ENERGY SECTOR TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION CHALLENGE 

(the “Challenge”)

CALL FOR PROPOSALS RULES

(the “Rules”)

 

This Call for Proposals (CFP) is sponsored by Asian Development Bank (“ADB”).

The aim of these Rules is to set out the terms and conditions governing your participation in the CFP. By participating in this CFP, you fully and unconditionally agree to comply with these Rules.  If you do not agree with any of these Rules, do not submit a Proposal. 

 

1.   CLOSING DATE AND TIME

This CFP ends on Wednesday, 27 May 2020 at 12 noon (Philippines Time = UTC+8). The CFP will be accessible 24 hours a day on the dedicated CFP website operated at https://challenges.adb.org/en/challenges/technology-innovation-challenge/ (“the Challenge website”), subject to possible IT maintenance operations. 

 

2.   AGREEING TO THE RULES

Any organization who is registered on the Challenge website and is invited by ADB to participate in the CFP ("Proposer" or “You”), is required to review and accept these Rules. By accessing and accepting these Rules, You:

• enter into a valid and enforceable contractual relationship with ADB regarding participation in the CFP. The registration and enrollment in the CFP do not set up any subordination relationship between ADB and the Proposer, and
• fully and unconditionally agree to comply with these Rules. The Proposer express their agreement by checking an online box while enrolling for the Challenge.

In the case of non-respect of these Rules, the Proposer will be immediately disqualified from the CFP and no grant will be awarded.

 

3.   REGISTRATION AND PARTICIPATION IN THE CFP

To take part in the CFP, we must receive your completed Proposal by the Closing Date and Time.

To register, the Proposer must first have created a user account on the Challenge website and must have truthfully and accurately completed the required information, answered ALL questions accurately and included all requested documents. Failure to supply any of this information may lead to disqualification. 

Any registration based on inaccurate, false or incomplete information will result in the Proposer’s disqualification. Refusing collection, recording and use of their personal data that is strictly necessary to performing the CFP will result in the Proposer’s disqualification. The Proposer is solely responsible for the information he/she provides when registering. Any intentional or non-intentional mistake, anomaly or inconsistency, regarding this information, may result in the Proposer’s disqualification. ADB reserves the right to proceed all necessary verifications regarding the Proposer’s identity, postal and/or email address.

Deletion of a Proposer’s user account on the CFP website will be deemed as a withdrawal from the CFP. In this case, the Proposer, regardless of whether the deletion results from the Proposer’s personal action or not, will not participate in the CFP, and will not obtain any compensation. 

You must also have accepted the Rules, during the creation of your user account and your registration to the CFP.

Registration for and submitting a response in the CFP is free, with no purchase or payment obligation.

 

4.   ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

There are two different types of evaluation criteria that will be used to assess your Proposal. The mandatory criteria are minimum criteria that you, your joint venture partners and subcontractors must meet for your Proposal to be considered by ADB for funding under these grants. Scored criteria are those which ADB will use to determine the likelihood that solutions and Proposers will provide the best results or impact to address the Development Challenge in one or more participating developing member country ("DMC"). 

The Proposer must be eligible to receive funding from ADB.  A summary of ADB’s eligibility rules is below:

a.   Type of Organization

Proposers may include a private entity, not-for-profit, civil society organization, government-owned enterprise, research institutions, or a joint venture entity. The Proposer must be the original owner of the Intellectual Property for the solution; or an authorized licensee, or include the owner or an authorized licensee as a joint venture participant or subcontractor.  Government-owned enterprises must be legally and financially autonomous of the government in the participating developing member country listed in Eligible Countries for which the Technology Solution is proposed and must operate under all applicable commercial law. 

b.   Incorporation or registration in an ADB eligible country

Proposers, and all joint venture partners and subcontractors constituting the Proposer, shall be organizations that are legally incorporated or registered in an ADB member country as listed in Eligible Countries.

c.   Country of Origin of materials, equipment and services 

Country of origin of materials, equipment and services must be from an ADB member country listed in Eligible Countries.

