IWRM firm for developing groundwater information system for Pakistan and groundwater atlas for Nara canal command, Sindh Province
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About
Asian Disaster Preparedness Center ADPC is an autonomous international organization with a vision to reduce disaster and climate risk impacts on communities and countries in Asia and the Pacific by working with governments, development partners, international organizations, NGOs, civil society, private sector, media, and other key stakeholders. Established in 1986 as a technical capacity building center, ADPC has grown and diversified its expertise across social and physical sciences to support sustainable solutions for risk reduction across a broad range of specialist areas. With over 100 staff from 19 different nationalities and a wide range of professional expertise from atmospheric scientists to social scientists with experiences from all levels of engagement typically required for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Resilience (CR) in an effective manner. ADPC is a competent regional resource center and has seven thematic departments: ADPC Academy, Risk Governance, Climate Resilience, Urban Resilience, Health Risk Management, Preparedness for Response and Recovery, Geospatial Information. These are supported by Finance, Human Resources and Administration, and Strategic Planning departments. In addition to the departments, ADPC works on three cross-cutting themes: Gender and Diversity, Poverty and Livelihoods, and Regional and Transboundary Cooperation through permanent working committees. ADPC Strategy 2020 guides the organization in providing comprehensive risk reduction support to countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. ADPC recognizes the importance of examining the linkages between disaster risk management, poverty reduction, gender equality, sustainability, rights-based approaches, climate change and regional cooperation. For details please refer to ADPC website at http://www.adpc.net/
Background
Disasters take a huge toll on the development agenda of SAR countries. Between 2000 and 2017, disasters in South Asia incurred estimated damages of US$ 149.27 billion. Public expenditure is under stress by the repeated need to reallocate capital budgets away from long term development planning and towards reconstruction activities in post-disaster environments. For example, since 2005, Pakistan has suffered losses on the order of US$ 16 billion due to natural disasters. In Bangladesh, 2007 Cyclone Sidr resulted in damages and losses of US$1.7 billion, or 2.6 per cent of GDP. With the financial support from the World Bank Group, ADPC has been implementing a five-year project, titled “Climate Adaptation and Resilience Project for South Asia” (CARE). The project aims to create an enabling environment for climate resilience policies and investments across South Asia. This objective will be achieved through enhanced regional cooperation and knowledge exchange for climate resilience and adaptation and mainstreaming of resilience and adaptation in national policies, plans and investments. CARE for South Asia Project Development Objective is “To contribute to an enabling environment for climate-resilient policies and investments in select sectors and countries in South Asia”. The project is supporting the region in building resilience to climate change by improving the availability of regional data and knowledge, developing guidelines, tools and capacities, and promoting climate-resilient decisions, policies and investments across key sectors. The project will promote the transformation of policies and institutional capacities for climate-resilient development in agriculture, transport, integrated water resources management, policy & planning, and finance in South Asia. Considering key results from the Global Climate Risk Index 2019, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh are IDA countries that rank higher than others in the region. The project intervention will be carried out in three select countries including Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. ADPC will facilitate high-level dialogues, develop climate-resilient guidelines in the priority sectors, and promote innovation and adoption of disruptive technology at national and regional levels. Anchored in building on the governments’ plans, the project will facilitate national institutions to meet commitments under the various global frameworks, such as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Informed decision-making regarding crucial groundwater resources heavily relies on access to comprehensive groundwater information, encompassing vital details such as bore locations and bore logs. Thus, a spatial database is essential for water sector stakeholders in any country. Pakistan’s National Water Policy 2018 provides an overall policy framework and guideline for a comprehensive plan of action to be undertaken at national and provincial levels. The Policy emphasizes the importance of groundwater management such as regulation on groundwater withdrawal and capacity enhancement for relevant stakeholders as well as development of groundwater information database in form of atlas. The CARE for South Asia project is supporting the Pakistan’s water sector for development of a strategy for drought- affected districts of Pakistan in Sindh province where groundwater plays a vital role. It includes development of platform for a groundwater database for Sindh and Balochistan provinces and digital atlas for Nara Canal Command area. Provincial Irrigation Departments of Sindh and Balochistan are the focal points for water sector interventions of the CARE for South Asia Project. Development of the Groundwater Information System (GWIS) was endorsed by both the provinces and it was agreed to pilot in Nara Canal command area, which is the biggest canal system in Pakistan. Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) has been nominated by both the provinces as hosting organization during the development process. The system will then be handed over to the provincial irrigation departments after its development, successful piloting and capacity building of the professional within the irrigation departments. A Technical Working Group (TWG) led by PCRWR has been established on the recommendation of both the provinces to oversee the development process of the GWIS. With an aim to fulfill the project development objective and decisions made by the provincial irrigation departments, the IWRM Firm will support ADPC in developing the groundwater information system framework for Pakistan, carry out a system requirement study as part of the framework development with assessment on hosting of the system, IT capacity and data security, the web platform for the groundwater information system, digital atlas for Nara canal command area, Sindh and training on usage and scaling up of the information systems data and information. The firm will also be responsible for testing and deployment of the system.
