International Consultant on Sustainable Road Transport and GHG Measurements

Background

SOCAR has been among a few institutions in Azerbaijan who are at the forefront of national climate change mitigation actions. Apart from adopting bold targets and implementing GHG emission reduction measures internally, the company is implementing several initiatives to promote more efficient and cleaner oil & gas end-use technologies and practices among its customers and employees. SOCAR has implemented a very ambitious voluntary commitment to reduce its own emissions by 40% or an equivalent of aggregate 20 mln tCO2 by the year 2020. This commitment and the actions to achieve them are spelled out in the SOCAR’s Climate Change Strategy adopted by the Company’s Board in December 2010.

The “Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) for low-carbon end-use sectors in Azerbaijan”

Project – launched in March 2015 – aims to reduce the annual growth rate of greenhouse gase (GHG) emissions from the energy end-use sectors in SOCAR. The project is targeting 3 (three) energy end-use sectors, namely Buildings, Transport and Associated Gas Capture. The specific objective of project is to support State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) in the implementation of its Climate Change Mitigation Strategy by promoting and upscaling GHG mitigation measures through a programmatic NAMA approach in the low carbon end-use sectors. SOCAR, being in the core business of oil & gas production, processing and distribution, is a major energy user and GHG emitter and is the main stakeholder of project and implementing partner. The Project, which will further SOCAR’s long-term sustainable development strategy, will simultaneously target the country’s institutional & policy framework, address appropriate mechanisms and result in activities to realise significant GHG emission reduction achievements in the long term.

There are over 4,000 vehicles of different types in operation in the SOCAR’s fleet, of which more than 80% are using gasoline with an annual consumption of 17 thousand tons. Under the on-going project, fuel economy in the SOCAR’s vehicle fleet was introduced on pilot scale through introduction of eco-driving practices and hybrid-electric vehicles. To take the sustainable transport activities under the project to the next level, a need has been identified for the services of a short-term international expert who will undertake the duties and responsibilities given hereunder.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of Project Manager and in close cooperation with the Lead Technical Advisor, the Sustainable Road Transport Expert, referred to here as the International Consultant (IC) will be tasked with the following duties and responsibilities:

1)     Task No. 1: Revise in detail current fleet management practice in SOCAR through a questionnaire, and to prepare recommendations for a monthly dashboard report. Design a new fleet management and fleet performance reporting initiative with active participation of the concerned SOCAR staff. Under this initiative, key indicators related to CO2 emission and fuel consumption of the fleet will be brought to the attention of SOCAR Management in the form of a daily reporting system.

2)     Task No. 2: The IC shall prepare and present a brief paper which outlines a campaign for raising awareness among decision and policy makers and other local stakeholders, to illustrate impact of eco-driving practices and replacement of vehicle fleet with more efficient vehicles. For this purpose, he/she shall develop a road-map with specific steps to be undertaken and a list of agencies, ministries and other entities to be targeted by the campaign.

3)     Task No. 3: The IC shall conduct at least two training programs which may be in the form of seminars, workshops or conferences as part of the awareness raising process. One of the topics to be covered is a proposed approach for scaling-up the results of already completed pilot activities across the entire SOCAR vehicles fleet under the NAMA approach which has been outlined in the Project Document.

4)     Task No. 4: The IC shall assist by providing key information to the international GHG and Climate Change Expert who is being engaged on the project to help him/her in completing his/her assignment. The desired information would relate to SOCAR transport fleet and international best practices. The key list of information needed by the Expert will be sent to the IC in the form of a questionnaire.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• A strong knowledge of transportation issues related to greenhouse gases (GHGs) and climate change.
• Good understanding of issues relating to flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) and electric, plug-in hybrid electric.
• Knowledge of economics and policy regarding energy efficiency in road transport sector.
• Strong knowledge in energy and GHG standards and in international measurement and verification protocols.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

• Ability to apply peer reviewer guideline production procedures;
• Ability to analyze technical requirements in energy efficiency and energy management applications;
• Strong analytical skills.

Management and Leadership:

• Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Supports teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree in engineering, energy resource management or environmental management.  

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years’ experience in technical and commercial aspects of the transport sector, particularly those related to environmental management, control systems and sustainable transport policies/strategies.
• Experience with a broad range of energy efficiency technologies and best practices applied to the transport sector.
• Proven track record of multi-disciplinary analysis of transport projects, preferably within environmental and social impact energy context
• Experience in drawing up materials and implementing workshops, awareness training and seminars.

Travel:

The IC will be expected to provide long-distance advice and in-country consultations. H/she is expected to be able to travel to Baku or elsewhere in Azerbaijan, pursuant to the work plan of project’s activities, 2 times during the contract. The dates of travel and the actual time spent in Azerbaijan for each visit will be decided by the Project Manager and is estimated to be a total of 10 days.  

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Cumulative evaluation that takes into account both financial offer and the technical expertise of the potential candidates.

A two-stage procedure will be utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical component being completed prior to any price component being reviewed and compared. The Price Component will be reviewed only for those individuals whose Technical Component meets the requirements for the assignment.  The total number of points which individual may obtain for both components is 100. The technical component, which has a total possible value of 70 points, will be evaluated using the following criteria:

·        University degree in engineering, energy resource management or environmental management.  (15);

·        Minimum 10 years’ experience in technical and commercial aspects of the transport sector, particularly those related to environmental management, control systems and sustainable transport policies/strategies. (15);

·        Experience with a broad range of energy efficiency technologies and best practices applied to the transport sector. (10);

• Proven track record of multi-disciplinary analysis of transport projects, preferably within environmental and social impact energy context (10);

·        Advantages  of the proposed methodology (10)

·        Further Assessment by Interview (if any) (10)

If the substantive presentation of a technical proposal achieves the minimum of 49 points, the competitiveness of the offered consultancy expenses will be taken into account in the following manner:   

The total amount of points for the fees component is 30. The maximum number of points shall be allotted to the lowest fees proposed that is compared among those invited individuals which obtain the threshold points in the evaluation of the technical proposal. All other proposals shall receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest fees; e.g;

                [30 Points] x [US$ lowest]/[US$ other] = points for other proposer’s fees