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Received from the World Bank on 1/27/10 in response to an email sent to Dr. Bosquet on 1/22/10 and 1/26/10. This reply does not address many of the issues raised by us. We will continue to update on correspondences with the bank. Dear Dr. Maya Trotz, Dr. Alissa Trotz, and Andaiye, Thank you for your correspondence to Mr. Benoit Bosquet, regarding the FCPF and Janet Bulkan’s appointment with the World Bank. The World Bank has an obligation to respect the confidentiality of personnel information and, as such, we are not at liberty to share Dr. Bulkan’s personnel information with persons outside the World Bank. Generally, short-term consultant (STC) contracts that the World Bank signs with consultants are meant for a specific assignment, as per their terms of reference (ToR). In most cases, only an estimate of the number of days to be worked can be provided, with the World Bank reserving the right to shorten or lengthen the number of days, with appropriate notice. In the case of the latest ad hoc Technical Advisory Panel (TAP) for the FCPF, and in compliance with World Bank Consultant Guidelines, the World Bank signed STC contracts with a number of consultants, and asked them to review the draft Suriname and Ghana Readiness Preparation Proposals (R-PPs) in advance of the FCPF Participants Committee meeting of October 2009 (PC4). Once this review was completed, the consultants were asked to submit their requests for payment. For efficiency purposes, most of these contracts were kept open through June 30, 2010 (end of the World Bank’s fiscal year) in the event the same consultants might be asked to perform additional work for which new terms of reference would be issued. An ad hoc TAP, as its name indicates, is a technical advisory panel that is put together with a configuration of different consultants depending on the country submitting the R-PP and the required expertise. As a result of discussions held at the PC4, the selection process for future TAPs was slightly altered in order to be able to handle the larger number of R-PPs that were expected to be submitted for consideration at the FCPF PC meetings of March and June 2010. As a result, the FCPF Facility Management Team was asked to establish new teams that would review three to four R-PPs each, not just one, ensuring a greater degree of consistency across different countries. An email communication was sent to PC members on November 18, 2009, summarizing the discussion at the October meeting and the proposed R-PP review process to be followed on a pilot basis for the March round of reviews (this communication was posted on the FCPF website at http://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/fcp/node/26). We are in the process of implementing these changes and all TAP members have been informed of this change. Thank you again for your interest in FCPF. Sincerely yours, Isabel Hagbrink _______________________________________________ |
