Project Description: The EBRD considers providing a loan for a project of up to EUR 10 million to finance retrofit and upgrade of Bishkek Street Lighting system in Kyrgyz Republic (the “Project”).
The envisaged project comprises retrofit of street lights, as well as lighting installations in public places (parks, squares) as well as an upgrade of system’s control centre. The high pressure mercury lamps of the lighting fixtures will be replaced by modern energy-efficient technology, such as sodium low pressure lamps, electromagnetic induction lamps and/or LED lamps with daylight optimisation, sensor control and dimming.
The Bishkek City (the “City”) aims to implement efficiency improvements of the existing street lighting system via the replacement of the MV and the HPS luminaires with LED luminaries, which is expected to lead to significant electricity savings and improved service quality. The longer service life of LEDs (up to 10-12 years), in comparison to the MV lamps (7 months) and HPS lamps (up to 1.5 years), further enhances of the operational efficiency resulting in reduced maintenance costs for BishkekSvet Company (the “Company”).
Assignment Description: The Bank now intends to engage a consulting company (the “Consultant”) to provide the Bank with an independent analysis of the envisaged project to retrofit Bishkek Street Lighting system by carrying out an inventory of current system, followed with comprehensive analysis of most suited technology, cost-benefit and environmental and social due diligence (the “Assignment”). In so doing, the consultant should also provide recommendation on strengthening the capacity of the Municipality and the Company for gender mainstreaming both in terms of street lighting service delivery and Human Resources management.
The expected outcome of the Assignment is to receive an independent analysis to decide on the project feasibility and the structure to retrofit Bishkek Street Lighting system.
The selected Consultant is expected to provide the following services:
Task 1. Inventory of the system, which has three sub-tasks as described below:
1.1. Parameters of the City’s Street Lighting System requires the Consultant to:
(i) review available reports and documents on street lighting system in Bishkek and carry out a soft market sounding on behalf of the City by issuing and distributing a questionnaire incorporating sufficient description of the Project, i.e. existing system parameters, contract scope, technology, timeframe, procurement strategy, etc., The results of the questionnaire will be used in the Feasibility Study;
(ii) conduct an inventory;
(iii) collect available information on technical and functional parameters of Bishkek Street lighting system;
(iv) document and specify the part of the street lighting system that is currently non-operational;
(v) collect data and document on lengths and type of streets currently lacking street lighting infrastructure and provide indicative specification for further cost estimates;
(vi) obtain information and provide comments on the overall quality of power supply from the main grid and its impact on the separate components of street lighting system;
(vii) comment on LED street lighting technology and its durability installed on pilot basis in Bishkek up to date, which shall include scope of each of the pilot projects, dates of installation, suppliers, power of lights installed, performance, light quality and issues reported.
1.2. Overview of BishkekSvet requires the Consultant to
(i) document relevant information to include all data necessary to carry out further analysis under the Assignment, on the Company which is designated to operate City’s street lighting system;
(ii) prepare the Company’s organizational chart, management, and breakdown of staff by departments, age, and salary;
(iii) document financial and economic data summarising the Company’s result for last three-year period and forecasted results for the current year;
(iv) collect information on capital expenditure including annual breakdown of expenditure for the last four years, including the current year;
(v) provide information on tariffs and the dates when they came in force, as well as the annual power consumption for street lighting for the last four years, including the current year;
(vi) carry out overview of Kyrgyz Republic legal framework and standards for street lighting and provide a list of requirements regulating the operation of the municipal street lighting company BishkekSvet.
1.3. Inventory of the Existing System requires the Consultant to
(i) conduct an inventory to provide sufficient information on the condition of separate system components and their remaining useful life, prioritise investments and select most suitable technology for retrofitting of each of the system components;
(ii) carry out sufficient scope for reliable representation of photometric measurements at various parts of the network and compare the results with applicable standards and requirements. The Consultant shall pre-select points for photometric surveys and confirm them with the City and the Bank before commencing such surveys.
Task 2. Review of potential system’s retrofit alternatives
In order to assess the options and ensure the proposed solutions would comply with the Kyrgyz Republic technical standards for street lighting (SNIP, GOST etc.), the Consultant shall group the streets into certain categories (potentially based on the number of lanes, category of streets, pole height and distance between them) and propose a photometric design for each street type using professional photometric software.
