CONSULTANCY SERVICES TO CARRY OUT AN ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON MVD RESPONSE PROJECT.

Introduction

Water For People has secured funds from USAID to finance the WASH Response to Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) Outbreak Project, a 6-month Rwanda Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) activity. The MVD project will operate in nine districts: Gasabo, Kicukiro, Nyarugenge, Kayonza, Nyagatare, Gatsibo, Nyanza, Kamonyi, and Ngororero.

The overall goal of this MVD WASH Response Project is to contribute to national efforts to prevent the transmission of MVD through enhanced WASH services in health facilities and public places. This will be achieved through three specific objectives as follow:

• Improve WASH services in health facilities and public places through the construction and/or repair of existing WASH facilities.
• Promote handwashing practices in health facilities and public places through social and behavior change (SBC) strategies.
• Support the development of a sustainable management framework for WASH facilities in health facilities and public places.

The activities for the infrastructure development component are the following:

1. The Project will construct, rehabilitate, or extend existing systems to provide water for drinking and handwashing facilities in these healthcare facilities.

• Kageyo Health Center in Ngororero District
• Sovu Health Center in Ngororero District
• Nyakabingo Health Center in Kayonza District
• Rwimbogo Health Center in Gatsibo District
• Nduba Health Center in Gasabo District
• Kiziguro Hospital in Gatsibo District

2. The Project will connect at least 40 health centers with the required intra-facility water supply connections required for infection prevention and control (IPC).

3. The Project will construct 30 new hand-washing facilities and will rehabilitate 35 existing non-and partial functional handwashing facilities as follows:

• 20 new handwashing facilities will be constructed at health centers
• 5 new handwashing facilities will be constructed at bus stations
• 5 new handwashing facilities will be constructed at markets
• 25 existing handwashing facilities will be rehabilitated in health centers
• 5 existing handwashing facilities will be rehabilitated at bus stations
• 5 existing handwashing facilities will be rehabilitated at markets

The project will upgrade or rehabilitate existing toilet facilities with SATO pans at the health centers and public places as follows:

• 87 toilets will be upgraded at health centers
• 17 will be upgraded at bus stations
• 39 toilets will be upgraded at markets
• 4 toilets will be upgraded at border posts

In compliance with USAID regulations and Rwandan Government laws, particularly Law N°48/2018 of 13/08/2018 and Ministerial Order No 001/ 2019 of 15/04/2019, an essential requirement before the construction or rehabilitation of WSS is conducting an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA).

With this objective in mind, Water for People is seeking to engage a consultancy firm to conduct a comprehensive ESIA for all infrastructure development. This assessment aligns with the specified scope of work outlined below.

Objective of the consultancy

The overall objective of the consultancy is to ensure compliance with the national environmental legislation as well as USAID’s environmental protection regulations. The consultancy firm will identify potential social and environmental impacts (positive and negative) and design measures to prevent, reduce, and/or mitigate the negative impacts of the proposed activities.

The specific objectives include the following:

• To determine the potential environmental and social impact of the planned construction and rehabilitation of water supply systems; installation of intra-facility water supply connections required for IPC in health centers; construction and rehabilitation of hand washing facilities in health centers, market, bus stations, and border posts; upgrade or rehabilitate existing toilet facilities.
• To propose mitigation measures that will effectively address any identified negative impacts.
• To prepare an ESIA and Environmentand Social Management and Monitoring Plan (ESMMP) according to the national and USAID guidelines and regulations.
• To provide an ESIA certificate issued by RDB for the construction/ rehabilitation works.
• Provide a Water Quality Assurance Plan as per USAID guidelines.

Detailed information will be provided to the successful consultants or firm.

Scope of work

The ESIA will be carried out for all infrastructure development as follows:

• Six (6) water networks need construction, extension, and/or rehabilitation.
• Forty (40) intra-facility water supply connections are required for an effective IPC mechanism in those health centers.
• Thirty (30) new handwashing facilities in health centers, bus stations, and markets need construction
• Thirty-five (35) existing handwashing facilities in health centers, bus stations and markets need rehabilitation
• One hundred forty-seven (147) toilets in health centers and other public places that need partial rehabilitation.

Specific tasks

Preparation of the ESIA will include the following elements and activities:

1. Literature review

• Identify data availability and gaps for conducting the assessment.
• Review existing WASH status in health centers and public places in Rwanda in regard to an effective IPC mechanism
• Determine the extent of additional data collection required to ensure the qualitative depth of this study and the steps required (site visits, interviews, literature review, etc.)
• Review USAID and GoR ESIA/ESMMP formats that must be used when submitting the deliverables.

