Consultancy services for the development of Utilities Performance Improvement Action Plans (PIAPS) in participating countries.

_____________________________________________________ REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRMS SELECTION)

Country: Multinational

Name of Project: Accelerating Access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in the Eastern and Southern Africa Region Project

Grant No .: P506439

Assignment Title: Procurement of consultancy services for Utility Diagnostics, Performance Improvement Action Plans (PIAPs), Digitalization Maturity Assessment and New IBNET Benchmarking under the AFE WASH MPA Regional Support Project

Reference No: 006/AUDA/DITIR/QCBS/2027

Method: Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS)

Introduction

The African Union Development Agency – New Partnership for Africa Development (AUDA-NEPAD) has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the “Resilient Irrigation for a Sustainable Economy Project”, and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services. “ Procurement of consultancy services for Utility Diagnostics, Performance Improvement Action Plans (PIAPs), Digitalization Maturity Assessment and New IBNET Benchmarking under the AFE WASH MPA Regional Support Project ”

Description of Services

The consulting services (“the Services”) include: Task 1: Inception and Utility Prioritization : confirms full alignment of the baseline diagnostic methodology with the AFE WASH MPA PAD (P506439), Component 3 results framework, and World Bank ESF requirements , applies a Utility Prioritization Framework ranking utilities. The consultant will work with a maximum list of 06 proposed utilities by the MPA participating countries, and build a database using, key baseline data on utility characteristics, size and performance, but also considering the characteristics of the enabling environment including criteria related to accountability, transparency, government reform commitment, and climate vulnerability to produce the final utility list and country sequencing for Round 1 (Months 1 to 10) and Round 2 (Months 8 to 20) etc; Task 2: NewIBNET Benchmarking including Digital Maturity: conduct a data audit assessing completeness and reliability of existing performance data against NewIBNET KPI requirements (including but not limiting to - NRW rates, billing and collection efficiency, energy consumption per m³, staffing ratios, O&M and capital expenditure per connection), provide hands-on support for data collection, cleaning, formatting, and platform submission, confirm national adoption of the NewIBNET as a preferred/standradized tool for performance assessment, which will translate into successful enrolment within six months of contract effectiveness etc; Task 3: Utility Diagnostic Baseline Assessments: Operational: NRW loss component analysis separating real losses (leakage, overflows) from apparent losses (meter error, illegal connections, data errors); service continuity by zone; production capacity versus demand; O&M practices and maintenance management systems etc; Task 4:Costed Performance Improvement Action Plans (PIAPs): Costed priority interventions, sequenced in time, assessing impact and feasibility, linked explicitly to the diagnostic root causes they address, and organised by reform dimension, SMART targets for example: reduce NRW from the diagnosed rate to the realistic target / as per resources available to implement the PIAP, by Month X; achieve operational cost recovery of 100% by Month Y; reduce specific energy consumption to the benchmark value by Month Z. These targets should then be calibrated against NewIBNET regional benchmarks etc; Task 5: Capacity Building and Regional Training: Module 1: PIAP Implementation and Utility Turnaround: translating diagnostic findings into managed reform; performance contracting (include successful cases); and turnaround case studies from the AFE region, Module 2: Leadership and Corporate Governance: board effectiveness; CEO accountability frameworks; performance-based management; customer service culture etc; Task 6: Knowledge Management and Regional Learning: The Firm shall synthesise all assignment outputs into reusable regional knowledge products and facilitate cross-country learning: minimum five knowledge products in English, French, Portuguese (Regional Utility Performance Report; NewIBNET Participation Guide; PIAP Preparation Methodology Guide; PIAP modelling tool, Utility Digitalisation Primer; Rural Operator Professionalization Framework); at least two regional knowledge-sharing events; a Regional WASH Utility Performance Knowledge Repository compiling all diagnostic reports, PIAPs, RWSSPRs, and benchmarking datasets; and integration of all NewIBNET data and PIAP outputs into AUDA-NEPAD reporting to the World Bank, the Systems Change Water Scorecard, and AMCOW WASSMO.

Level of Effort for Key staff:

Key Expert Indicative Person-Months per Lot

KE1 - Team Leader / Utility Performance Specialist 12-15

KE2 - Water Utility Financial Specialist 8-10

KE3 - Water Engineering & NRW Specialist 8-10

KE4 - Climate Resilience Specialist 4-6

KE5 - Rural Water & Capacity Building Specialist 6-9

Total 40-55

Duration of the assignment

24 months from contract effectiveness

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be found on the following website: https://www.nepad.org/corporate-procurement#tenders

Shortlisting criteria:

The African Union Development Agency – New Partnership for Africa Development (AUDA-NEPAD) now invites eligible consulting firms (“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 shortlisting criteria are:

Minimum 10 years providing WASH technical assistance in Sub-Saharan Africa, including utility diagnostic assessments and performance improvement planning.

Proven track record preparing costed PIAPs for at least 5 water utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa with measurable operational or f