Consulting firm to undertake Heat Hotspot Analysis, Mapping and Web-based Interactive Visualization with Alert System

IFRC American Red Cross Nepal is looking for a consultancy service to undertake "Heat Hotspot Analysis, Mapping and Web-based Interactive Visualization with Alert System"

Interested applicant should submit their expression of interest along with the documents mentioned in ToR to Ms. Aliza Baidya at aliza.baidya@ifrc.org  by 22 February 2024

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Terms of Reference (TOR)

For engaging a consulting firm to undertake

Heat Hotspot Analysis, Mapping and Web-based Interactive Visualization with Alert System

in Siddharthanagar and Nepalgunj

Nepal Heat Actions Project

January 2024

I BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES 

1.1.  Background 

Extreme heat events have significant impacts on Nepal. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, 25 heatwaves occurred between 2002 and 2010, with the most notable occurring in 2009 and 2010, mostly in the Terai region of Nepal. Twenty-five people lost their lives, and 280 people were affected due to the heatwaves between 2002 and 2010 (Dhimal et al., 2018). A study indicates that overall hospitalization increased by 2.1% to 7.3% per 1°C rise in temperature, and all-cause deaths increased by 0.9% to 8.2% per 1°C change in temperature in Nepal (Shrestha et al., 2016). In these cities in the Terai region, the maximum temperature exceeds 40°C almost every year, and the humidity level sometimes reaches 80 per cent. The ‘Identification of Heat Threshold and Heat Hotspots in Nepalgunj, Nepal’s study report suggests that the income of vulnerable people such as rickshaw pullers and auto drivers reduced by 20 per cent when the heat index was 47 in Nepal. Heat impacts are majorly observed on the daily workers, auto drivers, rickshaw pullers, people with tin houses, and street hawkers.

Cities in Nepal are particularly vulnerable to extreme heatwaves due to the urban heat island effect. Rapid urbanization, increasing concrete infrastructure, high population density and the adverse impacts of climate change; all exacerbate the heat island effect in cities in general and Nepal particularly. Cities need to develop mitigation and adaptation plans for early warning systems, effective preparedness, and adaptive measures on short-term and long-term basis to combat the impacts of extreme heatwaves.

1.2.  Goals and objectives of the Project/Program

Cities in the lowland Terai region in the southern frontier of Nepal have been experiencing rapid urbanization, with climate change impacts posing additional stress. Heatwaves have become more frequent, severe and lengthier, resulting in rising heat-related morbidity, mortality and financial losses in Nepal. The Nepalgunj heat action has set an exemplary model in Nepal. In collaboration with the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) and the IFRC Climate Center, as well as other development and humanitarian partners, the Nepalgunj Sub-metro has successfully developed a Heat Action Plan (HAP) for the city. Nevertheless, heat is recognized as an emerging risk, and the model is currently being replicated in several other major heat-prone cities such as Bhairawa, Biratnagar, and Dhangadhi with the assistance of additional partners.  With the support from the IFRC American Red Cross and in collaboration with the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre (RCCC), the NRCS aims to accelerate the implementation of heat action in Nepalgunj in the coming year, scale up city level heat action planning by developing the Heat Action Plan in one Terai city, namely Siddharthanagar, and bring together all these learnings and knowledges for wider advocacy and policy dialogues on heat action with national and provincial governments and other relevant stakeholders.

The overall goal of the project is to address heatwave risks identified in communities and reduce the heat impacts by strengthening local preparedness and response systems, enhancing their readiness to heatwave risks and events in Nepalgunj and Siddharthanagar city. The specific objectives of the initiative are:

• Increase awareness among the communities including vulnerable groups such as elderly people, pregnant and lactating women, children, outdoor workers on heat risks and its impacts on human health and wellbeing. 
• Build capacity of the local government and other governmental agencies, NRCS district chapters, and other stakeholders to address the heat risks. 
• Update the existing Heat Action Plan (HAP) and accelerating the implementation of the HAP through the anticipatory action and implementing pilot demonstration projects. 
• Scaling up City Heat Action Planning and Developing the HAP for additional one Terai City by providing a framework for implementing, coordinating and evaluating extreme heat action across different timescales to minimize the negative impacts of extreme heat on the health and livelihood of the city’s residents.

