Request for Quotation_ Revival and Restoration of the Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System for DHM

Terms of Reference (ToR)

Revival and Restoration of the Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System (FFEWS) for Koshi and West Rapti Basins Operated under DHI MIKE Platform (MIKE 11 & MIKE Operations)

1. Background

The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) operates several flood forecasting systems to support flood early warning and disaster risk reduction across Nepal. Among these, the Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System (FFEWS) for the Koshi and West Rapti River Basins was developed and operationalized in 2017 under the World Bank-supported Building Resilience to Climate Related Hazards project. The system was built on the DHI MIKE platform, comprising MIKE 11 hydrodynamic models and the MIKE Operations dashboard.

The FFEWS integrated real-time hydro-meteorological observations, numerical weather prediction (NWP) inputs, and automated hydrodynamic simulations to generate flood forecasts with lead times of up to 72 hours. The system was successfully used during the 2017–2020 monsoon seasons to support flood forecasting and dissemination of early warnings to vulnerable communities, disaster management authorities, and other stakeholders.

Since 2021, however, the system has become non-operational due to failures in technical infrastructure, data integration processes, automation scripts, and system maintenance requirements. DHM is currently facing technical and operational challenges related to model operation, troubleshooting, server management, data ingestion, and maintenance of the MIKE-based forecasting environment.

To restore the operational capability of the flood forecasting system, DHM and People In Need (PIN) intends to engage a qualified technical expert/firm to diagnose, repair, and restore the existing FFEWS for the Koshi and West Rapti basins. The assignment will focus exclusively on restoring the existing system to its previously operational state without modifying model structures, calibration parameters, or system architecture. 

2. Objective of the Assignment

The overall objective of this assignment is to revive and restore the existing Flood Forecasting and Early Warning System (FFEWS) for the Koshi and West Rapti River Basins operating under the DHI MIKE Platform (MIKE 11 and MIKE Operations) and ensure its full operational functionality.

Specific objectives include:

• Restore integration of real-time hydro-meteorological observations (water level and rainfall) into the FFEWS.
• Re-establish data ingestion pipelines connecting field observations to the MIKE Operations database.
• Restore and update Global Forecast System (GFS) precipitation data acquisition and processing.
• Reconfigure and activate scheduled data retrieval and forecast execution jobs.
• Upgrade and repair Python-based automation scripts used within the forecasting chain.
• Diagnose and resolve operational issues affecting the MIKE 11 models for the Koshi and West Rapti basins.
• Restore dashboard functionality within MIKE Operations.
• Verify successful end-to-end operation of the complete forecasting workflow.
• Enable automated extraction, formatting, and dissemination of MIKE 11 model outputs for the Bagmati River Basin in machine-readable text and graphical formats, facilitating integration with web portals, flood information systems, and decision support platforms.

Click Here for detailed ToR

Application procedure

The applications should submit the following documents to nepal.securebids@peopleinneed.net  by 8th June,2026 COB 

• Profile of the institution with CVs of key Personnel 
• Technical proposal with proven experience, key deliverables, plan of action, and timeline.
• Financial proposal budget breakdown 
• A copy of the Company Registration certificate (where applicable)
• A copy of VAT certificate and/or PAN details (obligatory)
• A copy of tax clearance for the last fiscal year (where applicable)