RFI_USAID_Liberia_FRAMP_SOW_Draft_01052015.pdf

Attachment A: DESCRIPTION/SPECIFICATIONS/STATEMENT OF WORK Feeder Roads Alternative and Maintenance Program (FRAMP)

– DRAFT –

Procurement Sensitive

BACKGROUND

Access to markets and basic social services is a key determinant of poverty. Without physical access, rural communities face far greater obstacles in obtaining wealth, health, education, and other social services. In addition, their ability to take advantage of surplus crop production and of employment opportunities is severely constrained. The permanent or seasonal absence of road access in most parts of rural Liberia is a constraining factor in terms of providing rural communities with essential services such as education, primary health care, water supply, local markets and economic opportunities. The availability of such services and opportunities are difficult to sustain without a good quality and well-maintained rural road network.

The rehabilitation of feeder roads in Liberia over the past 10 years has covered about 1,250 kilometers (km) of feeder roads, 300 km of which were USAID-funded projects between 2005 and 2014. Liberia plans to rehabilitate or construct another 1,200 km of roads over the next five years. Of these rehabilitations, USAID plans to provide funding for about 40 percent of the total.

This would amount to approximately $100 million of investments in Liberian feeder roads over a period of 15 years. About half of this investment stands to be lost if a sustainable, demand-driven, Government of Liberia (GoL) owned Routine Maintenance (RM) program is not established. The ultimate goal of regular and timely maintenance is to prolong the life of road investments by increasing the amount of time between systematic rehabilitations.

Indications are that major challenges to the success of sustainable GoL owned and driven routine maintenance activities include, but are not limited to, the following factors:

• MPW and local county authorities have not been able to develop the full technical and financial capacity to own and manage RM activities initiated by donor supported projects

• A sufficient and sustainable institutional and financial management framework to plan, design, procure, manage and fund sustainable routine maintenance activities has not been well defined

• The general rural transportation network to a large extent has not been in a maintainable state sufficient to generate national focus to maintenance as compared to rehabilitation efforts

• Until the adoption of the National Policy on Decentralization, Transport Master Plan and the National Transport Policy and Strategy, there has not been a sufficient national strategic policy direction for the planning and implementation of systematic RM projects

Statement of works/FRAMP

• The full extent of Liberia rural transport network has not been inventoried and recorded;

this further constrains national rural transport assets management planning and budgeting efforts

FRAMP is well aligned with GoL policies including the Agenda for Transformation, Transport Master Plan, The Decentralization Policy and proposed Local Government Act, and also with the USAID Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS).

STATEMENT OF WORK

(a) - General

The overarching project goal will be achieved through the implementation of several activities along with the GoL which will develop and operationalize sustainable routine maintenance systems directly implemented at the county and district levels with regulatory and oversight of Central GoL relevant institutions. Through pilot regions established in USAID focus counties Bong, Nimba, Lofa and Grand Bassa, the developed system will be tested.

Activities under FRAMP will be designed to ultimately achieve the following high level results:

• Demonstrate to the GoL that the life cycle cost of roads can be significantly reduced with the implementation of a sustainable RM program and the use of appropriate alternative construction technologies.

• Working with the GoL to explore and insure availability of a dedicated and sustainable funding for rural infrastructure maintenance

• Maintain all-weather access on piloted rehabilitated roads during the life of the project

• Provide construction supervision for the rehabilitation for 450 km of farm-to-market roads design and contracted to local firms by USAID during the life of the project.

• Stimulate & strengthen community-based participation & ownership of feeder roads

• Increase household income in local communities through paid labor for the implementation of pilot activities in maintenance an alternative low volume road seals construction.

The program will achieve these high level objectives by working with the following partners:

• Ministry of Public Works (Feeder Roads Unit (MPW-FRU)

• Ministry of Internal affairs

• Local government (county, district and community based structures)

• Community-based groups (road cooperatives)

(b) Objectives

The objectives of the project are:

1. Develop and operationalize sustainable feeder road maintenance systems through county-level systems under national government technical and managerial oversight

2. Provide construction oversight for 450 km of farm-to-market roads

3. Through RM systems developed, under Objective 1, pilot RM activities on selected roads in the target counties

4. Construct alternative low volume road seals on 50 km of selected roads in the target counties

(c) General Design Principles

The approach is that over the life of the project USAID funding of the Routine maintenance (RM) activities of the project will experience an annual 15% reduction after year one, while Government of Liberia (GoL) funding of RM is expected to increase annually by at least 15%.

