Requesting for Proposal (RFP) for “Business Opportunities Assessment (BOA) for energy-based enterp

Terms of Reference 

for Business Opportunities Assessment (BOA) 

for energy-based enterprises in the partner (rural) municipalities

of RERA Project in SudoorPaschim Pradesh (Province 7)

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation is a not-for-profit international development organisation. Founded in the Netherlands nearly 50 years ago, we have built a long-term, local presence in 38 of the poorest countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Our global team of local and international advisors work with local partners to equip communities, businesses and organisations with the tools, knowledge and connections they need to increase their incomes and gain access to basic services – empowering them to break the cycle of poverty and guide their own development.

SNV Nepal is Requesting for Proposal (RFP) for “Business Opportunities Assessment (BOA) for energy-based enterprises in the partner (rural) municipalities” of RERA (Renewable Energy for Rural Areas) project in SudoorPaschim Pradesh (Province7).

1. Background

The Renewable Energy for Rural Areas (RERA) is a joint technical support programme for the Nepalese small-scale renewable energy sector of the Government of Nepal (GoN) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The programme is jointly implemented by the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) and Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. This project has been commissioned in October 2016 and will run for 3 years ending in September 2019.

The over-arching vision for RERA is ‘to ensure efficient and effective service delivery of small-scale renewable energy through improved outreach and enhanced local cooperation in a federalised Nepal’. This vision will be delivered through improving and developing a framework for participatory and demand-led promotion of small-scale renewable energy in central, provincial and local government authorities, ensuring the effective cooperation with civil society and the private sector in the context of federalisation and constitutional reform. Amongst other measures, RERA aims to do this by supporting AEPC in its transition for extensive service delivery.

The program hasalready established two Programme Implementation Units (PIU): one in Biratnagar (Province-1) and another in Dhangadhi (SudoorPaschim Province). The programme will support local, provincial and federal level -governments, work together with civil society,private sectors and selected stakeholders to improve service delivery of small-scale renewable energy technologies.

The programme is divided into four components: 

1.Supporting central government institutions to help them prepare for decentralised energy service delivery

2.Supporting AEPC in establishing an outreach structure so that they are enabled to implement support programmes in collaboration with local and central government structures

3.Promoting local energy service delivery through effective institutional engagement with local governments, civil society, the private and banking sector 

4.Involving disadvantaged groups (DAGs) and women  to ensure their engagement in the energy service delivery as decision maker, implementers and beneficiaries

Purpose and rationale of the assignment

Nepal's Constitution of 2015 has declared a federal system as the cornerstone of Nepal's political governance system. According to article 55 of the new constitution, there will be 3 tiers of governments i.e. i) Federal, ii) Provincial, and iii) Local Level. Furthermore, the Constitution states that federal, provincial and local levels can enact laws, regulations, prepare annual plan, budgets, take decisions, prepare and implement policies and plans within its areas of authority. The formulation of the roles and responsibilities in the federal structure is in process. 

In this backdrop, the RERA programme is supporting the government of Nepal (GoN) to define roles and responsibilities of the three levels of government with regard to Renewable Energy (RE) to support transformation into the federal structure. There will be a paradigm shift in how small-scale RE will be promoted, developed and incorporated through 3 tiers of governments. Constitutionally the local governments are expected to be directly involved in planning and implementation of RE promotion. The transition from the present setup to the new federal setup is expected to take a few years. GIZ/RERA will support AEPC in developing tools and standard processes for provincial/local level to access the RE baseline, energy planning, business potentiality assessment and undertake RE resources mapping by formulating policy, structure and regulations. 

In the federalized contextelected representatives oflocal governments (urban and rural municipalities), private sectors and civil society are key players to scale-up small-scale renewable energy technologies (RETs),to deliverquality services and promote commercial application and viable business based on RETs.

