Preliminary Assessment of Chemical Contamination of the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan Province

　

1. Background
2. Objective
3. Scope of the work
4. Outputs
5. Qualifications
6. Deliverables

1. Background
　

A catastrophic earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale jolted Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi Provinces of China at 14:28 on May 12, 2008. Global Environment Facility (GEF) quickly offered a willingness of assistance to China on the Sichuan Earthquake soon after the main tremor on May 12, 2008. In response, Foreign Economic Cooperation Office (FECO) of Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) identified a medium-sized project (MSP) for biodiversity conservation and another medium-sized project for preliminary assessment of chemicals related environmental issues. As the two projects were proposed for emergency response, GEF decided to follow exceptional procedures to expedite the review and approval process: i) no separate Project Identification Form (PIF), but joint PIF/MSP submission, and ii) 5 days circulation for comments among Council members.

FECO identified United Nations Development Program (UNDP) as the Implementing Agency for the biodiversity conservation project and the World Bank for the chemicals project. Both FECO and their international counterparts have agreed a very tight schedule to complete the project proposals and start the implementation earliest possible. For the case of the World Bank, it tentatively decided to complete the 1st draft circulated for review by June 7, 2008, finish internal review within the Bank before June 18, obtain GEF CEO¨s endorsement before June 27, and formally start the implementation before the end of June.

Development of an entire package of project documents for a GEF medium sized project generally takes a time-consuming process to collect data and information, carry out extensive stakeholder consultations, design technical assistance components and a project management structure, develop a monitoring and evaluation plan, make incremental reasoning, and make a practical budget plan. As an international project management entity, FECO sets up standard rules and procedures to recruit external consultants to provide professional assistance during the whole project preparation process.

EnviSolve was entrusted to deliver the services needed for the preparation of the chemicals related GEF medium-sized project with the World Bank in an exceptionally tight schedule.

2. Objective
　

To assist FECO to prepare a GEF medium sized project on preliminary assessment of chemical contamination of the Wenchuan Eearthquake in Sichuan Province for GEF CEO¨s endorsement within high constraint of time and high demand of quality.

3. Scope of the work
　

EnviSolve will undertake the following activities:

1. Communicate and consult international and domestic stakeholders, including the GEF, World Bank, FECO, and Sichuan Environmental Protection Bureau to identify the project scope and needs;
2. Collect and compile general information about the earthquake and specific actions taken by the country in emergency response, particularly those actions taken by the MEP and local environmental protection bureaus;
3. Justify the needs of a preliminary assessment of chemical contamination;
4. Design the technical assistance components, outcomes, outputs and activities with detailed budget as well as SMART indicators for monitoring and evaluation, following relevant templates of GEF and the World Bank;
5. Design a project management structure, and determine procedures of procurement according to relevant domestic and World Bank rules;
6. Draft TORs for all subcontracts and individual consultants following relevant templates for clearance by the World Bank;
7. Receive comments from all sides and finalize the Request for CEO Approval and Project Document; and
8. Make responses to comments that may come up from the STAP, other Implementing Agencies, and Council members.

4. Outputs
　

The consultant/firm is expected to deliver the following outputs:

1. First draft of the PIF, the Request for CEO Approval and the Project Document by combining results from a to e;
2. TORs for subcontracts and individual consultants after completing f;
3. Second draft of the PIF, the Request for CEO Approval and the Project Document by combining results from a to g; and
4. Written responses to comments from the STAP, other Implementing Agencies, and Council members.

5. Qualifications
　

EnviSolve possesses the following competitive qualifications to undertake the above activities:

• Having strong background in sound chemicals management and environmental risk assessment, team members with master¨s degrees or Ph.D in relevant fields;
• Familiar with GEF funding policies and international environmental conventions;
• Having successful experience in development and implementation of GEF projects;
• Ability of effective communication and consultation; and
• Excellent oral and written skills of English and Chinese.

6. Deliverables

We will provide the links to download the project documents when they are made available for free download from GEF's website after the CEO endorsement.