Attachment J.1 Statement of Objectives - STAWI Activity.pdf

Sustainable, Transformational and Accessible Water Interventions (STAWI) Activity

DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

ABBREVIATIONS

ACOR Alternate Contracting Officer Representative ADS Automated Directives Systems AMELP Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan APS Annual program Statement ASAL Arid and Semi-Arid Lands CDCS Country Development and Cooperation Strategy CLA Collaboration Learning and Adapting CO Contracting Officer COG Council of Governors COR Contract Officer Representative COP Chief of Party CRM Climate Risk Management DCOP Deputy Chief of Party DO Development Objectives EDE Ending drought Emergencies EMMP Environmental Monitoring and Mitigation Plan ERR Environmental Review Report FTF Feed the Future FY Fiscal year GAP Good Agricultural Practices GIS Geographic Information System GPS Global positioning satellite GUC Grant under Contract GOK Government of Kenya HH Household IEE Initial Environmental Examination IGA Income-generating activities IR Intermediate Result JMP Joint Monitoring Program MEL Monitoring, evaluation and learning MDG Millennium Development Goal MWSI Ministry of Water, sanitation and Irrigation NGO Non-governmental organization NPI New Partnership Initiatives NRM Natural resource management OEGI Office of Economic Growth and Integration AMELP Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and learning Plan OAA Office for Acquisition and Assistance RFP Request for Proposal RCE Request for Categorical Exclusion SA2 Semi-Arid Zone Two

SDG Sustainable Development Goals SOO Statement of Objectives TBD To Be Determined USAID/KEA United States Agency for International Development/ Kenya and East

Africa USEPA United States Environmental Protection Agency USG United States Government UNICEF United Nations Children Education Fund WB World Bank WASCO Water and Sewerage Company WASH Water Sanitation and Hygiene WASREB Water Services Regulatory Board WHO World health Organization WRA Water Resources Authority WRUAs Water Resource User Associations WSP Water Sanitation Program WSPs Water Service Providers WSTF Water Sector Trust Fund

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SECTION C – DESCRIPTION/STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES (SOO)

C.1. INTRODUCTION

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Kenya and East Africa (KEA) seeks to award a five-year contract with a ceiling of $24.9 million for the STAWI Activity, (thereafter as the Activity). The overall goal of the Activity is to improve water security in areas of recurrent crises. The 2017 U.S. Global Water Strategy defines “water security” as people having safe and sustainable supplies of water to meet basic human, economic, and ecosystem needs, while managing risks from floods and droughts. This also aligns with the 2017 Global Food Security Strategy and the Global Food Security Kenya Country Plan.

Ensuring water security in Kenya will contribute to important goals, namely economic development, poverty reduction, improved health of communities – especially women and girls, climate resilience, peace and stability, and human security. This perspective is in line with the goals outlined in the United States Government's (USG) 2020 - 2025 Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) in Kenya and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Statement of Objectives (SOO) describes the objectives of the Activity to implement cost-effective, measurable, innovative, and sustainable approaches tailored to the specific development challenges, with the aim of working with and supporting the Government of Kenya in advancing its journey towards resilience and self-reliance.

The STAWI contract SOO is being released in conjunction with a Diversifying Partnerships in WASH (DiP WASH) Annual Program Statement (APS) addendum, in alignment with USAID’s New Partnerships Initiative (NPI). The APS awardees would be local and/or underutilized partners working in the target counties, who would receive administrative support and oversight from the STAWI contract implementing partner(s), and their activities would be co-developed through the APS process. In addition, STAWI shall implement direct grants to county governments and oversee related capacity building efforts.

C.2. BACKGROUND

Despite ongoing economic progress, Kenyans continue to face risks of shocks and stresses that threaten their well-being and ability to sustainably escape poverty. In the extreme, this has resulted in recurrent, large-scale humanitarian emergencies that threaten the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable, negatively impacting national and regional economies, and costing billions of dollars in humanitarian spending. Sustainably reducing poverty not only requires enabling people to escape poverty, but also strengthening the resilience of households, communities, systems, and governments. The Government of Kenya has the Kenya Water Act, 2016, National Climate Change Action Plan (2018-2022) and the Agriculture Sector Transformation and Growth Strategy (2019-2029). These institutional frameworks also align with the GOK’s Ending Drought Emergencies (EDE) Common Programme Framework.

