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Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Non- Revenue Water programme development - Consultancy Opportunity in the Ghana Water Sector


TERMS OF REFERENCE
Non- Revenue Water programme development


1.     Background
Assisting Ghana Urban Water Limited (GUWL) to improve services to low income urban consumers (LIC) is a key element of the WSUP Ghana programme. WSUP will work under a Professional Services Agreement with GUWL, which includes the demonstration of effective LIC water service models, and development of technical capacity in agreed areas of operations where GUWL identify a need and which impacts positively on LIC services. WSUP is now in the process of working with GUWL to formulate the capacity development programme. Non-revenue water (NRW) reduction is an important component of this capacity development programme.

2.      Aim
The aim of this assignment is to identify the current position of GUWL with respect to NRW, and to support them in the development of a sustainable programme to reduce NRW in their supply network. The assignment targets WSUP’s Strategic Objective 2 (SO2), namely to strengthen local and national institutional capacity for improving water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services to the urban poor.

3.      Outline
The first step in developing an NRW reduction programme is to gain an understanding of the current likely levels of NRW and how they are assessed, and of the capacity within GUWL to develop and implement such a programme. A programme can then be developed in consultation with GUWL that provides for more robust assessment of NRW, identifies appropriate measures to reduce it, and sets out the data gathering/management and institutional strengthening that are required for sustainable implementation of the programme by GUWL. The programme should provide for pilot areas for detailed NRW data collection, and should be phased to provide for reviews and refinement as the work progresses

The work will be led by an international NRW specialist supported by local expertise, both funded by WSUP.

The programme should recognize that support for NRW reduction may also be available from other sources, and consider effective and appropriate ways of integrating such support with WSUP’s own inputs to the process.

4.     Scope
The work comprises three phases as described below.

Phase 1
The Consultant will:

  1. Obtain an appreciation of the WSUP Ghana programme and GUWL’s water supply operations;

  1. Obtain an understanding of the current issues and levels of NRW and illegal water loss through discussions with GUWL, including their means of measuring water produced, distributed and delivered to customers, billing records, customer databases and other relevant data;

  1. Through discussion with GUWL, assess the current technical capacity within the organisation to develop and implement an effective and sustainable NRW reduction strategy;

  1. Design and deliver to operational managers a one-week course on assessing and controlling NRW, to include a day on site;

  1. Prepare Phase 1 report.

Phase 2
The Consultant will:
  1. Consider  options for improving the quality of water flow measurement and other relevant data sufficiently to inform an effective NRW reduction strategy and, in discussion with GUWL, identify those that are likely to be most appropriate, sustainable and cost-effective;

  1. In consultation with GUWL, identify and assess alternative selections of short, medium and long-term measures to reduce NRW, and identify a preferred programme;

  1. Discuss and agree the institutional arrangements and capacity building support needed by GUWL to implement the identified programme of NRW reduction measures, and sustain effective focus by GUWL on NRW management into the future;

  1. In discussion with GUWL, identify other potential sources of external support to the NRW reduction programme and consider how these may be integrated effectively into programme implementation;

  1. Discuss recommendations with senior management of GUWL to verify support for the plan;

  1. Prepare Phase 2 report.

Phase 3
The Consultant will:
  1. With GUWL, identify two pilot areas (one each in Accra and Kumasi) for interventions to improve NRW quantification and reduction to the benefit of water supplies to LICs, and  specify the related programmes of work;

  1. Support the procurement and installation of hardware (flowmeters etc) and related infrastructure to implement these pilot interventions;

  1. Assist GUWL in the implementation of the pilot interventions, including baseline NRW assessment, monitoring, analysis and interpretation of results, and determination/implementation of follow-up actions where appropriate;

  1. Prepare Phase 3 report.

5.     Deliverables
Phase 1
a.      A report that sets out clearly:
·        the current situation in relation to NRW in GUWL, including strengths and weaknesses in flow measurement (water accounting), leakage control, illegal connections, billing, revenue collection and other relevant data;

·        the implications of this situation for GUWL as a business, in terms of volume of water produced but not delivered, lost revenue and improvements to customer service that could be achieved by reducing NRW;

·        an assessment of the institutional and technical capacity of the organization to deliver an effective and sustainable NRW reduction programme, and how this may be improved;

b.      Development and delivery to operational managers of a one-week course on assessing and controlling NRW, to include a day on site and documentation (course content, attendees etc).

Phase 2
a.      An Options Report, that compares alternative data gathering improvement, technical capacity building and institutional enhancement strategies and their implications for GUWL, and how they may be built into short, medium and long-term sustainable NRW reduction programmes, with recommendations;

b.      A Final Report, that sets out the preferred strategy as agreed with and supported by GUWL, including how it will be implemented, sustained and funded.

Phase 3
a.      Formal proposal for interventions and work programmes to improve NRW quantification and reduction in two pilot areas (one each in Accra and Kumasi) agreed between WSUP and GUWL;

b.       Support given to GUWL in collection of relevant base data for the pilot areas, and the procurement and installation of infrastructure required to underpin the interventions;

c.      Support given to GUWL with the collection, analysis and interpretation of data collected from the installed NRW infrastructure, and determination/implementation of follow-up actions where appropriate;

d.      A report detailing the scope and effectiveness of the interventions, the lessons learned and implications for scale-up.

The consultant should expect to be asked to respond to one round of comments on the draft report at the end of each phase, before finalization. The approval of the report will be by the WSUP Programme Director following consultation with GUWL.

Proposal submission                                              24 May 2013
Phase 1 commencement                                                     29 May 2013
Phase 1 completion                                                              24 July 2013
Phase 2 commencement                                                     8 August 2013
Phase 2 completion                                                              19 September 2013
Phase 3 commencement                                                     26 August 2013
Phase 3, components (i) & (ii) completion                       22 November 2013
Phase 3, components (iii) & (iv) completion                    30 June 2014

Note the overlap between the completion of a phase and the commencement of its successor; this reflects client review time for reports.

7.      Submission of proposals
Proposals for the assignment must be submitted to the contacts below on or before May 24, 2013.
Proposals must be comprised of a Technical and Financial proposal, with a detailed workplan defined in the Technical proposal.

8.     Reporting
In Ghana the Consultant shall report to the WSUP Country Programme Manager, ibmusah@wsup.com and Faustina Boachie, faustina.boachie@ghanawater.info.  The Consultant will also liaise closely with the appointed person from GUWL. 

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