Provision of Professional Services to develop a Digital Tool to assist Local Governments in South-East Asia to Monitor and Visualize Plastic Waste Leakages into the Marine Environment

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) is implementing a new project known as Closing the Loop (https://www.unescap.org/projects/closing-the- loop/). The project aims to reduce the environmental impact on cities in South East Asia from plastic waste pollution and leakage into the marine environment. An important component of the project is the development of an innovative, customised, and open-source digital tool to monitor and visualize plastic waste leakage in a city with a view to: i) improving the identification of plastic waste generation hot spots; ii) identifying points where plastic waste is entering in water streams and iii) improving waste management at the municipal level to prevent plastic waste from entering water streams and the ocean. The project is expected to be completed in March 2021.

The project’s geographical scope and scale will target a functional urban area at the catchment level, partnering with the following four local governments in South East Asia: Surabaya, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand; and Da Nang, Viet Nam. Intermediate cities within the common catchment area to these cities may also be engaged in developing the project’s outputs.

UNESCAP is searching for vendors with proven knowledge and experience in integrated urban development, innovative technology solutions, circular economy and waste management to develop and deploy a digital tool for the detection and mapping of plastic waste hotspots along and in rivers and waterways and support the capacities of the participating local governments in applying the tool as one input which support the prioritisation of strategic urban interventions toward a more sustainable and circular waste management systems. Complete terms of references will be available at the request for proposals stage.

In addition to the digital tool provider, a separate partner has been selected to support on local engagement and capacity building around city action planning and policy development within the four cities. It is envisioned that the digital tool provider will collaborate closely with this partner.

Vendors must review the specific requirements in the following section and are invited to submit an EOI for the services specified. The vendor should share relevant documentation pertinent to the development of this tool with their response to this EOI, to share information on appropriate methodologies, approaches and technology options for the development of the digital tool. Vendors may associate to enhance their qualifications.