Providing energy access in rural Nepal has always been difficult. Extension of the national electricity grid is expensive considering the low population density and mountainous topography Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) that mainly work off-grid are the best solution in providing access to modern and reliable energy in remote areas of Nepal. RETs can serve multiple benefits and also power commercial applications.However, their sustainability is a major challenge. By providing energy for enterprises and productive applications, RETs generate revenue and improve the livelihood of people living in rural areas. Potential impacts of PUE include increased local economic activity, added value to products and services, job creation and enhanced gender equality, and an overall positive economic and social development. 

For developing PUE, technical backstopping in different stages (business model development, financing, purchase of technology, initiation of operation) is important along with facilitating access to financial solutions. This also includes recommending support mechanism for local governments to support the establishment of Renewable Energy Technology (RET)-based enterpriseswith emphasis on potential and opportunities of business for women and disadvantage groups.As a first step a Business Opportunities Assessment (BOA)needs to be carried out. 

 2. Objective and Scope of service/works

The main objective of the assignment is to conduct Business Opportunities Assessment (BOA) and to recommend support measures for the partner (rural) municipalities of RERA programme to promote businesses based on Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs). The BOA shall assess existing business potentials for export promotion as well as import substitution, RET-based local enterprises and income generating potentials, resource (human and physical) availability, conduct situation analysis and identify business cases, potentiality of RETs as business/enterprises in partner municipality. The assessment shall special focus on female led enterprises and their skills, as well as identifying the business potential of RETs especially for disadvantage groups.Additionally, the BOA needs to assess the enabling environment, such as existing policies, capacity of local government, availability of local financial institutions and local business development service providers. The recommended support measures of the municipalities should touch issues like, but should not be limited to planning, budgeting, promotional support activities to be executed by the municipalities. 

The BOA report will be prepared in close coordination with partner municipalities, Energy Sub-committee, Infrastructure Development Committee,key stakeholders, individual entrepreneurs, business persons and business institutions.  The specific objectives of the assignment are as follows:

• Design and develop questionnaire and checklist for field study to conduct BOA in the (rural) partner municipality. 
• Carry out field study, BOA information collection, conduct meetings / focus group discussion, and coordinate with stakeholders, individual discussion/interviews, resource assessment and BOA report preparation.  
• Identify Business Potential and opportunities for RETs (at household, community and institutional level) and identify local financial and technical service providers.
• Prepare BOA report that should include recommendation for support measures to the partner (rural) municipal and finalize the report incorporating feedback.
• To explore end market opportunities for sustainable pro-poor economic growth and competitiveness as well as availability of various business development services (BDS) providing commercially viable solutions required for the growth and development of enterprises.

3. Scope and Approach

• The scope of this assignment includes the following tasks and should be approached incorporating the following steps:
• Developing BOA reporting structure and questionnaires: The consulting firm needs to develop a standard design including templates, table of contents, data tabulation and structure for BOA. The design of report should be aligned with existing rules and standard of AEPC. 
• Desk study on secondary information (e.g. municipal energy plan, energy baseline study, business potential studies of other organisations, etc.)
• Field visit of (rural) partner Municipalities: The consulting firm needs to visit partner municipalities in order to collect information, conduct survey, interaction with target group, discussion with municipalities’  energy sub-committee, executive committee and elected representatives, existing entrepreneurs, business institutions, business persons, financial institutions, Community Based Organization, relevant institutions and business enabling organization for information collection, validation and feedback collection.
• Visit and Coordinate with line agencies and other organization: The consulting firm need to consult with District Cottage and Small Industries Office; Federation of Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI) District chamber, Cottage industry development committee in district for secondary information collection and assessment.
• Visit of Existing RET-projects in partner municipalities and interaction with user: The consulting firm and study team need to visit existing RETs projects in partner municipalities i.e. Micro Hydro projects, solar grid, community Bio-gas, Wind-Solar hybrid projects etc. to collect information, existing situation of enterprises establishment and assess new business opportunities associated with them. 
• During field visit a special focus should be given on female led enterprises and their skills, as well as identifying the business potential of RETs especially for disadvantage groups. This should include considering the potential of RETs for commercial activities associated with or accessible for women and disadvantaged groups, as well as the specific needs of women and disadvantaged groups. 
• Calculation of specific business cases for the use of RETs in productive applications based on the specific context of each municipality (e.g. price of inputs and products, transportation, etc.) to substantiate the business potential analysis considering general break-even scenarios. 
• Review of Literature and existing documents: Partner (rural) Municipalities have some existing literature like municipality energy plan (MEP), policies, regulation, sectoral plan and energy baseline report. 
• Conduct meeting with partner Municipalities, AEPC/RERA/Programme Implementation Unit (PIU) team, SNV and AEPC and present draft BOA to seek feedback and suggestions.
• Regular consultation with PIU RERA during field study, information assessment and report drafting is also required. 
• Finalization of BOAfor each partner municipality and submission to AEPC/RERA and Partner Municipality, including recommendations of support measures to be executed by the partner municipalities to promote RET-bases businesses.