d.   No conflict of interest

Proposers shall not have a conflict of interest with a government agency in the DMC where the solution is proposed to be implemented or with ADB. Conflicts of interest may include: sharing shareholders or legal representatives; receiving a subsidy; having material information about or improperly influencing the Proposal of another Proposer, or influence over the decisions of ADB regarding this process.

e.   Apply once only

Proposers can submit one Proposal only for the Development Challenge notified by ADB following the Application Stage. (Organizations are permitted to be a subcontractor to more than one Proposer).

f.   Not sanctioned by ADB

An organization or individual shall be ineligible for funding while under temporary suspension or debarment by ADB directly, or under the Agreement for Mutual Enforcement of Debarment Decisions (which allows international financial institutions to recognize each other’s sanctions, such as those issued by the World Bank).

g.   Not sanctioned under UN Security Council rules

The government of the DMC in which the Technology Solution will be supplied has not prohibited the import of goods, contracting of works or services from that country or any payments to persons or entities in that country under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations.

h.   Changes in structure of the Proposer and its Team

Any change in the structure or formation of a Proposer after an Application submitted at the EOI Stage (including, in the case of a JV, any change in the structure or formation of any member and also including any change in any specialist subcontractor whose qualifications were considered to prequalify the Applicant) shall be subject to the written approval of ADB prior to the deadline for submission of Proposals. Any such change should be submitted to ADB not later than fourteen (14) days after the date of the Invitation for Proposals. Such approval shall be denied by ADB if the Proposer proposes to associate with a disqualified applicant or in case of a disqualified joint venture, any of its members; or, as a consequence of the change, the Proposer no longer substantially meets the eligibility criteria; or in the change may result in a substantial reduction in competition.

 

5.   PURPOSE OF THE CFP AND PARTICIPATION

The Technology Innovation Challenge

The three Development Challenges for which grant funding may be available in this Technology Innovation Challenge funding round are (collectively, the “Development Challenges”):

• Efficient Heating and Cooling Solutions
• Renewable Energy-Based Microgrids
• Artificial Intelligence for Energy Demand Management

The requirements of the Development Challenges, including the results and the impact that ADB requires, are detailed in Challenges and Results. Please ensure that your Technology Solution (the combination of equipment, software, services, methods, data, know-how and development approaches that has been proposed by a Technology Provider for use in the specified ADB DMC) meets ADB’s requirement.

The Technology Solution must be designed to achieve one or more of the results specified within the detailed Development Challenge(s) when implemented into an operational environment in the selected DMC.

 

6.    DELIVERABLES

During the CFP, Proposer may upload any documents or other materials (such as texts, presentations, videos, etc.) relating to their project to the Challenge website in response and as a solution to the Sponsor’s Challenge (the “Deliverable”).

To be eligible, Deliverables must (i) address the specific issue set out in the Brief, (ii) be in a common digital format, such as PDF, PPT, PPTX, MP4 or YouTube link and (iii) be in English and in general terms must comply with these Rules.

If a Deliverable cannot be downloaded, is not in the right format or is incompatible, illegible, or unintelligible, the Deliverable will be disqualified.

Proposers are responsible for and shall bear any costs or expenses associated with preparing and submitting Deliverables. Proposers assume all risk for damaged, lost, late, incomplete, invalid, incorrect or misdirected Deliverables.

 

7.    CFP PROCESS

ADB has completed the following stages of its Call for Proposals process: 1: Applicants expressed interest; Stage 2: ADB evaluates the Expression of Interest responses; and Stage 3: Initial Due Diligence.

Stage 4: Call for Proposals

As ADB has confirmed your application has been selected as one of the highest scoring responses following Stage 3, you are invited to provide a Proposal detailing your Technology Solution for the Development Challenge specified by ADB and associated testing to verify the results in one or more ADB DMCs.

