REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (RFQ)
Date: 2 July, 2013
Dear Sir/Madam,
Subject: Request for Quotation for SERVICES – Armenia Title: Hydrological analysis of river flow in the Arpa, Azat and Vedi rivers, Armenia Project: PIMS 2271 Reducing transboundary degradation in the Kura Aras river basin Ref.: RFQ_2013_002 (IWC-70228)
1. The United Nations Office for Project Services (hereinafter “UNOPS”) is pleased to invite you to submit a quotation for supply of the SERVICES described in Annex I to this Request for Quotation.
2. We would appreciate receiving your quotation on or before 19 July 2013 via e-mail at [email protected] to the attention of Ir. H.J.L. Leummens. Please specify the above noted reference number in the subject line and in your quotation.
3. Any requests for clarification should be referred to: Ir. Harald Leummens, Demonstration Project Coordinator / Science Officer UNDP/GEF Kura Aras project PCU #56 Barnovi street, Tbilisi 0179 Georgia Telephone: +995 322 294933 E-Mail: [email protected]
4. Your quotation shall include the following, in response to the Terms of Reference as per Annex I: - Explanatory on the approach and methodology. - CV(s) of proposed experts. - Fixed overall all-inclusive quotation in a single, specified, currency (see Annex II). - Previous Experience Form (see Annex III).
5. The UNDP/GEF Kura Aras project evaluates the quotations in 2 steps towards rating for best value: (a) Assessment of technical quality of proposed quotations, including: a. Suitability of the approach and methodology including firm’s capacity to undertake the services. b. Qualifications and suitability of the experts proposed for the assignment including their previous experience with same type of assignment. (b) Assessment of cost-effectiveness of received price quotations.
The assessment of quotations shall be completed by the UNDP/GEF Kura Aras Project Coordination Unit members.
6. A contract may be awarded to the bidder having submitted the quotation representing the best value for UNOPS. However, UNOPS reserves the right to accept or reject any quotation, and to cancel the process and reject all quotations, at any time prior to the award of contract, without thereby incurring any liability to the Bidders or any obligation to inform the Bidders of the grounds for such action.
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7. UNOPS reserves the right to make multiple arrangements for any item or items.
8. In the event of a Contract the UNOPS General Conditions will apply. The conditions are available at http://www.unops.org/english/whatweneed/Pages/Guidelinesforsuppliers.aspx under “UNOPS general conditions of contract”: • UNOPS Conditions of Services - For contracts of a value of less than USD 50,000
9. Suppliers shall not be eligible to submit an offer and to be awarded a contract when at the time of bid submission: (a) Suppliers are already suspended by UNOPS, or, (b) Supplier’s names are mentioned in the UN 1267 list of Terrorists issued by the Security Council resolution 1267, which establishes a sanctions regime to cover individuals and entities associated with Al-Qaida and/or the Taliban, or, (c) Suppliers are suspended by the UN Procurement Division (UN/PD), or, (d) Suppliers have been declared ineligible by the World Bank.
Furthermore, as a condition of doing business with UNOPS it is necessary that suppliers, their subsidiaries, agents, intermediaries and principals cooperate with the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) of the United Nations, UNOPS Internal Audit and Investigations Group (IAIG) as well as with other investigations authorized by the Executive Director and with the UNOPS Ethics Officer (during preliminary reviews in line with UNOPS whistle blower policy) as and when required. Such cooperation shall include, but not be limited to, the following: access to all employees, representatives, agents and assignees of the supplier; as well as production of all documents requested, including financial records. Failure to fully cooperate with investigations will be considered sufficient grounds to allow UNOPS to repudiate and terminate the contract, and to debar and remove the supplier from UNOPS’s list of registered suppliers.