Access to water underpins economic growth and livelihoods across sectors. About 75 percent of Kenyans derive all or part of their livelihoods from agriculture and livestock, both dependent on water; however, agricultural productivity has stagnated in recent years amid continuing population growth. This poses critical challenges to food security in the country as between 1 and 4 million people receive food aid annually. Kenya also continues to face challenges in providing sustainable access to drinking water services, with only 59 percent of Kenyans having access to basic drinking water services (WHO/UNICEF JMP 2019).

Kenya faces significant challenges in ensuring safe and sustainable water resources for communities in areas of recurrent crises to meet basic human, economic and ecosystem needs. The challenges include weak governance and institutional capacity across government authorities in managing, planning, monitoring and regulating water resources, limited technical capacity among communities and water service providers to sustainability deliver, operate and maintain water services particularly in the face of climate change pressure (droughts/floods) and humanitarian crises, and limited private sector and communities’ knowledge and skills for effective management of water for drinking and other productive uses (i.e., agricultural activities).

Development Challenges Kenya faces significant challenges in ensuring safe and sustainable water resources for communities in areas of recurrent crises to meet basic human, economic and ecosystem needs, while managing risks from droughts and floods. These challenges include:

● Weak governance and institutional capacities. A weak water governance structure with systemic corruption has resulted in frequent conflicts between upstream populations -- who are involved in water intensive agricultural production and irrigated agriculture -- and those situated downstream (households, agro-pastoral and pastoral households) who are often adversely affected by low water availability. Women have limited agency and lack a voice in water management and governance. In addition, county governments lack the capacity, knowledge and resources to effectively deliver and manage services amidst devolution processes.

● Low sustainability and reliability of WASH service delivery due to lack of professionalized maintenance, inability to regularly collect sufficient revenues, unclear institutional arrangements and responsibilities, and a lack of accountability for rural services.

● Lack of access to water for multiple livelihood uses: Development of improved water sources have traditionally been designed to supply water for drinking and WASH purposes.

However, with erratic rainfall, pastoralists, and agro-pastoralists lack water for their livestock, which is their main source of livelihood.

● Climate change. Climate variability affects water resources management and availability for both domestic and agricultural activities. The country experiences water scarcity with the condition being more severe in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs). Severe droughts and flooding which is expected to increase in magnitude and frequency as a result of climate change will impact water availability and diminish water quality, with implications for irrigation and domestic water supply and sanitation, which combined account for 87 percent of current use.

● Gender Inequality. Production and market systems in Kenya are traditionally gender blind, based on a false assumption of a level playing field, that fails to recognize and accommodate underlying gender inequalities that impact women’s abilities to compete with men for productive resources and opportunities. The gendered nature of unpaid household work places undue burden of water collection solely on women and girls.

Women bear a bigger burden of unpaid care work, and on average spend about 2.5 times more time than men do. On average, Kenyan women work 15 to 17 hours a day while men work only six to seven1. And even when women do work outside of the home, across all sectors, they are paid less than men at KSH68 for every KSH100 paid to men2. Women provide 70 percent of labor in agricultural food production -yet, their role and influence as market actors (in the water sector) remains inequitable. Women, young adolescent girls, and children are the worst hit during disasters as they have to travel longer and further, often without safety. Young girls get married off for bride wealth as a coping mechanism and are more vulnerable to other harmful gender norms. Women are the most dependent on natural resources, yet their role and influence in water governance still remains very low3.

● Poor or no information technology. There is a lack of information technology infrastructure to help with understanding climate variability, groundwater cycle, financing and improved service delivery.

● Access to rights of land ownership. Water is a land-based natural resource, which contributes directly to the socio-economic well-being of its people. Sustainable use of water resources depends on the rights of ownership based on the land governance systems set in place. It is necessary to control the rights of ownership and facilitate secure access to land to ensure sustainable water resource use.

