Terms of Reference

1. Brief overview 

Revenue Mobilisation, Investment and Trade (REMIT) programme is a nine-year (2019- 28) technical assistance programme funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), United Kingdom to support Pakistan in implementing strategic reforms in the realm of economic development, trade, investment and revenue mobilisation. The key outcomes under the programme will be contributing towards strengthening the macroeconomic stability and improving conditions for high and sustained growth, mutual prosperity, job creation and poverty reduction in Pakistan. More specifically, REMIT programme aims at supporting the Government of Pakistan in the following areas:

1. Enhance revenue mobilisation capabilities and help raise the tax/GDP ratio by increasing the number of taxpayers; 

2. Address the investment climate constraints faced by local and international businesses and support Pakistan in moving towards being one of the top reformer countries to do business in creating ease for businesses;

3. Facilitate trade and drive competitiveness by reducing barriers to trade and reducing Pakistan’s trade deficit by helping increase exports; 

4. Modernise formulation and implementation of macroeconomic policy to avoid future financial crises.

As part of the Investment Climate workstream, REMIT has been supporting the Government of Pakistan to advance a comprehensive regulatory reform programme aimed at strengthening the country’s business enabling environment. REMIT has helped federal and provincial counterparts identify bottlenecks, streamline regulatory processes, and introduce practical reforms that improve transparency, reduce compliance burdens, and modernise service delivery. Building on this work, REMIT is now supporting the Sindh Investment Department (SID), Board of Investment (BoI), and the Prime Minister’s Office to design and implement an ambitious reform programme aligned with the World Bank’s B-READY framework. Through the mobilisation of an experienced international consulting firm, REMIT will assist the government in developing a structured reform methodology, conducting diagnostics and benchmarking, engaging regulators and private sector stakeholders, and preparing actionable regulatory and operational reforms. This effort—spanning January to August 2025 aims to deliver sequenced reform packages that improve Pakistan’s competitiveness, enhance institutional capacity, and generate measurable de-facto improvements in business processes and service delivery.

2. Task Background

A consulting firm is required to work closely with the SID, BOI and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to design and support the implementation of a comprehensive reform programme aligned with the World Bank’s B-READY assessment framework. The firm will undertake detailed regulatory and institutional diagnostics, benchmark Pakistan’s business processes against global best practices, and identify critical reforms across key domains such as business entry, property registration, utilities, labour, trade facilitation, taxation, and dispute resolution. Building on the federal reform methodology already tested by BoI, the firm will develop actionable reform proposals, prepare Decision Memos for submission to the Cabinet Committee on Regulatory Reforms (CCoRR) and relevant provincial authorities, and support the government in implementing regulatory, legislative, procedural, and digital improvements. 

A central part of the assignment is to strengthen institutional capability—equipping SID and BoI with the tools, methodologies, and reform tracking systems needed to sustain a structured, evidence-based approach to business environment reforms and ensure measurable de-facto improvements in service delivery and competitiveness.

3. Objectives of the Assignment 

The objective of the assignment is to support the SID, BoI, and the PMO in designing and implementing a structured reform programme aligned with the B-READY framework. The firm will help identify critical regulatory and operational bottlenecks, develop evidence-based reform proposals, strengthen scoring and measurement mechanisms, and build institutional capacity to sustain a systematic approach to business environment reforms.

Scope of Work

1. Conduct Regulatory & Institutional Diagnostics
   Undertake a comprehensive assessment of federal and provincial regulatory and institutional frameworks to identify structural gaps, overlapping mandates, and inefficiencies linked to B-READY indicators.

2. Benchmarking & Methodology Review
   Analyse the B-READY methodology and benchmark Pakistan’s current processes against global practices to identify scoring gaps and priority areas for reform.

3. Regulatory Process Evaluation
   Review business-related procedures for legality, necessity, relevance, operational efficiency, and cost-effectiveness, and assess compliance requirements through consultations and regulatory impact assessments (RIA).