10. Information regarding Bid Protest can be found at: http://www.unops.org/english/whatwedo/services/procurement/Pages/Procurementpolicies.aspx
11. UNOPS strongly encourages all Bidders to subscribe to the Tender Alert Service available on the United Nations Global Market Place (www.ungm.org). This will allow Bidders to be notified automatically of all UNOPS business opportunities for the products and services for which they have registered. Instructions on how to subscribe to the Tender Alert Service can be found in the UNGM Interactive Guide for Suppliers.
12. UNOPS will effect payment within 30 days after receipt of original payment documentation.
We look forward to receiving your quotation.
Yours sincerely,
Dr M.M Matthews Chief Technical Advisor / Project Coordinator UNDP/GEF “Reducing transboundary degradation in the Kura Aras river basin Address: #56 Barnovi street, Tbilisi 0179 Georgia Telephone: +995 322 294933 E-mail: [email protected] 3
ANNEX I - SERVICES: TERMS OF REFERENCES
I. Objective:
The overall objective of the activity is to complete a hydrological analysis of river flow in the Arpa, Azar and Vedi rivers, located within the area of responsibility of the Ararat Basin Management Authority in Armenia.
More specifically, the activity aims at restoring gaps in hydrological data series and describing hydrological characteristics of natural river flows, including environmental flows, in the Arpa, Azat and Vedi rivers and their tributaries, based on available hydrological time series from existing and closed hydrological stations (18 in total).
The goals of the activity include: Collect hydrological data series from all hydrological stations – operational and closed - in the basins of the defined rivers and their tributaries. Restore gaps in the historical data series of river flow of all hydrological stations in the basin. Description of hydrological characteristics of the natural flows in selected rivers and their main tributaries based on historical river flow data taking development of water abstraction into account. Elaborate a proposal for seasonally specific environmental flows for the defined rivers and their tributaries 1.
II. Approach:
The restoration of hydrological flow data and description of main hydrological characteristics will be based on the available historical data of closed and operational hydrological stations in the basin, using other approaches as appropriate. Statistical analyses will be applied to evaluate the missing data in the multiyear series and to describe natural hydrological characteristics of the tributaries, taking the impact of human water abstractions and other flow alterations on the river flow into account. Proposals for installing seasonally specific environmental flows regimes will be based on the methodology of Nov 28, 2011 approved by the government of Armenia.
2.1 Project activities
(1) Stage 1 – Inception
The aims of the Inception Phase are: Collect all available hydrological data of the 18 operational and closed hydrological stations in the basins of the rivers Arpa, Azat and Vedi and their tributaries. Identify the existing gaps in the hydrological data. Summarize the findings on available hydrological time series and gaps in the Inception Report. Provide a detailed narrative description of methodologies proposed for: o Restoring missing flow data.
1 Except for the Arpa river, for which this sub-activity is undertaken within the UNDP/GEF Kura Ara(k)s project contract on development of the Arpa River Basin Management Plan. 4
o Analysing of hydrological characteristics taking historical and current water abstraction and other flow alterations into account. o Calculating seasonally specific environmental flows.
For the complete and timely execution of the activities described in the current ToR, any existing data on hydrological measurements in the basins of the Arpa, Azat and Vedi rivers will be made available by the Water Resources Management Agency under the Ministry of Nature Protection of Armenia, in any free-format available.
The Inception Report will be presented for formal approval to the Head of the Water Resources Management Agency under the Ministry of Nature Protection of Armenia and the UNDP/GEF Kura Ara(k)s Project Coordination Unit.
(2) Stage 2 – Gap-filling of data series, description and evaluation of hydrological characteristics
During this stage the Consultant will: Eliminate gaps in data series of the hydrological stations as identified in the inception stage. Describe the hydrological characteristics of the 18 hydrological stations, including: o Average annual multiyear natural flow, including for distinguished periods of years in relation to major anthropogenic events related to water abstraction having occurred in the selected river basins and their tributaries (reservoir construction, inter-basin transfer, large-scale abstraction of water, etc.). o Monthly/seasonal average natural flows, including for distinguished periods of years. o Minimum and maximum multiyear natural flows, including for distinguished periods of years. o Quantitative description of water abstraction and other flow alterations in time in the defined rivers and their tributaries, and the impacts on the natural river flow of the respective river sections. Elaborate seasonally specific environmental flows regimes for the rivers, based on the methodology of Nov 28, 2011 approved by the government of Armenia, and analyze whether current flows are in line with established environmental flow legislation of Armenia. Prepare a Final Report, summarizing the work done, and including attached data series.