● Conflict over natural resources. The arid and semi-arid counties of Kenya are home to a significant population of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists who make their living out of livestock keeping and rely heavily on natural resources particularly water which is a determinant factor in their mobility and overall resource management. Weak governance has resulted in erosion of traditional natural resource governance systems. In some instances, interventions to solve water scarcity problems in the form of emergency water development have unintentionally worsened the situation. Inappropriately sited permanent water points such as boreholes have encouraged settlement, broken down complex grazing patterns and resulted in degradation of the pasture and water resources, scarcity of resources and increased conflicts4.

Theory of Change The Activity asserts that: IF governance and management of water resources and services is improved, sustainability of water service delivery is increased, and management, efficiency and equitable access to water used for productive purposes is improved, THEN, counties and

1 World Economic Forum (2019). Kenya's loosening of gender roles is helping to fight climate change ‐ this is how.

2 Kenya CDCS, page 10.

3 Gender Analysis (2020). USAID Kenya and East Africa 4 Salah, YM; Vishwanath, A; Wild, R; and Nyachieo, J (2016). Water for Livestock Promoting resilience by influencing water infrastructure development in community managed rangelands of Kenya. IUCN 24pp. Nairobi communities will have increased ability to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities and quality water, leading to the goal of improved water security.

C.3. PURPOSE

The purpose of the STAWI Activity is to strengthen resilience and expand economic opportunities in targeted northern and southeastern counties through management of water resources, expansion of sustainable water services, and improved use of water within agriculture and livestock market systems. The Activity will work at the national and sub-national levels, and MUST focus on county governments, DipWASH APS addendum awardees, and the private sector including financial institutions, private water service providers and agricultural businesses, as well as community groups such as Water Resources Users Associations (WRUAs) and farmers’ groups. The Activity MUST also require supporting and engaging communities and civil society, particularly women and girls and youth, in developing political will and technical capacities to advance the stated Objectives.

C.4. PERIOD AND PLACE OF PERFORMANCE

Period of Performance STAWI’s period of performance is five years from the date of contract award.

Place of Performance STAWI will be implemented in Kenya at the national level and in the following counties listed in the table below. The Offeror’s MUST work in the following nine counties in addition to working with the Council of Governors relevant Committee secretariats.

Northern Kenya (arid)

● Garissa

● Isiolo

● Marsabit

● Samburu

● Turkana

● Wajir

South-Eastern (semi-arid)

● Kitui

● Makueni

● Taita Taveta

C.5. OBJECTIVES

The main goal of STAWI is to improve water security in areas of recurrent crises. USAID/KEA aims to increase the ability of counties and communities to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities and quality of water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socio-economic development. The Activity shall target two resilience zones within Kenya, where vulnerability to recurrent crises is high. In the targeted arid counties (northern), investments will aim to build resilience to shocks and reduce humanitarian assistance caseloads. In the targeted semi-arid (southeastern) counties, investments will aim to strengthen resilience to avert a return to dependence on humanitarian assistance.

Improving water security will depend on achieving four interrelated objectives.

1. Improve governance of water resources and services,

2. Increase sustainability of water service delivery,

3. Improve management, efficiency, and equitable access to water used for productive purposes, and

4. Improve collaboration and learning across stakeholders and strengthen the capacity of county governments and DiP WASH APS addendum awardees.

The Activity must undertake a set of integrated approaches and interventions that will achieve the outcomes and expected results. Across the four objectives, the Offeror is expected to demonstrate how the proposed approaches and interventions will strengthen resilience capacities of communities, particularly women and girls; and address relevant land issues that may arise. The interventions include infrastructure that comprises small scale water constructions. The Offeror is also expected to highlight interventions that engage youth and offer lessons for how digital solutions (ICT) can be used to improve water governance and service delivery. Additionally, where relevant, the outcome activities should galvanize local development organizations led by youth and women to influence decision making on government policies, plans and budgets as well as behavior change at the household level. The Offeror is also expected to build in best practices around contingency funding and allocate a designated budget (minimum 10-15%) that is triggered based on pre-set criteria to save development gains during crises or shocks. This includes developing and regularly updating a shock-response contingency plan (based on relevant selected shocks) that defines clear actions, roles and responsibilities for when that triggering criteria are met. Contingency planning should also build preparedness, early response and recovery capacities at the local level by including county officials, community members and other key local actors in the preparation, validation and resourcing of contingency plans.

