For the provision of timely, high-quality, context-specific, and cost-effective technical support for the designing, optimization, and performance evaluation of WASH infrastructure, and for the docume

TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR INSTITUTIONAL CONTRACT

 

Title of the assignment

Provision of timely, high-quality, context-specific, and cost-effective technical support for the designing, optimization, and performance evaluation of WASH infrastructure, and for the documentation of innovations and learning in Rohingya refugee camps and surrounding host communities.

Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to establish a framework for timely and progressive technical support hub to strengthen the quality, efficiency, sustainability, and resilience of technologies and infrastructure deployed under the Rohingya refugee response in camps and host communities through LTAs with technically competent engineering firms or institutions that can provide, high-quality, context-specific, and cost-effective large-scale WASH Instructure designs and technical documents toward optimization of services delivery under the response.

Location

Cox’s Bazar District, including Bashan Char Island, in Noakhali District.

Estimated Duration

Twelve (24) months and subject to extension for another year.

Reporting to the Technical Supervisor for this assignment

WASH Specialist

 

1. Background

UNICEF is supporting the delivery of water, sanitation, and hygiene services to over half a million Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar. This caseload is expected to increase significantly, potentially reaching 1 million people in the coming months, as some key partners withdraw from the response and UNICEF assumes an expanded role to ensure continuity of essential services as the provider of the last resort. For Rohingya children and their families, access to WASH services is not a privilege but a fundamental right. Safe water, dignified sanitation, hygiene services, and a clean-living environment are central to child survival, protection, public health, and human dignity. These services also help restore hope to children and their families who have endured prolonged displacement, uncertainty, and recurring shocks. Construction, upgrading, expansion, rehabilitation, optimization, and improvement of WASH infrastructure remain critical priorities.

 

Across the camps, UNICEF and implementing partners provide WASH services through a wide range of infrastructure, including groundwater-based water supply systems, surface water treatment plants, piped networks, reservoirs, tap stands, latrines, bathing facilities, faecal sludge treatment systems, wastewater management systems, and solid waste management facilities. These systems have evolved over time in response to emergencies, terrain constraints, land availability, population movements, environmental risks, and changing service standards. A further emerging priority is the solarization of power systems for large WASH infrastructure. This is expected to reduce recurrent fuel and electricity costs, improve operational continuity, strengthen resilience, and support more climate-sensitive service delivery.

 

A key gap remains the need to evolve WASH Infrastructure planning and deployment to hinge on sound engineering design that follows robust technical assessment, context-specific adaptation aligned with the protracted state of the response, and a nexus approach that reflects government policies while building resilience and ensuring value-for-money. WASH Infrastructure should be designed to suit geology, topography, settlement pattern, service demand, environmental conditions, prevailing climate shocks, operation and maintenance capacity, and long-term sustainability. This TOR is therefore for the engagement of qualified engineering firms/institutions, through a framework arrangement to support UNICEF and partners in the development of WASH infrastructure designs, technical dossiers, technological research, and learning.

 

2. Specific Objectives

1. Develop standard and context-specific engineering designs for WASH infrastructure across the camps and host communities.
2. Improve the technical quality, cost-effectiveness, and operational sustainability of water supply, sanitation, faecal sludge, wastewater, and solid waste systems.
3. Support site-specific technical assessments, including geophysical surveys, hydraulic assessments, soil/foundation studies, elevation profiling, water quality analysis, and system performance reviews.
4. Support the solarization of large WASH infrastructure through power demand estimation, solar array sizing, battery bank calculation, inverter/controller selection, and safe electrical wiring design in line with industry best practice.
5. Provide detailed technical drawings, 3-D models, specifications, bills of quantities, engineer’s estimates, design criteria, and operation and maintenance requirements for WASH infrastructure.
6. Support post-installation verification, performance evaluation, as-built drawings, and recommendations for design improvement for large infrastructures.
7. Promote innovation, research, learning, and evidence generation on WASH infrastructure technologies deployed in the camps and host communities.

 

3. Scope of Work

The selected engineering firms or institutions will provide technical support across the components below. Each assignment will be defined through a specific work order under the framework contract.

 

3.1 Industrial Borehole Design and Development

Key Tasks:

• Conduct extensive geophysical surveys to identify suitable locations for high-yield production boreholes.
• Review available hydrogeological, geological, and water supply data to guide borehole siting and design.
• Develop detailed borehole design specifications based on site conditions, expected aquifer characteristics, water demand, and long-term production requirements.
• Prepare detailed Bills of Quantities for borehole drilling, development, testing, completion, and associated works.
• Provide technical support to the drilling firm to collect, describe, preserve, and interpret drill cuttings at appropriate depth intervals.
• Develop detailed lithological logs and hydrogeological interpretations.
• Conduct borehole geophysical logging, including gamma logging and borehole camera inspection where applicable.
• Develop final well completion designs, including casing, screen interval, gravel pack, sanitary seal, and headworks.
• Provide technical support to the drilling firm to conduct pumping tests to determine specific capacity, sustainable yield, drawdown characteristics, and other relevant hydraulic parameters.
• Recommend suitable pump types and sizes based on borehole performance, required discharge, water demand, pumping head, and network requirements.
• The selected engineering firms or institutions will provide technical support across the components below. Each assignment will be defined through a specific work order under the framework contract.

