REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR Consultancy Services to Support the Transition from Handpumps to Solar Powered Water Systems in Malawi

Description UNICEF has now issued a Request for Proposals in order to select a supplier for the provision of Consultancy services to Support the Transition from Handpumps to Solar Powered Water Systems in Malawi This tender will be run through the UNICEF e-submissions system. By clicking on the blue ‘Express Interest’ button in the UNGM tender notice, the full UNICEF e-submission system instructions to bidders document (including instructions on how to access the tender documents and submit an Offer) will be automatically emailed to the ‘contact persons’ included in your UNGM registration. Alternatively, the full UNICEF e-submission system instructions to bidders document is publicly available on the UNICEF supply internet pages here: https://www.unicef.org/supply/index_procurement_policies.html . In the tender management site, if you navigate to the documents tab and opt in to confirm your intention to submit a Bid – you will then see the mandatory placeholders for documents that must be attached prior to submitting your Offer (you will also see if there are any mandatory questionnaires to complete). As such, you are recommended to `opt in` well before the submission deadline so you are clear exactly what documents are required to be uploaded prior to completing your submission. Please note that in order to access the tender documentation through UNICEF’s e-submissions system, vendors must: (i) be registered with UNICEF in UNGM as a company/NGO; (ii) have successfully completed all mandatory information currently required by UNGM when registering. Please ensure that any files submitted as part of your Bid are not corrupt or damaged in any way. Please exercise particular caution when using compressed files. Any corrupt or damaged files may lead to your Bid being invalidated. All vendors are strongly recommended to regularly log in to the UNICEF e-submissions system to check for any deadline extensions, new clarifications, new correspondence or updated tender documents relating to this tender. UNICEF is a global leader in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), working to ensure every child has access to safe water, adequate sanitation, and proper hygiene. In Malawi, UNICEF supports government and partners to strengthen rural water supply systems, improve service delivery, and promote sustainable management models. UNICEF's approach emphasizes equity, child safety, and inclusion, targeting the most vulnerable populations and ensuring that no one is left behind. Rural water supply in Malawi relies heavily on handpumps, with an estimated 100,000 units, 30% of which are believed to be non-functional at any time. There is a growing trend towards converting handpump supplies to solar-powered systems, but practice in design, operation, and tariff setting is not always well linked to real groundwater conditions and realistic affordability or management by user groups. UNICEF seeks to support a controlled and effective transition to solar-powered systems while maintaining existing essential handpump services where appropriate. This consultancy will provide evidence-based guidance to inform policy and practice, ensuring equity and sustainability in rural water supply improvements. Malawi already has substantial experience in professionalizing handpump operation and maintenance (O&M). As the shift to solar is as much a change in service delivery model, governance and user expectations as in technology, this consultancy will build on that experience rather than duplicate it. This is a technically and, at times, politically sensitive topic. Solar-powered water systems and handpumps each have vocal proponents and critics among government stakeholders, development partners, equipment suppliers/installers, and communities, and prior assessments in the sector have sometimes been shaped by vendor interests, donor preferences, or anecdote rather than systematic, comparable evidence. It is therefore essential that this consultancy be designed and delivered with rigorous safeguards for objectivity and independence, so that its conclusions are credible and usable by all stakeholders regardless of their starting position on the merits of either technology. The assessment must also be forward-looking rather than a snapshot of today's costs. Global solar photovoltaic and battery costs have fallen substantially over the past decade and are projected to continue declining, while handpump costs have remained comparatively stable; a comparison based only on current prices risks under-valuing solar options over the systems' operating lifetimes. A robust analysis should also capture the broader economic benefits and opportunities, as well as challenges associated with each option - including the value of time saved by users, and the potential for solar-powered water systems to connect to, or catalyse, wider rural electrification and solar service delivery networks (for example shared/professionalized operation and maintenance providers, mini-grids, and productive uses of energy in agriculture, health facilities, or small enterprises) alongside management and support realities, that can impact upon the economics and long-term sustainability of individual water schemes. Potential benefits of solar-powered water systems: • Increased water access and reliability, reducing downtime compared to handpumps. • Reduced physical burden and time cost for women, children, and people with disabilities. • Potential for multiple use services combining water for agriculture with domestic use. • Solar-powered water systems enables water to be sourced from suitable locations farther from sites with a history of saline water, improving access to safer and more reliable water sources. • Environmental sustainability through renewable energy use. • Opportunity for professionalized management and improved operation and maintenance. • Potential to anchor or benefit from broader rural solarization and electrification investments, spreading fixed costs and building local technical capacity. • High donor interest, and so opportunity for increasing drinking water access. Potential risks: • Technical complexity requiring specialized design, installation, and maintenance. • Not all aquifers may have sufficiently high transmissivity rates to support expected design yields coupled with weak capacity in groundwater assessments • Equity concerns if marginalized communities are excluded from upgrades. • Financial and management sustainability challenges due to higher capital, replacement and maintenance costs and complexity of system. • Concerns about safe disposal of solar panels and electrical components once they reach end of service life. • Risk of neglecting handpumps, leaving communities without backup options. • Capacity gaps in district water offices and local providers. • Climate-related risks – drought, flooding, rising temperatures and changing groundwater recharge – affecting source yield, infrastructure and service continuity for both technologies. • Risk of transferring existing handpump management weaknesses (e.g. weak fee collection, governance and preventive maintenance) to more complex, higher-cost solar systems. UNICEF's role is to support solar transitions that are evidence-based, objective, context-appropriate, forward-looking, and inclusive, supporting government and partners to make informed decisions that maximize benefits and minimize risks for all users. UNICEF is seeking to engage a qualified institution (firm/organization) able to field a multi-disciplinary team with the combined technical, financial, economic and social expertise, and the methodological rigor, required to deliver this assignment at the scale and depth described in the attached TORS.