Inactive

Introduction: Belize Technical Support Services This is a Pre-Solicitation Notice which is not soliciting capability statements nor requires responses from industry at this time. Vendors who have ques... Introduction: Belize Technical Support Services This is a Pre-Solicitation Notice which is not soliciting capability statements nor requires responses from industry at this time. Vendors who have questions, clarifications comments and or concerns regarding this notice are advised to wait until the official, formal business opportunity is published and to submit all questions as per the instructions and the due date/time as specified in the solicitation. MCC is seeking an integrated Contractor Team of Consultants/Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) in Support of a Due diligence Services contract for energy project development and Compact implementation in Belize; new resource acquisition support; and: technical assistance to Government of Belize for policy and institutional reform. BACKGROUND MCC selected Belize for a five-year government to government grant to fund a program aimed at reducing poverty and stimulating economic growth. Belize was selected because it offers MCC the opportunity to engage with a country that is committed to democratic governance, reducing the rising poverty rate, addressing the significant challenges to economic growth, and mitigating its vulnerability to external shocks. The most recent analysis of the country's growth impediments completed by the MCC identified five development constraints: access to finance, natural capital management, government regulation and tax policy, education, and electricity costs. The Government of Belize (GOB) elected to focus on two of these constraints for further development and to potentially be addressed in the Compact; Education and Electricity: Education: Low quality of education has led to shortages of trained professionals Electricity: High cost of electricity drives up input costs for all industries OBJECTIVES The Energy Practice Group at the MCC is issuing this Call Order for a Contractor to provide technical support during compact development and implementation in Belize, as needed for the definition and implementation of an energy project. The period of performance (option years) also extends beyond Compact signing into pre-implementation support (before the Compact enters into force) and Compact implementation. SCOPE OF WORK The Contractor’s Team will be required to support MCC in working with the Government of Belize (GOB) and other program stakeholders to conduct additional analysis necessary to understand challenges; develop recommendations to address these challenges; and develop resources and tools (e.g., work plans, terms of reference, budgets, etc.) necessary to operationalize the recommendations for implementation. Some, but not necessarily all, aspects of the work described will be requested of the Contractor. The tasks to be implemented will be defined in Technical Directives drafted during the scope of the assignment. This work is expected to take part in two phases; a base year and option years. Sector Situation and Program Concept Assessment MCC has gathered significant data on the power sector in Belize including background documents, studies and information from interviews. The Contractor shall develop an understanding of the power sector context in Belize, including relevant policy, technical, financial, environmental and political factors. The Contractor will also review activities proposed for inclusion in the Compact to develop further understanding for the context and goals of this assignment. The Contractor may be required to undertake, update or analyze situation assessments and make recommendations on power sector activities which may include but are not limited to: Sector governance including policy, regulatory, environmental, legal and institutional assessment. Assessment of institutional capacity across government and utility companies New resource procurement practices including the full range of analyses; resource planning, bid structure and preparation, contract negotiation and project implementation Assessment of the current state of strategies and initiatives for the development of renewable energy resources and/or renewable energy off-sets Demand side analyses of energy efficiency technical and economic potential, plus implementation strategies Tariff analyses for cost of service, feed-in-tariffs, performance based ratemaking and social or lifeline tariffs Sector reform proposals to encourage transparent and competitive outcomes. An assessment of the climate resilience planning process which may include. climate vulnerability assessments to identify the risks to electric utility assets from the climate change climate resilience plans to evaluate options to reduce vulnerabilities and enhance system resilience assess the adequacy of the climate models utilized in future planning scenarios within a forward looking context. Project Appraisal and Investment Recommendations Following initial sector assessment and project reviews, the Contractor shall support MCC in conducting additional project appraisal and preparatory work. The goal of this set of activities is to support MCC in working with the GOB to move from project concepts to investment-ready projects, including detailed activity descriptions, work plans, budgets and initial drafts of terms of reference for Compact consultants. The work under this set of tasks will therefore include a combination of technical analysis, program and activity development, and implementation planning. To address the causes of high wholesale electricity prices, proposed compact activities include programs to improve governance of