Expression of Interest (EoI)

Results Based Reimbursement for eCooking project implementation in 11 districts of Rwanda

Reference Number: 83484274

Date of Publication: 03.03.2025

1 Context

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a federally owned international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. The GIZ Office in Kigali covers GIZ’s portfolio in Rwanda and Burundi. GIZ Rwanda/Burundi implements projects on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Union and other commissioning authorities in the following priority areas: Sustainable Economic Development, Good Governance, Climate, Energy and Sustainable Urban Development, Digitalization and Digital Economy, Mineral Governance, Peace and Security in the Great Lakes Region.

1.1 EnDev

EnDev is an international flagship programme for providing energy access, which has reached well over 30 million people in over 21 countries around the world. EnDev’s drive is to improve the lives of the most vulnerable, ensuring no one is left behind. Economic opportunities and green jobs are created by building modern off-grid energy markets based on renewable energy, which improve the energy supply of off-grid households, social institutions, and small and medium-sized companies. It is an approach which aims to empower structural, self-sustaining change; kickstarting market and sector development.

The driving force behind EnDev is the partnership of Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland; donors who are committed to accelerating energy access and socio-economic development. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl) act as the principal agencies for programme coordination.

With its new project the Sustainable eCooking Access to Leverage Electricity Uptake/SCALE.up, EnDev Rwanda is promoting access to electric cooking (eCooking) solutions, across 11 districts through a Results-Based Reimbursement (RBR)for eCooking initiative of which the implementation started in January 2025. This initiative offers financial incentives to companies investing in the distribution of eligible eCooking solutions.

1.2 Results-Based Reimbursements (RBR)

Results-based financing (RBF) or also called RBR is a modality where a funder (this can be a donor, an implementing organisation, a national government, or other institution) disburses funds to a recipient (in this case a private cookstove company) only once a pre-agreed set of results is achieved and verified. This approach involves three key principles:

1. Reimbursements are made only after the results are achieved.
2. The recipient may independently choose how to achieve those results.
3. Lastly, independent verification of results is the trigger for disbursement.

1.3 Overview of SCALE.up

SCALE.up seeks to decrease dependence on biomass used for cooking by facilitating household to access eCooking solutions through an RBR approach. The project fosters the market-based distribution and uptake of metered eCooking devices, specifically induction cooktops and Electric Pressure Cookers (EPCs). At its core, this initiative aims to enhance electricity consumption and clean cooking through a financial rebate system that provides incentives based on the electricity units (kWh) consumed for cooking on the promoted technology. The RBR for eCooking will be funded and implemented by EnDev Rwanda.

The subsidy will be paid based on achievement of pre-agreed results in the contract and disbursement shall be done upon successful verification of sales and rebate payments by an Independent Verification Agent (IVA) which will be a company contracted by GIZ for this assignment.

There are three types of support provided through the RBR facility (details outlined in section 2):

• Lump sum appliance support
• Per-kWh-rebate
• Lump sum metering system solution support per appliance

1.4 Verification process

• Every quarter the participating company will submit a sale report of the respective eCooking appliances to EnDev, the retrieved households` eCooking kWh consumption and a proof of the rebate payments. Upon completion of verification by an IVA, EnDev will notify the company to submit a subsidy claim (in the prescribed template provided i.e. the subsidy claim form) to GIZ for payment.

The following process follows:

• The verification process will start upon receiving the claim form submitted by each participating company. The sampled sales will then be subject to phone verification (60% of sales) and to field verification (40% of sales).
• Upon completion of the verification, IVA will send a report of the successfully verified sales to EnDev. Upon successful verification, EnDev will send a notification to the participating company requesting to submit a subsidy claim to GIZ for payment.
• GIZ Rwanda will then process the payment to the participating company.
• The verification processes will be consistent throughout the operation of the RBR fund and applies to all participating companies, only subject to review when need arises.

1.5 Available RBR fund

Based on RBR targets, EnDev Rwanda has dedicated a budget of up to EUR 75,438 for this tender.

1.6 Implementation timeframe

The implementation period for this offer is from early April 2025 up to December 2025, with possible conditional contract extension.