Detailed Tasks

The abovementioned steps include the following task but not limited to:

• Preparation of questionnaire and information check list for local information collection from partner municipalities (the questionnaire and checklist should be in Nepali language). This includes collection of feedback on questionnaire from AEPC/RERA before finalization. 
• Review GESI report that was carried out by RERA recently and incorporate the findings and recommendations related to business potential/opportunities for women and disadvantage groups.
• Communication and coordination with partner municipalities, line agencies and other organization/Institutions for appropriate time arrangement for field study conduction, discussion and other information collection.
• Conduction of field visit, discussions/meeting with partner municipalities, individual meeting, key informant/intellectual persons and information collection of available resources, market potential, and business potential for related RETs
• Coordinate with energy/RETs related business organization, private sector, Companies, suppliers, business development service provider’s organizations (BDSPO) andother stakeholders for secondary information.
• Visit and analysis of local market/business center of partner municipality and prepare inventory of major suppliers of RETs, energy related equipment and other business services.
• Field visits need to be coordinated with RERA programme. Analysis of present business situation of RETs, assessment of existing RETs projects like micro-hydro, solar-wind hybrid project, other community based RE projects, forecast future business potential, employment potentials and income generating potentials based on information collected from primary sources. 
• Sector identification and prioritization i.e. agriculture, education, health, entertainment, cooking solution, new innovation and Trade. This should include economic calculations of business potential of specific RETs in these sectors for each partner municipality considering break-even for investment in RETs based on context (cost of technology, transportation, cost of input, price of product etc.). 
• Identification and prioritization of major stakeholders and key players for sustainable business promotion of RETs at partner municipalities.
• Preparation of list of potential entrepreneurs Mentioning potential business and RETs.
• Design and drafting of BOA report and collect feedback from AEPC/RERA/PIU.
• Seek feedback from AEPC and RERA during information analysis, verification and field coordination. 
• Conduct meeting, presentation and discussionat partner municipalities (if required), AEPC and GIZ/RERA for draft BOA Report presentation to seek inputs and feedback.
• Prepared final version of BOA Report including support measures executed by RERA partner municipalities to support RET-based businesses in English and Nepali languages and submit to AEPC/RERA/PIU.
• Assessment of business opportunities emphasizing easy access to market by women and DAGs as well as possibilities to create enabling environment for such activities.

4. Requirement (Qualification/experience)of Consulting Firms

To complete the assignment, the consulting firm must beregistered (PAN number)according to prevailing law and regulation of Nepal. The consulting firm has at least 4 years of proven experience in field study/research having at least 2 years working experience in preparing studies onbusiness opportunity assessment or market assessment or other business-related experience at local level. The consulting firm musthave subject experts and sectoral experts within the team. The consulting firm shall have to present tax clearance certificate and firms renewable documents during application.In addition, the consulting firm shall have experiences in renewable energy sectoral planning, survey, field studies, implementation and promotion at rural and local level. 

