Artificial Intelligence Pilot for Non-Revenue Water Reduction in Tocopilla, Chile.

The United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), on behalf of Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) invites qualified interested firms to submit Expression of Interest (EOI) to participate in the upcoming solicitation for the implementation of technical assistance on Artificial Intelligence Pilot for Non-Revene Water Reduction in Tocopilla, Chile. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on behalf of the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) requires the services of an institution to deliver the technical assistance as approved by National Designated Entity from Chile. The objective of this Technical Assistance is to advance the implementation of the technology action plan (TAP) for reducing non-revenue water in urban drinking water systems by supporting an Artificial Intelligence technology pilot in the locality of Tocopilla, Chile, together with training to increase local capacities from users, administrators, and the regulator on data management, modeling, analysis, and updating the dashboard developed within the scope of this Technical Assitance (TA). Also, this TA aims to develop a roadmap for scaling up implementation and resolving detected non-revenue water issues. Chile is among the countries most vulnerable to the negative impacts from climate change. One of the most critical issues is severe drought, which is caused by the decrease in rainfall and, therefore, the reduction of river flows and access to water. According to the Water Resource Institute, Chile faces “high water stress”, and is the country most affected by this condition in Latin America. The reduction in rainfall and increase in hydrological droughts determine a greater potential risk to urban water security, especially in the geographical area between the south of the Northern Macrozone and the northern part of the Southern Macrozone (regions from Coquimbo to Biobío), where most of the population is located (MMA, 2020a; Billi et al., 2021; Fragkou et al., 2022). The National Water Resources Strategy of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) and the report of the National Water Roundtable 2020 mention that one of the priority challenges for the sector is the minimization of drinking water losses due to leaks, breaks, and other technical deficiencies occurring in drinking water supply networks. Some of the expected outputs are: 1. Mandatory Output: Project Management 2. Support a pilot of a system to identify Non-Revenue Water (NRW) 3. AI model design, development, verification, validation and deployment. 4. Delivery of Training. 5. Scale-up Strategy. The complete details of the requirement will be provided in the tender documents that will be issued to bidders after this request for EOI is closed. Specific Requirements/Information The Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN) is the Operational arm of The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and hosted by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The mission of the CTCN is to promote accelerated development and transfer of climate technologies at the request of developing countries for energy-efficient, low-carbon and climate-resilient development. CTCN provides technical assistance to the countries using its own funds ( which it recives through voluntary contributions of donor) or through the other funding sources specifically the Green Climate Funds (GCF) through the Readiness Programme. The requests for Technical Assistance (TA) are submitted to the CTCN by the National Designated Entity (NDE) of the respective country. In this present case the CTCN has developed a response plan and expect to implement the technical assistance on its own funding. In case you are not a CTCN network member yet, you may apply for this REOI and subsequent soliciation (Request for Proposal), subject to the condition that you submit your completed application for CTCN membership before the proposal submission closing date, which will be communicated in the subsequent Request for Proposal in due course of time. Furthermore, the contract award – should your proposal be selected – is conditional to your application for CTCN network membership being approved by CTCN management. The requirement to join the CTCN network is only relevant to the main bidder and not subcontractors. Please find more information to join CTCN Network at- https://www.ctc-n.org/network The purpose of this REOI is to identify suitable firms who may be invited for the Request for Proposal after the REOI is closed. In addition to CTCN registration, all applicants should also be registered (free of charge) at United Nations Global Marketplace (www.ungm.org). IMPORTANT: Please note that this REOI is not an invitation for submission of tenders. Its purpose is to identify companies that would be interested and eligible to participate in the solicitation when issued. UNON will examine the outcome of this request for EOI and will consider those companies that have expressed their interest . UNON reserves the right to change or cancel the requirement at any time during the EOI and/or solicitation process. Thus, submitting a reply to this Request for EOI does not automatically guarantee your company will be considered for receipt of the solicitation when issued.