REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

Consultancy support to the Moldovan eGovernance Agency

Individual Consultant

Development and Implementation of an AI Assistant for Digital Public Services

World Bank Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Competitiveness Project

REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

Sector: General industry and trade sector

IDA Credit No. 71740

IBRD Loan No. 94230

Project ID No. P177895

Reference No. MD-CEP-569567-CS-INDV

The Republic of Moldova has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Competitiveness Project (MSME) and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services.

The consulting services (“the Services”) include design, development, implementation and deployment of an AI Assistant that enables citizens and businesses to interact with digital public services using natural language.

The solution shall provide accurate, understandable and context-aware assistance by retrieving information from trusted government knowledge sources and presenting it in a simple and user-friendly manner.

The implemented solution shall integrate with the existing digital ecosystem and be designed to support future expansion without requiring major architectural changes.

The overall duration of the assignment is estimated at six (6) months from contract signature to production acceptance, followed by the warranty period of 6 months.

The Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment are attached to this request for expressions of interest.

The Project Implementation Unit of the MSME Competitiveness Project now invites eligible individual local consultants (“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 qualifications requirements are:

• University Degree in computer science, software engineering, IT or a related field
• Minimum 3 years in software development and systems integration
• Demonstrated experience in implementation of solutions comparable in complexity to the scope of this assignment
• At least one (1) solution based on Large Language Models (LLMs) delivered and deployed to a production environment, where the Consultant held a lead or key technical role. Examples include conversational assistants, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems and intelligent search solutions

This experience shall be evidenced by at least one of the following, submitted with the application:

˗        a link to a code repository (e.g., GitHub, GitLab) containing the solution or a substantial component developed by the Consultant, with a clear indication of the Consultant's contribution;

˗        a video presentation (maximum 10 minutes) demonstrating the solution in operation and explaining the Consultant's role in its design and implementation;

˗        a link to the publicly accessible production solution, accompanied by a description of the Consultant's role;

• Fluency in Romanian and working level of English and Russian

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” November 2020 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. 

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the „Open Competitive Selection of Individual Consultants” method set out in the Procurement Regulations and to be specifically set out in the Request for submission of the technical and financial proposal.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours.

The applications should include a letter of Expression of Interest, CV, and related recommendation letters, if any, together with a copy of CV in MS WORD format.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by mail, or by e-mail) by November 10, 2026, COBD, indicating “AI Assistant” in the subject line.

Project Implementation Unit of the MSME Competitiveness Project

180, Stefan cel Mare Ave., office 815, MD-2004, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova

Tel:  + 373 22 296-723

e-mail: piu@mded.gov.md with cc: procurementmgf@gmail.com

web:     https://uipac.md/