The key qualifications and requirements of assessment/study experts are as follows:

One - Business Development Expert/Team Leader

• Minimum Master’s (or equivalent) in Business Administration, Economics, Business Studies, Management, Rural Development or any other relevant field, and 8 years of working experience in the businessdevelopment sector 
• 2 years of experience in the renewable energy sector with focus on RE based rural enterprises, income generation promotion or rural energy assessment
• Extensive experience in field information collection, field and desk study, research and analytical skills
• 3 years of experience in RETbased enterprises promotion in rural areas and income generation promotion through innovative business model
• Working experience with AEPC funded project will be an advantage
• Working experience with local government, NGOs, private sector and experience in different business model to promote energy access and productive use
• Excellent or demonstrated writing skill especially in business potentiality documents
• Excellent skill for local coordination and networking
• Good command in oral in both Nepali and English languages

Two - Productive Use of Energy Expert (Team Member) 

• Master’s or Bachelor (or equivalent) degree in Engineering, Economic or RETs
• 3 years of working experience for Masteror 5 years of working experience for Bachelor in the renewable energy sector with a focus on productive use of energy and RE based business/enterprises promotion
• Extensive experience in data collecting and community facilitating, field study completion and discussion
• Excellent skill in local coordination, facilitation and stakeholder’s relationship build up
• Experience in primary as well as secondary data collectionon business opportunities of RETs, desk study, data analytical skill, report writing skill
• Experience in different RE technology promotionin rural areas for energy access and productive use promotion through innovative business model
• Working experience with local government and community-based organization
• Good command of oral and written English and Nepali

Selection Criteria 

The selection of the consulting firm will be made through inviting proposals from eligible consulting firms. The quality of proposals, relevant working experience, qualification/background and relevant documents of Firm and competitive budget will be considered for review and evaluation. The standard procurement rules of SNV Nepal will also be followed during selection.

5. Expected Results/Outputs

The assignment hasto carry out field study of BOA in partner (rural) municipalities of RERA with more focus on business potential for women and disadvantage groups. A complete Business Potentiality Assessment of RETs will be prepared (In English and Nepali Language) and delivered to AEPC/RERA and Partner Municipality. The assignment will be carried out in six partner (rural) municipalities (1 Municipality and 5 rural municipalities) of SudoorPaschim Province. 

The name of partner (rural) municipalities are provided in Annex-I

6. Deliverables and Working schedule (tentative) with input days

The duration of assignment shall be maximum of two (2)months from signing of the contract. The proposed timeline for the assignment is:

Indicative Level of effort (LO) person days for Expert

Deliverables

A.Business Potentiality Assessment (BOA) for RERA partner (rural) municipalitiesincluding suggestion of support measures to be executed by partner municipalities

I.Type of Report: Final BOA of three partner (rural) municipalities in SudoorPaschim Province 

II.No. of copies :1 soft copy each for partner municipalities and 2 hard copies of final report

III.Language: 1 each in English and Nepali

IV.Date of submission: Final Report on Final Report on 20 April2019 (tentative)

7. Budget and mode of payment 

The total budget for this assignment includes expert's fee, materials development cost, data/information collection, verification, analysis, draft and final report preparation, travel, refreshment, accommodation and other logistics to complete the assignment. Tax shall be levied as per prevailing rules and regulation of Nepal Government and SNV/RERA will not covered any tax of Experts. 

Payment Schedule: 

-Signing of Contract – 40%

-Final Report Submission – 60%

8. Submission of Proposal

Interested registered firms are requested to go through the TOR of the assignment before submitting proposal. 

Deadline of RFP submission: Technical proposal needs to be submitted online at email id nepal@snv.org and mkumarichaudhary@snv.org and financial documents in sealed envelopes clearly labelled with subject line “BOA for RERA” should be submitted by 20 February 2019, 10:00 AM at 

SNV NepalCountry Office

Jawalakhel, Lalitpur

Tel : 01-5523444

or

RERA Project Office, 

Ward 5 - Taranagar (Satkar Chowk), 

Dhangadhi, SudoorPaschim Pradesh (Province 7)

Tel : 091-527278

For more information on SNV, please refer to our website:www.snv.org

                                                                                                                                 Annex-I

Name of Rural/Municipalities in Province 1: