Provision for Consultancy Services for Biomass Gasification Pilot Pre-Feasibility Study in Sierra Leone

New clarification added: Answer: The commitment letter to hire local competencies is a mandatory document as per our requirements.The following documents are required in case of a JV :-Business license, certificate of registration for each member-Joint venture agreement or signed letter of intent-All the members of the consortium should be eligible.All the other documents (Form A, G, H, I, J )must be filled and signed by the lead member of the consortium. 

New clarification added: Question:In case of forming a consortium for this tender, and one of the members is locally registered entity in Sierra Leona, should we still provide the Commitment letter to hire local competencies?Moreover, could you please clarify us which of the forms should be delivered by EACH consortium partner?To our understanding, every partner should deliver the following documents:Certificate of incorporation/Business LicenseForm A: Offeror Information FormForm G: Performance Statement FormCertificates of satisfactory performance as proof of Form GForm H: Self Disclosure FormForm I: Supplier Commitment to Gender Equality and Diversity FormForm J: Declaration on Commitment to SustainabilityIs there any missing documents that all of the members of the consortium should provide?Answer: The commitment letter to hire local competencies is a mandatory document as per our requirements.The following documents are required in case of a JV :-Business license, certificate of registration for each member-Joint venture agreement or signed letter of intent-All the members of the consortium should be eligible.All the other documents (Form A, G, H, I, J )must be filled and signed by the lead member of the consortium. 

New clarification added: Question:We are still awaiting the clarifications on the queries we raised some time ago. We kindly request you to provide the necessary clarifications at the earliest so that we can proceed with the preparation of our proposal and submit it within the stipulated timeline.Answer:Dear bidder,We invite you to read through the various details provided; you will find the answers to your questions (from Q1 to Q11) there.

New clarification added: Question: Could you please let us know if there are financial or experience requirements to form a Consortium?Answer:A supplier is explicitly permitted to submit an offer in association with other entities as a joint venture when they do not independently possess all the expertise required for the provision of the services, goods, or works under the contract. As part of this RFP, no financial requirement is defined.  All the members of the JV should meet the eligibility criteria.The evaluation team will ensure that at least one member of the joint venture meets the experience requirement defined in the qualification criteria.

New clarification added: Question:We would like to know if the date of submission could be extended beyond the one programmed.Answer:The deadline is extended for 10 more days. 

New clarification added: Q9 — Qualification, Electrical / Mini-grid Engineer. The requirement for at least one assignment involving hybrid generation (PV + battery + dispatchable thermal) is retained. It is central to the assignment, whose core output is a PV/battery/gasifier-genset hybrid sizing with dispatch logic and reliability metrics (loss-of-load probability, expected energy not served). Solar plant operations and thermal-electrical systems experience, taken separately, are valued but are not equivalent to integrated hybrid-dispatch design experience. To reasonably widen the applicant pool, the "dispatchable thermal" element of the qualifying hybrid assignment may be evidenced by PV + battery + dispatchable diesel/genset systems, from which battery-dispatch and firm-capacity logic transfer directly to PV + battery + biomass. Pure PV or pure thermal experience without integrated battery-hybrid dispatch does not satisfy the criterion.Q10 — Hybrid sizing tools. No specific software tool is mandated. The Consultant may use any recognised industry tool (e.g., HOMER Pro or equivalent power-systems/energy-modelling software, or a transparent custom model), provided the sizing methodology is consistent with the mass-and-energy balance and produces the required outputs: dispatch logic between the PV daytime and gasification evening/night blocks, battery storage sized for the shortest dry-season night, reliability metrics (LOLP, EENS) and a load-growth scenario. Tools and assumptions must be documented and reproducible.Q11 — Submission deadline extension. The deadline is extended to 20 of July 2026. 