Objective 1: Improve governance of water resources and services The contractor shall strengthen institutional and governance systems of water resources and services for domestic, agriculture and other productive uses.

Outcome 1.1: Institutional capacity for water resources management improved Expected Results:

● Functional coordination platform with strong communication between relevant national and sub-national sector institutions for promoting water resource management

● Evidence-based plans for equitable allocation of water resources developed and implemented

● Increased leadership and decision-making roles for women and youth in governance of water resources and services

● Increased public financing for water resources management

Outcome 1.2: Policy environment for water services improved at county-level Expected Results:

● Policies that enable climate-aware and efficient water uses for production

● Water bills developed/passed and implemented

● Groundwater protection and watershed policies developed and implemented

Outcome 1.3: Mitigation measures to ensure water security in the context of shocks and stresses are improved Expected Results:

● Effective coordination, collaboration, planning, sequenced actions and accountability by national and county governments.

● Strategies for sustainable water supply and availability to vulnerable communities in times of shocks are developed and enacted at the county levels

● Capacity of the counties to implement the shock-mitigation and responsive water strategies is strengthened.

● Increased financial resources and sustained commitment by the counties to sustainable supply and availability of water to vulnerable communities in times of shock.

● Public-private partnerships that support water supply and availability in times of shocks are developed and implemented.

Objective 2: Increase sustainability of water service delivery Outcome 2.1: Availability and reliability of rural water services is improved Expected Results:

● Increased availability and capacity of professionalized maintenance services for rural communities

● Increased functionality of water schemes

● Increased percentage of women and youth engaged in professional operations and maintenance

● Increased population with access to water services in rural areas

● Corruption in water supply services reduced

Outcome 2.2: Efficiency and quality of water services supplied by Water and Sanitation Companies (WASCOs) improved Expected Results:

● Continuity of service, system reliability and water quality improved in WASCO service areas

● Reduction in non-revenue water and illegal connections

● Improved profitability of WASCOs

● Institutional performance of WASCOs improved

● Increased number of people with access to safe drinking water in WASCO service areas

Outcome 2.3: Water service delivery is effectively monitored and regulated

● Community-owned accountability mechanisms for quality water service delivery established or strengthened

● Increased capacity of county government to monitor water quality and enforce water schemes compliance with national standards

● Improved coordination between national water regulator and counties for setting water tariffs

● Increased percentage of water service providers that are registered legally

Objective 3: Improved management, efficiency and equitable access to water used for productive purposes

Outcome 3.1: Strategic targeting of water availability for productive and economic use

● Increased private sector participation in last-mile, climate-smart commercial water delivery for productive and economic uses

● Sustainable technologies for water provision and use targeted for specific productive and market systems purposes in Northern and Southeast counties

● Increased efficient utilization of water for productive and economic use by farmers, pastoralists, agro-pastoralists and processors.

● Increased household incomes from diversified sources

Outcome 3.2: Empowered women and youth, managing water resources for productive and economic purposes Expected Results:

● Increased participation of women and youth in community water management structures for productive and economic use, including water catchment protection and conservation.

● Increased number of women and youth owned water-sector businesses, which operate in an efficient and professional manner

Objective 4: Improved collaboration and learning across stakeholders and strengthened capacity of county governments for learning and adaptation

Outcome 4.1 Collaboration across interventions, counties and stakeholders increased Expected Results:

● Unified vision and management of results and actions across stakeholders led by county governments with development partners, communities, NGOs and private sector engaged in water security

● Strategic collaboration to inform decision making, improve coherence and support adaptive management led by county governments with development partners, communities, NGOs and private sector actors engaged in water security

● Learning uptake and knowledge management within and outside of USAID

Outcome 4.2 Learning to inform adaptive management supported Expected Results:

● Co-created vision and strategy for adaptive management based on program experience, evidence and learning

● CLA best practices integrated into operations and programming across stakeholders

● Learning agenda developed and implemented with feedback loops to real time program implementation

Outcome 4.3 Capacity of counties to learn and apply adaptive management practices strengthened Expected Results:

● Learning-by-doing approach applied by county government actors in agriculture, economic planning and water departments

● Feedback loops to inform improved program implementation and decision making used by county governments

● Increased capacity of county staff in adaptive management practices

● Strategic application of adaptive management by county staff to improve the governance and sustainability of water services.

