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

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 Expressions of interest must be delivered to the address below by email on or before November 20th, 2026, 14:30 hours (South African Time). All EOI’s must be marked “006/AUDA/DITIR/QCBS/2027: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” in the subject line of the email. EOIs can also be sent by email, addressed to the address below. Interested Consultants may also obtain further information at the address below during office hours (09:00 - 17:00 South Africa time): The Chairperson, Internal Procurement Committee (IPC) African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) Eco Origin, Block F, 349 Witch Hazel Street, Eco Park, Centurion.

Email: procurement@nepad.org ; and copy to manthatir@auda-nepad.org

Attention of: Procurement Division

Documents: Download File; Download File

— From REOI FOR PIAPS - FOR PUBLICATION.pdf — June 2026

Official Use Only

_____________________________________________________ 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)

1. 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”

2. 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 ca pital expenditure per connection), provide hands -on support for data collection, cleaning, formatting, and platform submissi

— From TORs - PIAPS -FOR PUBLICATION.pdf — 1

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Title of Consultancy: Procurement of consultancy services for Utility Diagnostics,

Performance Improvement Action Plans (PIAPs), under the AFE WASH MPA Regional Support Project

Consultancy Type: Firm

Countries Covered 1. Angola

2. Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

3. Ethiopia

4. Madagascar

5. Malawi

6. Zambia

7. South Sudan

Contract Structure Seven separate Lots, one per country. A firm may submit for one or more Lots. Each Lot is a separate contract awarded based on demonstrated country -specific expertise. Firms can form consortium and submit joint proposals. Contract Duration 24 months from contract effectiveness

Procurement Number: 006/AUDA/DITIR/QCBS/2027

1. Background

1.1 Programme Context AUDA-NEPAD is implementing the Accelerating Access to WASH Regional Project under the World Bank's Multi -Phase Programmatic Approach (MPA) a four -year, USD 15 million initiative financed through IDA and the CIWA Trust Fund. The project supports systematic scaling-up of WASH access across Eastern and Southern Africa region (AFE) and is organized into four

components:

● Component 1: Regional Systems Strengthening and Project Management

● Component 2: Advancing Reforms, Governance and Regulation

● Component 3: Improving Service Delivery Performance

● Component 4: Leveraging Financing for Climate-Resilient WASH Infrastructure

This assignment is anchored in Pillar 3, which targets measurable improvements in the operational and financial performance of urban utilities and rural service providers across participating countries. 1.2 The Performance Gap The WASH sector in the AFE region is confronted less with both an infrastructure deficit than with a systemic management and finance crisis. Key indicators illustrate the magnitude of the challenge: average Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in urban systems reaches 45%; up to 40% of rural water points become non -functional within two years of commissioning; and half of urban utilities are unable to fully recover their operational costs.

2

These performance gaps stem from common root causes, starting with the absence of standardized performance data, lack of structured improvement roadmaps, political interference in the management of utilities, or insufficient institutional capacity leading to a vicious cycle of under maintenance, and service degradation, . This assignment directly targets proper planning to address these underlying constraints by deploy

Published by AUDA-NEPAD (African Union Development Agency). Submission instructions and deadlines are in the attached documents; the notice is listed at https://www.nepad.org/tenders.