TERMS OF REFERENCE

Consultant to prepare Operational/Implementation Guidelines

THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK

PEVP (Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth (PEVP))

Power Systems Development Department (PESD)

National and Regional Power Systems Division (PESD.1)

BACKGROUND /EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

  1. We are pleased to inform you that the Power Systems Development Department (PESD.1) of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan will require the services of a Consultant to implement Project Implementation/Operational guidelines ;
  2. You are kindly requested to submit your CV (format attached on annex i) and Cover letter by email to [email protected] and copy to [email protected] by 5:00pm on 23rd October 2020, GMT to the address mentioned

Proposal for Procurement & Contracts Consultant

For the attention of: Ms. Stella MANDAGO

African Development Bank

Power Systems Development Department

Rue Jean Paul II

01 BP 1387 Abidjan 01

Côte d’Ivoire

Submission format: XXXX_YYYY__CV and XXXX_YYYY_Cover_letter

for your last name and YYYY for your first name

  1. The expected duration of the assignment is six (6) month ;
  1. The Terms of Reference (TOR) indicating the scope of the assignment to be undertaken as well as the services required from the selected consultant. You are also requested to present your expression of interest with your CV (format attached) and cover letter ;
  1. The Consultant will be selected in accordance with the African Development Bank’s Implementation Manual relating to the Procedures for Acquisition of Consulting Services funded by the Administrative or Capital Expenditure Budget of the Bank Group. The candidate shall be evaluated based on the following technical criteria :
  • General qualifications and adequacy for the proposed Assignment ;
  • Similar experience in the area of expertise of the Assignment ;
  • Experience with the Bank or other international donors ;
  • Language proficiency ;
  • Knowledge of the region. 
  1. All the consultants shall be ranked, and the highest ranked consultant will be selected for the said assignment if his/her fees are within budget limits ;
  2. The consultant shall bear all his/her insurance and medical costs for the duration of his/her services ;
  3. All submission should be made by email on or before the closing date specified in paragraph 2 above. Any proposal received after the closing date or without format guidelines provided shall be rejected.

BACKGROUND :

The African Development Bank (the Bank or AfDB) established in 1964 is the leading development bank on the continent with a mission and objective to spur sustainable economic development and social progress in its Regional Member Countries (RMCs), thus contributing to poverty reduction. AfDB implements its cooperation with its regional member countries not only through project funding (project grants/loans) but also by carrying out other types of cooperation that includes; Policy work, Producing and Sharing of Knowledge and Advisory Services.

The Bank’s Triple-A rating across major rating agencies enables it to mobilize and allocate resources for investment in Africa while providing policy advice and technical assistance to support development efforts. To accelerate Africa’s transformation, the Bank has identified five operational priority areas. These five priorities are: (i) Light & Power Africa; (ii) Feed Africa; (iii) Industrialize Africa; (iv) Integrate Africa; and (v) Improve the quality of life for the people of Africa (collectively, the High 5s). The High 5s will help Africa achieve 90% of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals and are intrinsically linked to the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

The Light and Power Africa; has been identified as a critical driver and engine for growth across the continent. Over the years, the Bank’s interventions in the power sector are aimed at improving connectivity and access to electricity in urban and rural areas and an aspirational goal of achieving universal access to energy in Africa by 2025. The Bank’s commitments to the Energy sector can be better viewed under the New Deal on Energy where an additional 16 GW of on-grid power is expected to be added to the continent’s supply, with enhanced transmission and distribution. Despite numerous generation investments in the continent, transmission and distribution challenges are still the bane of the sector in the continent.

In order to achieve the Light up and Power Africa vision, the Bank launched strategic New Deal on Energy in Africa (NDEA) strategy with 9 strategic flagship programs namely; IPP auction, Power Utility transformation, early project preparation facility, funding catalyst, bottom of the pyramid funding, mobile payment, regional projects acceleration, country-wide energy sector turnaround and transformative partnership program.

These nine (9) pillars are driving the Bank to achieve its target, the Bank through the PEVP complex has developed a partnership with USAID under its Power Africa initiative that was launched in 2013. Through this, on 2018, an agreement was signed between the two parties to partner and leverage efforts to meet the NDEA goals. The key objectives of this agreement are to facilitate a transformative partnership between Power Africa and the Bank to accelerate universal access to energy; whereas the parties have agreed to work together to achieve inclusive, and sustainable growth in Africa’s energy sector that ensures access to modern, affordable and reliable energy services by unlocking Africa’s energy potentials.

Through this agreements, certain collaboration has taken place and planning for further collaboration between the two institutions. In 2019, the PESD through the PEVP complex undertook the first collaboration effort with USAID in an investment project in Angola. USAID through Power Africa supports the Bank’s effort by providing the technical assistance to the client     on     the     Bank    project.            Therefore;    it     is    important     that     the      common operational/implementation guideline be developed so that the client (Governments), Power Africa, AfDB project teams and any stakeholders that will be part of the collaboration, use this as the guidance for these kinds of operations.