The Offeror MUST develop a monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) plan that includes at minimum, USAID standard performance indicators for water security, sanitation and hygiene relevant to water activities (available in the Water and Development Indicators Handbook) and FTF standard indicators. The Offeror may propose additional performance indicators that they will use to measure progress made towards achieving the above outcomes.

C.6. ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS

Strategic Approach Locally owned, managed and led development. USAID/KEA will refine its approach to collaborating with government counterparts, emphasizing direct relationships whenever possible (through grants to county governments), work with local actors (including women, girls and youth) and organizations (including DiP WASH APS addendum awardees) and seek private sector solutions. USAID/KEA posits that a focus on locally led, managed and owned development is a sure pathway to accelerating self-reliance, and contributing to transformational change in water resources management and improved water service delivery. STAWI will build on the capacity of and leverage existing knowledge and skills of county governments, local and underutilized partners including conservation groups, and communities through co-creation processes, citizens advocacy and engagement, social and behavior change strategies and a strong CLA component.

Gender Gender equality and female empowerment is among the operational principles of USAID’s Water and Development Strategy. The Strategy “seeks to ensure that women are empowered to effectively advocate for their perspectives and priorities, and that are able to fully engage as managers and partners.” The Offeror may refer to USAID’s Water and Development Technical Brief on Gender Equality and Female Empowerment in WASH for guidance on promoting women’s participation in water related activities. In addition, USAID’s Climate Change and Development Strategy highlights that climate change interventions are unlikely to be successful without the support and involvement of women. STAWI must promote approaches, informed by gender analysis and/or gender action plan, that are responsive to gender considerations and seek to ensure that the assistance provided, and the results achieved are beneficial to all genders.

Sustainability Through the Activity, USAID/KEA has taken a deliberate approach to build in sustainability across all outcomes. The activity moves beyond the simple measurement of infrastructure investments to create lasting solutions to enhance resilience of communities for water services.

STAWI will adopt a water sector systems approach – from community interventions to wider service delivery, and within the enabling environment – to addressing and improving sustainability of water services through enhanced regulatory and institutional capacity of private service providers, civil society and government. STAWI will design services that meet water users’ demands and interests in the water and agriculture sectors, and design inclusive mechanisms for supported and supervised community-managed maintenance and accountability of water services in partnership with county governments and water and sanitation companies.

Environmental Guidelines and Climate Risk Management.

Development should be environmentally sound, and interventions must be compliant with environmental regulations. As such, the activity should adhere to the provisions in Title 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 216. In addition, the Offeror must comply with Kenya environmental regulations/laws.

In the face of climate change, the Offeror is required to identify climate change impacts and risks and demonstrate how the proposed approaches will reduce those risks to ensure effectiveness and sustainability of the Activity’s objectives in the face of climate variability and change. The Offeror may refer to USAID guidance on climate risk management (ADS201mal).

Private Sector Engagement STAWI will seek to establish strategic alliances with the private sector in improving governance for water resources management and/or increasing access to water services. USAID has been instrumental in shaping global dialogue on WASH financing and private sector engagement with lessons and best practices experiences to draw from.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning As outlined in USAID’s ADS 201.3.4.10, the Offeror must develop an Activity MEL plan. The Contractor will monitor and report to USAID on required and expected activity outputs and outcomes, through narrative reports and online reporting databases as instructed by USAID (currently DevResults). Change should be measured against a stated baseline or baseline data gathered at the start of the Activity. The Activity MEL Plan will follow the standard USAID format, including data sources, disaggregation, collection methodologies, and data quality assessments for each indicator. When proposing changes to the MEL Plan, the Contractor will maintain continuity to the greatest extent possible in order to allow for comparisons over time. At the time a policy reform, area, or intervention is proposed for work, the Contractor will determine how it fits within the Activity MEL Plan and which indicators it will meet.

