Terms of Reference Selection of Consultant (Firm) to Design, Implement, and Maintain Central Asia Pilot Short-Term Electricity Market — Координационно-диспетчерский центр "Энергия"

Terms of Reference: Selection of Consultant (Firm) to Design, Implement, and Maintain Central Asia Pilot Short-Term Electricity Market

Central Asia Regional Electricity Market Interconnectivity and Trade (REMIT) Project, Phase I

1. Introduction

1.1. Background

Enhancing regional integration and increasing electricity trade among Central Asian countries and with the neighboring regions presents a significant opportunity to accelerate decarbonization, promote economic growth , and unlock the benefits of regional cooperation The Central Asian region is strategically positioned with diverse energy resources, including large reserves of oil, gas, and coal in downstream countries (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) and substantial hydropower potential in upstream countries (Tajikistan and Kyrgyz Republic). Additionally, there is considerable untapped solar and wind potential across the region. The complementary nature of these energy sources provides an avenue for optimizing energy production and consumption across borders.

Historically, the power systems of the Central Asian countries were interconnected, with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan currently operating in a synchronized mode, forming the Central Asia Power System (CAPS). Turkmenistan is also considering rejoining CAPS. These developments, coupled with the region's existing high-voltage interconnections, create a favorable environment for expanding regional connectivity and trade in electricity.

However, despite this potential, current electricity trade within the region remains largely underutilized, operating significantly below the feasible economic levels and the available technical capacity of regional interconnections. For instance, cross-border electricity exchanges have only utilized approximately 40% of the interconnection capacity. Barriers such as fragmented institutional frameworks, cross-border and intra-grid constraints, a lack of a regional interconnection automated management system, as well as lack of regional market mechanisms for electricity and capacity trade, have impeded further development of regional trade.

In the years after gaining independence, the Central Asian countries embarked on a policy of energy self-sufficiency, which led to diminishing of the level of regional cooperation, disrupting the once optimal interstate electricity supplies and resulting in a decline in the volume of export-import operations as compared to the status quo during the Soviet period. This also meant that the most economically profitable ways to develop national power systems based on regional trade remained unrealized. Various initiatives have since been under development and implementation by the Central Asian countries, including with support from multilateral development banks, to address this situation and enhance energy connectivity and trade in the region.

It is important to note that currently the operational models of electricity markets of the Central Asian countries are different. For example, the electricity market in the Republic of Kazakhstan includes the wholesale electricity market, the balancing electricity market, the capacity market, as well as the system and ancillary services market. Some countries in the region participate in a number of integration processes for development of other regional markets with participation of Central Asian countries. For example, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Tajikistan are members of the Eurasian Economic Union, within the framework of which there is on-going work to form a common electricity market of this union.

The benefits of regional energy integration are well-documented. Studies indicate that enhanced trade would lead to reduced investment costs in new generation capacity, optimized renewable energy development, improved management of energy resources, and significant economic benefits for the Central Asian countries. A 2024 World Bank study projected that deeper regional connectivity and trade could generate economic benefits of around US$15 billion between 2025 and 2050, under a business-as-usual scenario.

1.2. Regional Electricity Market Interconnectivity and Trade (REMIT) Program

In response to these challenges and opportunities, Central Asian Countries agreed to implement the Regional Electricity Market Interconnectivity and Trade (REMIT) Program which aims to increase regional electricity trade, strengthen transmission capacity, and enable the scale-up of renewable energy sources use in Central Asia. The proposed REMIT Program will support countries through the development and implementation of a fully-fledged regional electricity market in Central Asia, while enabling the scale-up of renewable energy resources. Regional markets vary in scope and often include various offerings (such as day-head market, intra-day market, balancing market). Such offerings optimize price transparency and incentivize trade, allowing for the maximization of regional trade benefits.

The first phase of this Program aims to (i) establish, operationalize and pilot a regional electricity market in Central Asia (Component 1); (ii) finance key ready-to-implement “no regret” interconnectivity projects (Component 2); and (iii) enhance the regional and national institutional frameworks and build their capacity (Component 3). A pilot market to be implemented as part of this assignment as critical activity under Component 1 aims to complement existing long-term bilateral power purchase agreements with short-term trading opportunities.

During consultations with the countries in the region, it was agreed that Project Components 1 and 3 will be implemented by the Coordination Dispatch Centre Energia (CDC “Energia”)[1] as Recipient of grant to finance Components 1 and 3 of REMIT. The CDC will thus be the Client for contracts under those components.

The Regional Steering Committee (RSC) comprising representatives from the national Ministries of Energy of participating Central Asian countries and respective Implementing Agencies, will provide strategic oversight to REMIT program activities. The RSC will be responsible, inter-alia, for (i) providing strategic decisions on design and implementation of the proposed regional market, (ii) coordinating project activities with relevant national programs and initiatives of other development partners.

