Project Description: The State Communal Enterprise "Astana Su Arnasy" (the "Company") supported by the Akimat of Astana (the "Akimat") approached the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ("EBRD" or the "Bank") with a request to finance the priority investments in rehabilitation and modernisation of its water supply and wastewater management facilities resulting in enhanced operations efficiency, reduction in losses and improvements in environmental standards.
The Company is the only entity providing potable water supply services to the residents of the city of Astana (the "City"), around 850,000 inhabitants, including individual, commercial and public sector customers.
The Project's priority investment programme (the "PIP") is estimated at around KZT 6 billion (about EUR 30 million) and the final amount of the PIP will be finalised as a result of the Project Feasibility Study findings, however the preliminary assessment suggests the following investment components to be part of the PIP: (i) modernisation of the wastewater pumping stations; (ii) modernisation of the water intake facilities, (iii) partial rehabilitation of the water and wastewater networks, (iv) procurement and installation of individual and bulk water meters and associated equipment, (v) development and procurement of alternative sludge treatment and disposal, and (v) development and procurement of alternative sludge treatment and disposal.
Assignment Description: The Bank wishes to commission a suitably qualified consultant (the "Consultant") to prepare a comprehensive feasibility study ("FS") to determine the PIP developed from a long-term investment strategy, and evaluate its benefits, including assessing its environmental and social feasibility.
In order to meet the objectives of the FS, the Consultant shall undertake the following tasks:
- Baseline Study;
- Technical Assessment;
- Long term investment strategy;
- Priority Investment Programme;
- Financial analysis;
- Environmental and social assessment ("ESA").
Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in Q3 2015 and has an estimated overall duration of 16 weeks.
Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 270,000 (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 anticipated that the contract will be financed through the EBRD's donor funded Technical Cooperation Funds Programme; the consultant's selection and contracting will be subject to availability of funding from an appropriate donor.
Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions.
Consultant Profile: Corporate services are required. The consultant will be a firm or consortium of firms with extensive experience in technical, financial, environmental, social and institutional due diligence of water projects and of working on similar assignments in the region and in working with International Financial Institutions (IFIs).
It is expected that the Assignment will be led by an appropriately qualified team leader/water engineer, accompanied by both key and supporting experts. Based on the fields of expertise and the tasks mentioned above, it is proposed that the team of the Consultant should consist at least of the following expatriate and local experts:
- Project Manager/Team Leader with a university degree or equivalent qualification with preferably15 years professional experience in the field of water supply and wastewater management, with comprehensive experience of similar assignments in EBRD region (CIS experience is a plus), as well as in institutional and commercial management of water/wastewater Company. He/she should demonstrate management and administration experience, including experience with procedures of international financing agencies (preferably EBRD procedures). The large number of different tasks and the complexity of administrational procedures require a permanent presence of the Project Manager in the Country during the project period of intensive work on preparation of the FS.
- Financial specialists with knowledge of the public financing and modelling.
- Technical specialists and water and wastewater engineers.
- Environmental and Social experts with experience in ESIAs and E&S due diligence, health & safety, stakeholder engagement, public consultation and disclosure in the local context, gender and inclusion expertise, and/or resettlement expertise, in water/wastewater sector with experience of similar assignments and with recent track record in the region.
- Institutional expert with experience of similar assignments.
- Resource efficiency expert with experience in water and waste water treatment.
- Legal expert with relevant experience in the areas of natural monopolies regulation and knowledge of Kazakhstan tariff legislation.
- Local experts with good communication skills and evidenced technical knowledge of water supply and wastewater.
The Consultant should integrate local professional skills/cooperate with local consulting companies, in order to provide national experience. The Consultant shall engage Russian/Kazakh speaking staff on their team or arrange for translation/interpreting when necessary. All experts must be independent and free from conflicts of interest in the responsibilities accorded to them.
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.
The above information should not exceed 25 pages excluding CVs and the Consultant Declaraation / 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:
Elena Kolodiy
Technical Co-operation
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
One Exchange Square
London EC2A 2JN
Tel: + 44 20 7338 6765
e-mail: kolodiyo@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 from an appropriate donor.
2. The shortlist selection criteria are:
- Consultant's experience in developing feasibility studies for IFIs and a good knowledge of IFI procedures and rules on public procurement and disbursement policies - 10%
- Consultant's experience in and knowledge of the water/wastewater sector, with international experience of preferably 10 years, specifically institutional and legal framework aspects, environmental and social requirements; local financial management standards, professional standards of technical knowledge internationally as well as in the region - 30%
- Qualifications and competence of the consultant's team as described in the Consultant Profile Section - 60%.
Terms of reference are available through the following link:
http://www.ebrd.com/documents/technical-cooporation/astana-water-fs-tor.pdf