The detailed proposal will include a comprehensive description of your Technology Solution, a project plan, a risk register identifying potential risks and mitigation, team composition, and supporting research with quantitative estimates of results. It must include a fully itemized budget with all expenditure to be shared on an open book basis and where elements are quoted at your cost, without any profit or sales margins. You will be required to share any associated data input or generated, results and reports with ADB and the selected DMC, and propose how future licensing will be provided to continue operating the Technology Solution in the selected DMC on a royalty-free basis. You will also be required to provide detailed information on how you could subsequently scale up the Technology Solution and work with local officials, regulators, commercial partners, and/or your supply chain to make the Technology Solution sustainable.

Stage 5: Evaluation of Detailed Proposals

• Mandatory Eligibility Criteria

Any Proposal that does not meet any one of the mandatory eligibility criteria will immediately be rejected and no further evaluation will be undertaken by ADB. This may include Proposals which have not included ALL the required information. Unsuccessful Applicants may request debriefing on the results of the evaluation after ADB has completed the selection.

• Scored Criteria

Where a Proposal meets our mandatory requirements, our evaluation process will be highly selective and rigorous.  The information you are required to submit in your application is directly linked to the data we wish to assess. To increase the likelihood of your application being successful, we suggest you pay more attention to the selection criteria which have higher weightings (see Section 9 below).

ADB will examine whether your team or joint venture has clear roles, responsibilities, budget and time commitments needed for the Technology Solution to be successful. Teams should be able to demonstrate strong knowledge of the problems they are addressing and what approaches are likely to work in the local environment and mitigate the risks surrounding their solution (e.g. operational, sustainability, geographical, political, or social context). ADB will consider the relevant partnerships with government, private sector, and/or community leaders in the selected DMC.

ADB seeks innovators who are committed to measuring and evaluating their own success, prepared to collect data and feedback to help inform decisions in other countries. This includes operational monitoring and evaluation, as well as impact evaluation. As innovation partners, we expect you will be open to publicly sharing relevant lessons with our team and external partners, via ADB websites, including when ADB increases the scale of implementation. We also expect you to detail how the local partners or community will benefit from ADB’s investment.

The Proposer’s team must demonstrate a strong commitment to drive the Technology Solution forward, with openness and ability to pivot or adjust their strategies as needed. At this stage, ADB will consider whether you demonstrate sufficient management, operational, financial and evaluation capabilities to scale up the Technology Solution and whether your plans and strategies are appropriate to ensure that the solution can be locally installed, operated and maintained over its intended useful life.

ADB specialists and advisors will also evaluate your detailed proposal and budget and perform detailed due diligence which may require additional information to be supplied to confirm the identity and eligibility of the Proposer and its team. Proposers will be required to send a copy of their latest independently audited annual accounts (if not already submitted), any confirmed funding, loan or investment document related to the budget, and proof of ownership or authorized license for the technology. If your organization is a start-up or has limited available funds, ADB may require a parent company or bank guarantee for advance payments, which may be called upon if the funds are not spent in accordance with the terms and conditions of the grant funding agreement.

ADB may include the following requirements: further interviews and meetings with your team, calls with references, and input from external technical experts. The proposed technology will be reviewed to determine how and whether the solution is likely to address the Technology Innovation Challenge.

ADB will seek written acknowledgment from the appropriate government agency and your local partners that they are willing to participate in the process (if this acknowledgement cannot be obtained, then your proposal may be rejected). ADB will provide further details on the due diligence process to Technology Providers who reach this stage.

If any application becomes ineligible at this point, the next highest scoring application will be considered.

Stage 6: Invitation to Negotiate

If your proposal is first-ranked and conditionally approved by an ADB selection panel, you will be invited to conclude a grant funding agreement including milestones, result metrics and the associated budget with ADB. This will include arrangements in respect of intellectual property and may include future arrangements for further scale up and implementation.  Arrangements may include licensing, assignment or transfer of the Intellectual Property in the Technology Solution, including a long term or perpetual license for any background Intellectual Property.

If negotiations are successful, then your organization will be awarded a grant of a maximum of US$0.5 million, including any associated contingency costs, towards the full cost of completing the proof of concept or pilot, performing testing to determine the solution’s impact and the attribution of your solution to the results, plus independent verification of these results. As detailed above, at least 10% of the total cost of the proof of concept or pilot must be provided by non-ADB funding.

