Monthly Progress Report: A-E Services to Support Infrastructure Related Programming in Solomon Islands

The strategy's vision is to improve the social and economic livelihoods of all Solomon Islanders through sustainable economic growth and improved service delivery. SCALE's purpose is to develop local economies in Malaita at a community level to support further growth at the provincial and national levels and drive expansion of market access and supporting infrastructure. SCALE's interventions will support three objectives: improving the enabling environment for trade and investment, strengthening and expanding the agribusiness sector, and improving natural resource governance with a focus on the forestry sector. The SCALE-A&E contract is to acquire qualified architectural and engineering services in support of SCALE, particularly objective b. SCALE-A&E will complete analyses, feasibility studies, design, and construction oversight of small-scale infrastructure at approximately 10-20 sites. Task 1 of the SCALE-A&E contract involves providing sectoral analyses, planning, and draft design standards. This includes consultations at national, provincial, and local levels, project scoping, collection and analysis of data, strategy development, operational planning, training needs analysis, and a prioritized and costed list of projects, sectors, and partners. Task 1.2 involves a transportation infrastructure conditions assessment, and Task 1.3 involves a food/energy/water nexus infrastructure conditions assessment. Task 1.4 involves a construction industry sectoral analysis. As of March 2021, recruitment for the SCALE-A&E contract is ongoing, with three candidates identified and scheduled for interviews. A Field Engineer to be based in Auki has been recruited, and in-country recruitment for four positions is actively advertised. Local consultant team engagement has been initiated, with meetings held with the Malaita Provincial Secretary, chief provincial planning officer, and their teams. Data collection and analysis are progressing, with the extraction and assimilation of specific data from various documents and the development of a pre-screening framework for analyzing existing proposed infrastructure projects in Malaita. Planned activities for the next period include preparing for a future stakeholder meeting in Malaita, continuing stakeholder outreach, and developing processes to define project pre-screening and selection. Challenges have been encountered in preparing Task 3 deliverables due to the lack of accessible pre-feasibility or concept studies. The team is seeking support from the Malaita Provincial Government to aid the process.