It is acknowledged that the first step to maintenance planning and budgeting is getting to understand the full value, extent and condition of the assets being maintained. In this vain FRAMP will support GoL’s effort to implement a feeder roads condition survey in the pilot region.

The scope of these activities will be guarded on the key principle of maximizing community participation, buy-in and ownership through the following considerations:

• That the success of sustained and successful community participation in projects depends on the identification of large homogeneous groups within the community that accrue direct benefit from having the project, such as farmers or traders

• That the level of service of the maintained road should match the needs of a particular level of access required by the community

• The construction method can greatly affect the willingness of communities to participate in road maintenance. If a road was rehabilitated using large plants and machinery with a number of experts and imported labor, it disempowers the community and undermines its ability to conduct further works. In contrast, the efficient combination of equipments, labor and manual tools reduces the organization and time scale of road construction at the community level and leaves in the community skills and techniques which they can apply to their own activities

FRAMP activities are also designed to support the GoL’s policy on decentralization and local governance. Liberia Decentralization Policy indicates that by the end of the decentralization period (2021) some responsibilities including but not limited to the following will be removed from the MPW and devolved to Local Governments:

i) Ensure compliance with zoning laws and regulations

ii) Construction and maintenance of water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities

iii) Construction and maintenance of secondary and feeder roads and bridges

iv) Roads side brushing and maintenance, drainage cleaning and betterment

In this vain and the implementation strategy of FRAMP will generally support the Local governments in preparation to take on the new responsibilities listed above and also the MPW to provide appropriate regulations, policies and enforcement of established standards. The FRAMP project will support local county governments in the pilot regions to take over the above responsibilities in feeder roads construction and maintenance. FRAMP inventions will be focused at the district and county levels with strategic capacity building and Technical Assistance to Ministry of Public Works in support of coordination, program monitoring, reporting, design and planning.

(d) Training and Capacity Building

The training and capacity building approach of FRAMP will be implemented to support the Ministry of Public works Feeder Roads Unit, Regional Engineers, County Resident Engineers, District Maintenance Engineers, Local county Governments and Community based Organizations in the pilot regions to understand and implement their respective roles in the a sustainable maintenance program.

Training, institutional strengthening activities, project & financial management efficiency skills, business development skills and technical/engineering skills required to capacitate stakeholders at the various levels of the a decentralized RM program will be provided through technical class room trainings, field demonstration exercises, public outreach, provision of equipments and tools and mentorship.

Two community based organizations per county administrative district in the pilot region will be identified, trained and supported to be able to implement routine maintenance activities.

Capacity building goals will vary at the various levels to include:

1) At the central level capacity building will focus on strategic maintenance planning, prioritization, design, monitoring, coordination, reporting

2) At the county and district level, maintenance supervision, measuring of works, quality control, reporting, instructing and approving works, gang management and financial management

3) At the community level capacity building and training will include technical support for the establishment and formalization of the CBOs, gang management trainings

4) Maintenance implementation trainings, quality control, environmental management, gender sensitivities, productivity management, and financial management

(e) Construction Oversight

Construction oversight services will be carried out on a total of 450 km of farm to roads located in Bong, Nimba, Lofa and Grand Bassa Counties. These 450 km of roads were design under a previous USAID contract. These roads are engineered gravel roads designed using the principle of basic access using the Liberian Feeder Roads design standards as a basis of design.

Construction oversight shall include the following;

• Provide support to USAID during the procurement and selection of construction contractors

• Review of the construction contractor’s Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) and make recommendations to the COR for approval

• Provide full time on site oversight of construction works

• Review construction contractor’s submittals simultaneously with the COR and make recommendations for approvals

• Review construction contractors monthly invoices and provide “no objection” to

USAID/COR for approval

• Ensure construction quality assurance

• Provide regular progress reports on construction contractor’s performance

• Preside over monthly site progress meetings and provide notes and records to USAID

• Ensure that construction works and quantities are implemented according to the designs, terms and conditions of this contract

• Ensure that the contractor implements the environmental management & mitigation plan and the site safety plan

• Provide mentorship and guidance to the construction contractor on issues of resource allocation, work planning and cash flow management

• Serve as principle technical advisor to the COR

(f) Routine Maintenance Pilot activities

Routine maintenance as described in this scope of works refers to routine labor based activities carried out at regular intervals at least twice a year to keep the road shoulders, pavement, slopes, drainage and all other structures with in the right of way as nearly as possible to their as constructed conditions. These include minor repairs and improvements to eliminate the cause of defects.