It is against the above background that GIZ Rwanda would like to procure private companies for disseminating eCooking solutions to households as described in the lots here below:

Description	Number of stoves to be sold
Lot 1	Small scale distribution	Up to 150
Lot 2	Medium scale distribution	Up to 300
Lot 3	Large scale distribution	Up to 500

Note: Bidders are allowed to bid for 1 lot or more in separate files. The total allocated sales to all successful companies will be maximum 800 sales.

As the project aims to promote eCooking also beyond the boundaries of Kigali City, successful companies can claim a maximum of 40% of the allocated sales in Kigali (Gasabo, Kicukiro and Nyarugenge).

The negotiations for allotted sales per company will be determined based on the company's historical sales performance, stock availability, and the price and affordability of devices Implementation structure.

1.7 1.7 Implementation structure

• EnDev Rwanda

Responsible for overall coordination, management, and oversight of the eCooking RBR interventions in Rwanda. EnDev will avail the RBR funds, recruit and cost-bear the IVA, support awareness raising at different levels, coordinate the development of a tariff roadmap and Carbon Market Readiness assessment.

• The Independent Verification Agent

This is an external organisation recruited to perform phone and field verification, on the cost born by EnDev, to confirm that all sales are made and rebates are given to beneficiaries triggering the incentive disbursement.

• Participating companies

Eligible companies are responsible for actively participating in the marketing outreaches, selling eCooking appliances to the project beneficiaries and for providing the relevant data to EnDev, IVA and EDCL using the provided forms (in line with data protection requirements, e.g. anonymised data to be provided to EnDev).

2 Tasks to be performed by the contractor

2.1 Purpose of the assignment

EnDev Rwanda is seeking to engage private companies herein referred as the contractors or bidders, to promote and sell up to 800 eligible eCooking appliances in 11 Districts of Rwanda. EnDev will contract companies who meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the assignment. The contractors or bidders will be evaluated on their technical application, financial capacity to pre-finance the project and past sales performance. They should therefore propose realistic and achievable sales targets.

Applying companies should be distributors with experience in importing and commercially distributing eCooking appliances. Companies that will successfully be contracted shall be responsible for pre-financing relevant interventions needed to achieve the pre-agreed sales targets of eCooking appliances promoted under this RBR for eCooking. These interventions are collectively referred below as the work package.

The contractors are responsible for achieving the allocated sales targets for the eCooking appliances. The allocated targets shall be agreed upon with EnDev Rwanda based on sales history and the validated proposed targets by the bidders. The bidders shall propose sales targets for each quarter. These bids will constitute the basis for lot allocation and contract negotiation between GIZ and contractors after their selection through this tender.

The targets allocated to companies will be individually agreed upon with EnDev Rwanda. The RBR subsidy will be disbursed in accordance with milestones outlined in the section 3.3 contingent upon the verification and validation of sales and rebate transactions by an IVA. Notably, the eCooking rebate will be disbursed based on the actual recorded kWh consumed by eCooking appliance per household.

2.2 Work Package (Interventions) description

The work package constitutes of specific interventions to facilitate the achievement of the results/targets of the project. These shall be decided and prioritised by the selected contractors.

The interventions shall include but not limited to:

• Filling and filing a pre-sales checklist with the beneficiaries, including information on the wiring of the house and previous cooking behaviour.
• Avail and sell eCooking appliances with built-in or external smart meters
  B: Companies working with external meters must prove in the technical proposal that the meters cannot be tempered with
• Ensuring the correct functioning of the metering systems and upload of the recorded consumption in the data management platform or any other data management tool agreed upon with EnDev.
• Put in place practical approach to provide rebate to customers based on the metered eCooking kWh consumption, e.g. via a reduction on the PAYGO or monthly payment or any other proposal.

N.B: Companies should propose the modalities of the rebate payments in the technical proposal; however, need to ensure that there are no tax risks. All risks related to taxation issues are born by the company itself.

• Providing after-sales services, including a warranty period for replacing defaulted eCooking appliances and providing necessary assistance and training to end-users
• Active participation in EnDev awareness raising campaign in all targeted areas for implementation.
• Establishing and expanding last mile distribution channels. This can be through recruiting and capacity building of a last mile sales force or partnership with organisations that have an existing customer engagement or aggregation mechanism.