the electricity sector and projects to add additional low cost resources. The contractor may be required to provide detailed assessment of the feasibility, practicality, environmental impacts and risks associated with all of these initiatives and propose alternatives where necessary. The proposed initiatives are described below. Improving electricity sector governance to reduce noncompetitive outcomes. This component aims to improve the institutional structure of the electricity sector and enhance the capability of MPUELE and the PUC to monitor energy sector operations, design and implement long-term expansion plans, and fulfill other legally proscribed roles to achieve more efficient generation and service in the long term. To achieve this, the following interventions are proposed: • Provision of capacity-building and information technology systems to allow MPUELE to oversee Integrated Resource Planning activities and to ensure that resource acquisitions align with overall GoB policies. For example, this may include improving: o load forecasting capabilities o integrated resource and resilience planning o risk analyses for new resource cost drivers o enforcement capacity to ensure alignment between GoB policies and new resource decisions • Provision of capacity-building and information technology systems to support the PUC to improve: o The efficiency and transparency of dispatch and other aspects of the system’s administration; Market rules for the dispatch and acquisition of resources to ensure consistency with legislative requirements and overall GoB energy policy; and Contracting and use of Cost-of-Service Analysis that informs tariff reviews. Support the acquisition of new, low-cost supply and demand side resources. A primary focus of this concept is to support GoB agencies in implementing their utility-scale renewable energy expansion plans in a way that is structured, aligns with the overall goals of the sector, and keeps new resource costs to a minimum. This concept includes several targeted actions: Contracting of transaction advisory services to aid the successful tendering and implementation of new IPPs; Provision of credit enhancements that reduce the cost of capital for IPPs; Facilitating utility-scale renewable energy development by funding feasibility studies and resource assessments for relevant renewable technologies; Technical assistance with developing and implementing a set of modernized codes, including a generation code, grid code, and consumer electric code to facilitate the integration of renewable energy; Provision of capacity building to efficiently manage a growing proportion of variable renewable energy while maintaining adequate grid flexibility and reliability; and Improvement of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, and related operational systems, to allow the utility to manage operational duties efficiently and economically. Another avenue to displace the reliance on expensive existing generation is to support the GoB in facilitating distributed generation, primarily small-scale solar photovoltaic resources. This component will enable the GoB, businesses, and households to make investments in distributed generation, reduce the need for relatively expensive generation, and provide a secondary source of surplus power through the ability to sell excess generation into the grid. Specific actions to facilitate distributed generation include: • Provision of technical assistance in electricity tariff implementation to facilitate distributed generation; • Credit facilitation targeting households and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in the acquisition of distributed generation investments; and • Lower import tariffs for distributed generation equipment. An additional component to reduce reliance on existing expensive generation will be to support enhanced energy efficiency and energy conservation among end-users. The sustainable energy strategy includes a number of programs and activities to support the development of the country’s energy resources and improve energy efficiency and conservation. The Belize Development Finance Corporation (BDFC) recently concluded an energy efficiency market analysis and pilot program to develop Energy Service Companies that could provide comprehensive energy savings services to end-users. Compact activities could build on the work with the BDFC to follow up on recommended actions, including: • Assessing the viability and effectiveness of financial and market mechanisms to address market failures in the adoption of energy efficiency (EE) measures; • Promoting EE practices, including EE education, technical standards and training, energy audits, rebates for EE lighting and appliances, and retrofitting public facilities; • Reducing import duties on EE equipment; and • Assessing the retail electricity tariff structure for barriers to EE implementation. Compact Negotiation, Preparation and Management: The Contractor may be requested to provide continuing support to MCC during Compact negotiations and preparation of implementation arrangements. This could include providing recommendations to MCC on Conditions Precedent (CPs) for entry into force of the Compact, responding to GOB proposals for changes to program scope, and other tasks required to ensure signature of the Compact agreement. The Contractor may be required to support MCC with tasks prior to entry into force of the Compact including: Recommendations on CPs that MCC may want to include in the Compact agreement requiring the GOB or other stakeholders to take critical actions prior to MCC funding being released. Assess progress or compliance with CPs to entry into force through review of documentation or evidence provided by the GOB; Inputs to