USAID will conduct a midterm evaluation and/or final performance evaluation to monitor the progress and/or achievements of results based on the targets specified in the Activity MEL Plan.

Collaborative Learning and Adapting (CLA) USAID has defined CLA as a guiding framework for and component of the implementation of its activities throughout the Program Cycle. Thus, the Contractor must ensure that CLA and developmental evaluation underpins all activities and management. The activity’s learning approach will include processes and actions designed to: (1) identify and fill knowledge gaps through research, knowledge sharing, and outside technical assistance and training; (2) facilitate application of learning from assessments, evaluations and periodic monitoring and reflection processes; and (3) build sustained knowledge capture and sharing, across activities, partners, and sectors, and with key stakeholders from the USAID Mission, partner country government, and other donor funded activities through networking and collaboration. Learning actions are expected to engage and be useful not only to USAID, but to involve and inform activity beneficiaries, the partner government and the WASH sector.

The Activity will generate and share new knowledge to improve implementation. Specific learning questions will be identified and answered during implementation. In addition, it is expected that the Contractor will contribute to increasing USAID’s knowledge base on relevant research questions identified in the USAID Water for the World Implementation Research Agenda. The partner should plan how to answer the learning questions as part of implementation of interventions.

The Contractor will present a vision and strategy for management that intentionally plans for consideration and adaptation of approaches based on program learning, experience, and inputs from empirical evidence and both internal and external researchers and evaluators. The Activity will integrate CLA best practices into all aspects of its operations and programming. This involves strategic collaboration with key stakeholders - especially other USAID activities in the target areas - organizing, facilitating and documenting systematic continuous learning and adaptive management activities. Such activities may include but are not exclusive to ‘pause and reflections,’ ‘after action reviews,’ and knowledge exchange workshops. The Contractor will engage with stakeholders in generating and analyzing learning; look critically at what has been learned and how to build on strengths; ensure that interventions or approaches that do not work are adapted or eliminated; and project implementation adapts and adjusts to capitalize on opportunities and innovations.

Strategic communications There will be a need for a communication strategy for this activity which will be aligned with the mission’s communication strategy and will be developed within the first six months of the award. The strategy will be used throughout to ensure stories are told by the communities and the most effective communication tools are used to achieve programmatic objectives.

Youth With 75% of the Kenya population under the age of 355, the Activity must promote and support, where appropriate, engagement with youth in building resilience and increasing knowledge and understanding around water resources management and climate change. Youth participation is critical for harnessing momentum for behavioral change in WASH. The Offeror must incorporate and monitor innovative approaches of engaging with youth within all result areas. These approaches should not only address the challenges that youth face but will also involve and support young people in the decision-making, management, and leadership of this activity.

Construction

The Contractor must perform construction services at USAID’s direction. All construction work must be done to the standards specified by USAID and be in accordance with the approved construction implementation plan. All construction work must be done via firm-fixed price subcontracts. The Contractor must perform construction activities and their monitoring in accordance with the approved Initial Environmental Examination (IEE). The Contractor is responsible for implementing all IEE conditions pertaining to activities to be funded under this contract. Prior to any construction activity, the Contractor must receive written agreement from

5 Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. 2019 Kenya Population and Housing Census: Volume III. Distribution of Population by Age, Sex and Administrative Units.

the relevant recognized local community authority that they will operate and maintain the finished work, and the Contractor must certify that the authority has the current capacity to do so.

If there is no relevant authority, the Contractor must work to establish one and build its capacity to an appropriate level before considering any construction activity, or not do any construction in that area. All construction subcontracts must be fully-funded.

The Contractor must undertake engineering and construction components through sub-contracts using a design-bid-build delivery method where architect and engineering (A/E) services and construction works are performed under two separate but complementary subcontracts. The Subcontractor that undertakes the A/E services (design and construction bidding support) must provide quality assurance and construction oversight services in the construction phase. A/E Subcontractors must be selected based on demonstrated competence and qualifications. In order to ensure construction activities are performed appropriately under this contract, the Contractor must utilize a licensed A/E firm (licensed in the U.S.). The cost of any design must not exceed 6% of the cost of the associated construction. The Contractor must propose and justify the appropriate contract type for the A/E services when submitting the subcontract consent request.