2.2 Outputs
The current activity will result in a Final Report with annexes as appropriate describing the restoration of complete multiyear series of hydrological flow data for the selected rivers Arpa, Azat and Vedi and their tributaries based on hydrological flow monitoring data from 18 stations. The report will also provide a description of the hydrological flow characteristics of the selected rivers and their tributaries in specific multi-year periods related to significant developments of water abstraction and other flow alterations. The report will propose seasonally specific environmental flow regimes in line with current Armenian legislation, and compare these regimes with actual flows.
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The Final Report will be presented for formal approval to the Head of the Water Resources Management Agency under the Ministry of Nature Protection of Armenia and the UNDP/GEF Kura Ara(k)s Project Coordination Unit.
III. Inputs:
The activities described under section II – Activities are envisioned to be executed by a team of experts. The team of experts will be composed such as to successfully and timely execute the activities indicated in section II above.
The team of experts is envisioned to include, but not necessarily be limited to: Senior hydrologist experienced in statistical gap-filling data restoration activities. Senior hydrologist, experienced in the evaluation of hydrological characteristics of natural river flow and anthropogenic impacts. Senior hydrologist experienced in evaluation of environmental flows based on the adopted methodology from November 28, 2011.
IV. Timing:
The consultancy will be executed in the period July 2013 – October 2013, according to the schedule presented below.
stage Period Features 1 By 15 August 2013 Submission of draft Inception report and presentation of progress to Head of the Water Resource Management Agency of RA, and the National Coordinator of the UNDP/GEF Project 1 By 31 August 2013 Inception Report 2 By 30 September 2013 Submission of draft final report and presentation of progress to Head of the Water Resource Management of RA, and the National Coordinator of the UNDP/GEF Project 2 By 30 October 2013 The Final Report with attachments
V. Reporting requirements:
All deliverables/reports should be submitted in the English and Armenian languages, with all reports also including summaries in both languages as well as Russian, to be provided by the Consultant at the Consultant’s expense.
Reports should comply to / at least include the following: - Executive summary in the English, Armenia as well as Russian. - Introduction – overall description of activities executed: data collected including proper source citations, methodological aspects, execution of field surveys (if any), etc. - Relevant qualitative and quantitative data compilation complying to the task at hand, as described in section II. - Tables, figures and maps (historical and actual) as deemed needed. 6
- Description of methodology and results of gap-filling in hydrological data time series. - Quantitative description of water abstraction and other flow alterations in the selected rivers and their tributaries. - Description of hydrological flow characteristics and impacts of different anthropogenic developments, if any, on the flow of selected rivers and their tributaries. - Elaboration of environmental flows according to legislation in the selected river basins and their tributaries, compared with actual flow regimes. - Literature references. - Annexes as appropriate.
The final outline for any report produced under the contract will be negotiated between the Contractor and the Client after signing of the contract.
Appendices to the report(s) shall include, as appropriate, data sheets containing quantitative hydrological information relevant to the assignment at hand for all hydrological stations included in the analytical activities described above. Presented quantitative information shall, inter alia, include the description of parameter(s), including analytical procedure applied, location of measurement/sampling using geographic coordinates, and others as appropriate.
All reports and data sheets shall be delivered as one hard copy accompanied by a digital version, using standard versions of Word (for text) and Excel (for data sheets).
Any additional work, input needed related to above described or any additional deliverables as deemed needed shall be based on Project needs, subject of an amendment to the present ToR, and will be eligible for reimbursement if executed only with the prior approval of the UNDP-GEF Chief technical Advisor / Project Coordinator.
VI. Qualifications:
Assessment of bids will be based on the following obligatory key criteria: • Team composition - the proposed team should include well-trained experts experienced in hydrological studies. • Formal company registration with appropriate national authorities in Armenia. • At least 3 year experience/involvement in hydrological studies of similar nature. • Proven experience in hydrological studies including statistical analysis and data gap-filling, basin water balance and availability assessment, calculation of environmental flows based on the methodology adopted by the Armenia government. • Proven work experience in similar projects financed by international donors. • Good writing skills in English, Armenian and Russian.
Additional qualification assets include: • Evidence of agreement with relevant appropriate government organizations on support to the implementation of activities under this contract. • Experience in interdisciplinary team management & coordination, excellent organizational and analytical skills. • Knowledge of and/or working experience in hydrology, aquatic chemistry, ecology, climate change studies as well as water resources use & management issues relevant to the area under auspices of the Ararat Basin Management Organization. 7
• Familiarity with the goals and procedures of international organizations, in particular those of the GEF, UNDP, UNOPS and regional organizations related to project activities.
The client has the right to amend the contractor’s proposed team based on the required experience and level of training. If appropriate, this will be discussed with the Contractor to reach final agreement on the technical team prior to signing of the contract.
VII. Additional information:
The payment procedure will be effectuated by the UNDP/GEF Project Coordination Unit (PCU) according to the following preliminary schedule: • Payment 1 – within one month after receiving of the Inception Report, accompanied by original payment documentation, and formal approval by the UNDP/GEF Kura Ara(k)s project Chief Technical Advisor/ Project Coordinator (CTA/PC) – August 2013. Value of payment – 30% of contract sum. Formal approval by the UNDP/GEF Kura Ara(k)s project CTA/PC • Payment 2 – within one month after receiving the Final Report, accompanied by original payment documentation, and formal approval by the UNDP/GEF Kura Ara(k)s project Chief Technical Advisor/ Project Coordinator (CTA/PC) – October 2013. Value of payment – 70% of contract sum.
The payment procedure will be effectuated by the UNDP/GEF Project Coordination Unit (PCU) after receiving a written approval of the Inception Report and the Final Report from the Head of the Water Resources Management Agency under the Ministry of Nature Protection of Armenia.
Payment will not be made in the case of failure to timely deliver any report, or delivery of unacceptable quality, as judged upon by assigned UNDP/GEF Kura Ara(k)s Project Coordinating Unit.
In name of the UNDP/GEF Kura Ara(k)s project, UNOPS will effect payment within 30 days after receipt of original payment documentation and the formal approval of the reports by the UNDP/GEF project CTA/Project Coordinator.
Technical and organizational guidance will be provided by the UNDP/GEF Kura Ara(k)s Project Coordination Unit.
The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.
The envisioned maximum budget available for the contract will not exceed US $10,000, including all costs borne by consultant for any reason.
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ANNEX II - SERVICES: FINANCIAL QUOTATION
Number of Name(s) of consultant(s) working Daily fee * Total ** days (a) (b) (c) (d) (d) = (b) x (c)
GRAND TOTAL***
* The daily fee is envisioned to include any subsistence allowance as needed during task-related travel ** Please indicate currency *** Without VAT
National travels/transportation Quantity Unit Cost Total (a) (b) (c) (d) (d) = (b) x (c)
GRAND TOTAL * * Without VAT
Other costs (description) Quantity Unit Cost Total (a) (b) (c) (d) (d) = (b) x (c)
GRAND TOTAL *
* Without VAT
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ANNEX III - PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE FORM
Description of Country Total Contract Identification and Title and Year project services / goods / amount of Contact details of Client: (Name, was works contract Address, telephone, email, fax) undertaken
Authorized Signature: ______Date:______