Development of Regional Certification Scheme’s Website

Background

For successful RE and EE installations and projects, there is a need for quality assurance at various levels. This includes quality assurance of equipment e.g. through the establishment and enforcement of product standards. However, high-quality products will only provide the desired services if RE and EE systems are designed, installed and maintained by highly qualified individuals. As such, ECREEE in cooperation with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and other partners initiated the establishment of a Regional Certification Scheme (RCS) in 2015 for member states. The RCS is based on a Job-Task-Analysis (JTA) and initially focusing on certifying the competencies and skills of off-grid photovoltaic systems technicians but will gradually covers other RE and EE professions. By certification of skills, there is a reassurance that a technician/professional has the competencies required to complete a job safely and effectively. Lastly, certification requires (i) regular training that forces the practitioner to stay current, and (ii) work on multiple types of jobs, learn new skills, and network with peers.

The RCS will provide quality credentialing for practitioners who will participate and be successful in these competency-based examinations. These credentials will be recognized in all ECOWAS Member States and promote mobility of these Certified Sustainable Energy Practitioners (CSEP). Again, in order to strengthen the reputation of the Scheme at the regional level, ECREEE as the Regional Certification Body will seek accreditation to the international standards such as ISO/IEC 17024:2012 norm “Conformity assessment – General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons”. Persons who want to acquire these credentialing of the RCB must meet all the requirements set by the Scheme and pass the regional competency-based examinations that will be hosted by selected Partner Examination Centres (PEC) in each member state. Inexperienced persons that want to be certified will be trained in Partner Training Centres (PTC) selected by the RCB.

Objectives

The overall objective of the regional certification programme is to support the development of renewable energy (RE) markets in the ECOWAS region by improving the skills of RE professionals and credentialing through a regional certification system, which is to be based on unified and harmonized technical guidelines (JTA) for each target group and skills level.

Required Tasks

The first phase of this programme aims to carry out this required task for the operationalisation of the RCS first for installers of off-grid solar PV systems. As such, ECREEE and GIZ hereby call for applications from interested parties to provide the following service:

• Development of website and content, logos and image, including, brochures and communication tools charts for sub-hosting by ECREEE’s parent website.
• Development of an interface for online exam practising, receiving applications, locating a Certified Practitioners and Partner Training and Examination Institutions.
• Provide 3 language options (English, French and Portuguese) for the website with different ECREEE themes meeting the criteria below.

Scope of the Requested Service

1. Create the logos for the ECSES Body and images to be implemented in the ECSES website and external communication tools (e.g. social media, conference materials, publications) to be validated by the ECREEE (Guideline in the Annex).
2. Design of the ECSES Body’s website respecting other implementing partners’ Communication and Visibility (e.g. IRENA, GIZ).
3.   Design and develop the structure of the website, taking into account that it shall:

• be interactive, appealing, highly user-friendly and responsive,
• have an attractive design,  a smart functional structure layout similar to ECREEE’s website,
• have a load-time that is averagely reasonable and render appropriately on a wide variety of different browsers, optimized for smartphones, and remote places (low connection),
• have database and content management option that permits edit and update of content including the ability to create, remove and publish new content.
• have flexible navigation, user friendly search function to locate PTC,  PEC and CESP on ECOWAS map,
• have a database interface that is easy to update and shows the list of PTC,  PEC and CESP,
• have an interface for exam practising and show schedule exam dates & count down time,
• have an interface for receiving application and candidates sending automatic message,
• have Social Network Integration and Site Statistics/Management Reports.

4. Propose synthetic structure and main functions (users interface, admin access rights, etc.).
5. Create the contents (in collaboration with the ECREEE) for the interface pages.
6. Make recommendations for backup/restore plan.
7. Testing and online development, followed by distance training via skype of ECREEE Officer on website maintenance and content update.
8. Design and establish anti-hacker and antivirus plan for the ECSES Body website.

Features of the website

1. English, French and Portuguese versions are required.

Websites content shall include the following types:

• Home page, containing:
  • Final logo of ECOWAS Sustainable Energy Certification Body (ESECB) and ECREEE/ECOWAS/ cooperate images
  • About ECSES Body
  • Membership and benefits
  • Certified and Registered Locator
  • Get Certified
  • Practice Exams
  • Exams and Training Centres
  • Be involved or a Sponsor
  • Resources
  • Technical Committee members
  • Upcoming Exam and Event
•  About ECSES Body section, containing:
  • Description of program’s  rationale, activities and achievements,
  • Name and logo of the Sponsors and partners involved, plus a subpage containing description, contacts and link to the website for each of them
• Membership and Certification, containing:
  • Become a member
  • Renew membership
• Certified and Registered Locator, containing:
  • Find a Certified
  • Find a Centre
• Get Certified , containing:
  • How to Apply
  • Select a programme
    • Solar PV Technician(off-grid/ grid-connected/ mini-grid)
    • Solar Heating Installer (ECOWAS Certification yet to come)
    • Small Wind Installer (ECOWAS Certification yet to come)
    • Energy Manager  (ECOWAS Certification yet to come)
    • Lead Energy Auditor (ECOWAS Certification yet to come)
• Practice Exams, containing:
  • Description of ECSES practice exams and duration
  • Provide a link to take an online practice exam
• Registered Exams and Training Centres, containing:
  • Register as Partner Training Centre
  • Register as Partner Training Centre
• Be a Sponsor, containing:
  • ECSES Fundraising Program
  • Sponsorship Program (Platinum, Gold, silver, Bronze, Green Sponsor)
• Resources , containing:
  • Professional Resource Guide (sort by name, date, topic)
  • Fundamental ECSES working documents (JTAs, Guidelines, brochures) download function for all the resource uploaded in the website
• Technical Committee members , containing:
  • Containing role in the programme, brief bios and contacts
  • TOR of Technical Committee
• Upcoming Exam and Event Calendar, containing:
  • Schedule of upcoming examinations in member states
  • Activities achieved and upcoming events (workshops, seminars, meetings, conferences, photo and video gallery as subpage of the “events” page
•    Contacts containing:
  • General email contacts (certification@ecreee.org)
  • Link to social media accounts
• Additional web pages / features might be necessary as it seems necessary along the website development

Profile of Tenders

The bidder should have experience in providing website that meets the criteria listed above, with maximum protection.

Proposal and Deadline

Send your technical and financial proposal as separate files to tender[a]ecree.org and copy

mmodjinou[a]ecreee.org; jbarbosa[a]ecreee.org; jbarros[a]ecreee.org; Ibrahim.soumaila[a]giz.de before 9 Nov,