2.3 Conflict and context sensitivity, human rights and decent work

Companies participating in the EnDev Rwanda programme must apply decent work conditions and protection measures, equal and fair pay, as well as the interdiction of child labour including in manufacturing countries of promoted appliances. The organisation’s staff must have a work contract including temporary staff. Companies must endeavour to prevent serious sexual and other misconduct and other serious forms of inappropriate behaviour towards employees and other individuals when delivering the outputs. And in the event of such incidents, they will act as promptly as possible to put an end to the misconduct or inappropriate behaviour and mitigate the consequences. Contracted companies will not provide any resources to any third party or accept any third-party resources of any kind that could be interpreted as illegality or corruption.

2.4 Gender equality

The contractors should actively mainstream gender in their implementation and sales strategies, and ensure they have affirmative action during implementation with the aim of targeting female customers or decision/influence makers at household level in the investment of eCooking. It is desired to have up to 30% of customers/decision/influence makers for the investment of eCooking to be female and this shall be monitored during implementation by the contractors. In addition, it is desired that min. 30% of the participating company’s staff position is filled by women.

2.5 eCooking suitability

The contractor should first cross-check that the distribution area is suited in terms of quality of grid service to cater for eCooking. EnDev will avail data on this for reference. In addition, the in-house wiring suitability of the beneficiary must be assessed to ensure the safe and compatible operation of the eCooking appliances with that electrical installation without causing any electrical harm. This can be conducted by filling the customer registration checklist provided by EnDev.

2.6 Eligibility criteria of eCooking RBR applicant

• Legally registered in Rwanda as a company operating in the energy sector,
• Valid RSSB and RRA certificates (including VAT certificate and tax clearance certificate),
• Company’s cooperation agreement with REG
• Authentic laboratory test certificate for eCooking performances from a recognized institution, such as RSB, VERASOL, Global LEAP, ISO, etc.
• Willingness and capacity to reach out to customers located in Nyarugenge, Kicukiro, Gasabo, Kamonyi, Muhanga, Ruhango, Rubavu, Musanze, Kayonza, Bugesera, and Rwamagana districts
• Experience in eCooking promotion and market development,
• Evidence of verifiable sales records going back 12 months
• Experience in managing and scaling similar projects in Rwanda
• Financial and operational capacity to support the project, including the pre-financing ability toward RBR implementation
• Ability to retrieve and record the actual eCooking electricity consumption data, and maintain the database for rebate purpose
• Existing mechanisms and capacity to honour warranty claims and to provide after sale service
• Infrastructure and staff in place to run the eCooking RBR facility targeting multiple beneficiaries and willingness to provide a specific lead staff member to be liaison staff with EnDev.

Note: Given that government approval (the cooperation agreement from REG and the RSB laboratory certificate or equivalent for appliances) may not be issued on time by responsible government Authorities, the company can submit available documents and describe the status for pending documents/certificates. However, all government approvals are a prerequisite to signing the contract. 

2.7 Eligible eCooking technologies

eCooking appliances qualifying to participate in this RBR are “Electric Pressure Cooker” (EPC) and “Induction cookstove” that meet Tier 5 stove performance indicators (see 2.7.3). The eCooking appliance must be equipped with a built-in or external smart-meter to be exclusively used during cooking sessions.

The following are the minimum performance requirements of the concerned eCooking appliances and smart meters.

2.7.1 EPC cookers

Alternating Current (AC) EPC compatible with electrical parameters used on Rwanda’s national grid, with medium to large sized capacity (of at least 6 litres pot capacity), with at least 2 removable pots, an insulated lid, timer setting, provided with at least one year warranty.

2.7.2 Induction cookers

Alternating Current (AC) Induction cooktop compatible with electrical parameters used on Rwanda’s national grid, with a package of conductive cookware, single or double stoves, a time setting, auto off program, magnetic field below EMF limit, provided with at least one year warranty

2.7.3 General eCooking performance specifications and standard compliance

• Thermal efficiency ≥ 50%
• Indoor emissions (Particulate Matter ≤ 5mg/MJ)
• Each product (i.e. induction stove or EPC) should be provided with a user manual providing guidance on the utilization of appliance translated in Kinyarwanda, French and English
• Electric pressure cookers and Induction cookstoves that meet with:
• RS IEC 60335-1: Standard for safety of household and similar electrical appliances
• RS IEC 60335-2: general requirements for specific types of appliances, including household appliances

2.7.4 eCooking smart meter specifications

• Ability to count the actual electricity consumption data for eCooking, and to retrieve it remotely
• Ability to provide disaggregated electricity consumption data on daily basis (kWh/day)
• Meter tamper detection mechanism to prevent unauthorized devices to be connected (to be outlined in the technical proposal)

3 Selection, contracting and finance process

The process flow from tender launch to contract negotiations and award is summarised below.

