Project ID: P172548

Project Title: Greater Cairo Air Pollution Management and Climate Change Project

Borrower Bid Reference: EG-EEAA-170002- CS-QCBS

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

Arab Republic of Egypt

Greater Cairo Air Pollution Management and Climate Change Project

Loan No: P172548

Assignment Title: Maximize the newly established WMRA financial resources in line with the most recent Waste Management Regulation Law No. 202 of 2020.

Reference No. (as per Procurement Plan): EG-EEAA-170002- CS-QCBS

The Ministry of Environment and the Waste Management Regulatory Authority (WMRA) has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the National Solid Waste Management Program (NSWMP), and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services.

The consulting services (“the Services”) include exploring ways within the confines of WMRA obligations and attributes to generate revenues from waste (municipal, industrial, agricultural, medical, hazardous, electronic waste –WEEE–, construction and debris, oils, batteries, tires, etc.) services, investments and knowledge sharing, and determining recurrent and enabling costs of WMRA over the short to long terms in line with Law No. 202 of 2020 and following the circular economy principles. It is expected to review and build on the work, outcomes, studies, and any other analyses already conducted or currently in progress by the NSWMP; as well as any other existing studies produced or approved by the Ministry of Environment. The Consultant firm will look at similar and relevant international experiences for establishing income-generating entities (e.g., investments in all wastes’ value chain equities/ventures, similar centers of excellence, authorities or agencies specialized in waste management, etc.) and tailor made it to the Egyptian context.   

The scope of work will be conducted in two phases: (i) Phase I with a comprehensive review and diagnostic phase; and (ii) Phase II with revenue and expenditure scenarios, resources and expenditures set up and recommendations phase.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment is attached to this request for expressions of interest.

The Ministry of Environment of Egypt 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 Consultant will report to the designated Focal Point from the Ministry of Environment and will work in close collaboration with the staff of the Ministry of Environment, WMRA and the NSWMP. The shortlisting criteria are:

• Proven experience of more than 20 years in solid waste management fiscal, financial, legal, institutional regulatory, governance and compliance issues, strategy formulation, policy designs and implementation, agency setting up and modus operandi, sustainable waste management and evaluation.
• Proven experience for more than 5 years on the circular economy by targeting all stakeholders to sequence in the transformational economy in line with the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 associated with the circular economy.
• Experience in European and Middle Eastern countries with regards to waste management and the circular economy.
• The Consultant Team must have the professional skills and adequate relevant experience related to the assignment. Key Experts will not be evaluated at the shortlisting stage.

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” July 2016 revised November 2017 & August 2018 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.  In addition, please refer to the following specific information on conflict of interest related to this assignment: Consultants shall not be hired for any assignment that would be in conflict with their prior or current obligations to other clients, or that may place them in a position of being unable to carry out the assignment in the best interests of the Borrower.  Without limitation on the generality of the foregoing, Consultants shall not be hired under the circumstances set forth below:

Consultants may associate with other firms to enhance their qualifications, but should indicate clearly whether the association is in the form of a joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy. In the case of a joint venture, all the partners in the joint venture shall be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected.

A Consultant firm will be selected in accordance with the Quality and Cost-based Selection (QCBS) method set out in the Procurement Regulations.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 09:00 to 17:00.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by mail, or by fax, or by e-mail) by May 7th, 2021.

Greater Cairo Air Pollution Management and Climate Change Project

Attn: Dr. Ali Abo Sena – National Director & Mrs. Azza Belal – Procurement Specialist

Address: 26, 100 st, Maadi, 4th Floor - Flat 3

Cairo - Egypt

Tel: + (202) 23594235

Fax: + (202) 23594239

E-mail: [email protected]

Terms of Reference

Arab Republic of Egypt

Waste Management Regulatory Authority (WMRA):

Maximizing Resources and Revenues

Specialized Consultancy Firm Services

Background

The Waste Management Regulatory Authority (WMRA) was initially established by Prime Minister Decree No. 3005 of 2015 and being restructured in the context of the Waste Management Regulation Law No. 202 of 2020 (attached translated version).  It is now set up as an economic public entity to attract and promote waste-related investments, regulate all waste flows, and strengthen the knowledge exchange and commitments between Egypt and the international community. In addition to its attributes to notably propose strategies, plans, legislations, regulations, policies, awareness campaigns, standards and compliance systems regarding the waste sector, WMRA can propose economic and financial mechanism, create investment opportunities and facilitate knowledge sharing.

