Background

The Solar for Health (S4H) project is an initiative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in support of governments, to increase access to quality health services through the installation of solar energy photovoltaic systems (PV). The project also contributes to global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The S4H project, therefore, ensures access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy and mitigation of the impact of climate change. The project contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3, 7, 13 and 17: (good health and well-being; affordable and clean energy; climate action: and partnerships).

The S4H project in Zimbabwe was first rolled out in 2017, with 405 solar systems installed at 404 sites by 2018, with a generation capacity of 5MW. Installation of additional solar systems at 640 health facilities (HF) are ongoing and is expected to be completed by March 2021 and this will bring the cumulative health facilities with solar system installation to 1,044. The capacity of installed solar power ranges from 5kWs, 7kWs, 10kWs and 40kWs with different battery sizes across the systems, in order to satisfy totally or partially the energy needs of each HF. The project targets 4 critical areas at a health facility – Pharmacy, including cold chain; laboratory (quality diagnosis); maternity (safe maternal and child delivery); and Health Information Offices. In Zimbabwe, the funding for the project is mainly from the Global Fund, but there are ongoing efforts to mobilize additional resources from other sources to scale up the project. The installations of the solar systems have been done by various international companies, in collaboration with their local agents based in Zimbabwe. The installed solar systems were inspected and certified by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing (MoLGPWNH) to confirm compliance with the approved designs/drawings and national and international standards.

2. Context

The contracts with the suppliers for the installations of solar systems have an inbuild one-year warranty to cover preventive and corrective maintenance after which the MoHCC is expected take over the maintenance of the systems. The MoHCC has developed a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that stipulates that the solar systems should be maintained according to a scheduled maintenance plan. Adherence to a maintenance schedule will enable timely servicing of the system, minimize downtime and prolong the lifespan of the systems. Having the plan in place will also enable UNDP and the MoHCC to mobilize the required resources to ensure timely maintenance of the systems. It is against this background that UNDP, on behalf of the MoHCC, seeks to contract a local consultant to develop a maintenance plan and procedures to guide the maintenance of all installed solar systems for the health sector. 

Duties and Responsibilities

The potential contractor is expected to:

• Develop preventive maintenance guidelines to cover the 5kW, 7kW, 10kW and 40kW solar systems.
• Develop corrective maintenance guidelines to cover the 5kW, 7kW, 10kW and 40kW solar systems. The corrective guidelines are meant to provide step by step guidance on what to do when a fault has happened including the trouble shooting
• Train MoHCC staff and MoLGPWNH District Maintenance Officers on the implementation of the maintenance guidelines and UNDP will cover the Daily Substance Allowances for the participants
• Provide a systematic guide to the end users of the 5kW, 7kW, 10kW and 40kW solar systems on what they need to do to avoid/reduce future occurrence of the same faults. The end user guide should stipulate the dos and the don’ts

      Deliverables

The specific deliverables that the potential contractor will provide for the preventive and corrective maintenance plan of solar systems are detailed below:

Deliverables

• Data collection on training needs from an agreed sample with at least one 5kw, 7kw, 10kw and 40kw sites and technical analysis in support of evaluation of equipment of solar system
• Data collection on training needs from MoHCC and MoLGPW officials involved in this project; Deliverable: Technical report on data collection and analysis – 11 Days
• Development of preventive maintenance guidelines - Detailed preventive guide/manual   7 days
• Development of corrective maintenance guidelines - Detailed corrective guide/manual   7days
• Conduct decentralized training to the technical personnel that will be involved in the carrying out the maintenance plan, and skills transfer - Training materials developed for effective implementation of maintenance guidelines and a detailed training report -    15days
• 
  

 Duration of the work

The work should be completed in 40 working days and is expected to commence on 21-December -2020 and end no later than 28 February -2021

Institutional Arrangements

The consultant would report to the client, which is the Government of Zimbabwe through MoHCC and UNDP will manage the contract Funding is from the Global Fund through UNDP Zimbabwe as the PR. Other actors include MoLGPWNH, Rural District Councils, Municipal and City Authorities.