1.3. Geographic location

• Nepalgunj Sub-Metropolitan City - the existing HAP will be updated, and implementation of the HAP will be initiated. 
• Siddharthanagar Municipality (Rupandehi) - the HAP will be developed and Nepalgunj approach for the awareness raising, and capacity building of the stakeholders will be replicated. 

1.4.  Project Stakeholders

The project is a collaborative effort between the IFRC American Red Cross (AmRC), RCRC Climate Centre and the NRCS, with close coordination with the local government and government’s agencies at district level. The NRCS takes the lead in implementing the project, while IFRC/AmRC provides overall supervision, technical expertise (via RCRC climate center), and financial support to ensure the project's outcomes meet high-quality standards and compliance requirements.

The success of the project is dependent on the active involvement and support of various key stakeholders. These stakeholders include:

• Municipal Governments: The local government plays a crucial role in providing support and cooperation for the project's implementation. This includes thematic departments and wards.
• Schools: School disaster management committees, teachers and students in educational institutions participate in the project to raise awareness on heat waves.
• Red Cross Sub-Chapters: Local sub-chapters of the Red Cross are important partners in implementing the project's activities at the community level.
• Red Cross Local Volunteers: Volunteers from the local community who are associated with the Red Cross actively participate in the project's initiatives.
• Red Cross Provincial Committee of Lumbini Province: The provincial committee of the Red Cross in the Sudur Paschim Province plays a key role in coordinating activities and resources.
• District Public Health Office (DPHO), Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), Hospitals, Water Supply offices and security forces, I/NGOs working in the area.
• Department of Hydrology and Meteorology and their field office. 

II  SCOPE OF WORK OF THE CONSULTING FIRM

The consulting firm will be responsible for compiling and analyzing the satellite images/data, weather/climate data and also other primary and secondary data. Based on the analysis, the consultant will deliver Heat Hotspot Analysis, Mapping and Web-based Interactive Visualization in Siddharthanagar. The firm will also reassess the existing Nepalgunj heat hotspots, mapping and visual interpretation and refine them further. Furthermore, the consulting firm will develop a simple web interface to visualize and monitor heat thresholds and triggers for Siddharthanagar and Nepalgunj. The specific scope of work are as follows:

• Heat Hotspot Analysis, Mapping and Web-based Interactive Visualization in Siddharthanagar 
  • Analyzing and interpretating Remotely Sensed data for last 10 years – Land Surface Temperature (LST),
  • Mapping and visual interpretation of the heat hotspots based on Exposure (analyzing LST, NDVI, NDWI and ground truthing exercise), and explaining the findings with rationale in the text. 
  • Vulnerability index analysis and interpretation based on socio-economic, physical infrastructure and adaptive capacity parameters. 
  • Ground truthing exercises, including comparing the analysis, visual interpretation, and rationale and explaining the findings with rationale in the text. The NRCS team will support collecting primary data using different approaches such as FGD, on-site visits, interviews, and surveys. However, the consultant will be responsible for developing the detailed methodologies for the ground truthing exercise and for the orientation of the NRCS team, which will support data collection.
  • Mapping of the heat hotspots imposing the vulnerability index (with rationale) and visual interpretation
  • Data visualization of the primary data collected from the FGD and KII exercise for the Heat Action Plan development in Siddharthnagar
• Reassessing the existing Nepalgunj heat hotspots and updating the maps and visual interpretation
• Develop a Simple Heat Alert System
  • Develop a simple web-interface to visualize and monitor heat thresholds and trigger for Siddharthanagar and Nepalgunj, that has seamless integration of relevant climate/weather forecast data (which are publicly and openly available has open access)

The consulting firm will be the overall lead of the assignment.  However, the consulting firm/s will work with one member from each of the RCCC, NRCS and the AmRC, forming a team to undertake this assignment.  

NRCS will use data collection tools like survey questionnaires and FGD guides, coordinating with the Climate Centre. The volunteers of the NRCS will support the collection of primary data by exercising FGD, household surveys, and interviews. The consulting firm/s will be responsible for data compilation, analysis, mapping, visual interpretation and providing rationale in the text. However, the consulting firm will be responsible for collecting the secondary data, such as socioeconomic data from the census and for the subsequent compilation, analysis, mapping, visual interpretation and adding rationale in the text.

III  TIMEFRAME AND EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

3.1   Timeframe (indicative) 

The work period will be for a maximum of 40 calendar days after commencement of contract in March 2024.

3.2   Expected Deliverables 

• Deliverable 1: An inception report with the study methodology, survey tools/checklists, mapping tools, team composition, work plan, survey participants, etc
• Deliverable 2: Final report on the heat hotspots analysis, mapping, visual interpretation and providing rationale in the text for Siddharthanagar. It will include the original data analysis tools/sheets/files, original files of the maps/graphs/charts/figures (or any other visualization tools).
• Deliverable 3: Data visualizations to be used during Heat Action Plan development (including the original files)
• Deliverable 4: Final report on reassessing the Nepalgunj heat hots visualization and visual interpretation. It will include the original data analysis tools/sheets/files, original files of the maps/graphs/charts/figures (or any other visualization tools).
• Deliverable 5: Develop a simple web-interface to visualize and monitor heat thresholds and trigger for Siddharthanagar and Nepalgunj

IV  OPERATIONS

4.1  Administrative and Logistic Support

The consulting firm is expected to use their own laptop/computer and any other required equipment; all other necessary administrative and logistical costs will be borne by the consulting firm/s.

4.2  Reporting Relationship

The consulting firm will report to the Senior Program Officer of IFRC/IFRC American Red Cross in consultation with NRCS and RCRC Climate Center team.

4.3  Quality Assurance and Ethics

All materials produced by the service provider must be in line with ethical values and Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and validated and approved as needed. All compliance requirements as well as the key institutional policies and standards of NRCS and IFRC, such as the Community Engagement and Accountability (CEA), Protection, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI), Child Protection, etc. must be adhered to by the service provider at all times of the assignment.

4.4  Copyright

NRCS, together with IFRC, IFRC American Red Cross and the Climate Centre, will have full rights to the materials produced under this Terms of Reference, and will have the right to edit/modify as needed and share the materials with relevant stakeholders through websites, social media, cloud space, etc. The product or parts of it cannot be used anywhere else without the written permission of the IFRC, NRCS and IFRC American Red Cross.

4.5  Dissolution of Contract / Penalty Clauses:

In case of failure to produce the deliverables (due to technical difficulties, natural disaster, unavoidable situation, etc.) within the due period, the service provider must inform IFRC in advance or immediately with justification. Otherwise, a penalty of 0.5% of the total contract amount will be charged per day.

4.6  Line of Communication and Coordination

The service provider will report to Sr. Program Officer, IFRC/IFRC American Red Cross and Program Coordinator, Nepal Red Cross Society.

The service provider will work in close coordination with the relevant focal point from each of the cities/municipalities, IFRC/IFRC American Red Cross Nepal delegation and district chapters of the NRCS and Climate Centre in coordination with the reporting lines.

V  QUALIFICATION, APPLICATION, AND SELECTION

5.1  Qualification of Consulting firm/s proposed by the consulting firm

The required qualifications and experience are as follows:

• Seven years’ experience of conducting and developing innovative IT solutions for NGOs and INGOs in DRM and Climate change.
• Demonstrated experience in developing vulnerability, exposure, capacity and risk assessment tools.
• Demonstrated experience in managing and analyzing data and information. 
• Experience in interactive Information Management System
• Experience in working with all levels of government stakeholders of DRM and Climate Change 
• Experience in the development of open-source based mapping/assessment tools and other web applications
• Demonstrated experience in developing data visualization tools for DRM and climate programs
• Experience in developing web-based alert systems
• Ability to prioritize tasks, well organized, reliable and trustworthy. 