 

8.    GRANT

ADB will provide a grant of up to US$500,000 to undertake a pilot or proof of concept of the Technology Solution and develop a Technology Solution (any and all tangible or intangible output of the actions implemented and undertaken pursuant to any grant funding provided by ADB, including any resulting data, know-how, intellectual property or other information from the use of the Technology Solution in the specified ADB DMC). All costs required to undertake the pilot/proof of concept may be charged to the grant including (but not limited to) staff/consulting cost of the grantee, equipment, travel cost, per diems, training and capacity development cost for local counterparts. Your proposal shall include the budget (and proposed methodology) for rigorous testing to verify whether the expected results have been achieved and what proportion of the results can be attributed to the Technology Solution. Any testing or verification may be required to be undertaken or witnessed by an independent, competent technical authority (the identity of which is to be agreed with ADB) to evidence that the Technology Solution has achieved its results.

Furthermore, you will be required to provide at least 10% of the total cost via your own resources or from other funders. Your contribution can be monetary or in kind (for example, equipment, travel or staff time supplied free of charge).

The recipient of the grant will receive financing from ADB toward the cost of the project named in the funding agreement. The Recipient will use the funds only for making eligible payments under the contract(s) resulting from the project for which a grant financing agreement is awarded.

A successful grant implementation may lead to a scale up of the solution with ADB loan or grant funding. ADB may require the scale up to be competitively tendered. The grantee will be eligible to participate in such tender. To guard against any unfair competitive advantage, data and reports captured and prepared under the grant may be shared will all participating bidders.

 

9.    SCORED CRITERIA

The evaluation of Proposals will be undertaken by a technical committee based on pre-agreed criteria for each Development Challenge and will include the following: 

a.   Impact

How effectively the Proposal addresses the selected development challenge.

b.   Results

The extent and reasonableness of the outputs and results that are likely to be obtained from the successful operation of the technology solution in the location and the period for which the results are likely to be sustained, including any time beyond the term of the grant financing agreement.

c.   Scalability

Proposal indicates the cost reductions, results and other benefits associated with increased deployment, and demonstrates the potential for being scaled-up in other ADB member countries with additional funding.

d.   Value for Money 

The proposed Technology Solution and its budget are acceptable, represent value for money for ADB and the relevant DMC, create relevant and meaningful impact in relation to the level of the grant, and will be sufficient to implement, test and verify the results of the Technology Solution.

e.   Project Team

The Proposer, its Joint Venture partners and subcontractors have the necessary skills, experience and ownership rights to successfully implement the Project, modify the technology solution, and attain the expected results.

f.   Local Partnerships

The Proposal and the outputs from the grant are likely to be acceptable to the community, government or relevant regulators in the location. It includes local partnerships in the DMC of choice for implementation and sustainability of the results. Furthermore, the long-term (potential) benefits of the Technology Solution to local business/communities are considered. This may include shared intellectual property rights with Governments and/or local business/communities, capacity development of local partners, continuing revenues or other benefits.

g.   Risk

The Proposer has demonstrated that it has sufficient finances, funding or guarantees to sustain the project through the term of the grant funding agreement. The Proposal contains a project plan and risk register with suitable mitigation or treatments which clearly identified the most likely risks to effective implementation and the achievement of the expected results. The Proposal ensures there is minimal involuntary resettlement, negative impact on the environment or indigenous peoples, and minimal health and safety risks.

The weightings indicated below are the proportion of the total score which will be allocated to each criterion when evaluating the Proposals.

Criterion and Weighting of Total Score

• Impact (20%)
• Results (20%)
• Scalability (15)
• Value for Money (15%)
• Project Team (10%)      
• Local Partnerships (15%)
• Risk (5%)

 

10.    COMMUNICATION

ALL enquiries on the Technology Innovation Challenges or the CFP process for the grants MUST be emailed to ADB using the email address: HLTgrants@adb.org. No other ADB staff or DMC staff are authorized to comment on this process.