Monitoring visits during construction activity is critical for overseeing work and progress on construction projects. The Contractor must maintain a schedule of announced and unannounced visits to verify that construction work is carried out at an appropriate level of quality that is stipulated for the activity. The Contractor must visit the construction site at various critical steps in the construction process, such as pouring of a foundation, construction of walls, or roof installation to certify the quality of the work and that specific benchmarks have been attained. The Contractor is also required to engage under the activity an Infrastructure Manager with experience in small-scale, low-cost, context-appropriate infrastructure design and management and be a US-licensed Professional Engineer with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering.

The Contractor must develop a construction implementation plan at the outset of this contract per Section F to ensure that all construction activities are conducted in an organized and appropriate way in accordance with the plan. The Contractor must submit all construction and A/E subcontracts to the Contracting Officer (CO) for consent prior to their award. The Contractor must follow USAID’s preferred approach to construction (see ADS reference 201maw) and follow all required analyses and steps unless granted an exception in writing in advance by the CO. When submitting construction or A/E subcontracts for consent, the Contractor must identify how the Contractor has addressed the principal elements in Section V of the ADS reference. All deliverables from these subcontracts must be provided to the COR and the CO.

Construction Risk Management The Applicant must incorporate principle elements of USAID’s preferred approach to construction as outlined in USAID’s Construction Risk Management policy – A Mandatory Reference for ADS Chapter 201.The Contractor must perform construction activities and their monitoring in accordance with the approved Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) and Climate Risk Management (CRM) assessment.

Shock Responsive Programming The offer is also expected to build in best practices around contingency funding and allocate a designated budget (minimum 10-15%) that is triggered based on pre-set criteria to save development gains during crisis or shocks. Within 3 months of award, the Offeror will be expected to develop and submit a shock-response contingency plan to USAID (based on relevant selected shocks) that describes activities to reduce vulnerabilities and better prepare for potential crises;

ongoing monitoring for tracking potential and emerging crises related to these shocks; activities that will be undertaken post-shock to ensure adequate recovery to pre-shock status (or better); and clearly identifies staff roles and responsibilities for all activities that will be undertaken as part of this plan. This plan will be incorporated into regular work planning processes and regularly updated as needed throughout the life of the award.

Grants Under Contract A Grants Fund is included as part of this contract as one tool to achieve contract objectives. The purpose of the Grants Fund is to provide the Contractor with a flexible means, where necessary and/or useful, to encourage participation and/or collaboration of local entities toward the achievement of expected results. Part of this to support County Governments with in kind grants.

The Grants Fund is not seen as an end in and of itself. The Contractor will not be judged according to how many grants are issued in a given period. The Contractor will award grants where appropriate, in combination with technical assistance, training, and/or other Contractor inputs toward achievement of specific objectives that respond to expressed local needs and contribute to achievement of stated contract results.

Examples of small grants include:

● Activities in support of STAWI objectives and expected results, with USAID funding provided on a declining basis.

● Activities, equipment, materials to increase access to water services with leveraged resources from communities, the private sector, and government.

● Information/education/communications campaigns by an NGO, civil society or the private sector to promote water and sanitation services improvement.

Council Of Governors (CoG) And Donor Coordination The Mission plans to use STAWI to support in the coordination efforts with COG and a budget line is provided to support. This support will include helping COG secretariat to support counties on policies and capacity building development and coordination with the National Government.

A number of donors are either already providing or are interested in providing assistance to the GoK for the improvement of safe drinking water and sanitation services. To avoid duplication of efforts as well as to optimize the leveraging of efforts, it is desirable to have good synergy with GoK and other donor-funded projects/strategies in planning and implementing STAWI.

USAID/KEA will take the lead in donor coordination efforts and may designate the Contractor for specific water coordination. The Contractor will report to the COR on the content of meetings attended or held with other donor staff. Copies of all correspondence to partners will be sent to the COR. The Contractor will also summarize activities conducted in collaboration with other donors in required Quarterly and Annual Reports.

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