[1] CDC “Energia” is a non-governmental non-commercial organization established in 2006 in form of a regional institution and financed by the Parties to the Coordination Electrical Power Council of Central Asia in order to coordinate implementation of operational and technological activities of energy systems and facilities included in Central Asian Power System and Southern Zone of Kazakhstan’s UES, as well as to perform related functions thereof, which include providing to energy systems operational and reporting information on cross-border power exchanges and load control services, which is the basis for making settlements between the energy systems.

1.3. Pilot Market Design

During preparation of the REMIT Program, Central Asian stakeholders in collaboration with the World Bank have completed a preliminary design for a regional short-term pilot electricity market for Central Asia.

The Central Asia pilot market design includes information on:

Proposed market type, market segments, trade areas, trade capacities allocation and congestions management;
Market operation processes, timelines;
Principles for trades settlement;
Requirements for algorithms, software, and hardware;
Supporting network aspects.

The pilot market design further addresses the institutional arrangements for market governance, market operator set up and operation.

The pilot market design project also produced the following deliverables:

Review and assessment of the available studies on regional electricity trade in Central Asia.
Review of the current electricity trade arrangements in the region.
Review international experience and benchmarking analysis taking into account Central Asian context.
A roadmap outlining transition arrangements to move from a pilot to a fully-fledged market.

The Client will share the Pilot Market Design documentation with short-listed consultants following the signing of a non-disclosure agreement.

The key guiding principles for the Central Asia Pilot Market emphasize flexibility, rapid implementation, and compatibility with existing national and regional practices and entities, coordinated operation taking into account specifics and interests of each participating country, support existing bilateral contracts for cross-border electricity trade and ensure equal market access while respecting national differences. The required initial pilot market set-up is detailed in sections below, however it is intended to be adaptable to future changes, foreseeing capabilities for efficient subsequent market advancements (growth of market volumes, participant numbers, market time unit granularity increase [e.g., from 1 hour to 30/15 minutes], expansion of market segments [e.g., intra-day, balancing and forward markets] and introduction of new market products offerings [e.g., limit, linked basket, iceberg orders, execution constraints]).

Table 1. Summary of main attributes in the pilot market design

Item	Description
Market type and segments	Market type: Net pool market to trade energy surplus or deficit available in participating countries Market segment: Day-Ahead Market
Market Operation	During the pilot, the market will be operated by a third-party service provider acting as the Regional Market Operator (RMO), through a Service Level Agreement with CDC “Energia” or another entity agreed by participating countries. During pilot market implementation RMO operation would be financed from REMIT proceeds and/or other sources identified by participating countries.
Scheduling of cross-border flows	As currently for bilateral agreements, market participants and the national system operators receive from the RMO the scheduling results from the Pilot DAM that are dispatched in daily schedules prepared by the dispatching service of CDC “Energia”.
DAM scope	National markets are scheduled first. After the National market, eligible market participants place orders to the regional market. Firm contract, hourly delivery, settled at the market price.
Market participants	National actors are default market participants (e.g., National utility(s), national single buyer, national system operator). Eligible market participant(s) are determined by each country’s discretion.
Dispatch method	Self-scheduling
Pricing	Pay-as-cleared, zonal market
Balance responsibility / Settlement of deviations	Simplified imbalance mechanism. Imbalance price applied for deviation of the metered energy value from the nominated / contracted value.
Capacity allocation	Transmission capacity is allocated at the same time as energy, using the existing CAPS methodology. Transmission line capacity trading is not expected at this stage.
Trading currency	USD

1.4. Regional Market Operator (RMO) and market operation arrangements.

The Central Asia pilot market design envisions the establishment of an RMO, which will be responsible for the overall operation of the regional pilot market. The RMO will formally serve as the Central Counterparty (CCP) responsible for settlement of trades within the pilot market.

During the project, the RMO staff will need to undergo training to fully understand both the market and its systems. During the Implementation and Operation Phase, ongoing training is essential to equip RMO staff with the skills needed to manage the market efficiently and address emerging issues. These training programs—covering areas such as cybersecurity, operational procedures, market analysis and reporting, compliance, and regulatory updates—will ensure that the RMO staff will be well-prepared for the operational handover from the Consultant and capable of effectively and independently managing the market.

Within the framework of the Central Asia Pilot Market Design preparation, CDC “Energia” will contract a service provider (Consultant), to provide market systems and market operation as a service, leveraging CDC’s existing regional system operation experience.

Key arrangements for the regional market include:

CDC as the contractor for RMO: CDC contracts the RMO function to the Consultant for the duration of the pilot and supervises its performance. After establishing the RMO as agreed by participating countries, such entity would ensure operations of the pilot market in accordance with Operation Agreement and Service Level Agreement to be signed between such RMO and the Consultant.
Transition to full market operation: Initially, the pilot market operation will be run by the Consultant as the service provider. However, during Phase 1 participating countries will decide on institutional arrangements needed to develop the regional competencies required to fully assume the RMO role and transfer that role to a regional entity, thereby transitioning away from the serviced market framework.
Future market evolution: As the market evolves, depending on the evolution of market design and the decision of the participating countries, the regional market operation function could be performed by a separate autonomous entity or can be performed together with the regional system operation function.
Key requirement: The procedure for RMO governance and market operation itself shall ensure transparency and accountability towards the Central Asia countries participating in the regional market.

