The South African government is seeking bids from international and domestic advisers with expertise to design, develop and implement programmes for the “procurement of energy from independent power producers (IPPs)”.

The request for proposals (RFP) has been issued by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) on behalf of the Department of Energy (DoE) and the National Treasury and appears to be the precursor to bidding processes that should extend government’s IPP procurement reach beyond renewable energy.

However, a similar RFP was released in August 2013, which failed to yield any procurement processes.

The RFP advertisement refers specifically to the December 19, 2012, determinations of the Energy Minister, which outlined South Africa’s intention to procure electricity generated from renewable-energy, gas, coal and co-generation plants, as well as hydroelectric sources in South Africa and within the region.

It also calls for specialists with the capability to design a framework for the procurement of demand side management programmes.

The determinations included IPP baseload allocations and allocations arising from the Medium-Term Risk Mitigation (MTRM) plan – both of which have been catered for under the current version of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP), which is in the process of being updated.

The DoE reports that IRP consultations with various government departments are yet to be completed and that the IRP Update will form part of an Energy Master Plan that integrates the Energy Efficiency Action Plan, the Gas Utilisation Master Plan and the Liquid Fuels Roadmap.

Under the MTRM determination, government would seek to procure 800 MW of cogeneration capacity, which could arise from biomass, industrial waste and combined heat and power sources. It also aims to secure 474 MW from natural gas projects.

Under the baseload determination, 2 500 MW has been allocated to coal-fired IPP projects, 2 652 MW to baseload and/or mid-merit natural gas capacity and 2 609 MW to domestic and imported hydro-electricity prospects.

The Minister also determined that a further 3 200 MW be procured from renewable-energy sources, increasing to 6 725 MW the amount of capacity to be purchased through the renewable energy IPP procurement programme.

The tender, which closes at 12:00 on January 20, 2015, is for “Transaction Advisors, Programme Management, Project Managers/Officers and Specialist Advisors”. Successful bidders will be included in a panel at the DBSA for the purposes of advising on IPP procurement.

Individuals and firms can bid for all, or part of, the RFP components listed in the documents, which were released on December 1.

Bidders, the DBSA said, should have experience in the procurement of IPPs, as well as knowledge and experience of public–private partnerships (PPP) and crossborder transactions.

Bidders should also have insight into global best practices relating to all the energy carriers listed, as well as demand-reduction solutions such as solar water heaters and rooftop photovoltaic facilities.

Technical, legal, financial and environmental experience in analysing, modelling and structuring of bankable IPP and PPP programmes is also emphasised, along with insight into South Africa’s public procurement and black economic–empowerment rules and stipulations.