A financial model should cover three main alternatives. The model should include potential investments, energy savings, savings in operations and maintenance costs and the payback period taking consideration of actual interest rates in Kyrgyzstan.
The Consultant shall also provide the City and the Bank with concept of the street lighting monitoring and control system, estimated costs and options for its implementation and preliminary specifications.
Task 3. Assessment of most suitable alternatives
The Consultant shall summarise key findings of previous analysis of Bishkek street lighting system and limiting factors to narrow down the number of suitable alternatives to three or four. These should include inter alia a mixed approach alternative where LED is used for main roads, squares, intensive streets and pedestrian zones and less expensive technology for the rest of the network.
The Consultant shall develop applicable tariffs and the actual cost of kWh in Kyrgyz Republic, as well as forecasted growth of kWh cost for a period of at least next ten years.
The Consultant shall propose a general scope for each of the selected alternatives for retrofit of the system and provide cost-benefit analysis for each option including EIRR. The economic analysis should include street lighting monitoring and control system, and the cost and benefits related to the project.
Task 4. Specification of contract scope and implementation plan
The Consultant shall prepare a detailed and sufficient specification of the selected part of the street lighting system to be procured and retrofitted. It will specify technical and functional parameters of each component, as well as quantities and particular part of the system it should go to (substation, street section, etc.).
The Consultant shall detail the tasks required to implement the Project and a likely timetable. As part of the Implementation Plan, the Consultant shall propose a procurement strategy and draft a preliminary Procurement Plan in the format acceptable to the Bank (template to be provided by the Bank).
The Consultant shall consider which procurement approach (e.g. based on procurement of goods, supply and installation or works contracts) would be the best way of implementing each contract. The Consultant shall recommend the most suitable type and form of contractual arrangements for works contract, if any, as well as possible packaging of investment components / contracts for tendering purposes.
The Consultant shall estimate the cost of preparing and approving any design documentation for the works and, if applicable, supply and installation contracts. The process of obtaining such approvals including timing involved shall be described. Where necessary, the Consultant shall make enquiries with a local design institute or a state approval authority. The Consultant shall assess if the cost of detailed design could be covered by the Company, or if it should be included either in the Project scope or the post-signing TC consultancy contract.
Task 5. Financial model
The Consultant shall provide the Bank with a comprehensive financial model including clear inputs and assumptions, at least two primary scenarios for capital expenditure program, relevant sensitivities, and calculation of EiRR including non-direct cost and benefits related to the retrofit of the selected scope.
Task 6. Corporate development
The Consultant will be responsible for the following:
(i) identify different needs and priorities of women and men with respect to services to be provided (safety in parks after dark, access, etc.);
(ii) assess the impact of gender issues in design and planning of the services and develop tools and procedures to assist the Municipality and the Company to ensure their services meet the specific needs of both female and male customers as well as other population sub-groups that might be vulnerable, such as the elderly;
(iii) assess health and safety issues that male and female customers might encounter; provide recommendations for the Municipality and the Company to take these concerns into consideration in the design and maintenance of their services (example through development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for customers at risk).
Task 7. Environmental and social (E&S) assessment
The Consultant is required to carry out the E&S Assessment in accordance with:
- Applicable local, national and regional requirements, including those related with environmental and social impact assessments; and the EBRD’s ESP (2014) (and the incorporated Performance Requirements (PRs)), and relevant European Union (EU) requirements (including, but not limited to, the EU EIA Directive and IE Directive);
- Requirements of other potential lenders, such as other International Financing Institutions (IFIs) and commercial banks adhering to the Equator Principles; and
- Relevant international conventions and protocols relating to environmental and social issues, as transposed into national legislation.
The objective of the E&S Assessment is to identify and assess the potentially significant existing and future adverse environmental and social impacts associated with the Client’s current operations and the proposed Project, assess compliance with applicable laws and the EBRD ESP and PRs, determine the measures needed to prevent or minimise and mitigate the adverse impacts, and identify potential environmental and social opportunities, including those that would improve the environmental and social sustainability of the Project and/or the associated current operations.