The term pilot as used in this context refers to a small scale demonstration of activities which is expected to be adopted as a model by the GoL and scaled up beyond the regions of the original effort. Piloting is an iterative concept which ultimately develops a model that can be scaled-up using lessons learned and systems from the pilot phase.

Routine Maintenance shall include the following activities:

1) Inspection and Removal of Obstructions

2) De-silting Culverts and Clearing Culvert Inlets and Outlets

3) Clear Side, Catch-Water and Miter Drains

4) Repair Erosion of Shoulders and Drains

5) Repair Scour Checks

6) Grub Roadway

7) Fill Potholes and Ruts on the Carriageway

8) Cut Grass and Bush

9) Clear Structures and their Waterways

10) Repair road pavement structures

Roads in maintainable state, in the pilot region, will be selected and prioritized based on the maintenance need and cost effectiveness. Cost effectiveness refers to ratio of the cost of maintenance and the population served.

(g) Alternative Low Volume Road Seals (ALVRS)

The ALVRS will be implemented through a research and development style activity. A desk study of at least twelve available alternative low volume road seals technologies will be conducted and recommendations of five of the most appropriate technologies will be made to USAID. Example of technologies will include among others: otta seals, sand seals, chip seals, concrete block pavements, various chemical stabilizers, asphalt emulsion mixture, mechanical stabilized pavements, etc…

The appropriateness of the selected five ALVRS technologies will be based on but not limited to the following:

• Cost effectiveness

• Resilience to extreme rainfall and relatively high axle loads

• Constructability

• Availability of construction materials and equipments locally regionally

• Past performance

• Compatibility with the chemical and physical properties of Liberian sub grade soil profile

• Adaptability

The selected five ALVRS will be constructed in various sections of rehabilitated farm to market roads, having various vertical and horizontal alignments, in various counties, under various axle loads. The construction will happen under highly controlled conditions using various design standards, mix designs and subgrade conditions.

Performance of the completed sections will be monitored during the raining seasons, under peak traffic conditions and the resulting defects and performance documented. Findings will be used to improve subsequent designs, throughout the life of the project.

A final report, including design manual, specifications, and construction methodology for the top three performing, technically and economically suitable technology will be submitted to USAID and ultimately the GoL.

Objectives, Tasks, Results and Illustrative Indicators

(a) Objective 1 Specific Task, Results, and Illustrative Indicators

Objective 1

Develop, operationalize, and implement sustainable feeder road maintenance systems through county-level systems with technical and managerial oversight of national government.

Specific Tasks

Specific Task 1.1:

Under this task, the contractor will provide technical assistance and support to the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) to operationalize the RM strategy at the county-level. This will be achieved by providing support for the development of an Implementation plan which will stream line the implementation of the RM strategy at the county-level.

The FRAMP implementer will take the lead on the development of the implementation plan which will jointly be written by the FRAMP implementer and MPW, MIA and MOF. The implementation plan must be written in a manner which allows the GoL to assume responsibility for all RM activities in the pilot region over four years. The implementation plan must also include guidelines and steps to roll RM activities over a period. This task also includes the facilitation of consultative meetings, workshops with relevant GoL ministries and agencies (including MOF, Ministry of Transportation (MOT), MIA, MPW, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), legislators, and other donors).

The following activities will be included under this task:

• Coordination with the MPW, MIA, and MOF to identify a sustainable governance framework through which RM activities can be implemented using county-level systems with technical guidance from MPW, as well as financial and management oversight from MIA and MOF, consistent with the National Policy on Decentralization and Local Governance

• Ensure public outreach messages at the national, county, district, and community level to promote RM and its importance to reducing life cycle cost, increasing household incomes, sustaining investment, creating jobs, and increasing citizen’s ownership of the rural transport infrastructure

Promote local ownership of feeder roads assets through public outreach, messaging and town hall discussions with community project beneficiaries at all levels

Specific Task 1.2:

Under this task, the FRAMP implementer will support the institutional strengthening and capacity building of the county-based project implementation units, MPW-FRU, County Resident Engineers, District Maintenance Engineers, the county’s project planners, and the county’s development engineers to enhance their ability to coordinate the implementation of the feeder roads maintenance strategy and implementation plans. This will be achieved through the following activities:

• Training of MPW designated feeder roads engineers, County resident engineers, and road maintenance technicians in the planning, design, and management of routine maintenance activities.

• Implementation of the processes leading to the identification, organization, formalization, and training of two community based organizations (CBOs) in each administrative district in Bong, Nimba, Lofa and Grand Bassa County Counties to implement RM activities.

• Provision of basic RM tools, equipment and logistics to MPW maintenance technicians, and CBOs to implement road maintenance. Equipment such as motorcycles, laptops, cameras, GPS and measuring equipment will be issued under this subtask for the MPW/district maintenance engineers, while equipment including plate compactors, hand rammers, camber boards, drain templates, assorted hand tools, record books, safety gears, etc. shall be considered for the CBOs.

Each training activity shall include classroom sessions, mentorship, and field demonstration exercises.

Results Objective 1

At the end of the project life, the following results under Objective 1 must have been achieved:

• Sustainable RM system implemented by CBO through local county systems with funding, technical, and managerial oversight from the GoL

• A demonstrated increased in the sense of ownership and participation of communities in the pilot regions in the management of their local roads networks

• The establishment of CBOs, county project units, and MPW-FRU to plan, design, procure, and manage the full range of RM activities on feeder roads

Illustrative Indicators Objective 1

The following illustrative indicators will be used to measured results:

• Percentage increase in GoL annual appropriations to counties for the implementation of feeder roads maintenance

• Number of CBOs organized trained, and equipped to implement RM activities

• Number of public outreach events, coordination meetings, consultation meetings, and maintenance strategy planning workshops at the community, county, and central level

• Number of community members showing up for public outreach events and road maintenance discussions

• Number of individuals at the MPW, county, and community levels who are trained in various aspects of RM project management

• The number of people employed in RM activities

• Total length of feeder roads under sustained routine maintenance activities with funding from GoL implemented through the county systems and by the CBOs

(b) Objective 2 Specific Tasks, Results, and Illustrative Indicators

Objective 2

Provide construction oversight for the rehabilitation for a total 450km of farm-to-market roads in Bong, Nimba, Lofa and Grand Bassa Counties as described in section C.3.d above. Under this objective the FRAMP implementer will provide services as a Quality Assurance Contractor (QAC) whose primary responsibilities includes: insure the quality of completed works, insure the full implementation of contract designs by the construction contractor, progress and performance reporting, mentoring the construction contractor, and providing technical advice to USAID/COR on the construction contractors submittals. The QAC roles do not include the authority to instruct contract changes.

Communications between the construction contractor and USAID regarding request for information, technical directions, submittals, progress reporting and invoices shall be channeled through the FRAMP implementer. The FRAMP implementer will review these and provide advice to USAID to either approve or disapprove the submittals.

Specific tasks

Specific Task 2.1:

Through sub-contracts with local A&E firms and using its own forces the FRAMP implementer will provide construction oversight which will be achieved through the following sub-tasks:

• Provide support to USAID during the procurement of construction contractors as required by USAID

• Undertake full time construction supervision and oversight, and provide spot monitoring, testing, and reporting of construction progress, including Quality Assurance and Quality Control, environmental compliance, and material usage in accordance with standard construction practices

• Progress reporting on construction progress over time

• On site mentorship of construction contractors to improve their project management, resource allocation, quality control and cash flow management skills

• Monitor progress and performance against contractor work plans

• Assist USAID in review of budget deviations including description of cause, assessments of needed changes, calculation of costs, and timeline changes

• Monitor changes in projects that might require adjustments to environmental management plans, and recommend changes as appropriate

• Review requests for payments, contract amendments or change orders, and provide technical advice to USAID to facilitate issuance of “no objection” letters

Results

At the end of the project life, the following result under this objective must have been achieved:

• Full time construction oversight of the rehabilitation of 450 km farm-to-market roads to insure that the contract designs, terms and conditions are fully implemented

Illustrative indicators

• Annual change in performance indicators (overall quality, productivity and adaption to mentorship) of local subcontractors (oversight and construction)

• Total length of road rehabilitation works supervised

(c) Objective 3 Specific Tasks, Results, and Illustrative Indicators

Objective 3

Implement pilot RM activities on selected roads in the target counties, through RM systems developed under Objective 1 and detailed in section C.3 c and C.3 e above.

Under this objective the FRAMP implementer will implement maintenance of selected roads in the pilot regions in the following order during four respective maintenance years (having 2 maintenance cycles per year): 750 km, 600 km, 500 km and 425 km.

As a “go- no go“ project implementation conditionality, the GoL at the minimum will provide funding and manage the maintenance of selected roads in Liberia in the following order commencing in year 2 of the project performance: 150km, 175 km, 205 km, 250 km.

Specific Tasks

Specific Task 3.1:

Create a full inventory of maps, and road condition survey of all existing feeder roads in the target counties. The collected data will serve as a basis for maintenance planning, and budgeting.

This data shall be provided to MPW and LISGIS. This will be implemented by the FRAMP implementer, in collaboration with local Liberian engineering firms, MPW, and county authorities. Specific Task 3.2

• Implement routine maintenance activities using USAID funding on 750 km, 600 km, 500 km, and 250 km per year for each of the four years, respectively, of selected roads in the target counties. This will be implemented over the four-year life of the project.

Implementation of this task includes selecting the roads, defining the needs, hiring the community based groups to implement this activity and subcontracting the RM works to the community based groups. The RM activities shall be implemented through two cycles of maintenance activities per year. It is anticipated that as the USAID investment reduces annually, GoL investments in RM will be concurrently increased to fill the gaps in funding.

At the end of the project life, the following results under this objective must have been achieved:

• A full inventory, conditional survey, and maps of farm-to-market roads in the target counties stored in national and county-level databases

• Updated maps and feeder roads inventory and gazette in the target counties stored in national databases

• A total of 2,100 km of feeder roads maintained with USG funds over the life of the project

• A total of 780 km or feeder roads maintained with GoL funds over the life of the project

Illustrative indicators

• Cumulative length of road maintained to as built standards using USG funding.

• Cumulative length of feeder roads maintained to as built standards using GOL funding.

• Annual reduction in life cycle cost of feeder roads in target counties as a result of sustained

RM activities compared to counties without road maintenance activities.

(d) Objective 4 Specific Tasks, Results, and Illustrative Indicators

Objective 4

Construct alternative low volume road seals on 50 km of selected roads in the target counties.

Works under this objective must be implemented as described in section C.3(f) above. Roads selected for these ALVRS must have been rehabilitated during the immediate past three years and have a relatively high cost effectiveness ratio.

Specific Tasks

Specific Task 4.1

Conduct a desk study of all available alternative low volume road seals including but not limited to otta seals, sand seals, chip seals, concrete block pavements, chemical stabilizers, asphalt emulsion mixture, and mechanical stabilized pavements, and submit findings to USAID for further circulation and presentation to relevant GoL agencies and the donor community. At minimum, the report shall include records of previous usage, levels of serviceability, specifications, construction methodology, relative advantages, cost efficiency, life cycle cost analysis, limitations, and applicability in the Liberian setting. Based on this report, at least four of the studied seals will be recommended for piloting.

Specific Task 4.2

Construct 50 km of farm-to-market roads with at least 10km in each of the four target counties over the life of the project.

Under this task the FRAMP implementer will be expected to construct the minimum of 5 km of ALVRS using various selected technologies during each year of performance.

Specific Task 4.3

Submit final design manual, specifications, and construction methodology for the top three performing, technically suitable, weather and traffic resistant, economically efficient, low volume seals, to USAID.

At the end of the project life the following results under this objective must have been achieved:

• A total of 50 km of roads paved with low volume road seals in the target counties

• Final design manuals, specifications and standards for appropriate ALVRS in Liberia

• Increased local capacity to design and construct ALVRS

Illustrative Indicators

• Length of road surfaced with low volume road seals

• Number of local Liberian engineers with the skills to design and construct ALVRS

• Number of local Liberian construction firms and CBOs with the skills to ALVRS

• A design manual, standards and specifications for the construction of ALVRS in Liberia