Assessment of desalination investment opportunities in the SEMED region

19 December 2018

The procurement notice is amended as follows:

- Response Due Date is extended to 3 January 2019 at 17:00 GMT

4 December 2018

The procurement notice is amended as follows:

- Response Due Date is extended to 1 January 2019 at 17:00 GMT

- Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in mid-February 2019

Location: Regional

Business sector: Sustainable Resources and Climate Change

Project number: 75904

Funding source: EBSF - EBRD Shareholder Special Fund

Contract type: Consultancy Services

Notice type: Invitation for expressions of interest (CSU)

Issue date: 22 Nov 2018

Closing date: 13 Dec 2018   at  17:00   London

Access eSelection
Single Stage Open Competitive Selection – Request for Proposals

Project Description:

The economics of desalination are changing rapidly. Growing water demand at coastal locations in mostly arid counties has been the driving force for building new desalination plants. Desalination of seawater and brackish water can be used to augment the increasing demand for fresh water supplies. Significant advances in desalination have occurred over recent years yet they remain an energy intensive process.

With increasing demand for desalinated water there is a large market potential for renewable energy-powered desalination systems. Satisfying demands for freshwater is expected to become increasingly difficult in the context of a changing climate, with many regions facing more variable precipitation patterns and decreased water availability. Countries in the SEMED region in particular are facing extreme water scarcity.

To further expand its investment activities related to desalination infrastructure under its Green Economy Transition (GET) mandate, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD” or the “Bank”) would like to engage a consultant (the Consultant) to perform a market review of desalination technologies and an analysis of investment opportunities in desalination projects in the SEMED region, inclusive of the following countries: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia. The activities undertaken as part of the study aim ultimately to identify future investment opportunities for the EBRD in the SEMED region.

Assignment Description:

The assignment will entail the following three tasks:

Task 1: Global trends and country profiles

· Prepare an overview of current and future global desalination trends

· Prepare country profiles covering the current desalination profile, water resources profile and water demand scenario of the relevant countries.

· Provide an outlook of the desalination potential for each country and mapping of the potential desalination investment opportunities, list of all data and information which served as input to the study.

Task 2: Technology assessment and GET consistent assessment tools

2.1 Research on best available desalination technologies

· Review and summarise the latest development on desalination technology, including considerations on how to make desalination a greener/ more sustainable solution.

· Provide whole life cost estimations including capital investment costs and operational costs for typical plants.

· Assess key energy requirements, emphasise value of heat assessment considerations and appropriateness of the tool.

· Provide an overview on international/local level technology suppliers and project developers

· Analyse environmental impact of concentrate discharge/ disposal of brine and outline sustainable solutions for brine disposal, re-use and/or recycle.

2.2 GET Desalination Assessment Tool

· Review the criteria for GET eligibility of desalination projects in Annex 5.4 GET Finance for Desalination[1] Projects

· Develop a framework for positively presenting and assessing desalination projects, taking into account the EBRD’s GET approach and metrics. Develop specific tools for eligibility assessments, impact assessments, Measurement, Reporting and Verification arrangements.

· Identify technical KPIs, which should be representative of the resource efficiency performance, climate resilience and other GET criteria.

· Develop GET criteria taking into account the sustainability of various uses of desalinated water in the assessment criteria of desalination projects.

· Apply the framework to two potential investments being considered by EBRD in SEMED.

Task 3: Investment opportunities and case study development

Carry out two case studies of good practices desalination investments to pre-assess the feasibility desalination options and the associated investments or interventions in the region.

Full Terms of Reference (TOR) of the Assignment can be found

here: http://www.ebrd.com/documents/procurement/tor-75904.pdf

Consultant Selection Procedure: Single stage open competitive selection. Interested firms or groups of firms are invited to submit a Technical and Financial Proposal.

Assignment Start Date and Duration: The Assignment is expected to start in January 2019 and has an estimated overall duration of 5 months. It is expected that the Consultant will commence work immediately on appointment.

Cost Estimate for the Assignment: EUR 150,000 (exclusive of VAT).

Subject to availability of funding, the performance of the selected Consultant and the Bank’s business needs, the Assignment may be extended beyond current scope.

Funding Source: It is anticipated that the contract will be financed by the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund (SSF). Selection and contracting are subject to the availability of funding.

Eligibility: There are no eligibility restrictions based on the consultant's nationality.

Consultant Profile:

Corporate services are required. The Consultant will be a firm or a group of firms preferably with previous project experience related to water resource management.

The Consultant should ensure that the appropriately qualified experts are available, as required, for each of the different tasks outlined above. It is expected that the Assignment will be led by an appropriately qualified team leader, 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 would consist of the following experts:

Project Manager/Team Leader with a university degree or equivalent qualification, preferably with 15 years of professional experience in managing projects of similar type / complexity.
International Desalination Expert(s) with broad and extensive experience in desalination technologies with preferably 15 years of professional experience. Prior experience in a similar assignment and relevant experience in the region generally or proposed countries specifically is preferred.
Water Resources Management Expert(s) with preferably 10 years of professional experience in the water sector.
Energy Management Expert(s) with preferably 10 years of professional experience in the energy sector.
Policy Expert(s) with relevant professional experience in SEMED preferably in the water sector.
Analyst(s) with relevant professional experience in SEMED preferably in water sector.

The Consultant is expected to integrate local professional skills/cooperate with local consulting companies, in order to provide national experience. The Consultant is expected to engage local 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: The consultants are now invited to submit a completed Technical and Financial Proposal as per the standard templates and instructions available at this link: http://www.ebrd.com/documents/procurement/single-stage-package.docx. Interested Consultants should make themselves familiar with these Standard Templates, Standard Instructions and Conditions of Contract in preparation of their proposals.

1. The Technical Proposal shall be submitted in English electronically via eSelection not later than the Closing Date, as one single PDF file. The technical proposal should not exceed 20 pages excluding the Declaration Form and CVs (Form 1- TP 1 and Form 1 – TP 6).

2. The Financial Proposal (Form 2 – FP 1 and FP2) shall be submitted in English separately by email only to the Bank Contact Person. Consultants are reminded of the requirement to ensure the confidentiality of the Financial Proposals.

A Technical Proposal that contains elements of a financial proposal shall be declared non-responsive.

A Financial proposal submitted together with the technical proposals via e Selection shall be declared non-responsive.

Bank Contact Person:

Maria Haugh

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

One Exchange Square

London EC2A 2JN

e-mail: haughm@ebrd.com

For the avoidance of doubt, technical proposals should be submitted via eselection.

Financial proposals should be submitted separately via email to Bank's Contact person.

Deadline to Submit Clarification Questions: Via e-mail to the Bank Contact Person by 29 November 2018.

Selection Method and Evaluation Criteria:

1. Technical Proposal Evaluation Criteria

(a) Firm's previous project experience in similar assignments (40%)

(b) Quality of the methodology proposed for the Assignment (30 %)

(c) CVs of the Key Experts (30 %).

The minimum technical score (St) required to pass is 80.

2. Opening of Financial Proposals

After the technical evaluation is completed, only the submissions which score 80 or above of the total marks available for the technical criteria will be eligible to have their financial proposals opened.

3. Combined Technical and Financial Evaluation

The lowest evaluated Financial Proposal (Fm) is given the maximum financial score (Sf) of 100. The formula for determining the financial scores (Sf) of all other Proposals is calculated as follows:

Sf = 100 x Fm/ F, in which “Sf” is the financial score, “Fm” is the lowest evaluated Financial Proposal, and “F” the price of the Proposal under consideration.

Proposals are then ranked according to their combined technical (St) and financial (Sf) scores using the weights (T = 80; F = 20) T + F = 100 as follows: S = St x T% + Sf x F%.

Important Notes:

1. The proposal validity period is 120 days from the deadline date for the receipt of submissions. During this period, the Consultant shall maintain its original Proposal without any change, including the availability of the Experts, the proposed rates and the total price.

2. The selection will be made from the Proposals received in response to this notification only, on the basis of the submission requirements and selection criteria set out in this Procurement Notice. The highest-ranked Consultant will be selected and invited to negotiate the contract, subject to availability of funding.

Any updates of and clarifications on this procurement notice shall be announced as updates on this notice, without any other notification. In the event of changes consultants will need to download the updated versions. Consultants are required to periodically check the notice for updates. Failure to take the updates into account while preparing the Proposal may result in disqualification or penalties to the scores in the evaluation.

[1] The document is available on the EBRD website, at the following link: https://www.ebrd.com/documents/climate-finance/implementing-the-ebrd-green-economy-transition.pdf
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