Project Overview: CDP North America invites proposals from qualified individuals or firms to facilitate our efforts to develop our Sustainable Infrastructure work in developing social and racial equity competencies as well as project finance capabilities within our program and among our participating cities
Timeline and Term: CDP plans to award the contracts and begin work by September 25th, 2020 through October 31, 2020
Budget: Applicants may apply for one tender or both tenders. A combined budget for both proposals should not exceed $25,000 USD/ or roughly $12,500 per proposal
Selection Criteria:
Proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
● Demonstrated history of success in developing similar or related content, products, tools and trainings as identified in the scope of work
● An understanding of how racial and social equity as well as SDG alignments plays a role in furthering climate action in cities
● Demonstrated history of effective facilitation, communication, and training skills, specifically virtual trainings
● Experience working with city sustainability/climate officers, city finance officers and representatives in the capital markets - institutional investors, asset managers, private equity firms, etc.
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A. Tender for Social Equity Consultant
Project Goal:
Through CDP’s Matchmaker program, CDP is working with 34 city and county governments in the United States to develop and finance sustainability projects (i.e. renewable energy, energy efficiency, water management, greenspace, transportation) that are equitable and have positive environmental and social impacts in underserved communities. In service of these aims, CDP seeks a consultant with expertise in social equity and inclusion in project development in local government contexts and social impact investing.
The consultant will refine existing CDP materials to better support disclosure of socially equitable sustainability projects planned by cities, develop a toolkit for cities to embed and measure social equity in sustainable infrastructure projects, deliver workshop trainings based around this toolkit to participating cities, and work directly with cities to apply the toolkit and to provide recommendations to advance planned sustainability projects.
Expected Scope of Work
1. Conduct a social equity-focused review of relevant CDP materials, questions, and indicators, identifying gaps in CDPs’ current data collection process and providing recommendations to address those gaps
2. Develop a toolkit for city governments that complements existing CDP materials and processes and outlines best practices in developing socially equitable, sustainable infrastructure projects. The toolkit will be written in a way so that it is evergreen, action-oriented, and broadly applicable in the US municipal context. The toolkit will be an online five to fifteen-page document developed prior to the workshop
3. Deliver live workshop training sessions to municipal staff from participating cities. Training sessions will reflect the content and recommendations of the toolkit developed
4. Develop pre-workshop and post-workshop survey questions. CDP will incorporate these questions into a survey for workshop attendees to evaluate efficacy of learnings and to solicit feedback. CDP will design and deliver the survey
5. Review projects from participating cities and create recommendations to city staff on how to strengthen projects from an equity and impact perspective
6. Conduct consultations with participating cities to provide recommendations to improve and strengthen their proposed projects from an equity and impact perspective, providing guidance on applying workshop learnings and applying the toolkit developed for this project
7. Produce a summary sheet for each participating local government that details recommendations reflecting the social equity and impact of the project
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B. Tender for Project Finance Consultant
Project Goal:
Through CDP’s Matchmaker program, CDP is working with 34 city and county governments in the United States to develop and finance sustainability projects (i.e. renewable energy, energy efficiency, water management, greenspace, transportation) that are equitable and have positive environmental and social impacts in underserved communities. In service of these aims, CDP seeks a consultant with expertise in project finance in the context of local governments in the United States. social equity and inclusion in project development in local government contexts and social impact investing.
The consultant will refine existing CDP materials to better support disclosure of financial information related to planned projects in cities, work directly with small groups of cities to develop “menus” of financing options applicable to city projects, develop project profiles, and present findings at a virtual workshop.
Expected Scope of Work
1. Conduct review and analysis of relevant CDP materials, questions, and indicators. Identify gaps in information that would be helpful to potential investors in evaluating potential investment opportunities. Provide recommendations and develop guidance for questions to add to identified gaps
2. Conduct consultative virtual meetings with small groups of cities selected by CDP which share similar projects or challenges. The aim is to develop a “menu” of appropriate financing solutions for each cluster. Prior to the consultative meetings, review 34 applications from cities to understand the cities’ sustainability and social impact priorities.
3. Based on consultative meetings with each city cluster, develop a set of “menus” of relevant and appropriate financing tools and strategies for each cluster. The menus should be evergreen and applicable to other cities outside of the cluster that are facing similar challenges. The menus should include information that points cities towards how to access/seek access to/begin engaging with potential solutions providers and relevant resources
4. Develop 2-3 project profiles, stating problem/challenge, identifying a set of applicable financing solutions, and highlighting the pros and cons of various financial solutions. The project profiles should serve as an evergreen sample of each sustainability challenge, highlighting social and environmental challenges, desired outcomes, and potential “menu” of applicable financing solutions
5. Present on these clusters, the “menus” of financing options, sustainability challenges, solutions, and profiles at a virtual workshop. Following the workshop training sessions, respond to follow up questions from workshop attendees through phone calls, video conferencing, and email
6. Develop pre-workshop and post-workshop survey questions. CDP will incorporate these questions into a survey for workshop attendees to evaluate efficacy of learnings and to solicit feedback. CDP will design and deliver the survey
Proposal Submission:
Please include the following information in your Proposal:
Submit proposals by September 18, 2020 to [email protected] Questions on the RFP can also be submitted to [email protected]
Legal Notice
CDP reserves the right to request additional information from any bidder; amend or withdraw the RFP at any time; reject any proposals received after the RFP response deadline; award the contract in its sole discretion; and reject any or all bidders. CDP is not responsible for any costs incurred in preparing proposals.
By considering the materials contained in this RFP, respondents shall be deemed to have agreed to be bound by the rules, notices and disclaimers contained in this RFP and no purported rejection, variation or addition to the provisions of this RFP made by respondents shall have any effect.
Contract terms and conditions will be negotiated upon selection of the winning respondent for this RFP. All contractual terms and conditions will be subject to review by CDP’s legal department.