Monthly Report: Strengthening Competitiveness, Agriculture, Livelihoods, and Environment (SCALE) Activity

The strategy focuses on improving 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 scale 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 main 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 has been established to acquire qualified architectural and engineering services in support of SCALE, particularly objective b. The contract will complete analyses, feasibility studies, design, and construction oversight of small-scale infrastructure at approximately 10-20 sites. The SCALE-A&E contract includes six tasks, with the first five tasks focused on providing sectoral analyses, planning, and draft design standards, completing concept and pre-feasibility studies for National Transmission Company (NTC) and related infrastructure, providing transaction advisory services for host country infrastructure development, completing planning, feasibility studies, cost estimates, and preliminary designs for small-scale agribusiness infrastructure, and completing designs and tender documents and supporting procurement for small-scale infrastructure. Task 6 involves managing construction contractors to adhere to designs and specifications. Mobilization travel to Solomon Islands is currently not planned to occur until January 2021, pending approval from the Solomon Islands Government. This delay will impact the initial stages of the SCALE-A&E contract, which relies on the completion of these tasks to progress. The Solomon Islands Government's approval is necessary to facilitate the mobilization of personnel and resources required for the contract's successful implementation.