Job Description

Request for Proposal

Date: 05 December 2024

Hiring an agency to develop a training module on Resilient Telecom Infrastructure

1.Background

• The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is a multi-stakeholder global partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms,
• the private sector, and academic and knowledge institutions that aims to promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks in support of sustainable development.
• The vision, mission, goal, and objectives of CDRI are explicitly linked to the post-2015 development agendas. CDRI promotes its Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (DRI) mandate through knowledge exchange and bolstering technical capacities among member countries and partners through the following key Strategic Priorities: 

Advocacy and Partnerships

Research, Knowledge Management, and Capacity Development

Program Support and Technical Assistance

• Telecommunication networks are critical in supporting national and global communication, enabling emergency response, and ensuring connectivity during disasters. Ensuring resilience within telecom infrastructure is essential to reduce downtime and maintain continuity before, during, and after crises.
• This training module aims to equip telecom professionals, policymakers, and infrastructure planners with the knowledge and skills to design, implement, and maintain resilient telecom infrastructure systems. To achieve this, CDRI seeks to engage an experienced agency to design a comprehensive in-person training module on resilient telecom infrastructure.
• This Request for Proposal (RFP) is published to onboard an agency to develop a training module on Resilient Telecom Infrastructure with the following objectives 
• To develop a comprehensive course on building resilience of telecom infrastructure with specific modules and learning materials.
• To provide both engineering and non-engineering solutions to enhance the resilience of existing as well as futuristic Telecom infrastructure against natural hazards and climate change.

2.Scope of Work 

• To develop a comprehensive training module including detailed learning material for a 4-day in-person training programme. The lessons should include (and not be limited to) a solid breakdown of engineering (hard) aspects as well as ecosystem (softer) aspects of
• the first, mid, and last mile of telecom infrastructure resilience. The content will include practical examples, case studies, best practices (international/ regional), and group activities such as breakout sessions, group discussions, polls, mini-simulations, and homework for the participants.

3.Module Outline

Module 1: Introductory

• What does resilience in telecom infrastructure mean?
• Impact of Disasters and Climate change on Telecom infrastructure

Module 2: Responding to a crisis -

• Data sourcing and assessing loss and damages
• Emergency communications- Local and international partners responding to a crisis
• Restoring and rebuilding during post-crisis.

Module 3: Preparing for a crisis -

• Risk knowledge - understanding climate and hazard maps – modelling related to telecom infrastructure
• Ecosystem resilience – Telecom regulations and other relevant policies.
• Technical infrastructure standards and business continuity planning 
• Solutions for telecom infrastructure resilience – innovations, and common sense
• Key stakeholders and pre-positioning equipment

Mini- SIMEX exercise

Learning, improving, and sharing good practices

Module 4:

Funding/Financing of telecom infrastructure

Module 5:

Mainstreaming resilience in existing and new telecom infrastructure projects 

4. Content Development Methodology 

Various steps involved in content development are as under: 

Step I: Module outline as provided by CDRI as specified in section 3. 

Step II: The Agency will hold a discussion (Inception Meeting) with CDRI’s expert team to finalize the module layout indicating the table of contents, modules, sub-modules, and topics. Inputs will be provided by CDRI’s expert team on the same. 

Step III: Submission of finalized Module layout- modules, sub-modules, and topics. 

Step IV: After approval of the finalized Alpha (Draft) version of the module with content (Presentations, reading material, videos/infographics explaining technical concepts, risk assessment tools, and scenario planning exercise) will be developed and delivered by the agency.

Thereafter the Beta version of the training module will have to be submitted. This version will be checked for quality by CDRI’s expert team. This version will be subjected to feedback from technical experts and will be approved by CDRI. 

Step V: After approval of the Beta version, the final version will have to be developed and delivered by the agency after incorporating the required improvements (which may be in any area e.g. contents, presentation and technical, etc.)

observed by CDRI’s expert team. This version will be reviewed by CDRI’s expert team, in case any comment is not addressed, necessary revisions must be carried out by the agency.

5. Key competencies and skills

• Proven track record in developing training modules related to infrastructure resilience, telecommunications, or disaster management.
• Experience with similar projects for government agencies and/or international organizations.
• Capability to incorporate multimedia content (videos, simulations, interactive diagrams) for enhanced learning.
• Access to or collaboration with telecom and disaster resilience experts to ensure content accuracy and relevance.
• Ability to include up-to-date case studies, real-life scenarios, and data-driven insights.
• Flexibility to tailor content for various audiences, such as engineers, policymakers, and field technicians.
• Adherence to international standards in telecom and disaster resilience (e.g., ITU, ISO).
• Demonstrating the successful execution of similar projects.

6. Deliverables 

• Inception Report with the outline of the training module (including sub-topics)
• Completed training modules for the 4 days of in-person training, providing a detailed agenda and a rationale for the lesson flow.
• All completed lesson material including slides for the training (with high-level trainer notes), case studies, proposed group exercise formats, etc. Any Audio/Visual content to be used as a support tool and interactive training methods encouraged)
• Draft Agenda for a 4-day training.
• Complete guidelines for facilitators.
• Assessment and feedback tools.
• Participant Handbook (including the list of reading materials and documents)

Time Period

S.N.

Tasks (linked with deliverables)

Duration (90 days)

1 Inception Meeting with CDRI team and share outline of training module (including sub-topics)

15 days

2 Finalise training module layout- modules, sub-modules, and topics

10 days

3 Completed training modules & all completed lesson material including slides for the training

45 days

4 Draft Agenda for 4-day training & Complete guidelines for facilitators.

13 days

5 Assessment, Feedback Tool, and Participant Handbook

7 days

• The agencies are requested to submit their proposal through email to tender.projects@cdri.world by 23:59 hrs (IST) on 06 January 2025. Responses received after the stipulated time or not in accordance will be summarily rejected. 
• Please ensure that your proposal is sent ONLY to ABOVE MENTIONED email ID before the closing date & time. Proposals sent/copied to any other email ID (other than above) OR received after the bid closing date & time (mentioned above) will not be entertained.

For detailed information, please check the complete version of the RFP attached below.

About Company

CDRI promotes rapid development of resilient infrastructure to respond to the Sustainable Development Goals’ imperatives of expanding universal access to basic services, enabling prosperity and decent work.

All Jobs posted by: The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)