Consulting Services to Undertake a Feasibility Study, Preliminary Design and Necessary... Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : USA

Summary : Consulting Services to Undertake a Feasibility Study, Preliminary Design and Necessary Due Diligence to Introduce a Block Train Service on the North-South Corridor

Deadline : 30 Jan 2020

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 39633696

Document Ref. No. : 1266346

Competition : ICB

Financier : World Bank (WB)

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : THE WORLD BANK GROUP
1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 Tel : (202) 473-1000
USA

Tender Details

Expression of Interest are invited for Consulting Services to Undertake a Feasibility Study, Preliminary Design and Necessary Due Diligence to Introduce a Block Train Service on the North-South Corridor.

CONSULTING SERVICES TO UNDERTAKE A FEASIBILITY STUDY, PRELIMINARY DESIGN AND NECESSARY DUE DILIGENCE TO INTRODUCE A BLOCK TRAIN SERVICE ON THE NORTH-SOUTH CORRIDOR

Publication Date

09-Jan-2020

Expression of Interest Deadline

30-Jan-2020 at 11:59:59 PM (Eastern Time - Washington D.C.)

Language of Notice

English

Selection Notice

Assignment Country

· No Countries Assigned

Funding Sources

The World Bank Group intends to finance the assignment/services under:

· BB - BANK BUDGET

· TF0A8883 - South Africa Railway Reform

Individual/Firm

The consultant will be a firm.

Assignment Description

SELECTION FOR CONSULTANTS BY THE WORLD BANK GROUP
REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
Electronic Submissions through World Bank Group eConsultant2
https://wbgeconsult2.worldbank.org/wbgec/index.html
Assignment Title: CONSULTING SERVICES TO UNDERTAKE A FEASIBILITY STUDY, PRELIMINARY DESIGN AND NECESSARY DUE DILIGENCE TO INTRODUCE A BLOCK TRAIN SERVICE ON THE NORTH-SOUTH CORRIDOR
Source of Fund: TF0A8883
Project ID:. P169471

The North-South Corridor (NSC) extends some 3, 900 km from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to Durban in South Africa. The corridor encompasses both road and rail networks, and maritime and inland water ports, and is a very important strategic trade route.

The SADC regional railways, which are extensive and contiguous, operate on a common gauge (Cape), and could be operating seamless, relatively fast cross border services, but are instead operated as national systems, with limited interoperability, poor reliability, high accident and failure rates, high costs and low volumes. The five railways on the corridor and the NEPAD Business Foundation (NBF) signed a comprehensive Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) in September 2016 to collaborate to improve the efficiency of rail services on the North-South Corridor.

7. Accordingly, NBF, with financial support from the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA), procured consultancy services to undertake a pre-feasibility study (PFS) for rail services on the corridor. The PFS identified realistic options to increase the cargo moving by rail on the NSC, as a complement to the on-going efforts of the Joint Operating Centre (JOC), based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The final report was delivered in 2018 (A copy will be made available to the selected Consultant), and a number of the recommendations are now being implemented in a first phase, not least the test running of a block train by the respective national railways, and initial market soundings of six potential projects that were identified as potentially being financially viable.

The primary objective of this assignment is to prepare a multinational bankable feasibility study and preliminary design, and a phased program of investments, reflecting the optimal solution in various respects: institutional, technical, environmental, economic, and financial; based on a robust analysis of all possible alternatives (alternatives in alignments, in selection of standards etc.) and comparison for a functioning block train service between the ports of the Eastern Cape, and Kolwazi in DRC (hereafter called the project).

