GENERAL PROCUREMENT NOTICE
1. The Kingdom of Lesotho has received a loan from the African Development Fund to finance the eGovernment Infrastructure Phase II Project.
2. The principal objective of this project is to :
To drive digital finance and financial inclusion by improving access to reliable digital Services particularly among citizens living in rural and unserved areas through:
a)Increase data enabled coverage in rural and unserved areas
.b)Expansion of digital infrastructure and services
3. The project includes the following components:
Component 1:Extension of Rural Broadband Connectivity
The activities under this component will include: (a) support the construction of 48 mobile sites with the support of USF (25%) and ADF (75%) to achieve 99.6% population coverage improving 4Gcoverage in rural and unserved areas of Lesotho; and(b) and support the completion of a 96km OPGW fibre network from Roma (Maseru) to Thaba-Tseka thus improving the quality of service experienced by end users in Thaba-Tseka when using mobile data services.
Component 2: Enhancement of the Lesotho Government Digital Service The second component of the project aims to provide the required support for the promotion of a digital economy in Lesotho. It will focus on building the required digital payments infrastructure, improving access to legislation process and enacted laws, and provide facilities to rural communities to access e-government and digital financial services. The component will have three sub-components namely: (a) establishment of common digital Centers at Lesotho Post Office locations spread out in the rural areas; (b) strengthening of National Payment infrastructure; and(c) implementation of an e-Parliament System for the Lesotho Parliament.
Component 3: Capacity Building and Project Management
This component will provide staff development skills in areas relating to ICT infrastructure and eServices. The component will also support the operations of the project implementation units. The areas that will be considered for training and technical assistance include: (a) USF models and IRU contract management,; (b)e-waste; (c)ePayment agent management; (d) eParliament models and technical skills;(e) financing digital infrastructure; and (f) support of organization of annual national forum on eProcurement and the use of digital payment to fight corruption.
4. Procurement of goods (including non-consultancy services), works andthe acquisition of consulting services, financed by the Bank for the Project shall be carried out in accordance with the Bank’s Procurement Framework, dated October 2015. More information is available on the Bank’s website at www.afdb.org. Bidding documents are expected to be available from October 2020.
5. Interested bidders may obtain further information, and should confirm their interest, by contacting :
Ministry of Communications Science and Technology-Department of Information and Communication Technology
P.O Box 36 Maseru, Lesotho
Mr. Lira Moeti
Tel.+266 22323063/ +266 22324873
Email. [email protected]