 

3.2 Design of Water Treatment Systems

Key Tasks:

• Review raw water quality data and identify key physical, chemical, biological, and aesthetic contaminants.
• Conduct additional water quality testing where required.
• Assess treatment requirements based on raw water quality, service population, flow rate, source type, and applicable standards.
• Recommend the most appropriate treatment technology or treatment train.
• Develop process flow diagrams, hydraulic profiles, layout drawings, and installation details.
• Prepare technical specifications for treatment units, pumps, filters, dosing systems, storage tanks, valves, and control systems.
• Develop detailed BOQs and engineer’s cost estimates.
• Review installed treatment systems and assess performance after commissioning.
• Propose design modifications or operational improvements where systems are underperforming.
• Develop operation and maintenance requirements, including consumables, spare parts, operator skills, and lifecycle costing.

 

3.3 Design of Civil Works for WASH Infrastructure

Key Tasks:

• Conduct site assessments, including soil type review, land condition, drainage, flood risk, slope stability, and accessibility.
• Design foundations based on soil conditions, load requirements, structure type, and site constraints.
• Design reinforced concrete elevated towers for different heights and reservoir capacities.
• Design ground-level reservoirs, platforms, plinths, chambers, retaining structures, and associated civil works.
• Design equipment housing units, pump houses, chemical storage rooms, operator rooms, and secure enclosures.
• Design tap stand, water kiosk, or water ATM booths for water distribution in line with specific context and requirements
• Design platforms for heavy-duty equipment, including pumps, generators, treatment units, blowers, and sludge handling equipment.
• Prepare structural calculations, drawings, reinforcement details, and technical specifications.
• Develop BOQs and the engineer’s estimates.
• Conduct construction quality assurance visits where required.
• Review completed works and produce as-built drawings.

 

3.4 Design of Water Reticulation Systems

Key Tasks:

• Conduct demand calculations based on population, household distribution, institutional demand, system capacity, service standards, and projected growth.
• Compare demand with available production capacity from boreholes, surface water intakes, or treatment plants.
• Conduct elevation profiling to identify suitable reservoir locations and determine required tower heights.
• Map settlements, service zones, distribution points, and tap stand locations.
• Conduct hydraulic calculations for the pipe network.
• Determine pipe diameters, pipe classes, pressure zones, flow velocity, residual pressure, and network balancing requirements.
• Design transmission mains, distribution lines, branch lines, valve chambers, washouts, air release valves, and tap stand connections.
• Recommend appropriate reservoir capacity based on demand, supply schedule, peak factor, and storage requirements.
• Develop network drawings, hydraulic models, BOQs, and technical specifications.
• Assess existing networks and propose optimization, extension, pressure improvement, leakage reduction, or rationalization measures.
• Support post-installation testing, pressure checks, and as-built mapping.

 

3.5 Design of Faecal Sludge and Wastewater Treatment Systems

Key Tasks:

• Map the proposed treatment setting, including population served, sludge generation, wastewater flows, land availability, access routes, topography, flood risk, soil conditions, and environmental sensitivity.
• Assess the most suitable treatment option based on context, available land, influent characteristics, expected loading, effluent requirements, O&M capacity, and cost.
• Prioritize biological treatment technologies, particularly anaerobic baffled reactors, where suitable.
• Calculate required treatment capacity based on current and projected needs.
• Design faecal sludge and wastewater treatment systems, including receiving stations, screening chambers, sedimentation units, ABR units, planted gravel filters, drying beds, polishing units, disinfection units, and effluent discharge systems as needed.
• Conduct elevation profiling and identify suitable locations for intermediate transfer stations.
• Design pumped faecal sludge or wastewater networks where gravity systems are not feasible.
• Recommend pump types, pump sizes, pipeline materials, pipe diameters, valve arrangements, and operational controls.
• Integrate transformative or advanced technologies to improve effluent quality, reduce carbon footprint, enhance sludge stabilization, or support resource recovery where feasible.
• Develop drawings, 3-D models, technical specifications, BOQs, engineer’s estimates, O&M requirements, and lifecycle cost analysis.
• Evaluate system performance after installation and recommend improvements.

 

3.6 Solarization of Power Systems for Large WASH Infrastructure

Key Tasks:

