PROJECT MANAGEMENT CONSULTING SERVICES (PMCs) FOR RURAL ROADS SECTOR PROJECT 

A. Introduction 

1. The Project is intended to improve 11,000km of rural roads, divided into 5,500km in Chhattigarh (CG) and 5,500 in Madhya Pradesh (MP), to provide capacity building and training support for road asset management in the two states, and to strengthen the overall effectiveness of the national PMGSY rural roads program. A project management consultant (PMC) will assist MORD in overseeing and coordinating the work of the state implementing agencies, and implement the support for road asset management and strengthening PMGSY. Five project implementation consultants (PICs), two in CG and three in MP, will assist the state implementing agencies in preparation, supervision and monitoring of the road improvements.

2. The primary objectives of the services to be provided by the Project Management Consultant (PMC) are:
(i) Project Management Assistance:
• Assist MORD in processing subproject proposals of about 10,000 km of rural roads1 (5,000 km in each state) to be approved by ADB and to be implemented by CGRRDA and MPRRDA in the second, third and fourth batches of the road connectivity component;
• Assist MORD in management, coordination and reporting of the overall implementation of the Project;

(ii) Project Performance Monitoring:
• Assist MORD in establishing and implementing a systematic project performance monitoring (PPM) capability throughout the life of the Project, integrated with its management information system;
• Prepare a multi-year study to document the socio-economic and poverty reduction impacts of the Project rural road connectivity improvements in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

(iii) Road Maintenance Planning and Management:
• Assist MORD to identify and incorporate improvements to the PMGSY standard bidding document for construction and maintenance; 
• Develop a road asset management system to allow state level agencies to plan and monitor levels of road maintenance performed by contractors engaged under PMGSY; 
• Develop a road maintenance planning and budgeting system for Zilla (District) Panchayats;
• Assist in procurement of vehicles and equipment needed by Zilla Panchayats for managing road maintenance.

(iv) Capacity building among PMGSY stakeholders:
• Assess training needs of the engineers, policy makers and planners at state and Zilla Panchayat levels involved in implementation of the PMGSY program;
• Develop training materials and manuals;
• Prepare and organize for conducting training for engineers, consultants and contractors on implementation of the PMGSY form of contract;
• Organize training visits within India and overseas to agencies successfully implementing similar programs.

3. The services will be provided by an international consulting firm, in association with a suitable domestic consulting firm, to be appointed by MORD in accordance with ADB’s Guidelines on the Use of Consultants. The consultant will provide the staffing as indicated in paragraph 18, though in preparing their proposals the consultants may propose alternative arrangements that, in their opinion, will provide services of an equivalent quality. The final staffing will be adjusted to suit the actual procurement and implementation schedules.

4. The consultant will assist MORD in screening and processing about 10,000 km subproject proposals for submission to ADB for approval. The consultant will review the subproject proposals submitted by CGRRDA and MPRRDA to MORD, prepare recommendations for any refinements to meet ADB requirements, and prepare a checklist summarizing the eligibility, preparation status, and safeguard compliance of each subproject to be reviewed and finalized by MORD, and submitted to ADB.

5. The consultant will assist MORD in management, coordination and reporting of overall implementation of the Project. The scope of the services will include: 

(i) Reviewing the monthly progress reports submitted by CGRRDA and MPRRDA to MORD, and prepare summary quarterly progress reports to be submitted to MORD. These reports will include general description of the progress achieved in the previous quarter, explanations on stoppages or delays, measures necessary to avoid any future delays; and indication of measures required to recover any lost time in the implementation of the Project; and any adverse environmental and social impacts that occur during implementation, corrective measures taken to remedy these impacts, and the steps taken to avoid their recurrence, as required by MORD and ADB. Matters requiring action shall be clearly highlighted in the quarterly reports, which will be conveyed by MORD to CGRRDA and MPRRDA for prompt action;

(iii) Assist MORD in planning and managing the project coordination committee and other meeting as required;
(iv) Assist MORD in conducting periodic meetings and workshops in each state for CGRRDA and MPRRDA staff, PIC consultants and contractors to facilitate understanding of roles and responsibilities of the Employer, Engineer and Contractor under the PMGSY form of contract, including project planning, control and reporting requirements, environmental and social reporting requirements, and to review the development and implementation of road maintenance planning systems.

6. The consultant will: 
(i) Assist MORD in developing a system for project performance monitoring (PPM) in accordance with ADB’s Project Performance Management System Handbook, to be integrated in MORD’s management information sysytem;
(ii) In collaboration with PICs, assist in monitoring Project performance based on PPM;
(iii) Incorporate findings and supporting data in the project completion report.

