Tuesday, 02 April 2019
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Supply Chain Strategic Focus Area

Advance the Market Availability of Solar Energy Harvest Control-Equipped Cold Chain Equipment

Date of notice: April 1, 2019

 

Summary: Manufacturers of World Health Organization (WHO) Performance, Quality and Safety (PQS) prequalified solar direct drive (SDD) appliances that can be coupled with a market-ready energy harvest control (EHC) option are invited to apply for new product field evaluation support. Selection of participants will be limited to funding available in 2019 with selection priority as follows:

  1. WHO PQS prequalified SDD and WHO PQS prequalified EHC; followed by:
  2. WHO PQS prequalified SDD and EHC with evidence of WHO PQS compliance; followed by:
  3. WHO PQS prequalified SDD and market-ready (i.e., post prototype) EHC.

Application deadline: May 1, 2019, at 17:00 Pacific Daylight Time (Seattle time)

Awards decision target date: May 15, 2019

SDD + EHC shipping date (by manufacturers): July–August 2019

Project completion target date: March 30, 2020

1.0 Goals and objectives

The primary goal of Energy Harvest Field Evaluation Support (“the Project”) is to advance the availability and uptake of WHO PQS prequalified Energy Harvest Control (EHC) systems coupled to WHO PQS prequalified vaccine refrigerators, water-pack freezers, and combined vaccine refrigerator/ice pack freezers.

It has now been demonstrated that solar direct drive (SDD) appliances coupled with an EHC can meet WHO prequalification requirements for safely harvesting excess SDD electrical energy and provide it for other health facility uses. There is interest in market development support to accelerate uptake of EHC systems. Energy harvesting is a new technology requiring technical support for immunization stakeholders to utilize appropriately. Also, as a new technology, WHO requires manufacturers to pass both a laboratory test and field evaluation for full prequalification. The field evaluation aspect is a newer WHO PQS requirement with significant cost to manufacturers and is an obstacle to market entry.

To support the goal of advancing the availability and uptake of WHO PQS-prequalified EHC systems, Gavi has funded PATH to: (1) provide technical assistance to immunization stakeholders including Gavi, WHO, UNICEF, and national immunization decision makers on EHC-equipped SDDs and (2) provide support to competitively selected SDD manufacturers for fulfilling the WHO PQS field evaluation requirement. This Project will assess EHC and SDD technical performance, user acceptability, and system fit per WHO PQS field test requirements, including submitting a field evaluation to WHO PQS. PATH will be working with Sunny Day LLC, owned by Steve McCarney, as part of the Project.

2.0 Project roles and responsibilities

Manufacturers will be required to apply per this invitation, and provide two complete SDD + EHC system kits including solar power system and any energy consuming loads (e.g., lights) included in, or loads recommended for use with, their kit. The manufacturers must provide the kits free of charge and delivered duty free (Incoterm DDF) to the PATH country office in Senegal, where Round One has been successfully completed. The kits are to include the minimum WHO PQS warranty requirements and will become the property of the host country at the conclusion of the Project, including transfer of warranty provisions to host country.

Performance monitoring plan and monitoring equipment will be designed, provided, and installed by the Project in consultation with manufacturers. Installation of the SDD system including solar array will be by the manufacturer’s service provider (preferably located in Senegal or the West African region) and their costs will be covered by the Project. The Project and Project consultants will supervise all installation activities. Performance data will not be made public; however, it will be reported to WHO PQS, Gavi, UNICEF Supply Division, the manufacturer, and the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (MOHSA) of the host country, Senegal.

The Project will:

  1. Coordinate with the Senegal MOHSA to arrange for necessary approvals, including of sites and in-country partners.
  2. Coordinate with PATH office in country to support field evaluation.
  3. Review, comment, and approve project plan and field evaluation criteria.
  4. Communicate with SDD EHC manufacturer(s).
  5. In consultation with manufacturers, select and provide necessary health facility structural and electrical upgrades, loads, and monitoring devices.
  6. Develop evaluation protocol and obtain necessary research ethics approvals, at PATH and in-country.
  7. Coordinate all field evaluation requirement aspects with WHO PQS.
  8. Provide pre-installation site assessments, installation, and post installation support to service provider.
  9. Monitor field evaluation progress and data collection.
  10. Analyze and report field evaluation data.
  11. Review, comment on, and approve final reports to WHO PQS.
  12. Protect all qualitative and quantitative performance data as confidential, except to the parties noted above (WHO PQS, Gavi, UNICEF Supply Division, and Senegal MOHSA).

3.0 Application requirements

Note to repeat applicants from Round One: your applications were sufficiently complete; therefore, please highlight any new information since your Round One application. Several changes are being implemented in Round Two. Your application must include user manuals for both the SDD appliance and the EHC system. If your application is selected, the Project will hire your service provider to: (1) conduct pre-installation site assessments at two health facilities selected by the Project for your specific equipment offering; (2) complete installation at two sites; and (3) return for user training at two sites. Manufacturer to provide outline of user training curriculum at time of application. Service provider to complete manufacturer-supplied commissioning form and submit all forms to PATH.

    3.1 One-page summary of all products offered, appliance PQS code, solar array details, load options required or recommended, and delivery time (PATH office, Dakar, Senegal).

    3.2 Support materials including all installation, maintenance, and user manuals, all component specification sheets (e.g., solar module, solar array support structure, array cable, EHC, EHC battery, and loads if provided) and if the proposed EHC is not yet WHO PQS prequalified, submit test results as evidence of compliance with the PQS   specifications. The application must present SDD appliance user manual, energy harvest user manual, user training curriculum outline, and commissioning forms for both the SDD and for the energy harvest system.

    3.3 Manufacturer must agree in writing to:

  1. All terms and conditions noted in this invitation;
  2. Provide to the Project (at no cost to the Project) two complete systems delivered duty paid to PATH office in Senegal;
  3. Facilitate the contracting of your service provider for aforementioned tasks;
  4. Accept PATH-supplied energy loads (e.g., small fans, lights, fetal heart monitor operating on AA rechargeable batteries, 50 Watt hour Lithium battery packs for user selected loads, etc.);
  5. Relegate reporting responsibility to the Project; and
  6. Keep confidential all performance data, quantitative or qualitative (not to be made public).

    3.4   Firm price quotation for service provider tasks noted above. Project to contract the service support by the manufacturer. 

    3.5   Send applications to [email protected] or [email protected] before 17:00 (Pacific Daylight Time) on May 1, 2019. Questions also should be emailed before 17:00 (Pacific Daylight Time) on May 1, 2019, to [email protected]. Your questions will be answered confidentially by PATH and/or PATH consultant Steve McCarney (directly and confidentially to the requestor).

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