4. Develop Actionable Reform Proposals
   Translate diagnostic findings into practical recommendations, including de-jure and de-facto reforms, supported by a strengthened measurement and scoring framework with time, cost, and compliance KPIs.

5. Support Implementation & Reform Tracking
   Assist SID and BoI in implementing agreed reforms through legislative, regulatory, procedural, and digital changes, and develop an Excel-based reform tracking tool to monitor progress and expected improvements in B-READY scores.

6. Stakeholder Consultations
   Conduct structured consultations with federal and provincial governments, private sector representatives, SMEs, women entrepreneurs, and development partners to validate proposed reforms and ensure institutional ownership.

7. Decision Memo Preparation
   Prepare detailed Decision Memos for all agreed reforms for submission to the Cabinet Committee on Regulatory Reforms (CCoRR) and relevant provincial authorities.

8. Communications & Outreach Support
   Work with SID and BoI to strengthen reform visibility through bilingual outreach materials, communication modules, and tools to demonstrate on-ground impact.

9. Capacity Building & Workshops
   Organise capacity-building workshops for federal and provincial counterparts to enhance understanding of B-READY indicators, reform methodology, RIA processes, and reform implementation.

10. Reform Roadmap & Final Action Plan
    Develop a phased reform roadmap outlining short-, medium-, and long-term actions, institutional responsibilities, delivery timelines, and monitoring mechanisms.

D. Functional Requirements

Timeline 

The firm is expected to deliver all outputs within the contract period (January–August 2026). The deadlines for each deliverable are as follows:

1. Inception Report – 31 December 2025

2. Diagnostic & Benchmarking Report – 26 February 2026

3. Draft Reform Framework – 08 April 2026

4. Stakeholder Consultation & Validation Report – 06 May 2026

5. Reform Mapping Tool and Decision Memos – 17 June 2026

6. Outreach and Communications Strategy – 01 July 2026

7. Final Reform Action Plan – 22 July 2026

8. Final Presentation and submission of all supporting documents – 19 August 2026

Pakistan License, Clearance and Approvals

The prospective vendors will include in the timeline any time needed to obtain any licenses, clearances, and/or approvals required under local legal requirements to produce or deliver the products and/or services described in the Scope of Work.

Qualifications and Experience 

Firms should have demonstrated experience in the following: 

1. Proven track record and experience of successfully implementing guillotine and regulatory reforms internationally, especially in developing and emerging economies.

2. Experience of delivering large scale projects aimed at improving the ease of doing business and stimulating economic growth through regulatory streamlining.

3. Demonstrated expertise in conducting regulatory impact assessments (RIA), including legal, economic, and administrative reviews to evaluate regulatory bottlenecks and identify high-impact reforms.

4. Experience working in multi-tiered governance systems, with the ability to navigate federal–provincial mandates, address overlapping institutional roles, and support coordinated reform delivery.

5. Ability to conduct structured stakeholder consultations with government counterparts, private sector representatives, SMEs, women-led businesses, business associations, and development partners to validate reform proposals.

6. Strong project management capability to mobilise and manage multidisciplinary teams (regulatory, legal, economic, digital governance, and M&E experts) for diagnostics, process mapping, benchmarking, and reform development.

7. Proven record of developing institutional capabilities to sustain the regulatory reforms process.

8. Strong demonstration of embedding digital tools for regulatory mapping, data analysis, and tracking reform progress along with sustainable knowledge management framework to handover regulatory databases to the GoP.

9. Presence of technical team in Pakistan to support the GoP in delivering the reform intervention.

10. Provision of verification by previous contractors or clients that they were satisfied by the service provided by the firm.