2. Description of the project

• A detailed description of the project, which will identify the specific environmental and social issues related to it, including all risks and health and safety aspects.
• Analysis of alternatives considered to reduce or eliminate negative environmental and social impacts, including the “no action” alternative. Factors will include project site location, timing, scales, partners, intensities, technologies/processes, facility designs, construction, operation and maintenance, organizational and management setups, ways of dealing with impacts, and capacity to adequately address risks/impacts.
• Description of the project location and sensitive environmental and social features. This includes a map with sufficient detail indicating the project site and the area that may be affected by the project’s direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts (i.e., area of influence)
• Components and sub-components, which consider the main elements or units, support facilities, equipment or technologies to be used, raw materials, labor (construction, operation, and maintenance stages), and work schedule. This includes any offsite activities that may be required (e.g., dedicated pipelines, access roads, power supply, water supply, housing, and raw material and product storage facilities), as well as the project’s primary supply chain.
• Provide a brief description of mechanisms and instruments for community participation (to be expanded in a separate section), including procedures for consultation and participation of groups affected by the project, and mechanisms for complaints from the population directly using the services.
• Include a non-technical summary that can be understood by different stakeholders to facilitate and encourage engagement and comments.

3. Diagnosis of the Project’s Area of Influence and Beneficiaries

Environmental scoping must be conducted with newly collected data as well as existing documentation to describe the existing environmental and social conditions, including the biophysical, socio-economic, and cultural context in which the activities will be implemented. This information, whenever possible, should be based on qualitative and quantitative data. The analysis must include:

• Environmental aspect: land use, meteorology, air quality, noise, geology, soil, natural disaster risks, water resources, flora and fauna, protected areas, environmental legacies from previous projects, pollution levels, as well as hazardous and non-hazardous waste generation.
• Socio-economic aspect: population, social composition, levels of urbanization, income indicators, levels of health and education, social organization systems, sanitation infrastructure (water, sewage, solid waste), energy and transport, the potential for an influx of workers from other parts of the country and negative social impacts, indigenous peoples and communities, gender patterns, vulnerability assessment.

4. Institutional and legal framework

• Description of the regulations, system, and requirements for environmental licensing and land ownership, and other authorizations necessary for the implementation of the project components and works; and identification of the need to complement the rules governing project implementation.
• State applicable international obligations and agreements (e.g., Multilateral Environmental Agreements) that must be complied with.
• Identify any gaps between national legislation and USAID guidelines, while acknowledging that higher standards must be used.
• Identify any additional environmental/social studies required according to the level of socio-environmental risk, to comply with both national and local environmental legislation.
• State and describe relevant USAID regulations and the actions required to be compliant.
• Describe the environmental management instruments for use by the project to ensure the incorporation of environmental and social variables throughout the project cycle.
• Identify the institutions responsible for the execution and environmental and social management of the program, at each level of government, and the roles and functions of each institution, identifying the needs for institutional strengthening.

5. Main Environmental and Social Impact

• Develop a methodology/grading system for impacts to record severity in a matrix (long vs. short-term, reversible vs. irreversible, etc.)
• Identification, analysis, and rating of the environmental and social impacts of the project and for each of the proposed activities during the different phases of the project cycle (preparation, operation, maintenance, etc.), including those impacts related to health and safety in the construction, operation, and maintenance stages.
• Consideration of positive and negative, direct, indirect, and cumulative impacts.
• Consideration of the environmental viability of the program, by weighing the damages against the environmental and social benefits; evaluation of the effectiveness of the measures to control negative impacts; verification of compliance with environmental criteria and standards; and measures to prevent and mitigate environmental and social risks.
• Consideration of areas potentially impacted by cumulative impacts from the incremental adverse impacts of the project when added to other past, existing, planned, or reasonably predictable future projects and developments (e.g., incremental contribution to pollutant emissions, forest depletion due to multiple logging concessions). Assessing potential cumulative impacts enlarges the scale and timeframe for assessing the combined effects of multiple activities and impacts.
• Consideration of areas potentially affected by impacts from unplanned but predictable developments (indirect and induced impacts) caused by the project that may occur later or at a different location (e.g., facilitation of settlements or illegal logging in intact forest areas through expansion of adjacent agricultural activities)
• Consideration of future anticipated or projected short-term impacts, e.g., increases in consumption, waste, pollution, capacity needs, and health problems resulting from the proposed project.
• Consideration of future anticipated or projected long-term impacts, e.g., indirect or secondary effects of induced unplanned development and changes in socio-economic conditions.
• Consideration of present or baseline pollution of the proposed project site or facilities, e.g., soil and groundwater pollution originating from past disposal of or contamination with hazardous substances or waste.
• Indication of the organizational/management scope of potential impacts as well:

• The role and capacity of third-party organizations, e.g., governments, contractors (with whom the proposed project or implementing partner has a substantial involvement), or an operator of an associated facility (to the extent of the Project Developer’s control or influence over these organizations);
• Primary suppliers (where the resource utilized by the proposed project is ecologically sensitive, or where child labor, forced labor, and/or unsafe working conditions may be involved).