Objective and scope of services
I. Objective The main objective of the consultancy services is to develop a web-based platform for a groundwater information system for Pakistan and a digital pilot groundwater atlas for the Nara Canal command area, Sindh to collate existing groundwater information of the province with an aim to improve the groundwater management capacity of Sindh Irrigation Department. The work will be carried out in three concurrent work packages:
Work Package 1: Development of the Groundwater Information System (GWIS) Framework and System Requirement Study of the GWIS
Work Package 2: Development of the web-based platform of the GWIS and the pilot groundwater atlas of Nara Canal Command Area, Sindh
Work Package 3: Development of an e-module on the groundwater information system framework and digital atlas development and usage and training of relevant government officials
The firm needs to work closely with the Technical Working Group set up by Sindh irrigation Department headed by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources as part of the CARE for South Asia Project with Water & Power Development Authority (WAPDA), US – Pakistan Centre of Advanced Studies in Water and WaterAid – Pakistan as members of the TWG. The firm also needs to work closely with Irrigation Department, Sindh province; SWAT PCMU (Agriculture Department and SID) as there will be a HAI under this project (international consultant will be hired for this towards end of calendar year); Pakistan Geological Survey; Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources and other relevant provincial stakeholders. Necessary stakeholders workshop needs to be organized with the stakeholders during the development process as well as training need to be provided in consultation with ADPC.
The focal department of this project will be Sindh and Balochistan Irrigation Department at provincial level and Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources at Federal level. II. Scope of Services The broad scope of work is as follows: Work Package 1: Finalizing the framework of the groundwater information system for Sindh and Balochistan which will constitute the following 1) conceptual design; 2) ongoing monitoring at various scales (quantity and quality); 2) mechanism to collate data at national scale; 3) data provider to the information system; 4) design of the the groundwater information system; 4) data management to receive, manage and distribute data to user; 5) integration of monitoring and modeling for groundwater assessment; and 6) Financial needs for sustaining the system System Requirement Study which will include assessment on hosting of the system, IT capacity and data security to support the developed framework. Capacity building of relevant stakeholders on the framework of the groundwater information system on the content of the framework and how to ensure development and sustainability of the system using the framework Work Package 2: Development of a dynamic digital platform for Nara Canal Command Area (preferable web based) Mapping of groundwater availability (including depth to water level) in the province by means of information available from existing projects and programs related to groundwater management in Sindh province (covering pre and post monsoon season) Collation and integration of existing spatial (topographic, land use and land cover) and non-spatial (water quality information including EC, pH, Arsenic, Fluoride and Nitrate, quality parameters used) information on the developed digital platform. Integration of existing spatial and non-spatial information and survey outputs (spatial and non-spatial) into the proposed web based digital platform. Incorporation of all geological information and other relevant scientific information in the digital platform. The interactive groundwater atlas for Nara Canal Command, Sindh Province shall include (but not limited to) integration of hydro-meteorological information (locations and features of different gauging stations); geological information (well locations, distribution of lithological strata, depth to the top of aquifers and aquifer thickness, depth to water tables as available); hydro-geological information as available (aquifer recharge, extent of recharge zone, sources of recharge, hydraulic conductivity, transmissivity, direction of flow, specific yield and storage coefficient) and monitoring data on observed groundwater level and piezometric surface elevation with time at different locations. All these and other relevant information (relevant socio-economic information) should be available for the Nara Canal command Area, Sindh province. The developed web-based platform shall consist of multiple features selection options for the Nara canal command, Sindh province and develop a downloadable (GIS Shapefile) map for the selected options. Capability of upgradation of the atlas in the future and compatibility with existing or proposed DSS for the water sector. Capture of field photographs. Work Package 3: Development of e-training module for the usage of the atlas including spatial and non-spatial