Consultant - Digitization of Regulatory Activities at African Development Bank (AFDB)

African Development Bank Group (AfDB) - Established in 1964, the African Development Bank is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Consultant - (EOI - Digitization of Regulatory Activities and Processes for Improved Power Sector Regulation in Africa Phase II - Integration of Digital Platforms (IDP) of Regulators and Utilities in Ghana for Real-Time Data and Information Exchange - PESR)

Location: Remote
Consultant type: Individual Consultant
Job family: Other
Department issuing the request: Treasury Department
Duration of the assignment: Six months (potentially renewable)
Tentative Date of commencement: September 2023

Aim of the Position

• The aim of this assignment is to provide expert advice and guidance to the PURC in respect of the system design and specifications for deployment of the relevant integration modules that would integrate the existing DBMS with digital platforms of the Energy Commission (EC) which is the technical regulator and all the utilities across the electricity supply value chain.

Assignment

• The African Development Bank (“The Bank”) hereby invites individual consultants to express their interest in the following assignment: Digitization of Regulatory Activities and Processes for Improved Power Sector Regulation in Africa Phase 2 –Integration of Digital Platforms (IDP) of Regulators and Utilities in Ghana for real-time data and information exchange.

Background and Context

• As part of its mandate to forge collaboration with Regional Member Countries supporting them to establish relevant energy policies and clear, predictable, and transparent regulation framework to ensure the financial sustainability of the sector. 
• The Bank with funding support from the Korea-Africa Economic Cooperation (KOAFEC) Trust Fund secured in 2021, piloted aDBMS initiative for the regulator in Ghana-Public Utilities Regulatory Commission  (PURC).
• The  PURC is a data-driven organization with many levels of communication with diversified stakeholders protecting the interest of the utility providers and their customers at the same time.
• This DBMS has enhanced open access to regulatory information, transparency of regulatory processes, stakeholder engagement, and participation in the regulatory process as well as instituted a mechanism for tracking and monitoring utility performance and consumer complaints for quality-of-service regulation. 
•  It also provided real-time engagement between regulators and investors on many issues. 
• The deployment of the centralized DBMS in Ghana has been a trail-blazing regulatory initiative that has generated interest from the regulatory community across Africa. 
• Notwithstanding the success and the significant impact of the already deployed DBMS for PURC, there remains a key and final step to complete the digitalization loop which involve direct integration of the DBMS with digital systems and platforms of utility service providers across the electricity value chain (generation, transmission, and distribution). 
• Over the years, the Commission has relied solely on data churned out and submitted by the utility providers without any system of independently verifying and validating the data. 
• The current system of manual data gathering, and verification raises issues of data consistencies, misinformation, and transparency, affecting PURC’s ability to make regulatory decisions. Implementation of the second phase of the DBMS is the best opportunity for PURC to overcome these hurdles via the automated and consistent gathering of data to enable succinct visualization for real-time information and data exchanges between regulators, utilities, consumers, and other sector stakeholders.

Objectives

• The aim of this assignmentis to provide expert advice and guidance to the PURC in respect of the system design and specifications for deployment of the relevant integration modules that would integrate the existing DBMS with digital platforms of the Energy Commission (EC) which is the technical regulator and all the utilities across the electricity supply value chain.

Tasks and Deliverables

• The individual consultant is expected to assist the regulators in the design, analysis,and deploymentof the DBMS phase 2 for Ghana (Integrated Digital Platform-IDP). 

The activities include but not limited to the following (additional tasks are enclosed in the ToR): 

• Services to be provided under the assignment will entail(i)and reporting requirements of the utilities through interviews, desktop research and Acts establishing the regulators to understand their operations and stakeholder network; 
• Undertake visits to the offices of Utilities and the regulators (PURC and EC) and Utilities to carry out an assessment of the prevailing conditions and operability of their existing ICT infrastructure and digital platforms to understand the compatibility requirements for integration
• Determination of ICT needs of PURCfor an effective deployment of a an IDP for Ghana; Develop a comprehensive ICT Needs Assessment (INA) and Compatibility Assessment Reports from the reviews and site visits to the utilities and regulators; 
• Recommend a solution design, System Specification (detailed business requirements), Bill of quantities and other related technical details for the development of the integrated platform and make technical inputs into the tender documents and Terms of Reference for the procurement of a vendor/supplier for the actual development and deployment of the IDP, 
• Providing technical inputs into tender documents and Terms of Reference for the procurement of anICT vendor/supplier that will carry out the actual development and deployment of the IDP
• Supervise the installation and deployment of the integrated IDP by the Vendor/Supplier and undertake a User Acceptance Test (UAT) upon completion  and  review  Commissioning  and  handover  report  on  functional  IDP (viii) supervising drafting of a user-manual to support  end-user implementation, 
• Develop for implementation by the Vendor/Supplier a training and capacity building programme for training the user staff and technical staff of all entities on the IDP as well as consumers and Civil Society Organisations. 
• Coordinate the project at the local level including working with the regulatory agencies, to facilitate, stakeholder engagements, making follow-ups, reporting, and supporting related activities on the field. 
• Undertake general supervision, coordination, and technical advisory and related support for the IDP from development, deployment, commissioning and launching
• Prepare relevant materials and presentations for launching, and stakeholders’ sensitization roadshows and participate in them.

Qualifications
To perform the consulting services:

• Interested consultants are expected to provide information indicating their qualifications to perform the services such as a demonstrable track record of experience in Database Management or a portfolio with similar and relevant experience with appropriate skills relevant to the assignment. 
• Prior experience in building similar systems will be a comparative advantage.

Required Expertise:

• Interested consultants are expected to demonstrate a track record in Public Information Technology (IT) Business analysis skills, IT project management or Management of Information System solutions particularly in the Energy sector either on the African Continent or in similar jurisdictions and experience in working with multilateral and bilateral development banks (MDBs) is preferred

Application Closing Date
30th June, 2023.