6. Preparation of the ESMMP

The ESMMP will consist of a set of mitigation, monitoring, and institutional measures, including policies, procedures, and practices – as well as the actions needed to implement these measures – to achieve the desired social and environmental sustainability outcomes. The ESMMP will be composed of:

• Measures to mitigate negative impacts during operations, and evaluation of their effectiveness. Mitigation measures must be identified for each impact/risk that was identified throughout the ESIA process.
• Flow chart of the project's actions, identifying the stages and times of execution of the environmental and social management actions.
• Description of the environmental monitoring plan in the construction and operation stages of the project, identifying the parameters to be measured, the places of measurement, the methods used, the periods/frequencies in which the measurements will be made, the costs, and the institutions responsible.
• Identification of a set of sensible, readily measurable quantitative and qualitative indicators of the mitigation measures proposed for the main impacts and risks that accompany the implementation of the project.
• Contingency and Emergency Response Plan, such as for accidents, fires, floods, and earthquakes (among those that apply).
• Reporting template for the implementing partner (and/or responsible party) that includes the set indicators and provides clear guidance on how to measure them.

7. Public Consultation and Disclosure Procedures

The ESMMP will be developed in close consultation with project stakeholders and disclosed in draft and final form. The ESMMP should include a section that outlines a Stakeholder Engagement Plan to promote meaningful, effective consultations during project implementation, including identification of milestones for consultations, information disclosure, and periodic reporting on the progress of project implementation and issues of concern to project stakeholders.

8. Water Quality Assurance Plan

The ESIA will reflect the Water Quality Assurance (WQA) in the final report using the USAID WQA guidelines and, in the recommendations, provide guidelines that will be used by selected contractors during the construction phase to ensure water quality standards before and after construction are respected.

Reports/ Deliverables

The following deliverables must be submitted to Water For People by the consultancy firm:

• Inception report: The inception report should include a literature review of the works to be assessed, a review of existing data, a plan to collect missing data, the methodology to be used, and a work plan. The inception report must be submitted one week after signing the contract.
• Draft report: ESIA with its respective ESMMP and WQAP that includes the results of the public consultation and disclosure process submitted 2 weeks after validation of the inception report.
• ESIA final report to be submitted to RDB for review and approval one week after approval of the draft report.
• ESIA certificate provided by RDB in the name of the Districts
• All reports must be submitted in an electronic file and 2 printed copies per district. The report must include a cover page, the main document, and all annexes.

N.B. Reports must be submitted in the ESIA/ ESMMP formats required by both the Government of Rwanda and USAID.

Terms of management of the consultancy

Consultancy Nature: Short-term, only registered companies are allowed to bid.

The maximum time required to perform the work is 30 days excluding the period required for the validation of the ESIA report by RDB and the EMMP and WQAP by USAID.

Consultancy Oversight: The consultancy firm will report to the Project Manager and will work closely with the Water Supply Engineer, and district officials.

Bid documents

Technical Proposal

Only registered companies are eligible to apply for this consultancy.

The technical proposal to be submitted by the bidder must have the components described in the below sections:

Company profile and administrative documents

 The company must provide the following administrative documents:

1. Full company address in Rwanda indicating Province, District, Sector, Cell, Village, E-mail, Post Office Box
2. A copy of the Trade License/ Certificate of company registration provided by RDB
3. VAT registration certificate
4. Valid Certificate of tax clearance by Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA)
5. RSSB clearance certificate

Company experience

 The desired company/firm should meet the following criteria:

• General consultancy experience of the company in the field of water supply, sanitation, and environmental management.
• Experience in developing Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA)
• Present a track record of at least three (3) similar environmental studies with the same complexity as this assignment (with evidence for good completion).

Personnel qualifications and experience

The consulting firm should present two key staff:

An environmental expert/ Team leader

Academic qualification: At least a master’s degree in environmental management, or any other related field with a professional background in water supply, sanitation, and environmental management.