data updating and scaling up of the atlas in other canal commands and districts Provide training on use of the atlas to relevant stakeholders in Sindh and Balochistan Selection Criteria The Consultant is expected to be a firm or an association of consulting firms with the appropriate capabilities and experience of at least 10 years in the field of groundwater management and development and capacity building with specific capacity to execute the services in implementing groundwater information management in Asia in the last 5 years. This assignment requires a team of recognized international, regional, and national experts to ensure the integration of international and national best practices and standards into the study. Groundwater management experts, GIS Developer and Web programmer should be part of the proposed team with at least 5 years’ experience in similar assignment. Necessary CVs are required to be provided. The consulting firm or association of consulting firms shall have profiles and strong background in: i) groundwater management in Asia, ii) integrated water resources management, i, iii) data management, iv) capacity building and mainstreaming of groundwater management, v) climate change, and vi) other relevant fields. The firm or association of consulting firms should have experience in development of groundwater management solutions through innovative research for policy and practice The firm or association of consulting firms should have a track record in carrying out technical assistance and consultancy services on groundwater management, water resource management, and project management, and have proven experience in planning, implementation and management of programs related to groundwater management, and stakeholder engagement. The firm or association of consulting firms should have proven experience of working with federal and provincial government agencies, the Green Climate Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN or international agencies in South Asia. The firm or association of consulting firms should have proven experience of undertaking assignment of similar nature in South Asia. The firm or association of consulting firms should have good understanding of water resource management sector and climate change issues in South Asia. The firm or association of consulting firms should have proven ability for data collection, and analysis for relevant activities. The firm or association of consulting firms should have availability and access to Infrastructure/equipment/software etc. required for the completion of the assignment. The firm or association of consulting firms should demonstrate financial capacity to execute this requirement. The firm or association of consulting firms should demonstrate financial capacity based on previous activities which align to the current requirements. The firm or association of consulting firms should evidence financial size of the last three (3) projects and year wise turnover for the last five (5) financial years. The firm or association of consulting firms should have country office or country representation in Pakistan. The firm or association of consulting firms should provide a list of essential technical expertise/human resources with their detailed CV in World Bank format to complete activities and tasks and deliver quality outputs on time
Reporting relationships
The Team Lead from the firm or association of consulting firms will report to Director, Climate Resilience and work in close coordination with Project Director CARE for South Asia Project, Bangkok (Thailand). The technical oversight will be provided by Integrated Water Resources Management Specialist (Regional) at ADPC Bangkok office and water sector specialists at ADPC Pakistan country office through the PIU. The focal co-ordination department for the assignment will be Sindh Irrigation Department through the sector focal point of CARE for South Asia project and the TWG.
Contract duration
The contract duration will be for Twelve (12) months from the date of signing of the contract. It is important to note that the consulting firm or association of consulting firms will be expected to produce a few priority deliverables in the shortest possible time.
Other eligibility
State-owned enterprises (SOEs), NGOs and universities (either alone, joint venture or sub-consultant) may be eligible to compete and be awarded contracts only if they can establish, in an acceptable manner that they (i) are legally and financially autonomous; (ii) operate under commercial law; and (iii) are not under supervision by the agency(ies) they will work with.
Selection method
The firm will be selected in accordance with ADPC’s procurement process and in compliance with the World Bank Procurement Regulations. The Consulting Firm will be selected on Consultant’s Qualification-based Selection (CQS) method. Note: Firms should not submit any financial proposal with the EoI.
How to apply
Interested Firms can submit the Expression of Interest to: Procurement.care@adpc.net to the attention of Dr. Saswata Sanyal, Project Manager within 23.59 hrs. on September 6, 2023.