Expression of Interest (EoI) for EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) Services for the Establishment of Three (3) Integrated Processing, Storage, and Market Centers

dZi Foundation:

dZi Foundation is a US-based non-profit organization dedicated to working with rural communities in Nepal to achieve prosperity by removing barriers to basic needs, fostering sustainable livelihood opportunities, and enhancing local capacity to drive transformational change. Our current strategic plan adapts to evolving policy and development landscapes, sharpening our focus on partnerships, local ownership, and long-term sustainability beyond external investments.

1.     Background

dZi Foundation/ Nepal implements a project, Initiative for Shared Prosperity in Koshi River Basin in Nepal (ISPKN), and the project also integrate a model of targeting the end-to-end design, procurement, and physical execution of three (3) distinct regional market centers focused on commercial value addition, supply chain resilience, and economic self-sufficiency. The initiative utilizes an EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) framework through open competitive bidding. This model enforces single-point management accountability to guarantee strict compliance with engineering standards, procurement efficiency, environmental safeguards, and construction punctuality. 

Core Impact Metrics:

• Household Impact: The establishment and operationalization of these hubs must directly benefit a minimum of 200 farming households within each market hub area (minimum 600 households total across all three locations), specifically prioritizing smallholders, women, and marginalized producers. 
• Financial Co-Investment: The selected EPC contractor, in coordination with project steering entities, must mobilize a minimum of 25% of the total asset co-investment locally from municipal budgets, local cooperatives, and private sector commercial partners to ensure long-term regional ownership.

2.     Site and Commodity Specifications

The EPC contractor will design and construct customized infrastructure and processing facilities across three designated municipalities, each targeting a specific primary crop and value-chain output: 

Center 1: Sunkoshi Municipality/ Sindhuli (Potato Processing Hub)

• Target Commodity & Volume: Post-harvest management and processing of potato crops, supporting a footprint where Wards 3 and 4 serve as primary production areas. Around 500 households in these wards are engaged in potato farming, producing an estimated 3,000–3,500 MT across two to three growing seasons. 
• Value-Added Focus: Establish an industrial-scale potato chip production and automated packaging facility to stabilize highly volatile farm-gate prices, which historically drop as low as Rs 10/kg against an average of Rs 25/kg. The center will leverage a foundational workforce of local farmers who have already received foundational chips-making training from the Department of Cottage and Small Industries. 

Center 2: Gadhi Rural Municipality/ Sunsari (Maize-Based Animal Feed Processing Center)

• Target Commodity & Volume: Bulk processing of yellow maize, tapping into an area covering 2,700 hectares across Wards 3, 4, 5, and 6, with an estimated seasonal production of 8,000 MT. 
• Value-Added Focus: Establish a commercial feed-milling plant to address the critical provincial Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) feed deficit (currently sitting at a 23.35% shortfall provincially). The plant will directly supply high-quality feed to Sunsari District’s massive livestock sector, which boasts the province's third-largest cattle population (169,634 head) and high layer hen counts (213,841). 

Center 3: Halesi Tuwachung Municipality/ Khotang (Peanut Processing & Pilgrim Market Hub)

• Target Commodity & Volume: Processing of locally grown peanuts, aggregating raw materials from large producers across Wards 2, 5, 7, 8, and 11, which yield an annual output of 93,840 kg (with Ward 8 alone contributing 55,000 kg). 
• Value-Added Focus: Build a processing and retail showroom facility on 2 Ropani of municipal highway land situated right at the entrance of the heavily trafficked Halesi Mahadev Temple. The plant will manufacture premium packaged snacks and organic peanut butter to capture consumer demand from the steady stream of pilgrims and visitors, building on export-ready quality frameworks. 

3.     Project Timeline (6–9 Months Lifecycle)

The total duration for the complete engineering, procurement, construction, and initial trial commissioning of all three centers is strictly constrained to a 6 to 9-month execution window from the date of contract signing.

