Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL)

   FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OF NIGERIA

 

              

KWARA STATE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT

             Kwara ACReSAL project

        Consultancy Qualification Selection

ENGAGEMENT OF CONSULTANT FOR BASELINE MAPPING FOR ALL PROJECT SITE

Engagement of Consultancy for baseline mapping for all projects sites in Kwara State.

Reference No NG-KWARA STATE ACRESAL-439559-CS-CQS

The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) has declared effective, the implementation of an Agro-climatic Resilience in Semi-arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project with the World Bank support. The ACReSAL’s Project Development Objective (PDO) is aimed at increasing the adoption of sustainable landscape management practices in targeted watersheds in Northern Nigeria and also strengthening Nigeria’s long-term framework for integrated climate-resilient landscape management. In light of the above, three major Ministries – Ministries of Environment, Agriculture and Water Resources and other Government Departments and Agencies are collaborating towards the successful implementation of ACReSAL. The ACReSAL project is to be implemented in 19 States of the Federation and Abuja the FCT, making IT 20 States. In the long-term, it is hoped that the ACReSAL activities would assist the States and Federal Government meet the overall national development plans and Government’s commitment to the UNFCCC.

 

Among some of the plans of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) is the planting of 30 million trees to help control desertification and by so doing recover 1 million hectares of land. Also, the FGN had expressed keen interest in ensuring the effective implementation of issues relating to the already planned rehabilitation of 20 oases in one of the nation’s development strategies - the Medium-Term Sector Strategy, in addition to the establishment of 550 hectares of rangelands in the Frontline States, stabilizing and restoring 160 hectares of active sand dunes in eight (8) of the eleven (11) frontline States.

 

The issue of drought and desertification requires urgent attention and action focused on scaling up cost-effective land restoration practices to provide a more sustainable future, food, and water security in a changing climate. It is therefore imperative to reiterate that sustainable and integrated natural resources management is critical to addressing land degradation, building climate resilience in the semi-arid landscapes of Nigeria as well as enhancing sustainable land, and water resources, and livelihood productivity through an elaborate integrated catchment management approach. In other words, integrated catchment management is an appropriate framework developed to help in addressing natural resources management and human development challenges yet to be carried out on a large scale in the country, especially in the northern regions.

 

The ACReSAL project has the following overarching components:

Component A: Dryland Watershed Management: This component is designed to implement integrated watershed management planning and address the challenges of large-scale watershed degradation in northern Nigeria.

Component B: Community Climate Resilience: Most of the challenges of dryland management are to be found at the local level, where they constitute the day-to-day reality of communities and farmers. Communities need support to be more resilient, as a result of which communities and households would need targeted investments to put new approaches into effect.

Component C: Institutional Strengthening and Project Management: This Component aims to improve the enabling institutional and policy foundation for multi-sectoral integrated landscape management as well as support project management.

Component D: Contingent Emergency Response: This component covers a financial mechanism that will leverage Investment Project Financing (IPF) to enable the quick deployment of uncommitted funds to respond to an eligible crisis or emergency.

 

The ACReSAL project is committed to enhancing the agricultural and climatic resilience of inhabitants in target catchments and sub-catchments while mitigating the effects of soil and land degradation for environmental sustainability thereby positively impacting on the livelihood of the inhabitants using disruptive technology.

 

To ascertain actual locations or possible locations and the extent of coverage of activities and resources in targeted intervention sites, based on which such interventions are to be carried out. There is, therefore, a need to conduct a GIS-based study/mapping of all ACReSAL intervention sites across the participating States and the FCT. This report aims to interpret spatial data of locations, provide concise understanding of the existing relationships, patterns, and trends in the general ecosystem using geospatial techniques. This will eventually serve as a reference point for assessing or analyzing existing against provided infrastructure as it reflects on the physical, social, and economic conditions of the intervention sites, thereby providing a good measure of the progress and effectiveness of the project.

The detail Terms of Reference(TOR) for the services/assignment  will be made available on request at the address given below.

The State Project Management Unit (SPMU) now invites eligible Consultant (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the services.

12.0 Skill and Experience Required

The consultant which must be a firm should indicate their interest in providing the Services and should provide the following information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services:

1. Evidence showing the fields of specialty of the firm (consultant’s profile/brochures),
2. Evidence showing that the firm is a legal entity (certificate of registration),
3. Evidence of registration with relevant authorities and professional bodies,
4. Evidence showing the technical and managerial capabilities of the firm in the field of assignment,
5. General experience of the firm(s) in Consulting Services relating to GIS Mapping in the last 5 years,
6. Experience of working in a similar geographical region,
7. Description of similar assignments,
8. Availability of appropriate skills among staff, and availability of essential technology etc. For each previous project performed, the consultant shall provide the name and contact address of the client (office, e-mail address and telephone number), date(s) of execution, name(s) of lead and associate firms, contract amount and financing sources.

 

13.0 Qualification/Evaluation Guidelines & Criteria

The selection of the agency shall be based on the following parameters and accordingly, the scores will be allotted as indicated in the table below. The Agency that secures the highest score will be recruited.

 

Criteria	Proof required	Scores
Evidence showing that the firm is a legal entity (certificate of registration)	Copy of Certificate of Incorporation with the CAC	Good, Average, or Poor
Current, tax clearance, registration with Itf, Nsitf, Pencom and duely registered with the Bpp.	certificates	Good, Average, Poor
Most recent Audited account , with average turn over of the past 3 years of not less than N300,000,000.00	documentation	Good, average, poor
Evidence showing the fields of specialty of the firm (consultant’s profile/brochures)	Consultant’s profile/brochures	Good, Average, or Poor
General Experience of the Firm(s) in Consulting Services relating to GIS-based mapping during the last 10 years , Especially with world bank sponsored projects	Letter(s) of award and job completion certificates	Good, Average, or Poor
Experience of working in a similar geographical region	Letter(s) of award and job completion certificates; Name and contact address of the client on previous assignment (office & e-mail address, and telephone number), date(s) of execution, name(s) of lead and associate firms, contract amount and financing sources	Good, Average, or Poor
Availability of Professional Key Staff with Suitable Qualifications in the field of assignment, with Registered Certifications, E.G Council of mining engineers and geoscientists(COMEG) and Council of Registered Engineers(COREN) and possibly NESREA.	CVs and copies of membership certificates and professional association membership	Good, Average, or Poor
Evidence of Corporate registration with relevant authorities and professional bodies(comeg and Coren)	Copies of Certificate of Registration	Good, Average, or Poor
Evidence showing the technical and managerial capabilities of the firm in the field of assignment	Consultant’s profile/brochures	Good, Average, or Poor
Brief description (not more than 3 pages) of the proposed Methodology for carrying out the scope of the work	A separate list is to be attached.	Good, Average, or Poor

 

14.0     ACReSAL RESULT FRAMEWORK - PDO AND INTERMEDIATE INDICATORS

The Result Framework Table was not included in this text on purpose as it is expected to be covered in the TOR for Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Manual

15.0     REMUNERATION

The Remuneration of the consultant is attractive and commensurate with those offered by international bodies for similar assignments

 

16.0     CLIENT’S OBLIGATION

• Kwara State ACReSAL will provide technical assistance and the necessary documents.
• Necessary geotechnical software for the execution of the contract will be provided by the client on request by the Consultant.
• Official means of transportation will be provided by the client for the expert’s field visits where necessary.
• Kwara ACReSAL will delegate GIS and M&E Officers and any other relevant officers to be part of the study. This is to ensure knowledge transfer and capacity building.

17.0     CONDUCT OF THE CONSULTANT

1. The Consultant will, at all times, be expected to carry out the assignment with the highest degree of professionalism and integrity. The Consultant will be expected to conduct his duties openly and transparently.
2. The Consultant will not, under any circumstance, take any actions or be seen to be taking any actions, which may hinder or prevent Kwara ACReSAL from executing this assignment.
3. The Consultant shall ensure that the GIS and M&E Officers and any other relevant officers form part of his study/research team and are carried along at every step of the assignment. This is to ensure knowledge transfer and capacity building.
4. The Consultant will study all ACReSAL guidelines and policies, as well as her result framework, and will be expected to ensure that the assignment is concluded with the strictest adherence to all such policies and regulations. The result will also be able to fill the expectations of the ACReSAL project result framework.
5. The Consultant will not, under any circumstances, take any material decision pertinent to this assignment without the express permission and written consent of an authorized representative of the SPMU.
6. The Consultant will not, under any circumstances, discuss, divulge, or use any information regarding this assignment or any other transaction conducted as part of the FGN’s Program, without the express written permission of an authorized representative of ACReSAL.
7. The consultant shall surrender all raw and refined data gathered or collected, developed or derived for or from this assignment to the client (SPMU) at the end of the assignment.

18.0     DELIVERABLES AND TIMELINE

Expected Duration of the Assignment

The expected duration of this assignment is Ten (10) weeks after the contract signing.

Key Reports Schedule:

Inception Report: An inception report containing the assignment work plan, timeline, methodology etc will be submitted by the consultant one week after contract signing. The SPMU shall check and ensure that the consultant has commenced work and that the consultant understands tasks.

 

The first draft the of Baseline report containing the status of work and preliminary data analysis will be submitted by the consultant for comments within Eight weeks from the date of signing the contract. It will identify all the areas, environmental and social issues associated with the site intervention sub-projects, as well as the adequacy of the monitoring for the upper and lower watersheds.

 

The draft final Baseline Report will consider all comments and will be submitted to the SPMU at the end of Eight (8) weeks after the commencement of the contract.

 

The final Report will be submitted within Ten weeks (10) after the commencement of the consultancy. The consultant is expected to submit both electronic and hard copies of the report. The consultant will provide a final report not later than 10 days after the scheduled end of the activity.

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3,14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World  Bank’s Procurement Regulations for Investment Project Financing(IPF) Borrowers’’4’’ Edition November 2020 (Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Consultant Qualification Selection (CQS) method set out in the Procurement Regulations.

Further information can be  obtained at the address below during office hour i.e 0800 to 1600 hours.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below in person or by courier mail on or before 2:00 pm prompt of 2nd April 2025.

Kwara State Project Coordinator.

Agro- Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes Project (ACReSAL) State project Management Unit (SPMU)

No 11 ,Trinity Road,

GRA, Ilorin, Kwara State.

Tel:08034772661, 07066600234.