the development of program management tools including recruitment plans and position descriptions, work plans, budgets, reporting templates, communication and coordination plans, etc.; Track events in Belize’s power sector and prepare periodic updates on sector context including technical, financial or political developments that would impact on plans or assumptions in the Compact. Other Duties Financial and Economic Assessments The Contractor may be asked to support to the MCC’s economic and financial analyses. Tasks may include evaluation for the following: electricity energy and peak demand projections new resource acquisition plans, associated risks and policy implications the numbers of households and individuals likely to benefit by proposed interventions climate mitigation and resilience measures cost of service and retail tariff analyses impact of policy reforms on demand, supply, prices and consumption behavior Gender and Social Inclusion The contractor will be asked to integrate Gender and Social Inclusion (GSI) considerations into lines-of-inquiry, whenever feasible, as mandated by MCC’s Gender Policy and Gender and Social Inclusion Operational Milestones. For example, in support of monitoring and evaluation, whenever the contractor collects data from individuals, the contractor may be requested to collect additional data relevant to MCC’s social inclusion efforts (sex, ethnicity, first language, etc.) and provide analysis on differential impacts on specific subgroups. Likewise, the contractor may be requested to collect such data and/or provide related analyses through the addition of GSI-specific questions to any surveys or questionnaires undertaken. The contractor will be supported in these efforts by—and is encouraged to work closely with—GSI points-of-contact in the BCDT and the MCC. Additional tasks may be added as modules to existing workstreams where feasible, or as stand-alone tasks, including but not limited to assessments of: employers in the Belizean energy sector as inclusive and equitable workplaces; the policy landscape that dictates how the energy industry should function to leverage GSI-specific challenges that inhibits socially excluded groups contributions to sustained economic growth; existing pro-poor/price reduction mechanisms (i.e. lifeline tariffs, social tariffs, shared metering, golden citizen award, financing, etc.) for effectiveness, efficacy and efficiency in terms of: (i) reaching target populations, and (ii) providing significant/meaningful reductions to domestic/household income expenditures on electricity by those populations; and inclusion incentivizing mechanisms in the energy sector, in terms of providing opportunities for women-owned and/or excluded groups to participate as entrepreneurs in the energy sector. Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) In coordination with the MCC M&E Specialist, the Contractor may be tasked to help identify the optimal indicators to use for project monitoring and evaluation and assist in establishing corresponding baseline performance metrics and annual/end of compact/post-compact targets. The Contractor may support MCC to: Identify indicators to reliably track/measure progress toward or achievement of the results that the projects are designed to achieve Produce targets for key results indicators, as part of project design, or verify the appropriateness of targets set through other technical due diligence; Suggest appropriate method and costs of data collection and sources of the data; and In the context of due diligence work, identify capacity needs for data collection, quality, and management within the relevant implementing entities and make recommendations for possible improvements. Support MCC and the GoB to develop a project logic diagram that links the proposed activities to the project objective. The M&E indicators will then measure the results in the project logic. Other Tasks In addition to the support for overseeing and monitoring work on Compact activities described above, the Contractor may be called on to provide technical inputs on specific issues, documents, deliverables or other program activities, including the following items: Review and provide comments of technical studies including, but not limited to the National Energy Framework, the Least Cost Plan, a Cost of Service Analysis, Market Rules and Grid Codes; Provide recommendations to MCC on structuring sector oversight and coordination mechanisms to improve outcomes in priority reform areas, including but not limited to institutional structures and tools or processes; Assess existing challenges with power sector oversight and coordination to understand current practices, gaps and shortcomings, and options to strengthen these functions; Develop recommendations on requirements and processes for new supply options, including financing options, timelines, and activities required to support the GOB in adding these new sources of supply; and Conduct any additional analysis of requirements to implement activities in identified priority areas, including institutional arrangements, financial resources, technical inputs, enabling policy or legislative framework, and human resource requirements; Track relevant developments in Belize’s power sector to assess potential impacts or contributions to the Compact objectives Provide general technical and/or contractual advice and assistance to MCC related to the activities Verify, review, and assess the adequacy of all reports that are provided by the Compact consultants, implementing entities and GOB, Make presentations on implementation progress and performance to MCC annually (in Washington, DC) and provide an annual Implementation Review and Performance written report; *** End of Notice ***