New clarification added: Questions: Please find attached the queries for seeking clarification. We kindly request you to provide your response at the earliest possible.1    Access to Agro-industries      Please confirm whether introductions and access to palm oil mills, rice mills, sawmills, maize aggregators, and other biomass producers will be facilitated by the Client. 2   Government Data Access      Will the Client facilitate access to production statistics, agricultural databases, GIS datasets, and information available with relevant Ministries and Government agencies? 3     Feedstock Sampling Permissions      Please confirm whether permissions for biomass sampling at industrial facilities and private sites will be coordinated by the Client. 4    Inputs from SOGREA / GoSLWe would appreciate clarification on two points: (1) Will SOGREA assist in coordinating with local agencies for data collection via the survey? (2) Should survey expenses be allocated to this budget?"Answers:Q1 — Access to agro-industries. SOGREA and GoSL will broker initial introductions to candidate host counterparts across the four feedstock universes — palm extractors via the Ministry of Energy / Ministry of Agriculture and any palm sector association; rice mills via the Ministry of Agriculture and the rice millers' association; maize cooperatives and aggregation traders; and industrial sawmills and trading points via the Ministry of Agriculture and forestry sector associations — and will support the formalisation of non-disclosure arrangements where required for commercially sensitive data. These introductions do not constitute a guarantee of access to, or of data provision by, private operators. Securing and maintaining site-level engagement, and the logistics of the local verification activities, remain within the Consultant's scope (Tasks 1 and 5).Q2 — Government data access. Yes, subject to availability. SOGREA and GoSL will facilitate data access from relevant agencies (Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, EPA-SL, SLEWRC) and introductions to district councils and local authorities, and will provide available climate datasets (rainfall, humidity by district), GIS layers, electrification layers, and any prior biomass studies in the possession of the Ministry of Energy or partners. Provision is contingent on what actually exists; the ToR flags, for example, that climate data is dependent on data availability. Bidders should not assume that a given dataset exists in usable form for the target districts.Q3 — Feedstock sampling permissions. SOGREA will support the request for site access and sampling permission through the host-counterpart introductions and government facilitation described above; Annex A lists permission for local teams to visit sites, take samples, conduct demand surveys and document locations among the access requests SOGREA will support. Coordination and execution of the sampling campaign itself — including chain-of-custody per UNE-CEN/TS 14778-1:EX, geo-tagged documentation and traceable laboratory transfer — is the Consultant's responsibility under Annex C and Task 2.Q4 — Inputs from SOGREA / GoSL.(1) Yes. SOGREA/GoSL will facilitate coordination with district councils and local authorities to enable the survey; survey design, instrument development and execution sit within the Consultant's scope (Task 5, Deliverable D6).(2) Yes — all costs of executing the assignment, including local verification and demand surveys, must be included in the bidder's financial proposal. Nothing in the ToR provides for SOGREA to reimburse survey or field-verification costs separately from the contract price.Q5 — Standard analytical methods / accredited laboratories. The ToR requires that proximate and elemental analysis be performed in an accredited laboratory using the specified standard methods (moisture BS EN 14774-3:2009; ash BS EN 14775:2009; volatile matter BS EN 15148:2009; heating value ASTM D 1989-96; CHNS BS EN 15104:2011). SOGREA does not maintain, nor will it provide or endorse, a list of laboratories; selecting a suitable laboratory is part of the Consultant's technical proposal and due diligence. The laboratory must hold current accreditation (e.g., ISO/IEC 17025) for the specified methods. Both in-country and out-of-country accredited laboratories are acceptable, provided accreditation for the required methods is evidenced and sample integrity and chain-of-custody per UNE-CEN/TS 14778-1:EX are preserved through transport.Q6 — Electricity demand data. SOGREA will share available electrification layers, the SOGREA solar mini-grid pipeline data where overlap or coordination is relevant, and any prior demand or biomass studies in the Ministry's possession (Annex A). Bidders should not assume that mini-grid demand studies, productive-use surveys or utility demand datasets exist for the target districts. The primary demand assessment — including productive-use and demand assessments for rural electrification, anchor-load identification, willingness-to-pay and ability-to-pay surveys, hourly and seasonal load curve construction — is within the Consultant's scope (Task 3, Deliverable D4).Q7 — Site verification: physical vs remote. The assignment is delivered under limited site access, and the solicitation already requires bidders to present a credible approach for delivering the outputs through remote methods and locally executed verification. The division between physical and remote work — and between international and locally-based team members — is therefore not pre-determined by SOGREA: the bidder proposes and technically justifies it in its methodology, and it forms part of the technical evaluation.The following are minimum requirements, not a ceiling: (i) field sampling of the two laboratory-selected feedstocks per Annex C (chain-of-custody, geo-tagged, sealed, traceable transfer); and (ii) local verification at the 1–2 shortlisted host nodes (Task 5, D6) producing traceable, geo-tagged evidence — host-data checks against records, storage/disposal inspection, demand survey within the 2–5 km radius, and documentation of access, water supply and the siting envelope. A merely nominal or non-traceable in-person verification will not satisfy the decision-ready evidence requirement for Gate A. SOGREA and GoSL support field access per Section 7 and Annex A; the sufficiency of the proposed verification approach will be assessed on the strength of the methodology.Q8 — Qualification, Feedstock & Supply Chain Specialist. The ToR already states the discipline as a relevant degree in agricultural engineering, agronomy, biomass logistics or related discipline, with at least seven (7) years of relevant experience, and the binding substantive requirements as experience with feedstock logistics and supply-chain costing for agricultural residues … and experience structuring offtake agreements with agro-industrial counterparts. A candidate holding a mechanical or chemical engineering degree may be considered under "related discipline," provided the demonstrated experience squarely meets those substantive requirements. Equivalence will be assessed by the evaluation panel on the strength of demonstrated experience; the discipline itself is not, on its own, disqualifying.

New amendment added #1: Important Notice: Dear bidders, Please be aware that we are extending the deadline for the submissions by 10 days. The tender will close on Monday 20th of July at 12 AM UTC.  

New clarification added: Question:We are an independent consulting and engineering firm supporting public and private clients in their investment decisions, as well as in the study and implementation of infrastructure projects aimed at improving access to electricity services and developing renewable energy projects in developing countries.We have specific experience in conducting feasibility studies for decentralized biomass-based power generation plants, particularly using gasification technology. This experience was notably gained through our role as technical development advisor to a sister company within our group, which specializes in small-scale, decentralized and autonomous renewable energy power generation units, either grid-connected or supplying mini-grids. This company has developed three gasification plants in-house and is now positioning itself as an EPC provider of the solution it has developed.In this context, we would like to know whether it would be possible for our engineering firm to carry out the present feasibility study without preventing the EPC company within our group from subsequently submitting a bid for the implementation of a pilot project.In particular, we would like to confirm that this situation would not be considered as constituting a conflict of interest. It goes without saying that the feasibility study would be conducted in full independence, without favoring any specific technical solution or supplier. Where applicable, the companies consulted would be selected on the basis of objective criteria and in general compliance with the requirements of Annex D.Answer:According to our policies, the described situation would be considered as a conflict of interest. In fact, if your company is awarded to provide the consultancy services for the study and EPC is directly or indirectly asscociated with your company, then EPC would have a conflict interest if it subsequently bids for the implementation phase of that same project.If it happens that your company is awarded for the study and EPC still decides to bid for the project implementation, EPC must disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest in their submission.  Failure to disclose this actual or potential conflict of interest could lead to the supplier being sanctioned for proscribed practices.Upon disclosure, the supplier is generally deemed ineligible for that procurement process unless the conflict of interest can be resolved in a manner that is acceptable to UNOPS. The final decision sits with the director of the Procurement group.