In addition, the Consultant is expected to perform the following sub-tasks:
- Review of Available Data and Site Visit
- Conduct Environmental and Social Assessment
- Carry out Environmental and Social Audit
- Develop Environmental and Social Action Plan, Stakeholder Engagement Plan, Non-Technical Summary
Status of Selection Process: Interested firms or groups of firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.
Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in Q3 2015 and has an estimated overall duration of 5 months.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 236,700 (exclusive of VAT).
The Consultant must determine whether any VAT would be chargeable on the services and the basis for that determination, without taking into consideration the special status of the Bank as an IFI and state this to the Bank in their response to the Invitation for Expressions of Interest. To the extent that a Consultant incurs input VAT on goods and services purchased in connection with the provision of services (e.g. VAT on airline ticket) which is not otherwise recoverable by the Consultant from the local tax authority, the gross cost to the consultant of such expenses shall be treated as a reimbursable expense.
Funding Source: It is expected that the Assignment will be funded by the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund. Please note selection and contracting will be subject to the availability of funding.
Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions.
Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms able to demonstrate the following:
1) Firm’s proven track record of designing and implementing street lighting projects in emerging markets;
2) Firm’s previous experience in project scoping as well as technical, environmental and social due diligence in Central Asia or similar regions;
3) Firm's track record of working with international financial institutions (“IFIs”) or equivalent and experience-based knowledge of IFI or equivalent Procurement Policies and Rules.
The Consultant’s expert team is expected to include the following key experts:
(i) Team leader/Project manager;
(ii) Engineer(s) specialising in street lighting, including a local engineer;
(iii) Economist with experience in street lighting projects;
(iv) Financial analysis and modelling expert; and
(v) Environmental and social expert(s), with particular experience in gender and municipal and environmental infrastructure assignments.
Non-key experts are expected to include local administrative staff.
Submission Requirements: In order to determine the capability and experience of consultants seeking to be selected for this Assignment, the information submitted should include the following:
1. Company/group of firms’ profile, organisation and staffing (max. 2-4 pages).
2. Details of previous project experience or similar assignments particularly undertaken in the previous five years, including information on contract value, contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided (if different from duration) , main activities, objectives.
3. CVs of key experts who could carry out the Assignment detailing qualifications, experience in similar assignments, particularly assignments undertaken in the previous five years, including information on contracting entity/client, project location/country, duration (mm/yy to mm/yy), expert months provided, assignment budget, main activities, objectives.
4. Completed Consultant Declaration Form and Contact Sheet, the template for which is available from the following web-link:
http://www.ebrd.com/pages/workingwithus/procurement/notices/csu/contact_sheet.doc.
5. Brief description of the approach for implementing the Assignment (including a work plan) and team allocation schedule (i.e. allocation of time and experts for key tasks) up to a maximum of 5-10 pages.
The above information should not exceed 35 pages excluding CVs and contact sheet.
The complete expression of interest (including CVs, Consultant Declaration and Contact Sheet) should be submitted, in English electronically through e-Selection, to reach the Bank not later than the closing date. The expression of interest shall be one file (pdf). The EBRD reserves the right to reject applications of firms submitting more than one file. Only if the permissible file size is exceeded (4MB), the Consultant may split the expression of interest into further files.
Bank Contact Person:
Olesya Kerridge, TC Advisor
Technical Co-operation
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: + 44 20 7338 6895
e-mail: kerridgo@ebrd.com (submissions should be sent through eSelection and NOT to this email address)
Notes:
1. The selection will normally be made from responses to this notification only. Consultants will not be asked to submit a proposal. The highest-ranked Consultant will be selected from a shortlist and be invited to negotiate the contract, subject to availability of funding.
2. The selection criteria are as follows:
1) Firm’s proven track record of designing and implementing street lighting projects in emerging markets – 15%;
2) Firm’s previous experience in project scoping as well as technical, environmental and social due diligence in Central Asia (or similar regions) and experience of working with IFIs or equivalent – 15%;
3) Expert CVs corresponding to the requirements of this procurement notice – 40%;
4) Brief description of the approach , work plan and team allocation schedule – 30%.
