Annual Performance Report FY2019: Sector Reform and Utility Commercialization (SRUC) Task Order

Agency for International Development (USAID). The SRUC TO aims to promote utility commercialization and equitable, effective reforms that will enhance the financial viability and long-term sustainability of developing countries' electricity systems. This will enable their expansion and growth to establish the necessary preconditions for clean energy investments, and ultimately a self-reliant sector. The SRUC TO is implemented by Deloitte Consulting LLP, which works directly with USAID to assist countries and counterparts with assessing existing sector conditions and preparing new strategies and plans. The program also includes designing and implementing new market structures and models for private sector participation, building institutional capacity with utility partners, testing new commercialization technologies, and reporting lessons learned and results for broader dissemination in the sector. Core activities under the SRUC TO include technical functions such as evaluations, hosting sector reform workshops and forums, designing and implementing new market structures, developing appropriate legal and regulatory frameworks, and corporate governance. Management functions include planning the execution of technical functions, resource approval and deployment for technical projects, budget and administrative tracking, and developing marketing materials. The SRUC TO has a flexible and demand-driven nature, and the Chief of Party (COP) and Contracting Officer's Representation (COR) have moved the contract to a Life of Project (LOP) Workplan. This sets the priorities, approach, and target countries for the contract through the end of its period of performance and established a set of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) indicators. The overall SRUC TO progress against these indicators is tracked in an M&E Memo, which will be submitted at the end of the contract period. Over FY2019, the SRUC TO was extended to December 2020, and the Total Estimated Ceiling was increased due to the necessity of continued provision of highly specialized services to critical counterparts under the current TO. The Deloitte Team prepared a set of reports and close out materials in anticipation of the end of the TO, and then utilized those close out materials to update the USAID Smart Utilities web site to reflect the portfolio of the SRUC TO work. The Deloitte Team finalized the post-project analysis and video on the Jamaica ready board pilot, executed follow-on work to deliver an empowered entrepreneur training program in the same community, and completed a human resource (HR) incentive design with a distribution company in India. The team also scoped and began new and follow-on Work Assignments for utility reform and electrification in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and discussed potential Work Assignments to help implement the HR incentive program with the disco in India and training support for low-cost connection approaches with Missions in sub-Saharan Africa. The SRUC TO has made significant progress in promoting utility commercialization and equitable, effective reforms in developing countries. The program has assisted countries and counterparts with assessing existing sector conditions and preparing new strategies and plans, and has implemented new market structures and models for private sector participation. The SRUC TO has also built institutional capacity with utility partners, tested new commercialization technologies, and reported lessons learned and results for broader dissemination in the sector. The SRUC TO has a strong focus on monitoring and evaluation, with a set of M&E indicators that track the program's progress. The overall SRUC TO progress against these indicators is tracked in an M&E Memo, which will be submitted at the end of the contract period. The program has also updated the USAID Smart Utilities web site to reflect the portfolio of the SRUC TO work, and has finalized the post-project analysis and video on the Jamaica ready board pilot. The SRUC TO has made significant contributions to the development of electricity systems in developing countries, and has established a strong foundation for future work in the sector. The program's focus on utility commercialization and equitable, effective reforms has helped to enhance the financial viability and long-term sustainability of developing countries' electricity systems, and has enabled their expansion and growth to establish the necessary preconditions for clean energy investments.