Foreign economic-aid-related services

Tender description

This Is a Prior Information Notice (PIN) only: Publication and Call for Competition will be conducted once. Scope of work is fully Defined and Approved. The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) is considering the procurement for work under 1 of the components of a new programme ‘Weather and Climate Services for South Asia’ (This is a working title yet to be finalised following this market exploration exercise). The component which relates to this EME aims to seek out innovative technologies, approaches and partnerships for improving responses to changing weather, extreme events (droughts and floods) and related natural disasters (such as landslides). If approved, it is anticipated the contract would mobilise in the next 12 months, and would perhaps be a 5-7 year contract with a mid-term review point. Given the regional mandate of the Asia Regional Team, it is imperative that the interested stakeholders understand that the approach has to be regional (covering South Asia ) involving delivery or regional public goods or tackling cross border issues, rather than multi-country approach. Whilst India remains an important player, DFID is no longer able to fund activities directly in India. We would be seeking an implementing partner/s to carry out the following functions but not limited to: —Sourcing and supporting innovative pilots (tools, approaches and/or technologies that enhance the use of weather and climate services and responses to weather and climate information; —Develop/source business links/partnerships in terms of these innovative pilots in some of the mentioned sectors — insurance, agriculture (seeds, irrigation), water supply, infrastructure etc. —Managing a research component, for instance on how to enhance the uptake and use of climate information, as well investigating new analytical tools or communications technologies. The above functions are indicative only. We anticipate that there is a lot more dynamic environment around the last mile delivery of weather and climate services, and a diversity of interesting approaches that better meet user needs and challenges with regard to know more about weather, extreme events. We welcome comments from the market as we seek to determine the exact scope of this component of work (see also the Consultation Questions). DFID has provided 1 outline background documents to support this PIN, on the overall programme ‘Climate and Weather Services for Asia Region’. We have also provided a list of initial consultation questions on the DFID Supplier Portal https://supplierportal.dfid.gov.uk/selfservice/