Consultant - National Energy Expert

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS: Operationalization of the Ethiopia Country Transition Strategy

SUMMARY OF PROCUREMENT

WRI intends to award a Fixed Price type contract for the procurement of services from a national energy expert who will support the strategic repositioning of WRI’s Energy Program in Ethiopia.

The consultant will be responsible for conducting a comprehensive assessment of national energy priorities in alignment with Ethiopia’s energy transition goals and WRI’s country strategy. Additionally, the consultant will develop two fundraising-ready concept notes designed to unlock new investment opportunities and identify and map strategic partnership opportunities to strengthen collaboration and increase the program’s impact and visibility within the national energy landscape. All procurement activiti3es are expected to be completed within a short-term engagement window of approximately two to three months to ensure timely input into WRI’s Ethiopia strategy roll-out.

About the World Resources Institute

Founded in 1982, The World Resources Institute (WRI) is a global environmental think tank that goes beyond research to put ideas into action. We work with governments, companies, and civil society to build solutions to urgent environmental challenges. WRI’s transformative ideas protect the earth and promote development because sustainability is essential to meeting human needs and fulfilling human aspirations in the future.

About the Energy Program

SCOPE OF WORK AND OUTPUTS/DELIVERABLES

The WRI Ethiopia office has finalized its country strategy and is currently in the process of socializing it with internal and external partners in preparation for implementation. This presents a timely opportunity for the Energy Program to align itself with national priorities and advance catalytic interventions that not only support the Ethiopia strategy but also strengthen the energy workstream’s integration across WRI’s broader efforts. By seizing this moment, the Energy Program aims to position itself for greater impact and investment, both within Ethiopia and as part of WRI’s pan-African and global energy transition goals.

Therefore, the consultancy service is required to identify ways forward for translating strategic objectives into tangible and fundable initiatives, while also fostering internal collaboration.

Specifically, the project will:

• Align energy program priorities with Ethiopia’s evolving policy landscape and WRI’s Ethiopia country transition strategy.
• Identify synergies and collaboration opportunities across WRI’s pillars in Ethiopia, including cities, water, food, and climate.
• Develop two fundraising-ready concept notes that reflect WRI’s value-add and donor priorities.
• Establish a framework for stakeholder engagement and partnership with local institutions and external stakeholders to increase impact and credibility

Expected Outcomes

• Defined entry points and priority areas for WRI’s Energy Program in Ethiopia.
• Two high-impact concept notes ready for fundraising.
• A cross-program collaboration plan outlining how the energy program will work with other WRI pillars in Ethiopia.
• A plan on how to build stronger internal coherence and operational alignment around the country transition strategy.

TIMING

| Item | Activities | Timeline | Milestone/ Output |

| --- | --- | --- | --- |

| Inception report and planning | Kickoff meeting, desk review, finalize work plan with timelines and methodology | Week 1-2 (August 18-30) | Inception report and work plan |

| Priority assessment | Policy and other relevant documents reviews, stakeholder interviews, gap analysis, needs assessment, etc. | Week 3-5 (Sept. 1-19) | Draft strategic priority assessment report |

| Concept note development | Develop two fundraising-ready concept notes aligned with national priorities and WRI’s strategy | Week 6-8 (Sept. 22- Oct.12) | Two concept notes |

| Partnership mapping | Identify strategic partners and develop a partnership landscape summary | Week 9-10 (Oct. 15-26) | Partnership mapping and engagement report |

| Stakeholder validation workshop | Organize and facilitate a validation workshop with key stakeholders | Week 11 (Oct. 31) | Workshop conducted and feedback collected |

| Finalization and Submission | Revise and submit final deliverables incorporating feedback from key stakeholders and the WRI team | Week 11-12 (Nov.1-10) | Submit the final versions of the priority assessment report, concept notes, and partnership mapping and engagement report. |

BUDGET

An estimate of the number of days required to carry out the activities is to be provided by the vendors in their proposal and must be reflected in the estimate. However, once the budget has been validated, the payment of the service will be conditional on the delivery of the deliverables and not on the number of days actually worked. All expenses (equipment, vehicles, materials, supplies, consumables, means of communication, insurance, travel expenses, etc.) necessary for the performance of the service, including travel expenses, mission expenses, etc., are the sole responsibility of the vendor and must be quantified in the budget proposal.

Please note that WRI is an IRS-registered 501(c)3, tax-exempt organization. WRI is not VAT exempt. All prices or quotes should include VAT and tax, as applicable.

