Addressing the Skills Needs Arising from the Potential Trade Implications of Brexit

Tender description

The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI) is commissioning concise pieces of research and consultancy work, to assist in the development of a study on “Addressing the Skills Needs arising from the Potential Trade Implications of Brexit”. The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, whose secretariat is hosted in DBEI, will be the main client. The study will seek to identify the skills needs that would be required for Irish based enterprise to mitigate and/or circumvent the impacts of a WTO/Hard Brexit scenario on Irish goods trade, and develop a suite of recommendations that can be drawn upon to meet this objective. Both export and import goods trade will be examined. It will focus on qualifications, skillsets, competencies and workforce roles relevant to: - The diversification of goods trade (i.e. those relevant to international selling and sourcing) at enterprise level; and - The movement of goods trade across international borders (trade facilitation), at both specified enterprise sector level and in the wider Freight Transport, Distribution and Logistics (FTDL)sector The successful tenderer will undertake a concise literature review, a research exercise conducted through structured surveys and workshops with companies, organisations and stakeholders (focused on trade diversification and facilitation), and a demand scenario for the FTDL sector- all focused on the impact of a Hard Brexit scenario on the demand/supply of the associated skillsets. DBEI will undertake a review of two earlier EGFSN reports on the associated skillsets under study, an international review of actions to develop and attract these skillsets, and an assessment of their current and planned supply. The tenderer will be required to integrate the findings from all these elements into a report containing recommendations aimed at addressing the identified skills needs. The project will commence in early December 2017, with the final report due end-February 2018.