asses the legal aid framework from the following perspectives: i) relevant judicial practice (jurisprudence), ii) compatibility of the current framework with European norms and ECHR decisions relevant for the legal aid filed, iii) efficiency of the current provisions for the beneficiaries, reported to the governing principles of the framework, iv) existing studies/research/doctrine/statistics relevant in this filed, v) compared law studies, vi) opinions expressed by citizens and civil society, vii) identified shortcomings and legal miscorrelations considering the outcomes of the points i) -vi) above; Activity I.3 - Prepare technical inputs and draft proposals for a revised legal aid framework, considering the assessment elaborated as an outcome of Activities I.1&2. Activity I.4 - Provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Justice during the public consultation and institutional review process of the revised legal framework above, including preparing summaries of feedback received and technical responses to comments from stakeholders. Component II - mediation framework (Law no. 192/2006 on mediation and the organization of the mediation profession) Activity II.1 - Assessment of: i) the current form of Law no. 192/2006, including the relevant jurisprudence (e.g. of Constitutional Court, and High Court of Cassation and Justice, Court of Justice of the European Union, European Court of Human Rights) which impacted the enforcement of the law provisions ii) the relevant doctrine registered after Law no. 192/2006 entered into force, including the recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, as well as of the CEPEJ Committee on Mediation (CEPEJ-GT-MED) within the Council of Europe, iii) compared law (the legal frameworks in the field of mediation in Italy and France and/or other mediation systems of other EU member states compatible with Romanian legal framework but more efficient) aiming to identify various ways to improve the Romanian framework and make it more efficient, iv) the proposals formulated by the Ministry of Justice or other relevant stakeholder in the field of mediation in order to improve the current framework. Activity II.2 - Prepare technical inputs and draft proposals for a revised mediation framework, considering the assessment elaborated as an outcome of Activity II. 1 above. Activity II.3 - Provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Justice during the public consultation and institutional review process of the revised legal framework above, including preparing summaries of feedback received and technical responses to comments from stakeholders. The Consultant should complete all these activities within a period of 12 months after contract signing. The estimated top budget is of 743,666 EURO (VAT included). The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment are attached to this request for expressions of interest . The Ministry of Justice - Department for Implementation of Externally Financed Projects (DIEFP) now invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The shortlisting criteria are: a) Overall experience with related services and processes in the field of legal aid field: 30 points ; b) Overall e