1. WMRA shall have an independent budget in line with the budgets of the economic public entities. The different resources of the agency are spelled out in the Law (Article 12). WMRA is also entitled to other resources, such as the service charges in the context of the Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR) system to be developed and others as approved by the Board of Directors of WMRA.
2. The Ministry of Environment and WMRA are benefiting from a technical assistance program through the National Solid Waste Management Program (NSWMP). The latter is financed by the European Union, the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through KfW and GIZ and the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Switzerland) (https://nswmp.net/).

Objective of the Consultancy

The Ministry of Environment of Egypt is seeking the services of a specialized consultancy firm, referred to hereinafter as “the Consultant”, to formulate options to maximize the newly established WMRA financial resources in line with the most recent Waste Management Regulation Law No. 202 of 2020.

Scope of Work and Specific Tasks

The Consultant will explore ways within the confines of WMRA obligations and attributes to generate revenues from waste (municipal, industrial, agricultural, medical, hazardous, electronic waste –WEEE–, construction and debris, oils, batteries, tires, etc.) services, investments and knowledge sharing, and determine recurrent and enabling costs of WMRA over the short to long terms in line with Law No. 202 of 2020 and following the circular economy principles.

1. The Consultant is expected to review and build on the work, outcomes, studies, and any other analyses already conducted or currently in progress by the NSWMP; as well as any other existing studies produced or approved by the Ministry of Environment.
2. Furthermore, the Consultant will look at similar and relevant international experiences for establishing income-generating entities (e.g., investments in all wastes’ value chain equities/ventures, similar centers of excellence, authorities or agencies specialized in waste management, etc.) and tailor made it to the Egyptian context.   
3. The Consultant’s scope of work will be conducted in two phases: (i) Phase I with a comprehensive review and diagnostic phase; and (ii) Phase II with revenue and expenditure scenarios, resources and expenditures set up and recommendations phase. These two phases include, as a minimum, the following specific tasks:

(i) Phase I: Comprehensive Review and Diagnostic

1. The Consultant will review Egypt’s national and WMRA legislations, institutional set up, policies and governance of relevance to the waste management sector. Also, the Consultant will review the national fiscal and financial system related to the waste sector and will consider the Environmental Protection Fund (EPF)[1] currently under the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) in terms of modus operandi as well as fund mobilization and allocation. Furthermore, the Consultant will review Egypt’s National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA), which, like WMRA, is an economic public entity, to determine its modus operandi as well as the scope and flows of revenues it generates and the costs it incurs.
2. The consultant will review the current level of WMRA activities and projects as a baseline for its new extended role and responsibilities.
3. The Consultant will draw a comparison between Egypt waste sector with the selected countries (e.g., France, Tunisia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates)[2] to consider: (i) generation of revenues through the waste value chain (collection, transportation, transfer stations, treatment and final disposal) in terms of services, investments and knowledge sharing; (ii) recurrent (administrative and operational activities) and enabling (promotion and incentivizing activities) costs; (iii) and modus operandi of the waste sector and its dedicated agencies/regulators in line with the circular economy.
4. The Consultant will describe revenue options from all the wastes’ value chain for WMRA revenue options based on local waste generation with benchmarking from the selected countries over the short, medium and long terms such as: licensing/permitting/approvals, fines, economic instruments including Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), spearheading pilots as well as equity/venture investments, and turning WMRA into a Center of Excellence/hub/knowledge sharing. These are the six options that need to be explored further, provided that the regulatory function can be distinctly separated from the revenue-based services and investments:
   1. Review all the economic instruments (e.g., ecotax, deposit refund scheme, EPR and financial incentives) that are used in the selected countries for all the wastes’ value chain and analyze the fiscal impact in terms of revenues, revenues breakdown and allocation of these taxes/instruments regarding the recycling value chain of plastics, glass, metal cans, paper/cardboard, culinary, vehicular, plane, boat and machinery oils, tires, batteries (acid-based, lithium-based and alkaline-based), WEEE, etc. The Consultant will briefly describe the list of services and different sources of revenues and the modus operandi of each system and a breakdown of each source of revenue flows.
   2.  Licensing/permitting/approvals for all the wastes’ value chain from collection to disposal, e.g., NGOs, micro-enterprises, etc.
   3. Fines to be introduced for infringing the law for all the wastes’ value chain from collection to disposal, e.g., NGOs, micro-enterprises, etc. if operators NGOs, micro-enterprises, etc.
   4. Stocktaking, promoting and investing in innovating activities for all the wastes’ value chain in Egypt (e.g., Plastic Packaging Material Recovery and the recent Recycling initiative launched by Nestlé in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Environment, CID Consulting, and Paymob) that could provide WMRA with: (i) fee-based advisory services locally and internationally; and (ii) revenues generated through WMRA investments in the wastes’ value chain equity/ventures, e.g., production of medium-density fiberboards from agricultural waste such as Palm waste.
   5. Explore the possibility of having an independent division/company of WMRA provide technical, consulting and PPP advisory services to third parties, governorates or on a project-to-project basis.
   6. Turning WMRA in conjunction with relevant institutions into a certified educational and training center and try to seek grants from development partners to attract as much as possible international and regional events, study tours, master classes (e.g., RDF with Lafarge-Holcim; circular economy; etc.) for all the wastes’ value chain, thus transforming WMRA into a Center of Excellence and a waste knowledge hub in conjunction with local, regional and international Universities and worldwide waste associations for the Middle East and Africa. Furthermore, will suggest a model for peer-to peer cooperation with similar Centers of excellence.