3.1 Capacity Assessment

There will be the following step evaluation procedure leading to selection of companies:

1. Technical evaluation based on the scoring done on the technical assessment grid informed by the evaluation criteria described in 4,
2. Due diligence field visits supporting the technical verification, especially on:
   1. The existing eCooking stock or a pending shipment
   2. Smart metering devices intended to be used for rebate purpose,
   3. Functionality of the data management tool,
   4. Staffing and organisational structures.
3. Strategic fit evaluation based on information submitted in the application.

Shortlisted companies will be invited to undergo further clarifications and contract negotiations conducted by the GIZ.

3.2 Contract type

The type of the contract for this eCooking RBR shall be a contract for works where the contracted companies shall be required to avail and sell a pre-agreed number of eCooking appliances. Incentive payments shall be calculated based on a pre-agreed rate per appliance sold during the implementation period, as well as based on the metered consumption data and the successful delivery of the tasks agreed in this contract, including the deployment of metering solutions and the provision of the required data. Only sales of eCooking devices in the pre-agreed districts are eligible.

The measurable work in this regard shall be the verified number of eCooking appliances sold by the company. A verification methodology will be explained to shortlisted companies and annexed to the contract.

3.3 Subsidy payments

The milestone to release subsidy payment is outlined below:

• eCooking subsidy: A 60% demand side subsidy per eCooking appliance (max. 66,000 Frw) shall be paid to the participating company upon successful verification of customer enrolment (1^st IVA cycle).
• eCooking electricity tariff subsidy (per kWh): A rebate per kWh of eCooking appliance consumption will be provided to the participating companies, which will in turn apply an equivalent reduction to the PAYGO household payments. If the customer has fully paid for the appliance upfront, the participating company must implement an alternative method to provide the due rebate while ensuring no tax risk are incurred. All tax related risks, including those from the 1^st and 2^nd IVA cycles, are the sole responsibility of the company

The evaluation of electricity consumption will be obtained from the built-in or external smart meters installed on the eCooking appliances.

• Metering system solution support: Supply side support mitigating the additional costs through metering, paid to the companies at the end of the project period – on basis of data and successful verification (2^nd IVA cycle).

Table 1: Summary of each subsidy type per milestone

Category of incentive	Total target	Incentives per unit in Frw (EUR for reference*)	Incentives type	Criteria for acceptance	Disbursement timeline	Deadline (Timeline may change in line with project implementation)
eCooking subsidy	800	60% of retail price / Max. Frw 66,000 (EUR 45.645)	Demand side subsidy (benefitting the end-user)	Phone and field verification report	Quarterly	Ø Last sales: September 2025 Ø Claim deadlines: 01st July & 1st October 2025
eCooking electricity rebate	eCooking kWh consumption (as per metered devices)	105 Frw/kWh (EUR 0.073*)	Demand side subsidy (benefitting the end-user, e.g. discount on PAYGO payment)	Data verification and spot checks	Quarterly	Ø Last rebate: to be provided for kWh recorded until November 2025 Ø Claim Deadlines: 1st July, 1st Oct, 1st December 2025
Metering solution support	800	Ø Frw 15,037 (EUR 10.04) for embedded metering system solution Ø Frw 36,148 (EUR 25) for external metering system solution	Supply side subsidy	Phone and field verification report	one verification at the end of the project	To be paid to companies by GIZ after the final verification (2nd IVA cycle) planned toward end December 2025

*The exchange rate used in the above unit incentive is based on the InforEuro, le taux de change de l’euro (europa.eu)exchange rate as of February 2025.

4. Concept

In the tender, the tenderer is required to show how the objectives defined in Chapter 2 (Tasks to be performed) are to be achieved, if applicable under consideration of further method-related requirements (technical-methodological concept). In addition, the tenderer must describe the project management system for results delivery.

4.1 Technical - methodological concept (section 1.1, 1.4 & 1.5 of the assessment grid) – 70%

Concerning the project delivery strategy, the tenderer is required to consider the results to be achieved with reference to the objectives put out to tender (see Chapter 1 Context). Following this, the tenderer presents and justifies the explicit strategy with which it intends to deliver the results for which it is responsible (see Chapter 2 Tasks to be performed). This includes amongst others the detailed process for delivering rebates to households based on the metered kWh consumption. Any related taxation issues will have to be understood and catered by the tenderer, e.g. when doing direct cash payments.

The tenderer is required to describe the key processes for the results for which it is responsible and create an operational plan or schedule that describes how the results according to Chapter 2 (Tasks to be performed by the contractor) are to be achieved. In particular, the tenderer is required to describe the necessary work steps and, if applicable, take account of the milestones.

The tenderer is required to promote scaling-up effects under learning and innovation.

4.2 Project management of the contractor (section 1.6 of the assessment grid) – 15%

The tenderer is required to explain its approach for coordination with the GIZ project. In particular, the project management requirements specified in Chapter 2 (Tasks to be performed by the contractor) must be explained in detail.

4.3 Further requirements (section 1.7 of the assessment grid) – 15%

The tenderer is required to provide a detailed explanation of how they will ensure the accurate functioning of the metering systems as well as secure the meter from any tampering.

The tenderer is required to provide a comprehensive plan detailing how they will promote gender equality throughout the project implementation. This plan should outline specific activities to encourage and support the participation of women in the eCooking value chain, including roles such as entrepreneurs, leaders, sales, awareness and after-sales agents, and electricians. Additionally, the tenderer should describe their approach to training women in this sector. The plan must include strategies and measures to ensure equal participation and benefits for all genders, address potential gender disparities, and create an inclusive environment that fosters gender equality in all project activities. Furthermore, the tenderer should develop a gender-sensitive communication strategy that promotes inclusivity, ensuring that all messaging, marketing, and outreach efforts are relevant to both women and men, addressing any potential barriers to engagement.

5. Requirements on the format of the tender

The structure of the tender must correspond with the structure of the ToRs. It must be legible (font size 11) and clearly formulated. The language of the tender is English. A template is provided for the technical proposal.

The Technical Proposal and Methodological concept of this bid (section 5 of the ToRs) is not to exceed 15 pages (not including the annexes).

6. Data Protection

GIZ will not have access to any personal data of the clients of the contracted organisations. The contracted organisation is the controller of its clients’ data.

For the reimbursements for the results delivered by the contracted organisations`, the sales data reported to an IVA will need to be verified. The IVA will contact the contractors directly with regards to the data requirements which shall be guided by the Verification Protocol prepared by GIZ. GIZ shall have access only to the aggregated data managed by the IVA for analysis, interpretation and making reimbursements but GIZ will in no way store any private data maintained or processed by the IVA. The IVA will be the sole data collector and data processor. Contracted organisations must inform their clients that the eCooking appliances sold to them will be verified by a third party (IVA) through phone call and a potential site visit.

7. Submission of the offer

Please submit your proposal ONLY to RW_Quotation@giz.de until latest 16.03.2025

The proposal has to be submitted in PDF format and as attachment to the email with the subject: 83484274-Proposal  

If the emails exceed the default email size of 30MB, offers can be exceptionally submitted through https://filetransfer.giz.de/, as indicated. The subject of recipient notification must be edited with the subject “83484274 -Proposal and the notification message must include the password to access the files.

Offers submitted through any other sharing platform, as google documents or similar will not be considered.

Offers submitted in hard copy will not be considered.

GIZ reserves all rights.

Annexes

1. Technical assessment grid
2. Technical Proposal Template
3. Special Agreement Template
4. Operations Manual
5. Self-declaration of eligibility as part of the Open Tender

0. List of abbreviations

AC Alternating Current

EMF Electromagnetic Frequency

EnDev Energising Development

EPC Electric Pressure Cooker

IEC International Electrotechnical Commission

IVA Independent Verification Agent

GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

kWh kilowatt-hour

RBF Results Based Financing

RBR Results Based Reimbursement

RVO Netherlands Enterprise Agency