TOR for Consultancy: Tropical Forest Surveillance Monitoring and Assessment in IGAD Region

Introduction

The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) under their Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa (GMES & Africa) Support Programme intend to implement Earth Observation for Tropical Forest Surveillance, Monitoring and Assessment (TFSMA) application. The application’s main aim is to use methods/algorithms and tools for processing EO data into geospatial data products for tropical forest monitoring for REDD+ in response to African needs in water, natural resources, marine, and coastal areas as well as address global needs to manage the environment, mitigate climate change and ensure civil security.

TFSMA application has an overall aim to define an operational system for standardized products and configure regional REDD+ services with technical specifications that support countries with tropical forest in the region.

The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) was awarded a grant by the African Union Commission (AUC) to implement the GMES & Africa thema focusing on Monitoring Natural Resources and Food Security in East Africa region comprising 10 countries, namely: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda.

The Programme’s Grant Agreement requires ICPAC in its capacity as consortium leader to engage private sector companies in the implementation of some of the programme’s activities. Pursuant to this requirement therefore, ICPAC invites sealed bids from eligible and qualified EO and geospatial technologies private sector companies to undertake Earth Observation Based Forest Monitoring and Assessment in East Africa.

Main Objectives

1. To address challenges of REDD+ activity data reporting by:
   1. Using tools in digital classification and exploiting time series EO images to assess deforestation.
   2. Adopting national forest definitions to define forest activity using Copernicus and Sentinel-2 data and derived products for tropical countries (Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda)
2. To establish historical coverage of tropical forests through automated extraction of tropical forests and comparison with ancillary data for the undisturbed forests (1990-2020).
3. To enable the monitoring of changes by deriving forest activity (deforestation, degradation and regrowth) from comparison with tropical forest masks developed.
4. To produce annual tropical forests annual change maps 2016-2020 that show extent and disturbances each year.
5. To Derive RADAR Forest Cover Loss Alerts, Tree Cover Density, Forest Canopy Disturbance Monitoring on selected tropical forests for REDD+ reporting.
6. To take part in a regional user workshop where the consultant presents on the concepts and participants are engaged in validation of concepts and products and handover of the services.
7. Develop a tool to automate the selected algorithms and generation of products. The tool should provide an easy way to generate new products once new data is available. The tool should support customized reporting. 

Deliverables

1. Forest cover status (tree cover density mask for a reference year 2015)
2. Forest cover change (annual change 2016-2020) 
3. Forest disturbance (canopy disturbance alert using both optical and active sensors)
4. Dynamic tool preferably an online tool that facilitates generation of the above products once new data is available
5. Training user manual on the on the developments of the above deliverables 

Duration

4 months

Competency

Knowledge and experience in using multi-spectral and multi-temporal time series earth observation data.

Ability to develop algorithms for processing dense time series for mapping tropical humid forests to detect forest activities (deforestation, growth, disturbance) considering phenology and seasonality.

Capacity to implement complex and big data workflows for products and services generation.

Knowledge in the use of both optical and active sensors in forest mapping.

Demonstrate previous project experiences in the application of earth observation and geo-information in natural resource or forest monitoring.

Requirements

Firms must meet the following criteria:

1. Be a private company registered in at least one of the 10 eastern Africa countries
2. Demonstrate at least three years’ experience offering earth observation/geospatial products and/or services within East Africa / Africa
3. Demonstrate competency in carrying out forest inventorying, land use / land cover mapping and change detection, future prediction, REDD+ modeling, among others.
4. Demonstrate competency in using both optical and active sensors for forest mapping.
5. Demonstrate competency in developing online platforms for dynamic spatial products generation, visualization and dissemination
6. Certificate of registration / certificate of incorporation
7. Valid tax compliance certificate
8. Brief company / organization profile in narrative form
9. References of similar assignments with full contact information of clients (Name of organization, name of contact person, telephone numbers and email address)
10. Signed letter confirming willingness and availability to facilitate inspection of office premises by staff of ICPAC to ascertain existence of key human and infrastructural capacity, prior to concluding procurement of the contract.

How to Apply

Interested and qualified firms in the region should submit the following:

1.   Technical proposal: This should provide information on key aspects of the methodology process including time frame to accomplish the task. The proposal should demonstrate that the firm understands what needs to be done, tools to be used, data collection and verification methods and products of the assignment. 
2.   The financial proposal should include all fees and costs necessary to undertake the assignment. Clear breakdown of costs should be provided.

Proposals must be delivered to the address below on or before Friday, 14 December 2020 at 1700hours

FINANCIAL and TECHNICAL Bids MUST be submitted in TWO SEPARATE ENVELOPES enclosed in one outer Envelope. The outer envelope should be clearly marked with the Title of the bid and Procurement Number. 

For e-mail submissions, the financial proposal should be separate and password protected. Passwords should be sent to the procurement office when requested through an official email (procurement@icpac.net C.C director@icpac.net and gmes-ea@icpac.net ). Please ensure that the proposals are attached as files. The subject of the email must clearly specify the title of the Consultancy.

The Director

IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC)

Ngong town, Kibiku area,

P.O. Box 10304 GPO 100, Nairobi, Kenya

Tel (+254) 20-3514426

Email: procurement@icpac.net C.C director@icpac.net and gmes-ea@icpac.net