Provision of Consultancy Services for the design of renewable energy PV System mini grids

New amendment added #2: This amendment is done in order to extend the deadline for submission from the 2023-01-12 to 2023-01-17 and also to extend the clarification deadline from the 2023-01-04 to 2023-01-10

New clarification added: VENDOR’S CLARIFICATION REQUEST1- In Article 8 of the Terms of Reference, it is mentioned that "All key personnel shall be registered as professional engineers with an acceptable Institution of Registration Board such as the Sierra Leone Institute of Engineers." Could you please confirm that for engineers coming from other countries, this requirement translates into the necessity for them to be registered with the relevant Authority / Board / Order in their own countries as professional engineers?UNOPS RESPONSEEngineers from other countries should be registered in their country during the bidding process, upon successful bidding, during the implementation of the contract, they should then register in Sierra LeoneVENDOR’S CLARIFICATION REQUEST2- In the Qualification Criteria under "Evaluation Criteria", it is mentioned that it is required that "the Offeror has the registration under the category/grade A, B or C in the body that governs and regulates the engineering, consulting and/or construction industry in the Country." Could you please confirm that what is required is that the Offeror be registered with the relevant Authority regulating the engineering, consulting and/or construction industry in its own country, i.e. the country where the Offeror is registered?UNOPS RESPONSEYes, Offeror should be registered with the relevant Authority regulating the engineering, consulting and/or construction industry in its own country during the bidding . Upon successful bidding the company is required to then register in Sierra LeoneVENDOR’S CLARIFICATION REQUEST3- In Schedule 0.2-Offeror's Information which is part of the "Returnable Schedules", in case of a JV, could you please clarify whether each member of the JV should fill in this Schedule?UNOPS RESPONSENo, for schedule 0.2 - Offeror’s information should not be completed by each member of the JV, but rather be completed using the companies/offeror’s informationVENDOR’S CLARIFICATION REQUEST4- In Schedule 4-Contract Schedules from the Offeror under Section VI-Returnable Schedules Fees and Reimbursable cost, could you please confirm that we should use the first part of 4.1.A and that the "Fees Description" column should include the key personnel from the last page of the TOR (i.e. Project Manager, Electrical Engineer etc.)?UNOPS RESPONSEYes, we do confirm that the offeror should use the first part which are the first two tables under 4.1A - Breakdown of the Fees and Reimbursable Cost. Also please note that the fees description column should include the key personnel as included in the ToR.VENDOR’S CLARIFICATION REQUEST5- Given our present workload and the fact that our office was closed for the holiday period, we would kindly ask for an extension of the submission deadline by 2 weeks.UNOPS RESPONSEFive (5) days extension will be granted. I.e. the submission date will be on or before Jan 17, 2023VENDOR’S CLARIFICATION REQUEST6- Does the mini-grid design include the design of the distribution poles and lines inside the communities and if so, could you please provide the level of design detail required and the estimated length of grid/cable in each community?UNOPS RESPONSEThe mini grid design for the nine communities should include the distribution poles and lines in the communities, and the length of cable/ grid in the community should be determined during the survey of the community.The design should be detailed, showing the cable sizes required for each line, the location of the transformers ( where required) etc. the recommended pole sizes and pole foundation designs. 

New amendment added #1: This amendment is done to upload the pre-bid meeting minutes

New clarification added: VENDOR’S CLARIFICATION REQUEST1.   The nine communities in question are mostly located at the confines of the country in rural areas with limited access. How will coordination be carried out? Does UNOPS have community contacts in each of the communities? Please ClarifyUNOPS RESPONSEUNOPS will provide focal contacts for each communityVENDOR’S CLARIFICATION REQUEST2.   Where are the 200 health facilities and 500 schools located? what are their sizes and at what stage will they be identified?UNOPS RESPONSEThe 200 health Facilities and 500 school locations will be identified and shared with the consultant upon award of the contractVENDOR’S CLARIFICATION REQUEST3.   Under the current TOR requirements and timeline, it is practically impossible to actually visit and assess 700 independent locations for the design of standalone PV systems in only 10 weeks; kindly clarify whether you could revise the timeline and provide not less than 6 months.UNOPS RESPONSEThe requirement is not to visit all 700 locations. The requirement is to select a minimum of 5 school and 5 hospital locations for the studies and develop a generic design for the schools and hospitals categorizing it by sizes,noting that, the power supply for the schools and hospitals will range from 1-20kw with the total for all 700 facilities not exceeding 2MW.Example for categories of  designs will be done,  that will supply facilities with A=1-5kw, B=5-10kw, C=10-15kw and D=15-20kwBased on the size of the community, the design team & UNOPS project team will then decide which facility will fall under which category VENDOR’S CLARIFICATION REQUEST4.   With reference to paragraph 2.II of the TOR, can it be understood that the Consultant may design a modular standalone system to be deployed, where necessary, at a later stage, by UNOPS at any one of the 700 locations, without having to visit and assess the locations? Please clarify.UNOPS RESPONSESee answer in question 3 VENDOR’S CLARIFICATION REQUEST5.   The way the TOR is set up may not be conducive to the expected results. We believe it would be better to set it up as an LTA for 12 months or more in order to systematically identify, visit, assess locations and design the PV systems as per specs. Your feedback would be highly appreciated.UNOPS RESPONSEThe nine community locations will be visited, because they require major customization. For The 200 hospitals and 500 schools, given that the majority of these facilities have similar infrastructure, appliances and needs, it is not required to access all facilities during these studies. However the UNOPS team are on stand by to provide the design team with any additional information that will aid the design process.In light of the above the allocated timeline is adequate for the taskVENDOR’S CLARIFICATION REQUEST6.   In order for the key personnel required to be able to carry out the required tasks, especially the site visits and assessment of 700 locations (topography and geotechnical investigation), it is necessary that they be assisted by a large team of junior engineers and technicians in the field and the office. A standard assessment format would be developed, field assessment teams trained on applying it, then teams would be assigned geographic regions to cover. In our assessment, the key personnel identified in the TOR will need to work, in a central office, over a period of 6 to 10 months to produce the required designs, assisted by an extensive design team going beyond the positions identified.UNOPS RESPONSEAs stated in the answers to the previous questions, all 700 communities are not required to be visited. 

New clarification added: VENDOR'S CLARIFICATION REQUESTThe pre-bid meeting announced on Tuesday December 28 was a bit confusing since Tuesday was December 27. Still, we tried to connect to the pre-bid meeting link yesterday and today but the meeting did not appear to be taking place.Did the meeting take place and if yes, could provide us with the Minutes of Meeting, if any? Otherwise, if the meeting did not take place, could you please inform us when it is scheduled?UNOPS RESPONSEDear Vendor, kindly note that Tuesday was a Typo error, the meeting was held today at 9:00am to 10:00am with other bidders. Nonetheless, the Pre bid meeting minutes will be shared once it is ready and you can send us any further clarification request. We are sorry for the confusion