RFP: Selection of Consulting Services for Global Study on Disaster Resilience of Airports - Phase I

Background

The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is a multi-stakeholder global partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and academic and knowledge institutions. It aims to address the challenges of building resilience into infrastructure systems and development associated with it. The vision, mission, goal, and objectives of the CDRI are explicitly linked to the post-2015 development agendas. The Coalition will also contribute to the resilience of the global infrastructure systems in an increasingly interconnected world. The outcome of such collaboration would be aimed at building resilient economies and resilient people through cross-sector commitments at all levels towards adaptation and resilience with concrete outcomes that will bring resilience action to global scale. The global coalition is anchored by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure Society (CDRIS), registered under the Societies Registration Act (1860), India, in New Delhi, recognised as the CDRI Secretariat. CDRI Website: www.cdri.world.

Purpose of the assignment

CDRI intends to select an agency to provide consultancy services to CDRI for “Global Study on Disaster Resilience of Airports - Phase I”. In this regard, CDRI invites proposals from interested and eligible agencies/firms to provide the consultancy services as detailed in this RFP.

Framing the context

Airports are key building blocks of aviation infrastructure and play a critical role in national, regional, and global connectivity. They provide employment opportunities, essential multimodal transport services as well as function as a business thereby promoting economic well-being. Airports are in factor a system that comprises many partners including customers, staff and community. It is estimated that they contribute to more than 30 million jobs globally. Today, there is an increasing recognition that climate change and extreme events are frequently disrupting airport operations and services. Disruptions and damage to airports (from natural or man-made hazards) lead to direct losses as well as associated economic impacts thereby affecting lives and livelihoods of millions. As a result, it has become even more important for airports to build disaster resilience.

Airports face a unique set of challenges when it comes to building disaster resilience. Around the world, airports have been built on land below sea level, alongside coasts, floodplains, on reclaimed land, etc., increasing their exposure to natural and man-made hazards. Further, given the long-term nature of these structures, risks are continually changing over time. Increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events (due to climate change), as well as changes in the built environment in and around the airport (e.g. expansion), are adding to the risk profile.1

Airports cater to large volumes of transient people who in cases have low situational awareness. In the event of a disaster, this concentration of people may increase the adverse impacts. Finally, airports require large circulation spaces. The unique open architecture of airport terminals also makes them vulnerable to non-structural damage due to wind and seismic events. A sharp focus on the resilience of airports has been brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. It has challenged long-held notions of future risk-assessment and infrastructure governance.

Given this context, experts have argued that protection of airport assets, profitability and continuity of operations hinge on risk assessments to infrastructure, early response, stakeholder collaboration and building disaster resilience. Resilience is defined as 'the capacity of social, economic and environmental systems to cope with a hazardous event or trend or disturbance, responding or reorganizing in ways that maintain their essential function, identity and structure while also maintaining the capacity for adaptation, learning and transformation'. However, studies that systematically measure the influencing factors of airport resilience are in an exploratory stage. There is a need to document as well as disseminate the shared understanding of disaster resilience in the context of airports globally.

In recent years, with the increased frequency of climate-induced extreme events, there has been a growing focus on building the resilience of airports. Several studies and advocacy reports such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Climate Synthesis Report 2018, Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) reports 2012 & 2015, have advanced this agenda. Airport authorities in a few countries have undertaken climate risk assessments. However, in most cases, the focus has been on airline-related disasters. Limited attention has been given to disaster risk management and resilience of airports themselves. Several programmes have focused on strengthening the emergency response functions of airports during disasters. For example, the GARD (Getting Airports Ready for Disasters) programme by UNDP and DHL is one such partnership that focuses on airport disaster preparedness including the development of the Airport Surge Capacity Assessment (ASCA) Reports, coaching of airport staff, logistics training, etc. These efforts need to be complemented with a broader approach to disaster resilience planning for airports. 

This study will seek to critically understand the disaster resilience of airports around the world. The scope of this Phase is targeted towards developing a sampling framework and desk-based survey of airports around the world. Therefore, the contracted entity /study team will take into account not only the core assets but also focus on dependent infrastructure such as power system, ICT systems (communication and control), functional & operational management systems, emergency response systems etc.

Instructions

A pre-proposal meeting will be held via Video Conference on 22 April 2021, at 1600 to 1700 hrs. To attend the meeting, please email the representative below requesting a link to the meeting. 

CDRI’s representative: Hem Dholakia. Lead Specialist (Research)

Address: 4 th & 5th Floor, Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra, 1 Copernicus Marg, New Delhi 110001, India

Telephone: +91-11-4044-5999 Mobile: +91 9999042464 E-mail: hem.dholakia@cdri.world

Deadline

Date & time and address for submission of proposals/bids: Date: 7 May 2021

Time: 1700 hrs

Address: Bids to be submitted via email to project@cdri.world

[Please call CDRI’s representative to confirm receipt of email and attachments.]

Kindly click on the link below to view the full Request for Proposal.