5.2  Application Procedures 

The application proposal (technical and financial) should not exceed 5 pages excluding Annex, and should use the following outline:

• Conceptual Framework: the proposal should clearly mention the individual work-flow process for the scope the methodology for hotspots analysis will be used, sample mapping, data interpretation and data visualization examples that will be adopted for this contract. 
• Consulting firm’s experience and CVs of the consultant to be involved should be enclosed as Annex) of all professionals who will work on the assessments. This section should highlight past experiences of the consulting firm in conducting assessments, preferably in developing countries. The section should mention names, qualifications and experiences of all persons who would be involved in various aspects of conducting the assessments, along with level of efforts.
• Work plan: The proposal should clearly describe all relevant activities to be conducted, including preparatory work, data processing, interpretation and analysis, visualization results and report writing. The timeline and person(s) responsible for each activity needs to be clearly mentioned.  
• Progress updates: This section should clearly indicate the mechanism that would be used to communicate with the project team on overall work plan 
• Proposed Budget: A breakdown of all associated costs for the assessments should be provided in USD. 
• Professional references: Provide three references from your previous clients.

5.3  Selection Criteria

• Qualifications of firms and CV of the personnel.
• Quality of proposal
• Cost
• Experience in analysis, mapping, visual interpretation and alert system
• Experience in the DRM and Climate Change sector, preferably heat waves
• Number of Days and Timeline availability

5.4  Required Documents/Certificates with the Proposal (Include as Annex):

The documents/certificates that should be submitted are -

a)  Technical and financial proposal 

b)  Acknowledgement of ToR. (Please attach the signed copy of this ToR with your offer)

c)  Copy of VAT registration certificate.

d)  Copy of Business registration certificate.

e)  Copy of TAX clearance certificate

f)  Brief description of your company and references of clients

Please submit your proposal application in English no later than 22nd February 2024, 17:00 Nepal Time via uploading the documents in jobsNepal.com as indicated in the consultancy announcement. mailto: Aliza.BAIDYA@ifrc.org. In the subject line please include full name of Consultancy firm along with the following words “Heat Action Project Consultancy Application 2024”. Only short-listed candidates will be notified and contacted for an interview. Applications received after the deadline or incomplete applications in any respect will not be considered.

VI  TERMS OF PAYMENT

Payment will be based on agreed on key deliverables:

• 30% of consultancy fees will be paid one week after submission of an inception report) (1)
• 40% of consultancy fees will be paid three weeks after (2)
• 30% of consultancy fees will be paid within one week after the acceptance of final report by IFRC American Red Cross) (3)

The fees will be paid by cash/cheque/bank account transfer upon agreement with the consulting firm. VAT and tax will be deducted as per local government policies.

VI  AWARD PROCEDURE

This section outlines and describes the procedure that Red Cross will follow in selecting a consultancy form to enter this Contract. 

The purpose of the Award Procedure is to enable the IFRC to assess the relative advantages of each submission meeting the Award Criteria. The assessment of bids in accordance with the Award Procedure will be based on the following criteria: 

• Financial offer 30% 
• Technical offer 70% 

The financial offer will be assessed based on the total quote submitted for the requirements detailed, rather than the component parts individually. Following the submission of quotes, the candidate with the lowest total shall receive 100% of the weighting attributed to the Financial Offer (i.e. 30%) award criteria. All subsequent bids will be weighted by calculating a percentage of the lowest price.

The Technical Offer will represent 70% of the overall tender score attainable by Candidates (technical proposal analysis and interview of the shortlisted candidates). Candidates must note that there must be no changes to the key personnel proposed as part of any tender submission, without the approval and authorization the authorities the IFRC. In such circumstances, the replacement personnel proposed must be at least equally qualified and skilled as the personnel they are replacing.  IFRC may veto the proposed replacement personnel with a full explanation as to why the proposed individual is not considered to be suitable.

Following the assessment of the technical proposal and the interview score, the score attained by each candidate will then be added to their Financial Offer score to give a total final score.