7. The consultant will, aside from the monitoring under PPM, prepare a multi-year study to document the socio-economic and poverty reduction impacts of the Project rural road connectivity improvements in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. This will focus on the first annual batch of 1,000 km (174 roads), which is divided equally between Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, that will be improved during 2004 and are expected to be operational in early 2005. Baseline surveys and annual monitoring will cover the period from the early stage of implementation in 2004 up to Project completion, which is expected to be at the end of 2007. This will be based on preparation of pre-improvement baseline data for Project roads and control roads, annual updating of data, annual community consultations, community based monitoring to verify the change process due to the road improvement, and periodic preparation of reports.

8. The consultant will assist MORD in establishing the procedures, arrangements and institutional capacity of IAs and Zilla Panchayats2 to ensure the sustainability of road assets created under PMGSY over their useful economic lives. This will include assisting in establishing road maintenance budgeting, planning and management and recommending improvements to the performance based maintenance component of the PMGSY contract document. This activity will assist PIUs to manage the five-year road maintenance component of the construction contract and prepare the Zilla Panchayats to serve as strategic managers of their core rural roads networks, with detailed technical studies and supervision and all civil works outsourced to the private sector in subsequent years.

9. The Standard Bidding Document for PMGSY works contains a provision for performance-based maintenance of project roads by the contractor for five years beginning at project completion. This document defines levels of routine maintenance to be provided by the contractor and provides for monthly payments if the contractor maintains the road to the satisfaction of the Engineer. The consultant will review the maintenance provisions in the standard contract and recommend improvements for incorporation by MORD including:

(i) The definition of levels of service to be provided by the contractor;

(ii) Procedures for communication to the contractor regarding defects and required remedies;

(iii) Penalties for non-compliance and payment modalities

10. The consultant will develop a performance-based maintenance contract document for use by the Zilla Panchayats in contracting for maintenance when maintenance responsibility is transferred from the contractor to the Zilla Panchayats after the initial 5-year contract period. Proposed improvements shall be in accordance with the MORD concept of a performance-based maintenance contract utilizing simple, easy to enforce, provisions.

11. The consultant will develop a road asset management system to allow PIU engineers to plan for and monitor levels of routine maintenance performed on each contract package. The system should be a computer application utilizing commercially available software containing the following modules:

(i) A module for planning and estimating, based on an inventory of road features and defined levels of service, the types and amounts of road maintenance activities to be performed annually with estimates of monthly requirements based on climatic and other constraints;

(ii) A reporting module for recording quantities of work performed by contractors;

(iii) A monitoring module for comparing planned to actual performance.

12. The consultant will expand the road asset management system to assist Zilla Panchayats to plan and budget maintenance requirements for rural roads. The following modules for Zilla Panchayat and state level planning and monitoring will be incorporated: (i) Estimating road maintenance requirements;
(ii) Calculating budgetary requirements; 
(iii) Reporting of work quantities performed by contractors;
(iv) Monitoring of planned and actual performance and costs.

13. There is an immediate need for capacity building to upgrade the management skills of the state agencies responsible for PMGSY roads and the Zilla Panchayats that will assume responsibility for the maintenance of these roads after the initial contract period. The consultant will conduct a training needs assessment to identify:

(i) The types of training needed to upgrade management skills including course titles, curriculum and delivery mechanism; 
(ii) Institutions in India such as NITHE, CRRI, national and state level universities and international experts that are capable of delivering the courses; 
(iii) Selected courses and training manuals that can be prepared by the consultant.

14. The consultant will develop the training materials and manuals identified in the training needs assessment for preparation by the consultant.

15. The consultant will assist MORD in organizing and conducting the training:

(i) Negotiating agreements for conducting training on behalf of and under the guidance of MORD;

(ii) Identifying people to be trained, training locations and training schedule;

(iii) Conducting or organizing the conduct of training including the provision of foreign experts to conduct selected courses;

(iv) Monitoring the effectiveness of the program.

16. The consultant will assist MORD in organizing training visits within the country and overseas to observe successfully implemented rural roads programs both under PMGSY and other schemes. The consultant will:

(i) Identify successful operations and coordinate with target agencies for training visits;

(ii) Organize and secure travel arrangements and per diems;

(iii) Accompany participants as required to facilitate learning;

17. Activity 1 will extend from about November 2003 to December 2007, with most of the services being continuous. Activity 2 will extend from about November 2003 to December 2007, with most of the services being intermittent. Activity 3 and 4 will extend from about December 2003 to December 2007 with continuous services through December 2005 and intermittent services thereafter.

18. Consulting inputs, to be confirmed, will be (i) 50 person-months of a project management specialist as team leader responsible for overall management of the consulting services, 8 person-months of experts specializing in socio-economic impact monitoring, 30 person-months of a project coordinator, 24 person-months of a training coordinator and about 12 person-months of short term specialists in maintenance management, training and related fields, as international inputs, and (ii) 50 person-months of an expert with capacity building expertise, 38 person-months of experts with socio-economic survey, and about 180 personmonths of specialists with capacity building and training experience in the fields of engineering, transport economics, road safety, environment, social development/resettlement, contract management, maintenance management and other related fields, as domestic input.

19. The consultant will submit the following reports: