Procurement Notices

 Background:

Costa Rica is already experiencing the effects of climate change (CC), principally in the northern region of the country. CC scenarios suggest that by 2080 the annual area rainfall will be reduced by up to 65% in the region. In the short term, rainfall is predicted to decrease 15% by 2020 and 35% by 2050. These extreme conditions will exacerbate climate and water stress in some areas, recreating conditions that are typical of semi-arid areas (Northern Costa Rica). In other areas of the country, the Caribbean coast, and the Pacific central and southern coasts will suffer from recurrent floods and sea level rise.

 If CC-driven pressures are not addressed, the region will continue to experience significant water shortages that will have a severe economic impact on the livelihoods of local communities and the productive sectors.

In Costa Rica, rural aqueduct associations (ASADAS), which are locally organized groups of men and women from the user-communities delegated by the National Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA), provide potable water and sanitation services to 28.7% of the country’s population, reaching communities in suburban and rural areas. Most ASADAS in the region must develop the necessary skills and have access to knowledge and tools, as well as adequate investment, in order to address the scarcity of the water supply due to CC. Existing aqueduct infrastructure is often outdated and overloaded, causing inefficient water delivery, which in turn complicates the collection of fees from end users. Instability of fee collection leads to financial uncertainty, which impedes the ASADAS and the AyA’s ability to plan for and implement targeted improvements and new investments, including adaptation to CC.

 AyA investment plans lack community-based or ecosystem-based adaptation measures and financial institutions lack tools that can provide the correct incentives for private sector enterprises to integrate community- and water-related adaptation measures. If the ASADAS do not strengthen their capacities to cope with CC, the vulnerability of rural populations of the northern region of Costa Rica will only increase.

 The above stated threats of water shortages to local livelihoods as well as the weaknesses of the existing Integrated Water Resource Management amongst institutional stakeholders Costa Rica are documented and addressed in Costa Ricas National Climate Change Strategy, Nationaly Determined Contribution (INDC) submitted to the UNFCC, as well as in the National Development Plan. For this reason, the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts (AyA), the Ministry of Environment anf Energy (MINAE, represented by the GCF Focal Point for Costa Rica-PF, the Director for Climate Change-DCC, Director for International Cooperation- DCI , Direction of Waters DA- and Meteorological Institution- IMN) requested UNDP to develop a proposal for the Green Climate Fund that may provide a long-term solution to mitigate the prevailing threats of water shortages to local livelihoods is to establish a holistic approach to managing the water supply and demand that takes CC into account.

 UNDP therefore requires an international project planning expert to prepare a project proposal using the Green Climate Fund Proposal template (Annex III) for the following project idea (Annex IV):

Project Idea:

The objective of this project is to improve water supply and promote sustainable water practices of end users and productive sectors by advancing community- and ecosystem-based measures by ASADAS to address projected climate-related hydrological vulnerability (including extreme drought and flood events) at a national scale in Costa Rica. This will be achieved through investments in the National Integrated Water Resource Management Information System (SINIGIRH) to ensure updated information of all rural aqueduct associations (ASADAS) is included in the system. The project will focus on promoting community- and ecosystem-based measures in rural aqueduct associations (ASADAS) to address projected climate-related hydrological vulnerability. The interventions aim at upscaling and replicating at national level measures based on the ongoing  GEF SCCF-UNDP-AYA pilot project in the northern region of Costa Rica (Guanacaste and Alajuela provinces) that tested the package of solutions for CC adaptation suggested in the project. (See Annex IV)

Duties and Responsibilities:

The Feasibility Study Lead Consultant will conduct research, consult institutional counterparts and UNDP staff and consultants in order to write rough drafts of all sections of the feasibility study. These will be submitted to the lead consultant of the GCP Project proposal for final review and final write up.

 The consultant will interact with the Project Formulation committee composed of representatives from AYA, MINAE (PF, DCC, DIC, DA, IMN) and UNDP (Country Office, Regional tech Adviser), as well as national experts (subject matter, technical feasibility study) and international support consultants (e.g. on funding proposal writer, economic and financial feasibility, safeguards, gender).

Mostly through home-based work, and country/field missions that may be required (these will be financed separately by UNDP) the consultant will perform the following tasks:

1. Conduct desk-studies and consult national experts and institutions representarives for information and documents required for the field report.
2. Draft the Pre-feasibility and Feasibility study following the table of contents included in Annex 1, as well as based on examples provided by UNDP of previous feasibility studies for other proposals to the GCF.
3. Review the work of other GEF, GCF and Adatation Fund projects implemented by other agencies and institutions for the identification of common actions that contribute to the scope of the project products and results.
4. Collect data related to the planning and monitoring of the project, with particular attention to the description and quantification of the baseline investments.
5. Develop a map showing the level of advance of all municipal governments in Costa Rica regarding land use planning regulations, including completion of full hydrological maps.
6. Help determine technical specifications and the the cost of all the investments suggested in the project framework, including operational and maintenance (O&M) arrangments.
7. Compile and document baseline/ situational analyses for the project based on the inputs from local experts and in close cooperation with experts and key national partners. This will include a precise definition of the baseline of projects, activities, budgets, targets and outcomes, GCF co-financing contacts; and the development of the incremental cost analysis.
8. Preapre on full draft of the feasibility study every four weeks using ANEX I table of contents and other relevant documentation (provided once hired) for submission to the Lead GCF Proposla consultant.
9. Carry out final revisions of the documentation of the project.

Required Skills and Qualifications

Language:

English is the working language for this assignment, therefore excellent oral and written communications and presentation. Deliverables are to be developed and submitted in English language only.

Documentation to be submitted

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided.
2. Duly completed and signed P11 Form, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate.
3. A brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment.
4. Financial proposal stating the quoted lumpsum amount as well as breakdown per deliverable and per working day.
5. Curriculm Vitae.

All proposals must be submitted on 10 march, 2017 (Costa Rica time) to the following email address: adquisiciones.cr@undp.org.

Note: Incomplete proposals may not be considered.

Annexes

Annex I: Example Table of Contents for Feasibility Study

Annex II: Project idea

Annex- Individual IC General Terms and Conditions, check the following link:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf

Annex P11 Form template, check the following link:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.