• Months 1–2 (Engineering & Design): Topographical surveys, soil testing, detailed structural/architectural blueprints, industrial process flow maps, and local municipal zoning/environmental clearances. 
• Months 3–5 (Procurement & Logistics): Factory sourcing, manufacturing, and transport of specialized industrial processing machinery, laboratory testing kits, electrical transformers, and customized steel structural elements. 
• Months 6–7 (Civil Construction & Installation): Site preparation, foundation pouring, structural erection, roofing, utility integration (power, water, waste management), and anchoring of heavy machinery. 
• Months 8–9 (Testing, GESI Compliance & Commissioning): Electromechanical integration, dry/wet trial runs, food-grade hygiene testing, municipal governance alignment, local staff training, and official operational handover. 

4.     Technical Scope of Work (EPC Pillars)

Phase 1: Engineering & Detailed Design

• Process Flow Layouts: Design optimal, food-safe processing flows for potato chips lines (Sunkoshi), feed milling crushers (Gadhi), and peanut roasters/grinders (Halesi). 
• Inclusive Structural Design: Incorporate explicit Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) elements directly into physical building blueprints, mandating women-friendly spaces such as separate restrooms, clean changing areas, lactation rooms, well-lit pathways, and safety systems scaled for diverse operators. 
• Environmental Safeguards: Engineer comprehensive waste-mitigation frameworks to handle processing by-products (e.g., potato peels, wastewater, peanut husks, and maize stover) for ecological sustainability or secondary commercial applications. 

Phase 2: Procurement & Supply Chain Management

• Specialized Machinery Lines: Source, test, and ship complete commodity-specific processing configurations: 
  • Sunkoshi: Automated industrial washers, peelers, slicers, commercial batch fryers, and nitrogen-flush packaging machinery. 
  • Gadhi: Heavy-duty maize shellers, pulverizers, horizontal feed mixers, pellet mills, and moisture-controlled grain silos. 
  • Halesi: Rotary peanut roasters, de-shelling units, skin-peeling equipment, and industrial paste grinders. 

• Quality Control & Utilities: Procure laboratory testing equipment (Soxhlet apparatus, refractometers, moisture meters) alongside high-capacity power transformers (30-50 kVA) to protect facilities against local grid fluctuations. 

Phase 3: Construction & Operational Commissioning

• Civil Works: Execute all earthworks, foundation casting, structural steel framing, thermal-insulated wall partitioning, and interior hygiene-grade surfacing. 
• System Integration: Install and wire all electromechanical processing machinery, automated control panels, laboratory arrays, and industrial backup power units. 
• Trial Runs & Licensing Support: Lead uninterrupted trial operational runs to validate plant throughput parameters, safety controls, and product consistency, preparing documentation for necessary food safety licensing (e.g., DFTQC compliance). 

5.     Bidder Evaluation Criteria

Bidding firms will be assessed based on a 100-point matrix. Evaluation heavily weights the firm’s ability to coordinate with local actors and their execution history within similar socio-economic zones in Nepal:

6.     Key Deliverables & Payment Milestones

All payments are strictly performance-based, requiring verified on-site structural validation and written municipal/cooperative sign-offs before disbursements. The following table presents the proposed list of milestones that the contract can customize as required, but with strong rationale: 

7.     Risk Management & Do-No-Harm Framework

• Conflict Sensitivity: The contractor must ensure absolute geographic, ethnic, and ward-level balance during local construction labor recruitment to prevent localized community friction. 
• Grievance Redress: The contractor is required to set up an accessible, transparent, and anonymous grievance box and logging mechanism at each site during day one of mobilization to capture and immediately address complaints raised by local community members, farmers, or municipal authorities. 

8.     Submission of Proposal

Interested Nepali company/firm/organization or JVs of similar registered entities meeting the above qualifications can submit their expression of interest with (1) a cover page, (2) a brief technical and financial proposal, not more than 10 pages, (3) an updated company/ organization profiles with latest renewal and tax clearance certificates, (4) evidence of similar assignment, at least 3. Please submit your EOI by June 26, 2026 to procurement.np@dzi.org. Please ensure that the attachment should not be larger than 10 MB. dZi may engage one or more firms to carry out the assignment. dZi reserves the right to accept and reject any or all proposals without assigning any reason whatsoever.