Selection of consultancy services for Africa[MR1.1] RISE Gateway: Website, Dashboard & Digital Infrastructure

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

Country: Multinational

Name of Project: Resilient Irrigation for a Sustainable Economy Project

Grant No .: P P514153

Assignment Title: Procurement of Consultancy Services to Develop and Deploy the Africa RISE Gateway

Reference No: 926/AUDA/DITIR/RESILIENTIRRIGATIONF/QCBS/2026

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. “ Consultancy Services to Develop and Deploy the Africa RISE Gateway ”

Description of Services

The consulting services (“the Services”) include: Task 1: Africa RISE User Requirements Assessment: Map and profile all user groups and partners including relevant African Union agencies and departments (AUDANEPAD, AU-SAFGRAD, SEBE), government ministries, transboundary water management agencies, regulators, MPA focal points, implementing partners, research institutes and universities and technical experts, farmers, aggregators, private sector, equipment suppliers and financial institutions and farmer unions and cooperative societies etc; Task 2: Design, Develop and Commission the Africa RISE Gateway: Define system architecture, data structures, modules, dashboard requirements and process workflows, including a unified data interoperability Layer that meets vPIC standards and aligns with the Africa RISE Regional Geospatial Analytics Platform and national irrigation monitoring systems. The architecture shall specify: (a) the endpoints and payload schemas through which national data collection tools, the Regional Geospatial Platform, and other authorized external data sources submit and validate benchmarking data; (b) the data lineage and version control mechanisms ensuring that published benchmarks are traceable to their submission source; and (c) the traffic-light alert logic that translates performance indicator values into color-coded risk flags for display in the executive dashboard . Task 3: Technical Assistance (TA) and Capacity Building: Develop and deliver a structured, tiered capacity-building programme and associated training materials for all user groups, comprising: (i) a Technical Track for AUDA-NEPAD IT personnel, national technical focal points and system administrators, covering system administration, data management, integration and cybersecurity; (ii) an Operational Track for programme managers, extension officers and policy stakeholders, focusing on effective use of the platform and its functional modules; and (iii) an End-User Track providing simplified guidance and orientation materials. Task 4: Sustainable Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Model for the Gateway: Assess the technical and operational requirements for sustained operation of the Gateway, including hosting, security, data management, updates, user support and maintenance schedules and prepare indicative annual cost projections for the post-project period. Task 5: Envisaged functionality of the Africa RISE Gateway: The Africa RISE Gateway, as a go-to information and knowledge solution, is envisaged to serve.

Level of Effort for Key staff:

Key Expert Person-Days

Key Expert 1: Team Leader / Digital Platform and Systems Architecture Lead

90

Key Expert 2: Business Analyst / User Requirements and Institutional Readiness Specialist

75

Key Expert 3: Lead Software Developer / Gateway Solution Architect

160

Key Expert 4: Data Engineer / API, Dashboard and Interoperability Specialist

110

Key Expert 5: Cybersecurity and Cloud Infrastructure Specialist

55

Key Expert 6: GIS / Geospatial Platform Integration Specialist

50

Key Expert 7: Knowledge Management, Learning and Capacity Development Specialist

80

Total 620

Duration of the assignment

Total duration: 56 weeks from the date of contract signature

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:

The firm shall demonstrate at least ten (10) years of proven institutional experience in designing, developing, deploying and supporting large-scale digital platforms of similar scope and complexity, preferably for regional, public sector or international development programmes.

The firm should have completed at least three (3) comparable assignments involving enterprise system architecture, API-first platform development, knowledge management systems, data integration, analytics dashboards, workflow management, cloud hosting, cybersecurity, user support and long-term system maintenance.

Relevant experience should include assignments involving interoperability with existing digital ecosystems, geospatial or remote sensing data integration, benchmarking and performance monitoring dashboards, multilingual knowledge repositories, data governance, user access controls and institutional handover.

The firm should also demonstrate experience working with government institutions, regional organisations, development partners and multi-country stakeholder groups in Africa, including the delivery of virtual consultations, capacity building, documentation and post-launch technical support.

Experience in agriculture, irrigation, water management, climate resilience, infrastructure, innovation financing or related sectors will be an added