The secondary objectives of the assignment have been identified as the following:
a. to prepare robust traffic forecasts for a number of different scenarios (optimistic, normal, pessimistic) for the defined appraisal period, conditional on the defined intervention in the project;
b. To define and determine the optimal institutional modality for the effective and efficient delivery of the proposed service, necessary changes in the institutional framework in each country, and required operational expenditures to establish the service;
c. to carry out a detailed investigation of the layout, design and costing of any necessary infrastructure development, in a phased manner consistent with current and projected demand, to facilitate the provision of the project;
d. to assess the economic and financial viability of the project, including an economic cost benefit evaluation, on aggregate and by country, and a robust financial analysis for the service, and undertake appropriate risk and sensitivity analysis;
e. to define and determine the optimal implementation of the possible phases, including capital investment, of the project to meet current and projected demand, and resource availability;
f. to define, with stakeholders, an appropriate framework for infrastructure access and pricing on the NSC, consistent with the international agreements, and structured to encourage international movement, competition and private investment, and prepare an Action Plan to establish the regime, including institutional or organization changes together with recommendations, estimated costs and prospective improvements to strengthen the regime, where considered feasible and appropriate, in future;
g. to improve the competitiveness of the project and rail transport more generally by identifying pragmatic measures, physical and institutional, to reduce the border crossing times for transit freight trains on the NSC;
h. To prepare reliable cost estimates, to at least a feasibility level of analysis (+ or 10/15 percent with appropriate allowance for optimism bias), for the proposed interventions in the Action Plan, determined from recently completed projects in similar conditions, and current international guidance;
i. To undertake an environmental and social safeguard scoping study for the development options to a level consistent with national and development partner requirements, and identify any potential gender benefits; and
j. To indicate potential financing modalities, in terms of potential contributions from private and public sector sources, for the priority interventions.


The Resources Required for the Assignment
The assignment is intended to be undertaken by a very experienced and high quality firm (or a consortia), familiar with undertaking assessments of this type, both in the region and internationally. The Consultants team are likely to include qualified personnel in the field of railway engineering and operation and management, public-private partnerships; project preparation and appraisal; project management; financial modeling/structuring; investment promotion; economic and financial analysis; risk analysis; procurement; policy and legal issues.

FUNDING SOURCE
The World Bank Group intends to finance the assignment / services described below under the following:
- BANK BUDGET
INDIVIDUAL / FIRM PROFILE
The consultant will be a firm.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
The World Bank Group now invites eligible firms to indicate their interest in providing the services. Interested firms must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services (brochures, description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions, availability of appropriate skills among staff, etc. for firms; CV and cover letter for individuals). Please note that the total size of all attachments should be less than 5MB. Consultants may associate to enhance their qualifications.
Interested firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest.
Expressions of Interest should be submitted, in English, electronically through World Bank Group eConsultant2 (https://wbgeconsult2.worldbank.org/wbgec/index.html)
NOTES
Following this invitation for Expression of Interest, a shortlist of qualified firms will be formally invited to submit proposals. Shortlisting and selection will be subject to the availability of funding.
Only those firms which have been shortlisted will receive notification. No debrief will be provided to firms which have not been shortlisted.

Qualification Criteria

· 1. Provide information showing that they are qualified in the field of the assignment. *

· 2. Provide information on the technical and managerial capabilities of the firm. *

· 3. Provide information on their core business and years in business. *

· 4. Provide information on the qualifications of key staff. *


SOUTHERN AFRICA
TERMS OF REFERENCE
FOR
CONSULTING SERVICES TO UNDERTAKE A FEASIBILITY STUDY, PRELIMINARY DESIGN AND NECESSARY DUE DILIGENCE TO INTRODUCE A BLOCK TRAIN SERVICE ON THE NORTH-SOUTH CORRIDOR
BACKGROUND
1. The Southern Africa region is highly diverse but with considerable potential for significant gains from deeper integration. The countries of the region range from South Africa, the continent-s most advanced economy, with advanced manufacturing and service industries and superior logistic services, to some of the smallest and poorest, inter alia Swaziland, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), respectively. In addition, the SADC region contains a number of countries, such as Zambia, Malawi, Lesotho and Rwanda, with untapped agricultural potential and natural resources, and a labor endowment that is trained, relatively inexpensive and well-positioned to compete globally.
2. The countries of the SADC region face a number of common problems: the region includes a large number of relatively small states, a number of which are landlocked; it is geographically remote from both the more mature markets of Europe, America and Japan, and the emerging markets of China, India, Indonesia and Brazil; a number of countries have high rates of unemployment and poverty, particularly among the low-skilled, a large informal sector, and an overreliance on primary commodities. From a global perspective, the region represents a number of disparate and relatively small markets, whose aggregation is complicated by physical and institutional barriers, such as distance, the poor

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