Qualifications of the Potential Contractor

The potential consultant should have an excellent traceable record of accomplishment and adequate experience with a minimum of three (3) years of experience in designing and implementing corrective and preventive maintenance of solar plants in Zimbabwe and or in the region with UN agencies, International NGOs, private sector and Government of Zimbabwe. The potential consultant, should be guided by engineering ethics and should be clean from any past corruption or misuse of funds or misuse of power of any kind. If there is a staff member of the GOZ/UNDP and its agencies, who has any relationship with the potential consultant, as an owner or relative of the owner or part of their management team, etc., it should be officially reported prior to starting any process. If not reported prior to the selection process, the potential consultant could be disqualified from the selection process

Scope of Proposal Price and Schedule of Payments

The potential consultant is required to provide the cost breakdown for the deliverables in the table 1 above. Payment will only be released upon successful completion and approval of the following deliverables.

• Training needs report
• Preventive Guide/Manual
• Corrective Guide/Manual
• Conduct training and produce detailed training report

Recommended Presentation of Proposal 

The potential consultant must develop a proposal with a clear approach, methodology, implementation plan, budget and other relevant strategies and sections to undertake. The proposal should cover the scope of work and deliver the expected outputs of the project. The technical proposal is also expected to list the activities and the costs associated with each activity as well as provide expected timelines.

The technical proposal should include the following:

Expertise of the contractor

This section should reflect relevant work carried out by the potential consultant in areas related to the provision of maintenance and service of solar systems

Proposed Methodology, Implementation Plan and Quality Assurance Plan

This section should demonstrate the consultant’s response to the Terms of Reference (TOR) by identifying the specific components proposed and how the outputs/delivery shall be addressed. The consultant should also provide a detailed description of the essential performance characteristics and identify the works/portions of the work that will be subcontracted, if any.

Moreover, the proposal should demonstrate how the proposed methodology meets or exceeds the TOR, while ensuring appropriateness of the approach to the local conditions and the rest of the project operating environment. This methodology must be laid out in an implementation timetable and complemented by a quality assurance plan.

Competencies

• Corporate:
• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Ability to work with a multi-cultural and diverse team.
• Functional:
• Excellent report writing skills;
• Good inter-personal communication skills, flexibility;
• Demonstrated strong coordination and facilitation skills;
• Strong interpersonal skills;
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and deliver high quality outputs in a timely manner.
•  
• Professionalism:
• Capable of working in a high- pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills;
• Exercises the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.
• Teamwork:
• Works well in a team;
• Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
• Focuses on results for the client;
• Welcomes constructive feedback.

   Language and other skills:

• ?Fluency in English both written and oral;
• Fluency in at least one official language spoken in the country, if not English.

   Compliance with UN Core Values:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• 
  

 Financial Proposal

This section should include a budget.

Criteria for Selecting the Best Offer

• The selection would be through the Combined scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a maximum of 70% and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a maximum of 30%. The criterion is detailed in Table-3 below
•      Area                                                                                                                        Score Weight 
• 1         Qualification                                                                                                                      10%     
• 2          Experience                                                                                                                         25%     
• 3         Proposed Methodology, Implementation and Quality Assurance Plan                  35%     
• 4         Financial Proposal                                                         30%

Required Skills and Experience

• At least a master’s degree in renewable energy, environment, climate change, health, or related disciplines.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in renewable energy, health sector and research activities.
• Minimum 5 years of experiences in project development and technical analysis in the field of renewable energy (especially solar energy).
• Proven experience working with international organizations, and/or development financial institutions in the development of renewable energy and/or health programmes.
• Proven experience in stakeholder engagement processes.
• Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize relevant collected data and findings.
• Excellent understanding of the renewable energy market and developments in the country.