• Study and specifications of a community shared electric vehicles system on Iles aux Moines, France
• Study to set up a community renewable energy production scheme on Inishbofin, County Galway, Ireland

Request for Quotation:

                               Request Issued                                                   – 6 August 2021

                               Closing date for receipt of quotation         – 20 August 2021

                               Contracting Organisation                               – European Small

Islands Federation

                               Queries by email to                                          – rhoda@esin.ngo

1. Background and framework

1. European Small Islands Federation (ESIN)

ESIN is a not-for-profit organisation registered in Sweden. It is the voice of islanders and small islands. Its main objective is to help small island communities remaining alive. To this end, ESIN acts at two levels:

• Local level: ESIN aims to strengthen islands’ cultural identity, facilitating the circulation of information between its members. It allows comparison on how different countries cope with issues and it gives support to each other through the sharing of knowledge.
• European level: ESIN also aims to inform relevant EU institutions and influence EU policies and rules by increasing awareness and understanding of small islands issues.

1.2 Context

In support of this objective, ESIN has secured an EU grant through the NESOI project (nesoi.eu), to help two (2) small island members of ESIN to advance their clean energy transition, through studies of specific sustainable energy projects of interest, as identified by key stakeholders. These two (2) small islands which will get a NESOI grant through ESIN are Iles aux Moines (France) and Inishbofin (County Galway, Ireland).

The consultants that will be chosen for the development of these studies will work closely with:

• ESIN, its energy working group, community engagement experts and the project coordinator that will be appointed by ESIN
• consultants that will be appointed by the NESOI project to conduct a preliminary analyses on specific project ideas or areas of interest for each of the 2 islands

1. The islands concerned

1.3.1 Iles aux Moines, France

Iles aux Moines is located at 0.3 nautic miles off the coast of mainland Brittany, France. It is 5km long with an area of 3.2 km2 and densely populated (around 200/km²). It has 620 (2019) permanent inhabitants and 4 500 at summertime, while the annual number of visitors ranges from 400 000 to 450 000.

The ferry crossing to the island takes 10 minutes and there are 20 scheduled itineraries/day in winter time.

The number of cars on the island is estimated to 160 and is increasing, despite its small size, as many inhabitants want to have a car on the island. The only taxi on the island will soon retire. The number of scooters and motorcycles is unknown but could be estimated at 250. This number has been highly increasing in the past 3 years.

A list and roles of the island stakeholders that have interest in the clean energy transition and who are likely to be involved in the specific projects development are:

• Local municipality
• Local taxi company
• Local services (health, local shops, bicycle hire companies, port authority,
• intercommunity of which the municipality is a member (in charge of public transport on the mainland)
• police local authority 
• local NGO’s

1.3.2 Inishbofin, Ireland

Inishbofin lies seven miles or a 35-minute ferry trip off Galway’s coast. The island is 5.7km by 4km. The main activities on the island are tourism, farming and fishing. There are five townlands, West Quarter, Fawnmore, Middle Quarter, Cloonamore and Knock with approximately 175 inhabitants in total. However, around 40 000 visitors visit the island every year mainly between June – August and many have permanent holiday homes on the island. The predominant heating system on the island households and businesses is oil and the island is connected to the mainland with a cable which provides all required electricity at the moment (operated by ESB). Only a few of the island households have heatpumps or solar panels, and all cars on the island are diesel cars as it’s the only fuel distributed on the island.

Main facilities on the island include: 3 hotel / restaurants, 2 restaurants (one of them serve as a food truck/bus), restaurant/pub, hostel & camp site, 3 B&B’s, 38 self catering cottages, 34 holiday homes, post office, small shop, large community centre, small museum / shop, primary school and a health clinic.

Most year round employment is through private business and state funded (tourism, building, private enterprise, state funded schemes, Galway County Council) as Inishbofin has a large tourism sector. The tourism sector is by far the largest earner for the Island. Farming is still widely practiced on the Island with over 35 herd/flock owners registered. Fishing has declined severely over the last 25 years with the island fleet standing at one half decker and 4 registered currachs. Inishbofin has a good internal infrastructure of roads, water mains, electricity, broadband and phone. Employment is seasonal for the tourism sector and the fishing usually starting in March until October.

Inishbofin Development Company CLG works to improve the quality of life by the development and provision of support and services to address disadvantage, social exclusion and isolation by providing information, advice and facilities as well as improving the socio-economic, economic, educational, infrastructure, environmental, arts, cultural, heritage and administrative requirements of the island. IDCL office has a staff of two including the Project Co-Ordinator and the office Administrator.

