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Bid Window 3

ISA BID WINDOW III: PROJECT PREPARATION SUPPORT OVERVIEW

South Africa’s infrastructure constraint is not a shortage of project initiatives, but a shortage of well-prepared projects that can demonstrate strategic fit, value for money, affordability and deliverability. This makes project preparation support a critical intervention: it helps sponsors convert viable project proposals into credible, investment-ready projects. The ISA Bid Window for project preparation support is intended to support eligible applicants strengthen projects so that they can progress toward bankability, funding readiness and implementation.

Every project must pass four tests of readiness to attract capital finance and achieve bankability:

Strategic Fit

Asks whether the project responds to a clearly defined need and aligns with government priorities, policy objectives and strategic outcomes.

Value for Money

Asks whether the project is the best use of available resources, compared with other options, and whether its benefits justify its costs and risks

Affordability

Asks whether the project can be funded and sustained within available budgets over its full life cycle.

Deliverability

Asks whether the project can realistically be implemented successfully, on time, within budget and with the required capacity, approvals and risks managed.

This is precisely why ISA applies the Five Case Model (5CM): to develop projects that are not only technically sound, but also strategically justified, economically viable, affordable, commercially credible and deliverable. The 5CM provides a structured roadmap for answering the key questions that arise during project development and for strengthening the robustness and implementability of a project.

While many public sector-led projects focus primarily on technical outputs such as detailed designs and bills of quantities, technical readiness alone is no longer sufficient in a fiscally constrained environment where projects must also be able to attract alternative sources of funding and financing. A robust business case should answer the questions contained in the 5CM in the various stages of development to enhance the project’s bankability and attract capital funding.

Applicants to the Bid Window should therefore ensure that their submissions provide enough evidence to explain the project need, policy alignment, expected benefits, estimated costs, funding assumptions, implementation dependencies, institutional capacity and identified risks. Submissions should clearly show that the project is undergoing development by the sponsor and has a credible basis for further preparation support – the scope of which must be clearly outlined.

Bid Window Form 3

1. ADMISSION GUIDELINES


Infrastructure South Africa invites the submission of applications for consideration in the Bid Window III (BW3) for project preparation support. ISA plays a crucial role in facilitating the development of infrastructure projects across the country through supporting projects and programmes that:

  • Can or have already secured private, development or related financing – but require additional funding to address a viability gap;
  • Have not yet secured private, development or related financing and require support to structure a financing arrangement;
  • Leverage alternative funding and delivery mechanisms such as PPPs, BOT’s, Concessions, blended finance, and similar structures.


The focus is on projects that have a strategic alignment to the National Development Plan (NDP 2030) goals, demonstrating an impact towards GDP contribution, localisation, job creation, and fiscal risk transfer from public to private sector. Particularly, these are projects that ae commercially viable, blended finance candidates, can be structured as Public Private Partnerships (PPP), and can demonstrate innovating financing mechanisms to crowd in private sector participation.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA


The ticket size (capital value) must be a minimum of R1 billion for projects and programmes. The project must be within the priority sectors identified for BW3:

  • Electricity & Energy Infrastructure
  • Municipal Infrastructure (focus on municipal trading services)
  • Social Infrastructure (only considering projects that can be structured in line with the requirements – i.e leverage alternative financing & delivery mechanisms)  
  • Transport 
  • Water and Sanitation

 

Projects must have been developed past conceptual stage and must demonstrate project owner’s own participation in developing the project “skin in the game”.

NB: Project preparation support does not entail ISA taking over full development of the project on behalf of the project owner, rather, it entails a collaborative approach in aiding in closing certain gaps in the project’s development.

2. SUBMISSION CHECKLIST


Projects below 1 billion do not qualify
The primary sector the project is within, in alignment with the priority sectors for bid window 3:
- Electricity & Energy Infrastructure
- Municipal Infrastructure: municipal trading services
- Social Infrastructure: project must demonstrate potential for alternative sources of financing
- Transport
- Water and Sanitation: wastewater treatment plants, bulk water; waste-to-energy, non-revenue water and water re-use programmes
Allowed Documents: .pdf, .doc, .docx, .xls, .shp, .ppt, .zip
Max File Size: 256mb
Allowed Documents: .pdf, .doc, .docx, .xls, .shp, .ppt, .zip
Max File Size: 256mb