• Conduct energy audits and load assessments for large WASH infrastructure, including borehole pumps, booster pumps, treatment plants, dosing systems, control panels, lighting, blowers, sludge treatment units, and wastewater systems.
• Estimate daily and peak power requirements based on equipment ratings, operating hours, duty cycles, starting current, redundancy needs, and future service expansion.
• Assess the feasibility of full solarization, hybrid solar-grid systems, solar-generator systems, or staged solar integration based on site conditions and operational requirements.
• Calculate solar photovoltaic array capacity based on demand, local solar irradiation, derating factors, system losses, seasonal variability, available space, and desired reliability.
• Size battery banks based on autonomy requirements, depth of discharge, battery chemistry, charge/discharge efficiency, temperature conditions, and critical load prioritization.
• Select appropriate inverters, charge controllers, combiner boxes, protection devices, earthing/grounding systems, surge protection, and monitoring/control systems.
• Develop wiring designs, single-line diagrams, cable sizing, voltage drop calculations, conduit/tray layouts, safety isolation arrangements, and protection coordination in line with industry best practice.
• Prepare layout designs for solar panels, mounting structures, equipment rooms, battery enclosures, cable routes, fencing, drainage, and access for operation and maintenance.
• Develop technical specifications, BOQs, engineer’s cost estimates, installation methodology, testing and commissioning protocols, and O&M requirements.
• Verify post-installation performance, including power output, battery performance, system efficiency, safety compliance, and operational reliability, and propose design improvements where required.

 

3.7 Design Support for Solid Waste Management Infrastructure

Key Tasks:

• Design household waste collection points and transfer stations.
• Design material recovery facilities and organic waste treatment or composting facilities.
• Design drainage, leachate control, access roads, platforms, and equipment sheds.
• Develop BOQs, drawings, specifications, and O&M requirements.

 

 

 

4. Cross-Cutting (Mandatory) Deliverables for All Designs

• Detailed technical design report.
• Design assumptions and design choice criteria.
• Technical drawings in editable and printable formats.
• 3-D model or visual representation of the design.
• Detailed Bill of Quantities.
• Technical specifications for materials, equipment, workmanship, and installation.
• Engineer’s cost estimate.
• Implementation methodology or construction guidance.
• Operation and maintenance requirements.
• Lifecycle cost analysis to inform O&M budgeting.
• Risk assessment covering technical, environmental, operational, safety, and sustainability risks.
• Quality assurance and quality control checklist.

 

 

5. Deliverable Standards

All deliverables should be submitted in both editable and final formats. These may include Microsoft Word reports, Microsoft Excel BOQs and cost estimates, AutoCAD or equivalent editable drawings, PDF drawings and reports, GIS shapefiles, KML or geodatabase files, hydraulic model files, 3-D model files and rendered images, PowerPoint presentations, as-built drawings, and user-friendly O&M manuals.

All designs should comply with applicable Bangladesh standards, UNICEF technical requirements, relevant humanitarian WASH standards, environmental safeguards, public health requirements, and good engineering practice.

 

6. Implementation Modality

The engagement will follow a framework arrangement. UNICEF will issue specific work orders based on needs. Each work order will define the assignment title, location, scope of work, expected deliverables, required experts, timeline, applicable unit rates, reporting requirements, review and approval process, and payment milestones.

The engineering firm will be expected to mobilize promptly after receiving a work order and will work closely with UNICEF technical teams, implementing partners, government authorities, site management actors, and community representatives where required.

 

7. Payment Modality

Payment will be linked to approved deliverables under each specific work order. A typical payment structure may include:

• 20% upon approval of the inception report or assignment methodology.
• 40% upon submission and acceptance of draft design package.
• 30% upon submission and approval of the final design package, BOQ, specifications, and the engineer’s estimate.
• 10% upon completion of post-installation review, as-built drawings, or final technical closure, where applicable.

The exact payment structure may vary depending on the nature of each assignment.

 

8. Required Firm Experience and Qualifications

• Proven experience in WASH infrastructure design in humanitarian, development, camp, rural, peri-urban, or complex operating environments.
• Strong experience in water supply systems, including boreholes, treatment plants, storage, pumping, and reticulation networks.
• Experience in sanitation, faecal sludge management, wastewater treatment, and environmental engineering.
• Capacity to undertake geophysical surveys, hydrogeological assessments, hydraulic modeling, structural design, and BOQ preparation.
• Ability to produce high-quality technical drawings, 3-D models, specifications, and engineers’ estimates.
• Experience in construction quality assurance and as-built documentation.
• Experience in research, technology assessment, innovation documentation, and learning.
• Familiarity with Cox’s Bazar camp context, humanitarian WASH programming, or similar settings will be an advantage.
• Availability of qualified multidisciplinary staff.
• Strong reporting, coordination, and communication capacity.

 

Evaluation Criteria for Technical Proposal

 

Evaluation Area

Suggested Weight

Relevant institutional experience

15%

Technical methodology and understanding of the assignment

15%

Qualifications and experience of proposed experts

20%

Experience in humanitarian/WASH/camp infrastructure settings

10%

Quality of sample designs/reports from previous work

10%

Financial proposal and competitiveness of rates

30%

Total

100%

 

 

For this RFP, the Technical Proposal has a total score of 70 points. Bidders must score minimum 49 points (70%) out of 70 to be considered as technically compliant and in order, for the Financial Proposals to be opened. Financial proposal has a total score of 30 points.

 

If needed based on the initial desk review, those bidders who will attain the minimum qualifying score may be invited to make a presentation of their technical proposal where clarifications will be sought.

 

The final selection of the bidder will be done ensuring the best value for money principle. The Proposal obtaining the highest cumulative score (Technical + Financial) will be recommended for the award, in case of establishing multiple LTAs the sequence will be followed based on the total scores.