Kigali,…..…../….….../2023

REF: DVC-FIN/…...../2023

RWANDA

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (REOI)

(INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT) 

Project: Regional Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Engineering and e-Health

Project ID No: P-ZI-IBO-025

Position: Individual Consultant for Environmental and Social Compliance Audit

Employer: University of Rwanda (UR)

Ref No.: 01/S/CEBE/UR-SPIU/2022-2023/ADF

1. Background

The Government of Rwanda received financing from the African Development Bank for the cost towards establishing the Regional Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering and e-Health (CEBE) Project and intends to apply part of the agreed amount for this loan to payments under the contract for the second individual consultant for environmental and social compliance audit for the East Africa’s Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Engineering and E-Health (CEBE) building.

Following the main Environmental and Social (E&S) obligations in the financing agreement, the developers seeking financing from the ADF are required to comply with the applicable Bank Operational Safeguards for identified and expected potential risks and impacts.

The Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda adopted in 2003 and amended in 2015 states in Articles 22 and 53 that every Rwandan has a right to live in a clean and healthy environment and the state has to ensure the protection, promotion and protection of the environment. The constitution is backed by laws principal among which is the Law N° 48/2018 of 13/08/2018 on Environment.

In this regard, Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA) has developed facilitative and legal instruments in the form of guidelines and regulations for implementing its oversight functions. In 2009, environmental audit guidelines were developed and mainstreamed.

2. Objectives

• Objectives of the Project

The Centre for Biomedical Engineering (CBE) is a medical educational programme under the initiative of the) African Development Fund (ADF) and East Africa Member States. Its main objective is to establish a network of Centres of Excellence within the region.

The objective of the Project is to contribute to the development of a relevant and quality skilled work force in Biomedical Sciences and E- Health to meet East African Community (EAC) labour market needs.

The specific objective of the Project is to provide high quality tertiary care and education through a network of Centres of Excellence in EAC member countries that will foster economic development in the region. The Project is also geared around the regional integration strategy in science and technology, service delivery and labour market.

The Project has the following three (3) components and the audit will focus on Component 1, sub-component C1.3 related to the Construction of CEBE Building for the establishment of the Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering and E-Health (CEBE) situated in Kigali Innovation City ( KIC).

1. E-Health: to establish leadership in developing the ICT capacity and solutions that Rwanda and the Region needs, uses and relies on for services delivery and management. CEBE will seek ways to ensure development of E-Heath tools and systems within the region;
2. Scientific skills for rehabilitation and mobility sciences: with the objective of provision of cost effective and quality prostheses, orthoses and other mobility aids to the disabled in Rwanda, and the region;
3. Bio-medical equipment management and maintenance: to develop high level technical and management skills in biomedical engineering to support and maintain this technology.

A tertiary Institute at the Kigali Innovation City (KIC) in the Kigali Special Economic Zone (KSEZ) was constructed. The project activities involved construction of a building with seven (7) levels including a basement and ground level. Other activities will entail the installation and maintenance works of bio-medical equipment and skills development in E-health, rehabilitation and mobility services.

• Objectives of the Environmental and Social Completion Audit

The objective of the Environmental and Social completion audit is to assess the completion of construction works activities and the level of compliance of the project with the applicable E&S requirements (through full implementation of the (ESMP). The audit will focus specifically on assessing the extent of compliance with the financial agreements provisions, including national legislations, regulations and procedures, the Bank’s environmental and social requirements and international industrial best practices (IIBP) of the construction of a biomedical centre. The completion audit will guide in clearing any E&S conditions/measures applicable prior to commissioning. 

3. Audit requirements/criteria

The key criteria, but not exhaustive list, to consider in conducting the completion audit, are:

• Law N°48/2018 of 13/08/2018 on Environment in Rwanda in its article 32 relating to the requirements and procedure for environmental audit and other relevant national regulations, standards and procedures applicable to the Project;
• The triggered E&S requirements of the loan/grant agreements;
• The Bank policies’ requirements;
• The approved and disclosed Project’s Environmental and Social documents including ESIA and associated ESMP, findings and recommendations of previous E&S Audits, and ESIA approval conditions from Rwanda Development Board;
• Previous E&S implementation Quarter reports,
• The International Industrial Best Practices (IIBP) of the construction of biomedical facilities, if any.

4. Tasks

The Environmental and Social Completion Audit (E&S CA) report of this project is expected to undertake the following tasks:

1. Evaluate the performance of the project in the implementation of E&S obligations (from design and planning phase, construction and commissioning of the constructed facilities), namely the compliance with environmental standards, (financial agreements provisions, national legislations and regulations, ADF Environmental and Social requirements, International Industrial Best Practices, (ESIA) and other statutory requirements through audit findings;
2. To ensure that all relevant stakeholders in the project implementation have adequate inputs during the E&S CA study. The expert should therefore undertake comprehensive consultation with relevant stakeholders including project implementation unit (PIU), local community, REMA, Rwanda Development Board (RDB) /Kigali Innovation City (KIC), students, CEBE’s staff, neighbour institutions, the City of Kigali in addition to any relevant stakeholders identified when conducting the E&S CA study on the status of the project with respect to identified E&S risks and impacts as well as planned and implemented mitigation measures and legal permits.