Inishbofin is a site of geological heritage importance as Geological Natural Heritage Area and is designated a Special Area of Conservation under EU Habitats Directive as well as being proposed a Natural Heritage Area for biodiversity reasons. Some parts of the island are also designated as Special Protection Area under the EU Birds Directive for Corncrake.

A list and roles of the island stakeholders that have interest in the clean energy transition and who are likely to be involved in the specific projects development are:

• Inishbofin Development Company CLG, core funded by the Department of Rural and Community Development
  • Office staff: Community Development Coordinator & Administrator
  • Island Creche
  • Voluntary board of 7 islanders
  • 99 members (islanders)
• Community Services Programme Ltd, a social enterprise core funded by Pobal
• Island primary school
• Island health clinic
• Island businesses
• Comhar na n’Oilean
• Department of Rural and Community Development
• Galway County Council
• Failte Ireland

• Objective of the Request to Quotations

The objective of this Request for Quotations is to identify suitably qualified and experienced External Advisors to carry out the necessary analyses and study the key project that has been identified by each of the two small islands. ESIN will award one contract for each study, hence two (2) contracts in total. Interested External Advisors can submit a bid for one or an individual bid for each of the two (2) contracts. The work should facilitate community building and consensus within each island community and be carried out in close cooperation with the respective island community and stakeholders, as per the requirements, and responsibilities outlined in Section 3 below and the objective and specifications outlined in Sections 4 and 5 below, respectively.

• Requirements and External Advisor’s Responsibilities

Through each awarded contract, each appointed External Advisor will be required to develop a study for one (1) key project of interest of one of the two (2) small islands.

Each study should be delivered in no more than 9 months from the initial appointment to delivery. A contact person per island, as well as the project coordinator and any other physical or legal person that will be appointed by ESIN, will be available to assist with queries during the process.

Each External Advisor should submit to ESIN an interim report on month 4, describing the progress of the work, and a final report on month 9. ESIN will provide templates for the interim and final report. Each selected external advisor will be invited to issue a first invoice after the approval by NESOI of the interim report and a second invoice after the approval by NESOI of the final report.

Each External Advisor should cooperate and coordinate with the consultants that will appointed by the NESOI project and who will also carry out a preliminary analysis for the same key project for each of the two (2) islands.

The External Advisors should mind that ESIN, being a Federation of small islands across many countries, wishes that the study that will be conducted for each island within this project should also:

• further strengthen knowledge sharing among its members
• help build capacity on each of the two (2) islands, and
• eventually create future cooperation opportunities among its small island-members

There may be a possibility of holding a capacity building workshop on the island of Samsø, Denmark, in support of the community engagement process for the clean energy transition on the four (4) islands that participate in the NESOI project through ESIN, which the External Advisors would be invited to attend at their own expenses on an optional basis.

• Objective of the studies and specifications

Iles aux Moines:

The island’s primary focus in this study is green mobility with:

• Social study to identify brakes to development of shared Electric Vehicles
• Strategy to reduce number of thermic vehicles replaced by Electric Vehicles
• Development of Electric Vehicles common transport (taxis or equivalent) on the island

In addition, issues that may also require consideration during the next steps towards the island’s green mobility goal are:

• Adaptation of EV insurance to shared and/or multi owned Electric Vehicles
• Development of Photovoltaics to produce green electricity & for specific Electric Vehicles sockets
• Specific local regulations to favour the use of Electric Vehicles locally

Within this context, the island’s municipality aims to reduce the number of private conventional cars that come and circulate on the island. Its vision is to implement a community shared electric vehicles system, which will include the only taxi, for which the idea is to replace it with a clean vehicle and improve the service. The electric vehicles will be charged by smart charging stations powered by renewable energy, e.g. from photovoltaics on public buildings rooftops.

The island’s municipality has decided to buy a clean (electric) vehicle for heavy goods transportation. This specialized car owned by the municipality will be available to the residents for short term lease, against a small fee, in order to carry goods, for instance from the harbour to their homes or from their homes to local recycling centers, instead of using private cars.

The goal of the study is to identify and suggest the best reservation system in terms of simplicity and user friendliness, cost, etc,. and to identify and solve some problems such as insurance, responsibilities, periods of availability, etc.. The solution that will be proposed should be widely acceptable by the island community and stakeholders.

The External Advisor should take into account that other islands within the Iles du Ponant archipelago with the same situation could benefit from this project (islands without cars or with a car-ferry are not concerned), such as île d‘Arzîle, île d’Yeu, île de Batz, île de Bréhat.

Inishbofin:

Inishbofin island is almost entirely dependent on fossil energy sources and the island doesn’t have any energy production of its own. Ireland has long been  a net energy importer (85% imported in 2015) though situation has seemed to improve, has one of EUs highest prices on electricity and only 30 % of gross electricity consumption is generated by renewable energy sources. In order to reach goals set by i.e.  the UN SDSs, goals which are important especially for island communities, there is a great need for a transition to renewable energy, a higher level of energy self-sufficiency and lowering the risk of power cuts as well as energy expenses.

What is more, unemployment and economic deprivation are important issues to island communities, and there is a great need to create full-time as well as part-time employment and lower the costs of living on an island. Energy and food production are the key sectors where Inishbofin and island communities in general can well be self-sufficient and decrease the dependency on imported commodities – and even become an exporter. Besides the positive environmental impacts, this is of high value for fighting against population decline, as it can have a substantial positive social and economic impact on the island community.

At the moment a Masterplan is being conducted and will analyse the potential of renewable energy resources and projects, such as Building mounted solar PV, Solar Farm, Commercial Wind Turbines, Wave Energy, Bioreactor for biomethane. The Masterplan will include the following sections:

Through this study and based on the findings of the Masterplan, Inishbofin would like to further explore the feasibility of a community renewable energy production scheme, which in big parts could possibly be owned by island residents. The aim of this project and expectations towards the chosen External Advisor is to help the community to take the first real steps in implementing the Masterplan and becoming more energy self-sufficient while cutting down emissions. The possibility to become an energy exporter should not be excluded. The solutions and actions that will be proposed should be widely acceptable by the island community and stakeholders. A more detailed Project Plan will be agreed upon together when the project starts, based on the findings of the Masterplan.

• Specifications

The External Advisors’ work should be informed and guided by each island local community, under the leadership of a local steering committee or working group. It is expected that an appropriate level of engagement and consultation with the island communities and key stakeholders will take place to help understand the needs and capabilities of the community and lead to local engagement. It is expected that the External Advisor for each island is fluent in the official language of the respective country.

It should also include a summary of financing and ownership options (including community ownership) for the implementation of the project that the quotation concerns.

External Advisors are asked to provide the hourly fee for each expert and their estimated input in the project in working days, as well as an hourly fee for any possible additional work.

• Budget

The available budget per contract that will be awarded, which corresponds to one study for one of the two (2) small islands, is eight thousand (8 000) euros. 

• Evaluation criteria

The External Advisor(s) will be selected on the basis of the most economically advantageous tender.

The following evaluation criteria will be applied for the award of each of the contracts:

Criteria	Maximum Evaluation Points
Demonstrated understanding of the requirements	30
Proposed methodology	30
Demonstrated skills and ability to deliver the specified required services	30
Price	10
Total Evaluation Points Available	100

For full transparency and clarity, please note the scoring mechanism and rationale that will be used:

Score	Interpretation
30 (100% of the marks)	Excellent response that fully meets or exceeds specification and provides comprehensive and convincing assurance that the Tenderer will deliver to an excellent standard.
24 (80% of the marks)	A very good response that demonstrates real understanding of the specification and provides convincing assurance that the Tenderer will deliver to a very good or high standard.
18 (60% of the marks)	A satisfactory response which demonstrates a reasonable understanding of specification and gives reasonable assurance of delivery to an adequate standard but does not provide sufficiently convincing assurance to award a higher mark.
12 (40% of the marks)	A response where reservations exist.  Lacks detail and does not provide confidence that the required services will be successfully delivered.
6 (20% of the marks)	A response where serious reservations exist.  This may be because, for example, insufficient detail is provided or the response has fundamental flaws or is seriously inadequate or seriously lacks detail with a high risk of non-delivery.
0	No response or partial response only and poor evidence provided in support of it, failure to meet the specification.

The quotation must include all costs including all possible expenses.

Any External Advisor being considered for appointment will be responsible for having valid tax clearance certificates and evidence of sufficient relevant insurance. Quoters should declare, as part of their tender, that these will be available if requested.

ESIN is not bound to accept any quotation that it receives and may terminate the selection process at any time.