10023631-Feasibility Study for an African Railway Competence Centre

Kurze Beschreibung

Rail transport is a key driver of economic development in Africa, addressing logistical and mobility challenges across long distances and underdeveloped infrastructure. It supports inner-city, regional, and long-distance transport - especially freight - by creating jobs, promoting economic growth along corridors, and connecting landlocked countries to seaports for international market access. Historically focused on raw material transport, modern projects now prioritize regional integration, boosting intra-African trade and economic development. Shifting from road to rail reduces costs, enhances competitiveness, and lowers CO2 emissions, fostering regional value chains.
To sustain this growth, training centers are essential. The African Development Bank"s (AfDB) 2024-2033 strategy emphasizes investing in youth skills, TVET, and leadership to transform demographic growth into economic productivity, aligning with regional integration, gender equality, and climate-resilient infrastructure. For rail, this means locally tailored, skills-based training to support technical and managerial expertise, aligning with AfCFTA and industrialization goals.
GIZ"s "Transforming Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI) Just Mobility" promotes sustainable mobility for economic and social development on behalf of BMZ and co-financed by the EU. It advises cities on climate-friendly transport, improves mobility in Yaoundé and Costa Rica, and supports urban mobility strategies via the MobiliseYourCity alliance. TUMI integrates gender equality and inclusion, ensuring equitable access to skills, employment, and private-sector cooperation in rail, addressing structural barriers.
GIZ and AfDB collaborate to build inclusive training capacities in rail transport, focusing on increasing participation of women and underrepresented groups. African countries often lack trained personnel for rail construction, operation, and management, risking dependence on foreign expertise. Rail Competence Centres, often with international partners, provide specialized training (e.g., for train drivers, technicians, and managers), ensuring local expertise for infrastructure longevity and efficiency.
A strong and growing rail sector on the African continent represents an opportunity for European companies. European companies cover the entire value chain, from large-scale turnkey projects to specialised suppliers. An industry dialogue will serve as a sounding board for this study and create dedicated business-oriented platforms for structured exchange between European and African public and private stakeholders.
This study addresses a particularly pressing challenge in the development and sustainability of railways in Africa. Specifically, this involves the implementation of
- A feasibility study on the establishment of rail transport competence centres in Africa
- the development and piloting of initial training courses on the subject of rail transport

Beschreibung der Beschaffung

The objectives of the study:
- Stakeholders that could significantly contribute to the achievement of the objectives and/or participate in an industry dialogue are identified.
- Labour market demand as well as skills gaps are assessed considering current and future skills needed for the modernisation and development of the railway network in Africa.
- The technical, financial, and operational feasibility of one or more sustainable Rail Transport Competence Centres (RCCs) in Africa is assessed including a governance model and conditions for long-term viability and development of a strategic plan considering financial and operations considerations.
- Relevant training programs and curricula across all professional qualification levels are developed or modernized.
- A strategic plan considering financial and operations considerations has been developed.
- Pilot trainings are implemented

Work Package 1: Data Collection & Market Analysis: Anticipating and Matching Skills and Jobs in the Railway Sector
Consultant shall assess African railway sector:
(a) Skills Demand - current/future workforce needs (4-15 years), including job volumes, required skills by qualification level, and necessary training/education;
(b) Skills Supply - assess available qualified workforce and analyse current/planned vocational/academic training, mapping existing providers/programs and their capacity/relevance;
(c) Skills Gaps - identify geographic, qualification-specific, institutional, and capacity-related gaps, deriving rationale for regional/sub-regional training solutions.
The methodology shall be based on ILO"s Working at Sectoral Level: Guide to anticipating and matching skills and jobs, Volume 3 (2016), using desk-based analysis, interviews, focus groups, round tables, surveys, and in-depth case studies.

Work Package 2: Pilot training courses about rail transport
Following Gap Analysis, pilot trainings (classroom/blended/online) test training models and support stakeholder engagement. They target decision-makers (strategic) and instructors (technical, prioritizing maintenance/asset management). Trainings are universal, tech-independent, with European aspects where relevant and gender-responsive: inclusive outreach, accessible formats, participation targets for underrepresented groups.
The contractor shall identify topics; develop compliant technical curriculum (train-the-trainer, study visits, African/European partners); train 20 railway operators (study visit to Europe); create online course on African railway infrastructure/ operation (TUMI platform); evaluate lessons.