• Provide information which allows UR as the project implementing institution to maximize benefits of the project and the environment.

1. Allow regulators to ensure that positive impacts of the project are maximised and negative risks and impacts have been avoided or mitigated to acceptable levels.
2. To help UR establish an Environmental, Health and Safety framework that will guide the implementation of the project and mitigate the adverse impacts through corrective actions of related activities (especially during the operation phase),
3. Allow the stakeholders to gain an understanding of the project and its impacts on the Health, Safety and the Environment, to have their concerns addressed with the aim of creating accountability and sense of local ownership during project implementation.

• To prepare an Environmental Completion Audit (ECA) report and develop Corrective Action Plan (CAP) to address audit findings according to the National EA Guideline and Regulations, 2010 that will be reviewed by REMA.

5. Specific tasks for the Environmental and social Completion audit consultant 

To achieve the broad aims of full implementation of the environmental and social management plan (ESMP) under the E&S CA and conformance to the national and international Safeguard Guidelines and Policies, the consultant will:

1. Review the Bank’s environmental and social policies’ requirements, including climate change and gender and evaluate the level of performance of the project.
2. Review the applicable national legislations, regulations, norms, standards and procedures, including national legal Authorization, Permits and Certificates required prior to the project construction and operation activities to identify the gaps and non-compliance.
3. Review available reports on the project including the project appraisal report, the Loan/grant agreements, the ESIA, the project E&S periodic implementation reports, the previous E&S Audit reports, any relevant documentation and records available and necessary for the assessment of the project E&S performance.
4. Organize an opening meeting with the CEBE management, Consultant, and Contractor, etc.
5. To Determine and agree on the scope, methodology and specific set of criteria for the E&S completion audit with the Project Implementation Entity.
6. Carry out project site inspections to assess project implementation activities including management of contractors and related environmental and social risks and impacts. Assess if a proper, regular and well documented environmental monitoring and reporting were and is conducted, if required resources (human, financial and logistics) are in place to effectively perform this task.
7. Hold consultation(s) with the relevant regulatory agencies and stakeholders (including but not limited to the project implementation unit (PIU), local beneficiaries, project affected persons, civil society, government ministries, and contractors), on the status of the project with respect to identified E&S risks and impacts as well as planned and implemented mitigation measures and legal permits. 
8. Prepare a comprehensive E&S completion report. The report should present a rational analysis on findings and causes as related to the predetermined compliance audit scope and criteria. It should present a logical (qualitative and quantitative) examination of the effectiveness of mitigation measures, residual risks, environment-health and safety (EHS) issues, etc. The report should guide in clearance of any E&S conditions/measures applicable prior to commissioning of the building, it should l also include a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) summarizing the concrete recommendations for follow-up actions on findings and remedial measures including clearly estimated costs, specific roles and responsibilities during the operation phase.
9. Organize a closing meeting with the CEBE Project Implementation Unity, Contractor and Consultant. The purpose of this meeting is to present audit findings to ensure that they are clearly understood and acknowledged by the auditee. Any outstanding diverging opinion between the audit team and the auditee should be discussed and recorded.

Deliverables

The main deliverable from these endeavours will be E&S completion audit report, including a performance of the project in ensuring compliance with E&S obligations, including full implementation of the ESMP during construction phase and Corrective Action Plan (CAP) for the next phase of the project.  The E&S completion audit reports should provide information that will enable the UR and PIU, Bank to identify, evaluate and manage their own environmental and social shortcomings in the overall CEBE project’s E&S performance during the implementation (construction) phase. Recommendations should be made on how to prioritise and develop the action plan, and implement the management measures that best avoid, mitigate project risks and impacts during operation phase. 

Therefore, the Expert should pay particular attention on identifying and recommending measures or practices for avoiding, minimizing or managing negative impacts and risks of the project operation activities as well as enhancing potential environmental and social benefits. Any potential measures or practices identified by the Environmental Audit Expert should be brought to the attention of UR for possible inclusion in the project implementation (during operation). 

7. Consultant Qualifications 

The selected Consultant should meet the following minimum requirements:

• At least a Master’s degree in Environmental and Social Development related disciplines.
• A minimum of eight (8) years of relevant professional experience in environment and social studies
• Must have very strong interpersonal, analytic, writing and communication skills and able to work independently.
• Must be registered in Rwanda Association for Professional Environment Practitioners (RAPEP) as Lead Expert
• Have conducted at least two Environmental and Social Audit for any AfDB project.
• Experience in developing and managing the implementation of ESIAs, ESMPs, RAPs in AfDB, and other DFI financed projects.
• Experience in the project host country would be an added advantage. 

8. Duration of assignment

The duration for preparing the Environmental and Compliance Audit shall not exceed 30 working days. 

9. Documents to be provided by CEBE

• Project Appraisal Report
• Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Report
• RDB Certificate for Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Report
• Bidding Document _CEBE Construction Building
• First Environmental and Social Audit report
• REMA Certificate for First Environmental and Social Audit report
• Quarterly environmental reports

10. Facilitations to be provided by CEBE

• Remuneration or Consultancy fees
• Remboursable fees (Transport, Communication, etc.) 

11. Qualification and Skills