11. The firm should clearly understand the services required and then fulfill them in the timelines provided.

12. The firm should ensure one focal person within the team for the REMIT.

5. Instructions to Bidders

Bidders should examine all Instructions, Terms and Conditions as given in the RFP. Failure to furnish information required in the RFP or submission of Bids not substantially responsive or viable in every respect will be at the Bidder’s risk and may result in rejection of the bids. Bidders should strictly submit the Bid as specified in the RFP, failing which the bids will be held as non-responsive and will be rejected. 

Bids shall compromise a single package containing two folders: 

1. Technical Proposal  

2. Financial Proposal 

Bidders should send soft copies of the Technical and Financial Proposal to the following address: 

Soft copies to be sent to: [email protected]

Proposal Weightings 

1. Technical Proposal 

2. Financial Proposal 

Prospective firms must be legally registered under the laws of the country in which they are organized and possess all licenses, permits and government approvals necessary for performance of the work. 

6. Proposal Terms

1. Prospective Firms’ Understanding of the Solicitation

Prospective contractors are responsible for understanding the solicitation in its entirety and each of its elements and should make inquiries to ASI as necessary to ensure such understanding. ASI reserves the right to disqualify any prospective vendor that it determines, at its sole discretion, does not understand the solicitation or any of its elements. Such disqualification shall be at no fault, cost, or liability whatsoever to ASI.

2. Information from ASI

All information provided by ASI in this solicitation is subject to change at any time. ASI makes no certification as to the accuracy of any item and is not responsible or liable for any use of or reliance on the information or for any claims asserted therefrom.

3. Communication

All communications related to the RFP must be in writing to the above-mentioned point of contact. Verbal communication shall not be effective unless formally confirmed in writing by the procurement official listed in a sealed envelope to our designated location in Lahore.

1. Formal Communications shall include, but are not limited to the following:

• Questions concerning this solicitation must be submitted in writing to the contact person mentioned above. 

• Errors and omissions in this solicitation, as well as enhancements. Prospective firms should notify ASI of any discrepancies, errors, or omissions that may exist within this solicitation. Prospective vendors should recommend to ASI any enhancements to the work described in the solicitation which might be in ASI’ best interests.

• Inquiries about technical interpretations must be directly asked from contact person (Alex Harris).

2. Addenda: ASI will make a good-faith effort to provide a written response to the questions or requests for clarifications in the form of written responses or addenda in accordance with the Schedule of Events.

3. Posting Online: Copy of this solicitation, will be available online at:  www.BrightSpyre.com.

4. Non-Disclosure Agreement

ASI reserves the right to require the prospective firms to enter into a non-disclosure agreement.

5. No Collusion

Collusion is strictly prohibited. Collusion is defined as an agreement or compact, written or oral, between two or more parties with the goal of limiting fair and open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding a third party.

6. Companies Owned or Controlled by Government

The prospective vendor must disclose in writing with its Response if a government, its agents, or agencies, have an ownership or managerial interest in the company. Failure to disclose a government ownership of managerial interest in the company will result in the prospective contractor’s offer being removed from consideration.

7. Subcontracting

The prospective contractor must disclose in writing with its Response any subcontracting that will take place under an award. Failure to disclose subcontracting relationships will result in the prospective contractor’s offer being removed from consideration. (if permitted by the solicitation)

8. Costs

The solicitation does not obligate ASI to pay for any costs, of any kind whatsoever, which may be incurred by a prospective contractor/vendor or third parties, in connection with the Response.

9. Intellectual Property

Prospective vendors may not use any intellectual property of ASI including, but not limited to, all logos, trademarks, or trade names of ASI, at any time without the prior written approval of ASI.

10.  Prospective Contractors’ Responses

All accepted Responses shall become the property of ASI and will not be returned.

11.  Partial Awarding

ASI reserves the right to accept all or part of the Response when awarding a contract.

12.  No Liability

ASI reserves the right to accept or reject any Response or to stop the procurement process at any time, without assigning any reason or liability. ASI shall not be liable to any prospective contractor, person, or entity for any losses, expenses, costs, claims, or damages of any kind.