The primary objective of this undertaking is to create a Legislative Drafting Maritime Panel consisting of individuals who can efficiently and effectively provide the required legal drafting services to the Government to draft the primary and subsidiary legislation required to give effect to the review of the British Virgin Islands’ maritime laws, to undertake peer review of drafts produced by other drafters as part of the Project and to liaise with them on their projects where appropriate.

According to a press release from Government Information Services (GIS) on September 7, 2022, candidates must be a qualified Solicitor, Barrister or Attorney-at-Law, be able to demonstrate an advanced level of the English language, have an ability to assimilate complex facts quickly, be able to exercise sound judgment, and preferably possess a diploma or Master of Laws in legislative drafting.

The Government of the Virgin Islands, acting through the Attorney General’s Chambers, is inviting qualified, professional, experienced, and resourceful candidates to submit Expressions of Interest to create a specialist panel to provide legislative drafting services for the comprehensive review of the maritime laws of the [British] Virgin Islands.

Maritime legislation to be ‘localised’

Procurement Coordinator, Mrs Ishma Rhymer said, “The aim of the Project is to consolidate and localise this legislation, as far as is possible, into local BVI laws”, adding that, “The intention is that the Merchant Shipping Act 2001 should be repealed in its entirety and replaced by a new ‘Merchant Shipping’ Act.”

This Act, according to the GIS press release, would cover the four principal subject areas of maritime regulatory laws including regulation of merchant shipping, regulation of fishing vessel safety, wreck and salvage, and measures to protect the marine environment.

Legislative drafting services being solicited

Electronic submissions in a non-editable format not exceeding 10MB should be sent to the Procurement Coordinator at email address procurement@gov.vg. The filename and the email subject must bear the applicant’s name and “EOI for Legislative Drafting Services (Maritime Panel) for BVI”.

Expressions of Interest must be submitted no later than Monday, September 26, 2022, at 12:00 noon. Expression of Interest submitted after this time will not be considered and will be rejected, the press release stated.

Submissions will be opened on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. Bidders who wish to witness the opening process may request the WebEx access code and password from the Procurement Coordinator at procurement@gov.vg with subject “EOI for Legislative Drafting Services (Maritime Panel) for BVI” by noon on Monday, September 26, 2022.