The Consultant will carry out a benchmarking on the ecotaxes in Morocco, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates on the use of revenues from eco-taxes to support the institutional framework and to develop, regulate and supervise recycling and waste recovery initiatives in the context of the circular economy as an example case.

(ii) Phase II: Revenue Scenarios, Resources and Expenditures Set Up, and Recommendations

1. Preparation of a preliminary low, medium and high scenario analysis to derive WMRA resource and expenditure flows from:

1. Basic revenue generation through economic instruments (to be applied on products with the highest revenue potential for each instrument) as well as licensing/permitting/approvals and fines.
2. Additional revenue generation through fee-based advisory services and equity/venture investments in the wastes’ value chain.
3. Extra revenue generation through the inception of the Centre of Excellence for all the wastes’ value chain.
4. Based on the selected countries’ Agency/Regulator expenditure benchmarking (unit cost per population and waste by category generated), derive the preliminary recurrent and enabling expenditures to be borne by WMRA over the short to long terms.
5. Further to EEAA’s EPF above review and based on the proposed elevated Fund that would handle WMRA resource mobilization, and the public economic entity scope as derived from the above-mentioned NTRA, the Consultant will provide the scope of activities and the overall modus operandi and transfers frame of both the part of the elevated Fund to cover WMRA operations and WMRA resources and expenditures.

All revenue generation and expenditure options/scenarios will have to be backed by clear methods, modus operandi and assumptions to derive financial flows’ scenarios. The Consultant will prepare recommendations and a roadmap on the setting up, modus operandi, capacity building and timeframe of resources and expenditures for both WMRA and the elevated Fund dedicated to WMRA over the current year to 5 years.  

Deliverables and Timeline 

An Inception report and two main deliverables will be submitted, consisting of the following:

(i) Inception Report: developing the methodology, detailed activities to fulfill the tasks, a workplan clarifying activities to be carried out in parallel and/or in sequence, and a confirmation of the qualifications needed and the level of effort;

(ii) Deliverable I: a first report will be submitted with the results of the comprehensive review and diagnostic, presented in two volumes: the first volume synthetizing the results of Egypt’s legislations, institutional set up, policies and fiscal and financial system review  and the results of the specific review of the Environmental Protection Fund and NTRA; and a second volume providing the results of the benchmarking in the selected countries with additional analysis of EPR and ecotaxes in Morocco, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates;  and

(ii) Deliverable II: a second comprehensive report with the recommendations, revenue scenarios, resources and expenditures set up and financial flows, and the modalities for framing the WMRA and Elevated Fund modus operandi and transfers for revenues and expenditures.

The deliverables and timeline are illustrated in the following table:

Note: Review days required by the Ministry of Environment and WMRA should not be considered as business days and should not exceed seven business days for each deliverable. Therefore, the timeline is net of review days needed by the Ministry of Environment and WMRA under “Action”.

Qualifications Required and Level of Effort

The Consultant Team must have the professional skills with the level of effort described in the following table:

Duration of Contract and Reporting

1. The contract duration is 4 months.
2. The Consultant will report to the designated Focal Point from the Ministry of Environment and will work in close collaboration with the staff of the Ministry of Environment, WMRA and the NSWMP.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Organization/Department: Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency
NameAzza Belal
Address26, 100 st., Maadi, Cairo, 4th Floor
City 
Province/StateEgypt, Arab Republic of
Postal Code 
CountryEgypt, Arab Republic of
Phone00201100226814
[email protected]