Work Package 3: Regional Competence Center: Analysis & Modelling
The contractor must develop and assess three alternative models for a regional railway training structure in Africa, including regional hubs and online/blended learning. Each model must define institutional setup, governance, curriculum scope, staffing, and CAPEX/OPEX estimates, ensuring inclusive governance, gender balance, and equal access.
The contractor will define design assumptions (target groups, qualification levels, geographic scope, accessibility, alignment with AfDB/EU/Germany, language policy, digitalisation), develop three models-(a) centralized independent legal entity, (b) regional hub-and-spoke, (c) existing offers + online academy-each covering institutional setup, functional scope, delivery modes, partnerships, private sector engagement, and technical/institutional/financial/political risks, assess financial viability through a 10-year plan (CAPEX/OPEX, revenue streams, financing mechanisms, cost-effectiveness, scalability, socio-economic benefits), develop training portfolios and curricula for three priority courses (adapted international material), standardized programs/certifications, and trainer/ToT profiles, outline the centre as an innovation space for business exchange, pilot solutions, and project initiation, and conduct a comparative assessment, evaluating models against relevance, effectiveness, sustainability, scalability, and feasibility, conducting SWOT, and recommending the preferred model.

Work Package 4: Action Plan & Recommendations for the preferred model
This Work Package aims to translate the analytical findings and preferred model(s) into a practical and phased implementation roadmap. The contractor shall prepare an action plan outlining institutional, operational, financial, and governance steps required for implementation and provide clear recommendations for next steps, including preparatory actions, partnerships, and potential financing approaches.

Work packages are implemented by key experts and three expert pools that ensure strategic leadership, technical excellence, and operational flexibility.
- The Team Leader with international experience with at least 10 years of international management experience and experience in preparing analytical studies in economic policy, TVET or labour market and employment promotion
- The Institutional development and Financing with international experience that combines 10 years of professional experience in strategic and organisational development related to operation of training institutions with experience in education and training, working with the private sector and economic and financial assessments.
- Pool 1 Senior Experts in the Railway sector with international experience with 2-3 Experts with 10 years of professional experience in the railway sector and provide experience in education and training in railways, in particular technologies such as ETCS and private sector cooperation.
- Pool 2 - Short-term experts with national experience with 4-8 experts with 5 years of professional experience in labour market analysis and skills needs assessment.
- Pool 3 - Short-term experts in education and training with international experience with 4-8 experts with 5 years of professional experience in education and training.

Liste und kurze Beschreibung der Regeln und Kriterien

EN-A1: Principles for the execution of orders (Mit dem Angebot; Mittels Eigenerklärung): The eligibility criteria are not from the same category as stipulated above, as there is no suitable category.

1. Self-declaration: name of company and address, tax ID, registration and commercial register number or equivalent register in accordance with the legal provisions of the country of origin.

2. No grounds for exclusion pursuant to § 123, § 124 GWB, § 22 LkSG, EU-Russia sanctions,

3. Declaration of bidding consortium and/or declaration of Eligibility through reliance upon the capacities of other entities and or sub-contractors (if applicable) (if applicable)

Liste und kurze Beschreibung der Regeln und Kriterien

EN-B1: Technical and professional ability (Mit dem Angebot; Mittels Eigenerklärung): 1. The technical assessment is only based on reference projects with a minimum commission value of 150,000 EUR (net).
2. At least 3 reference projects in the technical field "Setting-up and/or improving Rail Training Centres" and at least 3 reference projects in the region Africa in the technical field "railways"
each in the last 36 months

Liste und kurze Beschreibung der Regeln und Kriterien

EN-C1: Economic and financial standing (Mit dem Angebot; Mittels Eigenerklärung): Average annual turnover for the last three years (last-but-four financial year can be included in case of tenders held within 6 months of end of last financial year), at least: 800,000 EUR (net).

Genaue Informationen über Fristen für Überprüfungsverfahren

According to Article 160, Section 3 of the German Act Against Restraint of Competition (GWB), application for review is not permissible insofar as
1. the applicant has identified the claimed infringement of the procurement rules before submitting the application for review and has not submitted a complaint to the contracting authority within a period of 10 calendar days; the expiry of the period pursuant to Article 134, Section 2 remains unaffected,
2. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that are evident in the tender notice are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for the application or by the deadline for the submission of bids, specified in the tender notice.
3. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that first become evident in the tender documents are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for application or by the deadline for the submission of bids,
4. more than 15 calendar days have expired since receipt of notification from the contracting authority that it is unwilling to redress the complaint.
Sentence 1 does not apply in the case of an application to determine the invalidity of the contract in accordance with Article 135, Section 1 (2). Article 134, Section 1, Sentence 2 remains unaffected.