Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2025-01-07
Buyer: 81310560-Projet pilote visant à quantifier et réduire l'usage de mercure dans les centres de traitement minier en Mauritanie
Region: DEA22
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 71313000: Environmental engineering consultancy services | 79411100 | 90721000
Estimated value:  EUR
Award criteria: price, quality

Technical requirements: According to Article 160, Section 3 of the German Act Against Restraint of Competition (GWB), application for review is not permissible insofar as
1. the applicant has identified the claimed infringement of the procurement rules before submitting the application for review and has not submitted a complaint to the contracting authority within a period of 10 calendar days; the expiry of the period pursuant to Article 134, Section 2 remains unaffected,
2. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that are evident in the tender notice are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for the application or by the deadline for the submission of bids, specified in the tender notice.
3. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that first become evident in the tender documents are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for application or by the deadline for the submission of bids,
4. more than 15 calendar days have expired since receipt of notification from the contracting authority that it is unwilling to redress the complaint.
Sentence 1 does not apply in the case of an application to determine the invalidity of the contract in accordance with Article 135, Section 1 (2). Article 134, Section 1, Sentence 2 remains unaffected.
The Mauritanian mining sector generates nearly a quarter of the state's revenue, being drawn primarily from the extraction of iron, copper and gold. It accounts for two thirds of exports and is thus exposed to price fluctuations on the world market. So far, its contribution to creating value added and jobs remains low. 

In the National Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Shared Prosperity (SCAPP2016-2030), the Government has chosen the extractive sector as one of the sectors with high potential for growth and jobs. With this in mind, the MMI (Ministère des Mines et de l'industrie) adopted a sectoral strategy targeting both the growth of the extractive sector and its diversification and better integration into the national economy. 

The implementation of this strategy is supported by the ASEM Bilateral Program (Support to the Mining Sector of Mauritania) jointly supported by GIZ and BGR (German Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources). The support of the BGR is focused on expanding the information base on non-metallic minerals in cooperation with the Mauritanian Office of Geological Research (ANARPAM) to promote the diversification of the mining sector. 

GIZ, through the new project "Integrated Economic Development in the Mining Sector (DEIM)" Builds on the results of the previous project "Strengthening the governance of extractive resources", namely the development of a national strategy for the mining sector and support-advice in the field of artisanal gold mining and, on the other hand, the new sectoral strategy of the MPME. 

The project has the following objective and results:
Objective: Conditions for enhanced use of the mining sector's potential for sustainable economic transformation are created 

Result 1: The necessary conditions for a better control and implementation of standards in terms of environment, transparency, health and safety at work, human rights as well as for the respect of the legal provisions in the artisanal mining sector are created 
Result 2: Conditions for the creation of local value added in the mining sector are improved 

One of the target groups is formed by employees working in the industrial and artisanal mining sector and subcontractors in this sector. Another target group is young people, aged 14 to 34, who do not receive initial training and do not have a job. Cooperation with the target group goes through the MMI (Ministère des Mines et de l"industrie), the Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD), civil society organizations and the private sector as well as the regional and municipal administrations of Chami and Zouerate. Intermediate bodies reach the target groups through training and awareness-raising activities, controls and examinations, as well as a multi-stakeholder platform dedicated to creating local added value. 

The capacity building strategy followed by the project applies a multi-level approach to the two expected outcomes. By establishing cooperation and consultation mechanisms in the form of a multi-stakeholder platform, the project cooperates with a multiple partner structure bringing together actors from the state, the private sector, civil society and local authorities and municipalities. 
By developing strategic documents related to local value creation and sustainability standards, the project supports multi-stakeholder platforms in the development of an action plan and its implementation. 
Based on its ongoing mandate, the Multi-Stakeholder Platform is prepared to continue its long-term institutionalized activities even after the end of the project. 

Outcome 1 aims to improve the conditions underpinning the monitoring and enforcement of environmental, transparency, health, safety and human rights standards and ensure compliance with legislation in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector. 

Outcome 2 aims to improve the conditions that underlie the creation of local value in the mining sector. To this end, as part of a multi-stakeholder platform and under the leadership of MPME, cooperation mechanisms are established between the mining industry, local companies upstream and downstream of the extractive sector, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Banking Sector, Ministry of National Education and Vocational Training, National Training Institutions and other Technical and Financial Partners relevant.
GIZ may optionally commission contract amendments and/or increases based on the criteria in the tender documents to the successful bidder of this tender. For details, please see the terms of reference.
Zur Ermittlung des wirtschaftlichsten Bieters wird hier von der Vergabestelle die erreichte Gesamtpunktzahl nach fachlicher Wertung eingetragen. Es werden nur Angebote mit einer fachlichen Bewertung von über 500 Punkten gewertet. Fachliche Angebote mit weniger Punkten scheiden als fachlich ungeeignet aus.
Mauritania's mining sector accounts for nearly a quarter of government revenues and attracts significant foreign direct investment. In the National Strategy for Accelerated Growth and Shared Prosperity (SCAPP2016-2030), the Government has chosen the extractive sector as one of the sectors with high growth and employment potential.  As a result, the Ministry of Petroleum, Mines and Energy has adopted a sector strategy aimed at growing and diversifying the extractive sector, as well as better integrating it into the national economy. 
Within the framework of bilateral cooperation, GIZ and BGR (Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources) are jointly supporting MPEM in implementing this strategy. The GIZ, through the project "Développement Économique Intégré dans le secteur Minier (DEIM)" (Integrated Economic Development in the Mining Sector) is involved in two areas, namely "Promoting local added value/local content" and "Supporting the formalization and supervision of artisanal and small-scale mining". The action described in this technical note falls within the first area of intervention of the DEIM project.

Artisanal gold mining emerged in Mauritania in 2016, and since then has undergone spectacular development. Activities were initially concentrated in the Inchiri Province in the west of the country, and since 2017 they have also spread to the far north of the country.
The public authorities had to react quickly by putting in place a regulatory framework allowing access to this activity as well as its supervision. Since its inception, the industry has undergone significant change, with the introduction of new processes and equipment, resulting in very rapid and sometimes difficult-to-control development. The main environmental and social problems associated with the business are related to the impact of human activity on the immediate environment of extraction sites, the use of hazardous products (mainly mercury) and the risk of pollution posed by the discharge of processing waste.  
Faced with this situation, measures have been put in place to mitigate the negative impacts of the activity, in particular by grouping together the processing activities linked to gold EMAP in a smaller area (Chami processing center in the Dakhlet Nouadhibou Province and Zouerate processing center in the Tiris Zemmour Province) in order to enable a more efficient use of resources, better monitoring and management of risks, particularly environmental risks. 

Regulations organizing the profession, defining activity corridors and product marketing, and governing the conditions for granting small-scale mining permits have been adopted.
In addition, as part of its action plan for the implementation of the 2017 National Sustainable Development Strategy, the Ministry of the Environment is planning a series of measures to reduce pollution and emissions from artisanal mining activities, as well as the implementation of a plan to reduce the use or elimination of mercury or other harmful products in accordance with the Minamata Convention ratified by Mauritania. It is within this framework that the MPME, through the General Directorate of Mines and the MAADEN Mauritania National Agency, has decided to take steps to introduce an alternative, mercury-free artisanal gold processing technique at the Chami and Zouerate processing centers. 

In February 2022, the DEIM project in direct cooperation with MAADEN Mauritania began preparatory work on site to carry out comparative tests to ensure the effectiveness of gravimetric treatment using borax (Benguet Method) in terms of yield, and the subsequent introduction of the mercury-free treatment pilot project at the Chami and Zouerate treatment centers.  

Within this framework, the DEIM project aims through this call for tender to recruit a firm that will be responsible for achieving two objectives: quantifying and reducing the impact of mercury in artisanal mining areas through a decontamination feasibility study and a mercury-free artisanal gold processing project.


Number of bids: 1