Experience: Extensive experience in managing and conducting ESIA projects (at least three similar environmental studies with the same complexity as this assignment). He/she should be certified and registered with the Rwanda Association of Professional Environmental Practitioners (RAPEP) and present a recent certificate of membership at least as an authorized Associate Expert in Rwanda for the period 2024/2025.

A Sociologist

Academic qualification: At least a bachelor’s degree in social sciences, sociology, or any other related field.

Experience: Experience in social impact assessments, community engagement, and stakeholder consultations (at least has participated) in two similar environmental studies with the same complexity as this assignment), proficiency in conducting social surveys and assessments.

Submission of proposals

The application file should contain the following documents:

• Administrative documents: Full company address in Rwanda, A copy of the Trade License/ Certificate of company registration provided by RDB, VAT registration certificate, Valid Certificate of tax clearance by Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), RSSB clearance certificate.
• Updated detailed curriculum vitae of the proposed key staff to carry out the work (if a team is envisaged, ensure the roles and responsibilities are clearly explained). All proposed staff should sign an availability document to testify their availability for the entire period of the assignment .
• Technical proposal: a proposal must contain a detailed methodology, an understanding of ToRs, a clear timeframe detailing how the deliverables will be achieved, team composition, and evidence of the consultant’s experience.
• Financial offer: it should detail the various costs associated with the delivery of the above services (in Rwanda Francs), in PDF format and must be a separate document from the technical proposal and password protected.

Please do not include any financial/price in the technical proposal. The inclusion of any price information in the technical proposal shall lead to bidding rejection.

• Evidence of the consultancy firm's experience in a similar assignment: Copies of evidence for satisfactory completion of similar assignments.
• At least 3 references with their contacts and addresses.
• For the Environmental expert, A RAPEP Certificate of membership for the 2024/2025 period, at least as Associate Expert in Rwanda, and Copies of evidence for satisfactory completion of similar assignments.

Evaluation criteria

Proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria: administrative requirements, clarity of methodology, the profile of team members, understanding of the task, and cost as follows.

Stage I: Administrative documents: Mandatory (Pass/ Fail)

Any bid that fails at this stage will not go to the next stage.

Stage II: Technical evaluation

• Experience of the company in conducting ESIA: /20pts
• Expertise of the Key staff /60pts
  • Environmental Expert: /40pts
  • Sociologist: /20 pts
• Understanding the ToR and methodology to be used /20pts

Total /100pts

Note: To successfully pass the technical evaluation, bidders must meet the following criteria:

• Achieve a minimum score of 80% in each of the technical evaluation sections:

1. Company experience
2. Key staff expertise
3. Understanding of ToRs and methodology

• Obtain an overall aggregate score of at least 80% in the technical evaluation process.

Stage III: Financial evaluation

Following the technical evaluation, the financial proposals of successful bidders will be assessed, and the lowest bidder will be selected. Financial proposals must be password-protected, and passwords will only be requested from bidders advancing to the financial evaluation stage.

The selected bidder will be contractually required to comply with Water For People’s Vendor Code of Conduct https://www.waterforpeople.org/Vendor-Code-of-Conduct and will be required to deliver a Conflict-of-Interest Certificate prior to execution of the contract. The Conflict-of-Interest Certificate requires the disclosure of any potential or actual conflicts of interest with Water For People employees or their relatives including past, current or proposed business transactions, employment or offers of employment, or certain gifts or entertainment. Water For People will evaluate any disclosures of conflicts of interest; if Water For People determines it cannot waive or mitigate the conflict of interest it will result in the disqualification of the selected proposer. 

Copyrights

Copyright of all material on assignment will be retained by Water For People in Rwanda or the Ministry of Infrastructure through WASAC.

Rights reserved

1. Water For People reserves the right to cancel the entire procurement process without incurring any liability whatsoever.
2. Water For People reserves the right to amend any segment of the RFP prior to the announcement of selected candidates.
3. Water For People also reserves the right to remove one or more of the services from consideration for this contract should the evaluation show that it is in WFP’s best interest to do so.
4. Water For People also may, at its discretion, issue a separate contract for any service or groups of services included in this RFP. Water For People may negotiate a compensation package and additional provisions to the contract awarded under this RFP.
5. Water For People reserves the right to debrief the applicants after the completion of the process due to the expected high volume of applications to avoid the compromise of the process.

How to apply

If you feel qualified and interested in the assignment, please send your technical and financial proposals (separately) to: rwprocurement@waterforpeople.org no later than January 26, 2025, with the following subject: “Consultancy Services to carry out an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment on MVD response project”. Hard copies and late submissions shall be rejected.

Eugene DUSINGIZUMUREMYI

Country Director