The Program Implementation/operational guideline will describe the agreed minimum requirements and processes that will be applied and complied to the project. It brings together the rules and regulations, the current corporate programs, and Operations Policies and Procedures of the two organizations. Thus, it does incorporate Ownership, Harmonization, Efficiency, Effectiveness, Openness, Competition, Transparency, Fairness/Non-Discrimination and Accountability as per Paris agreement. This will assist the client (Government), AfDB, USAID to ensure the effectiveness of project implementation, which contributes to the impact in reducing poverty, building the capacity of human resources and institutions, strengthening governance, improving development outcomes, and accelerating the achievement of the MDGs. Hence, this is understood to be a living document that can accommodate changes in conditions and policy related to the management of foreign grants in the host country.

CONSULTANCY OBJECTIVES Introduction and Background : 

  1. Technical and administrative problems in the implementation of the cooperation. Issues arise when the project’s responsible party or other related parties are not fully informed on the Government and AfDB & USAID cooperation policies, procedures, and modalities for planning, developing and implementing foreign aid projects, or the cash transfer, procurement, and monitoring & evaluating systems ;
  2. The above issues need to be addressed to enhance future efficiency and effectiveness in the implementation of development initiatives.

This will ensure project design and implementation are carried out to maximum effectiveness. To develop an implementation/operational guideline wherein the purpose is to :

  1. provide key officials, program and project management staff, members of the project management office (PMO) with a quick and accessible reference to ensure that all supported projects are implemented in an efficient and agreed manner. It should cover the areas of administration, program/project preparation, Program/ Project Management, Planning, Implementation, Reporting, Monitoring & Evaluation and Audit as well as Project Closure ;
  2. Increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation of projects funded by the AfDB in collaboration with USAID ;
  3. Become a guideline for Government staff, implementing agencies, project management officers, in charge of managing and implementing the project ;
  4. Become the guideline for all key stakeholders, third parties and contracted personnel staff on an assignment in order to have an increased understanding of modus operandi between both organizations and on host country including if any, its national laws, policies and agreed applicable requirements with host country.

The consultant is expected to study and have a clear understanding of the Bank’s operation guidelines and that of the USAID focusing on Power Africa. In addition, he/she is expected to understand the legal and regulatory environment relevant for the implementation and operational guidelines for the assignment. The consultant will then prepare an implementation guideline which reflects both institutions guidelines, without forgetting the host country’s framework with clear roles of each key stakeholders being defined with entry to exit point for each key stakeholder

  1. KEY ACTIVITIES :

The consultant will be expected to undertake the following :

  • Review, AfDB relevant Operational guidelines covering the operations on all criteria and narrow down to the relevant area of interest with the USAID/Power Africa ;
  • Review, the operational guidelines for the USAID/Power Africa and narrow down the relevant areas of intersection with the AfDB ;
  • Identify all key stakeholders and discuss to understand each one’s role, and responsibilities ;
  • Based on the discussions, information provided, analyze where there are key gaps that needs to be addressed and provide recommendations ;
  • Read and understand the roles of Development Partners (USAID & AfDB) working relationship with its client, and especially where the client is the Government, given that one is bilateral and the other multi-lateral institution ;
  • Identify the key stakeholders, roles, and define the mandate of each stakeholder in this partnership, USAID, Power Africa, AfDB, Government, Utility, Executing Agency etc ;
  • Prepare a detailed step to step guideline or a toolbox from the inception of the collaboration to the onset of it ;
  • The guideline should include the relevant information such as timeline of each event, and the key stakeholders for each collaboration, which should include a training module, and timeline of training to make sure all key stakeholders are aware of the guidelines ;
  • If necessary, meet with key stakeholders to share how such a model can be supported, and financial approach used; and recommendation on further opportunities for collaboration based on information provided.
  1. SCOPE OF WORK :

Detail the processes and implementation procedures that stakeholders will need to be aware of and use, as well as include convenient templates. As it is expected to be a living document, flexibility for adoption is assumed so that any program/project to any other Regional member country can adopt and update accordingly if required.

These guidelines should explain the following implementation of key phases :

  1. Planning, project preparation and signing of the Project Document ;
  2. consists of the recommendation phase, assessing readiness criteria, and registering a Planning Document on the foreign loan/grant, and other project preparation prior to the signing of the project document ;
  3. Implementation ;
  4. consists of channeling and disbursing the funds through designated mechanism, as well as loan/grant administration, the main principles in the procurement process, processes for revision and changes to the project document, and others matters, including official field trips, living and visa permits for external staff (third parties), hired consultants, contractors and customs and tax obligations ;
  5. Reporting, monitoring & evaluation, and audit ;
  6. Define clearly and include the reporting mechanism, monitoring, evaluation, and audit requirements ;
  7. Mechanisms for Project Closure; include the process for substantive closure and the relevant financial and administrative procedures, as well as arrangements for the transfer of assets, staff, equipment’s if necessary ;
  8. Guidelines under special conditions such as crisis or disaster – what are the mechanisms for implementing projects ;
  9. Additional specific and technical aspects related to the implementation if any ;
  10. Include other modality of Bank’s funding into the guidelines such as advisory support if different from this one ;
  11. Administrative arrangements, and tri-patriate institutional arrangements. Reporting structure and timeline, and harmonization of all areas that might be that can be possible for harmonization such as single reporting rather than dual reporting reports.
  1. DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME :

The assignment is expected to take 6 months and will involves three deliverables :

Inception Report: this shall set out the methodology and work plan for the execution of the assignment as described in these Terms of Reference and be prepared within four weeks of signing the contract. The report will be further informed by discussions with the AfDB and other key stakeholders such as the Power Africa team, and shall address the following: (i) scope and expectations of the assignment including comment to the Terms of Reference (ToR) if any; (ii) roles and responsibilities of the parties; (iii) detailed methodology, including strategy, tools and templates for information collection; (iv) reporting outline and layout; (v) work scheduling and timeframe for deliverables.

Draft final report: to be submitted within 3 months from the submission of inception report Accepted Final Report: to be submitted within last week of assignment since contract signature, and should include :

  • Implementation/Operational guidelines that covers a guideline based on the two partnerships and the host country ;
  • All the report shall be written in English and submitted electronically ;
  • If any specific laws or country regulations should be provided as a reference to the main document and prepared as an annex or appendix, should not be part of the main document.

Final Report: to be submitted within on last week (24th week). This final report should incorporate all the comments from all the stakeholders given after the submission of the final draft report

  1. REMUNERATION :

Remuneration shall be a lump-sum amount with two components: (i) Fees and (ii) Reimbursable. The following milestone schedule is set out for payments under the fixed-price contract and the consultant should adhere to these milestones in their proposals :

•
• Submission of Inception Report – 10%
• Submission of accepted draft final report 60%
• Submission of acceptable final report 30%

Deliverables completed as per this schedule will be approved by the AfDB Project Team after which invoices may be submitted for payment.

  1. CONSULTANT SKILLS REQUIRED :

AfDB will enter into a contract for the delivery of the work set out in these Terms of Reference.

The skills and experience required of the adviser should include inter alia :

  • Possess an in-depth understanding of development partners role in African continent and understanding of roles of multi-lateral and bilateral development partners and modalities of working
  • Possess basic understanding of fiduciary guidelines AfDB, with that of USAID to be an added advantage.
  • Demonstrated experience in project management, planning and understanding of a project life cycle
  • Sound experience on working on development of policies, strategy and /or operational guidelines
  • Strong communication and report writing skills with ability to present and disseminate findings;
  • Proficiency in English with considerable experience in preparing and developing high quality documents if needed.
  • Understanding of Government systems, institutional arrangements in Portuguese laws will be an added advantage
  • Master’s degree in economics, communication, project management or other relevant field
  1. ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS : 

The AfDB project team will manage the assignment. A process of continuous consultation with the team and the USAID/Power Africa team is thus required.

In general, the firm will : 

  • Work very closely with the AfDB & USAID project team and key project stakeholders at every stage of the assignment ;
  • Report to the team which will facilitate coordination with government departments and other project stakeholders as deemed necessary ;
  • Be responsible for alerting the team on all major issues pertinent to the successful execution of the assignment.
  1. CONDUCT OF THE CONSULTANT :
  • The consultant shall at all times ;
  • Be expected to carry out the assignment with the highest level of professionalism and integrity and to conduct his duties in an open and transparent manner ;
  • Under any circumstance ;
  • Take any actions or be seen to be taking any actions, which may hinder or prevent the Bank from executing this assignment ;
  • Take any material decision pertinent to this assignment without the express permission and written consent of an authorized representative of the project team ;
  • Discuss or reveal any information regarding this assignment without the express written permission of an authorized representative of project team.
  1. ACCOUNTABILITIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES :

For contractual matters, the consultant shall work under the direct supervision of the AfDB staff who shall be responsible for the following :

  • Providing all necessary background documents, reports, guidelines, etc. available at the AfDB ;
  • Assisting in arranging formal/informal meetings at the AfDB and with external stakeholders ;
  • Arranging logistical support ;
  • Coordinate the review of the consultant’s deliverables.

The consultant shall exercise diligence in the execution of the assignment, competency and provide adequate time to enable to deliver on the assignment. In addition, the reporting requirements and schedule shall be respected.

  1. Reference :

Please indicate the name and address of three persons with no family relationship with yourself, familiar with your character and titles.

I hereby certify that the responses which I provided above are all, to the best of my knowledge, true, complete and accurate. I acknowledge that an inaccurate statement or essential omission in a personal declaration or another document required by the African Development Bank might result in the rejection of my application, termination of my Contract or any other administrative sanction by the Bank. The African Development Bank may verify any statements which I made in this application.

 

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