GUIDELINES FOR PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

Requirements

The selected vendor will be able to demonstrate capacity in similar work, particularly:

• Strong knowledge of Ethiopia’s energy sector, policy environment, and stakeholder landscape
• Proven ability to develop fundable concept notes with a track record in translating strategic goals into implementable initiatives
• Ability to identify synergies across programs such as cities, food, water and climate to foster internal collaboration and a strong ability to map and engage with diverse stakeholders to build partnerships

Proposal content

Prospective vendors should submit:

• A completed conflict of interest declaration (Annex 1)
• A statement of interest describing the proposed team and how it meets the above requirements;
• CVs of team members;
• Examples of and references for similar previous work;
• An outline of the proposed methodology and workplan;
• An account of how the work and/or organization is sustainable
• A proposed budget with a breakdown of costs sufficient to assess reasonableness and compliance with our funder requirements. If proposing for a Fixed Price contract, please also include a competitive payment schedule associating amounts with work milestones.

Expression of Interest, Deadline for Questions, and Proposal

All expressions of interest and questions about this RFP must be received via email to the contact below by August 08 before 5:00 pm (East Africa Time). Answers to the questions will be shared will all parties who have asked questions or otherwise expressed interest.

Name: Birouke Teferra

Title: PMEL and Strategy Manager Birouke.Teferra@wri.org

Newton Obbuyi

Title : Finance and Operations Manager

newton.obbuyi@wri.org

All proposals must be sent by August 11 before 5:00 pm (East Africa Time) in electronic format to the same contact listed above.

EVALUATION AND SELECTION

Evaluation Criteria:

The following elements will be the primary considerations in evaluating all proposals submitted in response to this RFP Completion of all required elements;

• The extent to which the vendor’s/organization’s/consultant’s, etc. proposal fulfills WRI’s stated requirements as set out in the RFP;
• Experience with similar projects;
• Overall cost of the vendor’s/organization’s/consultant’s, etc. proposal;
• Debarment and sanctions – WRI will not consider proposals from vendors/organizations/consultants, etc. that are presently debarred by the U.S. government or named on any restricted parties lists;
• Sustainability – WRI values sustainability and all other factors being equal, will favor a proposal to more sustainably perform the work.

The bidder offering the best overall value will be selected. For this procurement, price and non-price aspects are considered to be of approximately equal importance

Selection Process:

No proposal development costs shall be charged to WRI / all expenses are to be borne by the bidders. WRI may award to the bidder offering best value without discussion. However, WRI reserves the right to seek bidder clarifications and to negotiate with those bidders deemed to be within a competitive range.

WRI may, at its discretion and without explanation to the prospective vendors/organizations/consultants, etc., choose to discontinue this RFP without obligation to such prospective vendors/organizations/consultants, etc. or make multiple awards under this RFP. Contracts will not be awarded to vendors/organizations/consultants, etc. debarred by the US government or named on restricted parties lists

Annex 1

Conflict of Interest Declaration

World Resources Institute (WRI) policy requires that its staff must work to deliberately avoid actual, potential and perceived conflicts of interest related to procurement at both the individual and organizational levels. When a conflict of interest concerning WRI procurement exists, transparency shall be the guiding principle in addressing it.

All actual, potential or perceived conflicts of interest must be declared.

An actual conflict of interest occurs when a decision or action would be compromised without taking appropriate action to eliminate the conflict, such as when:

• An offeror is unable or potentially unable to render impartial assistance or advice to WRI due to competing duties or loyalties;
• An offeror’s objectivity in carrying out the requested services is or might be otherwise impaired due to competing duties or loyalties;
• An offeror has an unfair competitive advantage through being furnished unauthorized proprietary information or source selection information that is not available to all competitors.
• An offeror has an existing personal relationship with WRI staff or a member of the evaluation team for this request for proposals.

A potential conflict of interest is where such a situation as described above could arise in the future.

A perceived conflict of interest is any situation in which a reasonable third party would conclude that conflicting duties or loyalties exist.

Offeror’s Name or Company/Organization Name:

• There are no entities or persons with which the above-named offeror has a relationship that creates, or appears to create, a conflict of interest with the work that is requested in this request for proposals.

• The following is a list of entities or persons with which the above-named firm has relationships that create, or appear to create, a conflict of interest with the work that is contemplated in this request for proposals. For each entity listed below you must discuss the actual, potential or perceived conflict in a separate attachment.

| No. | Name of Entity/Person | Relationship |

| --- | --- | --- |

| 1 | | |

| 2 | | |

| 3 | | |

| 4 | | |

| 5 | | |

Authorized Representative (Print Name):

Authorized Representative Signature:

Date: