National Public Transport for the MERP project

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

The impact of the Syrian Crisis on Lebanon has reached an unprecedented scale in the history of complex, displacement-driven emergencies and has placed tremendous pressure on Lebanon’s services and resources, particularly at the decentralized level. The above situation is further exacerbated by the current economic, political and health crisis. Lebanon is facing one of the gravest economic downturns since the end of the civil war in the early nineties. The ‘Municipal Empowerment and Resilience Project’ (MERP) is a joint initiative by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-Habitat). The Project is implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities (MoIM) and is funded by the European Union (EU) through EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, the ‘Madad Fund’. The Project aims to strengthen the long-term resilience of subnational authorities in Lebanon as well as host communities, refugees and displaced persons affected by the Syrian Crisis. To achieve this, the Project engages in a three-pronged approach: MERP aims to 1. strengthen processes, procedures and practices to enable Union of Municipalities (UoMs) and municipalities to deliver effective and efficient services in a transparent and accountable manner; 2. empower UoMs and municipalities to facilitate local economic development (LED) and to deliver basic services that address the needs of both host and refugee populations, and; 3. support communities to engage in municipal processes and procedures to ensure that UoMs and municipalities are responsive to their needs. The Project’s geographic areas of intervention are the Urban Community Al Fayhaa, the federation of Municipalities of the Northern and Coastal Matn, and the UoM of Tyre with a total of around 92 potential partner municipalities (see table 1, below). Table 1 MERP Geographical Focus Area District # of Municipalities in the district Targeted UoM # of municipalities in the UoM Tripoli 3 (Qalamoun, Mina and Tripoli) Urban Community Al Fayhaa 4 Matn 54 Federation of Municipalities of the Northern and Coastal Matn 33 Tyre 62 Union of Tyre Municipalities 55 In response to the current situation, the Project will support basic service/LED interventions that aim to address the immediate needs of host, displaced and refugee communities. Focus of the projects will be on basic services and LED interventions under the mandate of municipalities and Unions of Municipalities in line with municipal legislation (article 49, 50 and 51 of Legislative Decree 118/1977). MERP will prioritize basic services and LED projects that demonstrate integrated economic, social and environment (sustainable development) benefits. This includes projects that respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and/or aim to mitigate the economic impact of the health crisis. II. Scope of work Since the phasing-out in 2021 of the complex financial mechanisms administered by the Central Bank of Lebanon which were keeping the price of energy (e.g. diesel, car gasoline etc.) below market price, many residents have found their ability to commute within their own cities and towns or from their villages to central cities severely constrained and curtailed. The on-going energy crisis is having a very strong impact on municipalities which did not have public transportation systems (e.g. buses, vans, and/or collective taxi) ensuring regular services to administrative centers of their districts to access education, health and other social services where these are often concentrated. Therefore, and as part of its basic service/LED interventions, MERP and some municipal partners (Abbasieh, Deir Kifa and Deir Qanun el Nahr) have identified three municipal basic service/LED interventions that focus on the provision of public transport services through the procurement of buses and their operation and management. Abbasieh. The municipality of Abbasieh is proposing through this project to buy two buses to be used for public transportation. The buses will have four (4) different stops and will commute daily in the same route, but during different hours. The starting point would be from Abbasieh municipality and finally reaching the Tyre Gate and back to the municipality. The municipality believes that this project will give access to all individuals to affordable and efficient transportation in Abbasieh and to the surrounding areas. In addition, it will have a positive environmental impact through the decrease of traffic and pollution. Deir Kifa. Located in a non-coastal area that is a hundred (100) km away from Beirut, fifty (50) km from Sidon, twenty-five (25) km from Tyre, and twenty-five (25) km from Nabatiyeh, Deir Kifa is a town that crucially lacks public transportation services (Buses or Taxis) allowing its residents to commute within the municipality scope and to access central cities to access universities, hospitals, and private health care centers. The municipality is proposing to buy a bus to facilitate and reduce the cost of transportation inside the town and to central cities. The proposed public transportation services are expected to benefit primary and middle school students, university students, the elderly, and persons with special needs. Moreover, the bus will be used for municipal activities that require transportation. Deir Qanoun El Naher. The municipality is proposing to buy a bus with a capacity of thirty-one (31) passengers, to be used for public transportation. This bus is intended to transport residents of the town (including people with disabilities-PWD) to and from their work and education centers in the central cities with a nominal fee. The bus will operate within a time determined by the municipality, to facilitate the commuters’ affairs. The timing and route of the bus will be based on the needs of the local communities, moving between the town and the cities of: Tyre, Sidon, and Beirut. This project will provide efficient and affordable means of transportation to the locals and will raise community awareness with respect of public transportation use. It is expected that the above services will be provided as part of an integrated bus shuttle and parking system led by the Municipality of Tyre. This integrated system is currently planned and designed in partnership with the Municipality of Zurich as part of the “City to City Partnerships” program supported by UN-Habitat. UNDP is seeking a National Individual Consultant (IC) to support the preparation of one (1) comprehensive and integrated business development plan for the three (3) components detailed above as part of the broader integrated bus shuttle and parking system led by the Municipality of Tyre.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance UNDP/MERP team and in close collaboration with the UNHabitat Team, the National Consultant will assume the lead responsibility of preparing the outputs mentioned herewith. The tasks that are requested from the consultant are: - Task 1. i. Review the three submitted project proposals, the feasibility study done by the Municipality of Zurich for Tyre and other relevant theoretical and applied public transportation literature as applicable. ii. Collect the needed additional data and information on the three municipal sites and for the Municipality of Tyre and the overall district as applicable. This includes thorough site visits to each municipality in order to form a preliminary outlook on the (a) overall feasibility of the proposed bus system (including bus routes and stops), (b) its adequacy to the diverse needs of the local resident population and expected beneficiaries’ profiles, (c) administrative and technical capacity of the concerned municipalities to collaborate and jointly oversee such projects in a sustained manner, and finally (d) financial sustainability. iii. Identify local, regional, and national private transportation actors that might be solid fits to enter with the municipalities into partnerships to provide public transportation services to the population. - Task 2. i. Assess the feasibility and need responsiveness of the proposed bus system for the three municipalities and Tyre based on the collected data and information and propose amendments to optimize the technical design (e.g. no. and capacity of buses to be procured, routes, stops, schedule etc.) ii. Calculate the total operations and maintenance estimates for the three components over an annual, three year and five-year horizon, assess the financial feasibility based on the proposed fee structure and assess the impact on municipal finance. Develop recommendations to ensure that the proposed system breaks even. This could include both technical recommendations (e.g. bus routes and stops design, schedule etc.) and financial ones (e.g. fee structure depending on routes, length of routes, categories of beneficiaries etc.) This analysis will have to be done taking into account the financial feasibility results of the Municipality of Tyre component implemented by the Municipality of Zurich. iii. Develop specifications and technical criteria to support the procurement of the actual buses for each municipality in line with the preliminary findings of the technical and financial feasibility assessments and based on feedback collected from private sector actors with potential to partner with the municipalities. iv. Develop technical criteria to assess and score the overall capacity of potential private partners to operate and manage the integrated bus shuttle and parking system (including the three municipalities and Tyre) in collaboration with the municipal partners. - Task 3. i. Design the full detailed bus routes, stops and schedules of each selected site in close collaboration with the municipal and potential private sector partners. ii. Finalize the full financial feasibility study and related technical/financial recommendations in collaboration with the municipal and potential private sector partners. iii. Develop a full TOR and evaluation form for the procurement of the required buses including specifications, evaluation criteria and procurement requirements in line with international best bus procurement practices including but not restricted to practices ensuring efficiency, economy, effectiveness, adequacy to local geomorphology and public infrastructure, responsiveness to differentiated needs such as gender and disability and local cultural practices as well as environmental sustainability. iv. Develop a full TOR and evaluation form for the selection of private sector partner(s) capable to operate and maintain the full system in line with the sustainable mobility requirements of (e.g. ensuring efficiency, economy, effectiveness, responsiveness to differentiated needs such as gender and disability and to local cultural practices and environmental sustainability). - Task 4. - Assist the UN-Habitat (the agency procuring the buses) team in the evaluation of all the offers submitted in accordance with the TORs and evaluation forms set in Task 3.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Knowledge of the UN preferable.

Functional Competencies:

Good analytical and report-writing skills. - Commitment to team and cross-disciplinary work. - Emphasis on delivery of results and reacts well to constructive criticism. - Proficiency in English.

Required Skills and Experience

I. Academic Qualifications:

- Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Engineering, or a related discipline with strong quantitative content. - Master’s degree in Transport Engineering or Transportation Economics highly desired.

II. Experience: - Overall relevant experience in public transportation sector of not less than 5 years. - Proven experience in developing business development plans for the public transportation sector. - Experience in conducting financial feasibility studies. - Experience in writing terms of reference, tender documents for the procurement of public transportation equipment etc. - Experience in private sector engagement and partnerships negotiation and building.

How to apply: The consultancy is open for all national consultants who meet the selection criteria and propose a competitive fee. Interested consultants are requested to apply only through this UNDP jobs portal. Submissions through any other media will not be considered. The application must include all of the following documents: 1. P11, 2. Annex 3 (Offerors Letter) and 3. Financial proposal All files shall be submitted in one single document and uploaded as word or PDF file to the UNDP job site. It has been observed that bidders don’t submit all requested documents and thus reducing their chance to be selected for a contract with UNDP. before you submit your offer please revise that the application is complete and comprises all four (4) documents. Incomplete applications will not be considered.