Invitation to Tender for Technical Assistance to Support the Kenya Railways Corporation to Implement Nairobi Railway City Project

Background

The UK Government is supporting urban economic development through the Sustainable Urban Economic Development Programme (SUED) and has committed to support the Government of Kenya (GoK) in developing the Nairobi Railway City Project. The project is a transit-oriented development, which forms a central part of GoK’s wider objective to realize Nairobi’s potential as a transport and logistic hub for the continent. Previous support has included a review of the existing Railway City Master Plan and identification and preparation of first mover projects, which include an affordable housing project; a new government office and commercial precinct and related parking; and most importantly as the center piece of the new Railway City Project, the design of a new Central Railway Station and associated public realm.

The Opportunity

This project will be contracted through SUED, implemented by Tetra Tech, but will answer directly to Kenya Railways and the British High Commission. SUED is inviting interested firms and consortia to submit tenders for a range of technical assistance services to assist Kenya Railways Corporation implement the Nairobi Railway City Project. The overall objective of this Technical Assistance Programme is to provide Kenya Railways with a broad range of expertise, that through the application of climate smart approaches to urban development and regeneration, will help Kenya Railways develop and realize the full economic value of Railway City. In doing so, this Programme will also support associated economic growth and job creation, provide vital affordable housing, and provide an exemplar to the East Africa Community region of how climate resilient urban regeneration can be delivered. The programme will initially be for one year with a strong possibility of extension for a further two years.

The project budget is expected to be approximately £2m a year, including taxes, totaling £6m across the 3 years.

The main areas of assistance will be:

a) Governance and Strategic Oversight: supporting Kenya Railways to put in place and operate a strong governance structure, establishment of relevant sub-committees, develop a phased business plan and review management capabilities.
b) Project Planning, Capacity Building and Programme Management: establish a project management office, support development of TORs, drive a stakeholder management approach and other tasks.
c) Programme Development and Project Delivery: work with Kenya Railways to structure and implement first mover projects, create project identification, prioritization and selection framework, provide transaction advisory support, identify green financing sources and other tasks.

The programme is intended to be demand-driven and responsive to the changing priorities of Kenya Railways and other key GoK stakeholders and the selected delivery partner will be expected to demonstrate agile and innovative approaches to delivery. The programme forms part of the UK’s broader prosperity agenda in Kenya and will need to be delivered in a way that encourages broad development and investment participation including, but not exclusively, with UK companies. Interested firms and consortia are expected to demonstrate experience in similar rail-centered urban projects in Kenya, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa, then other emerging markets and finally developed markets as well as:

• Experience in integrating urban infrastructure and transport planning
• Infrastructure and large-scale real estate feasibility, financial and commercial structuring, procurement, and financing
• Legal and regulatory experience in infrastructure delivery
• Technical, architectural design, quantity surveying and project delivery oversight.
• Climate resilient expertise (e.g., planning, technology) in infrastructure project development, financing, and delivery.
• Technical support to assist the practical implementation of climate smart urban regeneration projects of this kind. This should include knowledge of Urban Resilience funds that could be accessed to support a project of this kind.
• Design of corporate governance, organizational development, training, and capacity building.
• Environmental and social safeguards, gender, and inclusion.
• Communication and public relations expertise

Regular meetings with Kenya Railways leadership and the British High Commission are expected. The contract will be milestone-based, to be fully agreed at contracting stage. The full scope of work and ITT can be found on https://www.suedkenya.org/opportunities-1

Submission of Tenders

The tender should be submitted in English and be set out in three parts:
I. Part A: Preliminary Requirements
II. Part B: Technical Response
III. Part C: Financial Response

Each part must be responded to in full and in accordance with the scoring methodology and evaluation criteria as set out in the full ITT document. Interested parties must submit a soft copy to suedcfp@tetratech.com and should reference “ITT Notice Ref – NRC/07/2022”.

Submission Date: 21st July 2022. Late tenders will not be accepted.

Additional Information: The lead firm must be registered in Kenya and amendments and clarifications to the ITT may be posted on the website. All firms must be able to demonstrate a high level of integrity and observe the highest standards of ethics.