The questions and answers for all queries related to this CFP document and process will be shared with all potential Proposers. Therefore, please do not share any confidential information or information which could indicate your identity in your question.

ADB has published some Frequently Asked Questions. Please check this page before submitting an enquiry.

 

11.    LEGAL AND COMMERCIAL ASPECTS OF THE TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION CHALLENGE GRANT

After the Call for Proposals stage, ADB intends to award a grant funding agreement which will be made available and you will be notified by email within the Proposal time. You may provide ADB with comments on the terms and conditions of this agreement as part of your Proposal. 

ADB reserves the right to accept or reject any Proposal, and to annul the CFP process and reject all Proposals at any time, without thereby incurring any liability to Proposers.

The Proposer shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of its Proposal, and ADB shall in no case be responsible or liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the CFP process.

The Proposal, as well as all correspondence and documents relating to the CFP exchanged by the Proposer and ADB, shall be written in the English language. Supporting documents and printed literature that are part of the Proposal may be in another language, provided they are accompanied by an accurate and complete translation of the relevant passages into the English language, in which case, for purposes of interpretation of the Proposal, the translation shall govern.

Proposer may be requested to provide the following documents after the CFP selection:

1. Documentary evidence establishing the Proposer’s eligibility,
2. Documentary evidence establishing the Proposer’s financial position and capacity (including any parent organization),
3. Documentary evidence establishing the Proposer’s qualifications,
4. Documentary evidence establishing the Proposer’s right to provide, modify and distribute the technology solution,
5. Bank or parent company guarantee (if selected to be awarded a grant funding agreement),
6. Any other document required as specified in this Call for Proposals.

Some additional information on the proposed legal aspects of the grant selection and contract award process is below.

 

12.    ADB’s RIGHTS TO PUBLISH AND REPORT ON ITS PROJECTS 

ADB requires the rights necessary to share knowledge related to innovations developed and funded via a Technology Innovation Challenge grant. This includes the right to publish and report on the pilot or proof of concept of the Technology Solution and the Technology Solution. If you are selected to receive a grant, this will require you to confirm the following to ADB and the selected DMC:    

• the rights to publish the results of the pilot or proof of concept of the Technology Solution and implementation and/or operation of the Technology Solution via any means (e.g., electronic, oral, written, etc.); and
• the rights to use and share any data or Results supplied or collected during the pilot or proof of concept of the Technology Solution and implementation and/or operation of the Technology Solution, such as data captured on energy usage.   

 

13.    INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

If you are selected to receive a grant, you will be required to confirm that:

• You have the necessary rights to all Technology Solutions described in your CFP, including without limitation all Background (any data, know-how, intellectual property or other information, whatever its form and whether tangible or intangible, that is held by you before receiving any grant from ADB and that is necessary to implement and undertake actions related to the technology solution) and any device or process necessary to make, use or sell such Technology Solutions existing at the time of your Proposal submission;
• You will provide a royalty-free license to the participating DMC(s) to operate the Technology Solution and/or Technology Solution (as applicable) for a mutually agreed period of operation beyond the pilot/proof of concept period. The term and extent of this license will be agreed concurrently with the Grant Funding Arrangement; and
• You will defend and hold ADB and its  participating DMC(s) harmless from all costs and expenses related to any suit, claim or proceeding brought against ADB or its participating DMC(s) based on any claim that the Technology Solution or Technology Solution, in whole or in part, as well as any device or process necessarily resulting from the use thereof, constitutes an infringement of any patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret or other intellectual property right of any third party.   

Detailed provisions for use and ownership of intellectual property will be confirmed within the grant funding agreement.

 

14.    CONFIDENTIALITY

Without prejudice to the rights of ADB and its participating DMCs as described in this Invitation to Submit an Expression of Interest, during this CFP process and for four (4) years after ADB issues a grant or denial of the Proposal, ADB shall keep confidential any and all data, documents or other material submitted in response to this Call for Proposals, in whatever manner disclosed (e.g., oral, written or otherwise) that is identified as confidential at the time that it was disclosed.