Supporting market design elements include the establishment of a Market Oversight Committee by participating countries inline of existing institutions in Central Asia with minimum changes, to ensure transparent and neutral market operations. A working group with representatives of all participating countries (Market taskforce) will be established to work with Consultant on market documents and other Contract deliverable during development and implementation stages. The Market taskforce will be a key counterpart for the Consultant during this assignment.

2. Objective of the Assignment

2.1. Objective of the REMIT Program

The overall REMIT Program Development Objective is to increase regional electricity trade, strengthen transmission capacity, and enable the integration of renewable energy in Central Asia. During Phase 1 REMIT the objective of Component 1 is to enhance regional electricity trade through piloting and operationalization of day-ahead regional electricity market.

2.2. Objective of the assignment

The objective of the assignment is to provide support to Central Asian countries to prepare, launch, and pilot operations of the day ahead regional market.

3. Scope of Consultant’s Services:

The Consultant will build on the recent market design work and existing achievements in this field in Central Asia. The Consultant’s services shall include preparing the necessary legal agreements and documents to govern the operation of the Central Asian pilot market (including, but not limited to, the Market Guidelines, Market Rules, Participation Agreement, Market Procedures, financial settlement rules and procedures, dispute resolution arrangements, and any other necessary documents), developing and implementing a trading platform and settlement solution, comprehensive capacity building of key regional stakeholders on market design and operations, launching the pilot market, and providing market operation as a service for the period of two (2) years, with option for subsequent yearly extension of service if requested by Client.

The Scope of Work is divided into two phases: Implementation (Phase 1) and Operation (Phase 2). Phase 1 will follow Lumpsum Contract format, Phase 2 will follow Time-Based Contract format. Under Phase 1 the Consultant will be paid fixed amount upon approval of Reports #1-4 as described in par. 4.2.2 below. Under Phase 2 the Consultant will be paid based on the actual time spent by key experts and support staff, according to the agreed billing rates and timesheets in accordance with provisions of Operation Agreement and Service Level Agreement to be signed by the Client and the Consultant as per par. 3.2 below. Accordingly, the deliverables, timelines and payment schedules have been considered.

3.1. PHASE 1. Pilot Market Implementation

The Activities under Phase 1 are as follows:

3.1.1. Activity #1.1. Inception: Initial review and detailed roadmap:

Consultant is expected to develop and agree with the Client on the market's objectives, framework, detailed design, market solutions, and platform requirements. The Consultant shall review the market design report completed in 2024, relevant CDC methodologies, and any other documents identified by the Client or considered necessary for the successful completion of the assignment. The Client will provide a list of documents it considers relevant to the project.

The Consultant shall also identify and review relevant regional and national governance documents in Central Asia that have a bearing on the rules and trading, including documents on currently operating national energy markets and plans for implementation of international markets. In addition, the Consultant shall review relevant experience and documentation from other regions with functioning or developing power markets.

The Consultant should evaluate the information in these documents, assess their completeness, and determine if any additional documents, data, or fieldwork are required to gain a comprehensive understanding of the current conditions in the Central Asia region.

The Consultant shall prepare an inception report outlining its understanding of the assignment, a detailed roadmap/project plan for the pilot market's go-live, including the criteria to be met before go-live, the approach and methodology, key deliverables, and a map of Market Documentation and list of operational, institutional, financial and legal requirements needed for the market to open and function, based on experience and best practices in other regional markets and the detailed review of documents identified above. The report will also cover data collection requirements and the project team structure and composition. This plan will remain a live document and must be updated by the Consultant throughout the project.

During this activity the Consultant should outline typical hosting requirements and considerations, including a cloud-based solution for the trading platform. The Consultant will review the available Client’s infrastructure to ensure operation of the trading platform and recommend improvements to such infrastructure critical to installation and operation of the trading platform. Consultant shall design the trading platform to allow to operate on available Client’s infrastructure to the extent possible and shall minimize any additional investments unless critically needed for secure operation of the energy market. The Consultant is expected to design the trading platform (Activity #1.3) and implement the platform (Activity #1.4) assuming cloud (or in-house) infrastructure for hosting the trade system solution is used at least for Pilot DAM market implementation with robust data security and cyber-security measures implemented. The Consultant should review and present the analysis of feasibility of using cloud infrastructure for more advanced trade, as well as perform an analysis of advantages and disadvantages of such approach in comparison to using physical infrastructure of the Client. Accordingly, the Consultant should present the key merits and demerits of cloud vs in-house infrastructure for the pilot market and future market evolution during the Inception workshop (see below) and seek the countries’ decision^[1]. Such analysis should include all aspects of both options, including the costs of installing and operating the full market trading platform under both scenarios.

The Consultant shall prepare and include in the inception report a Capacity Enhancement Plan. Capacity Enhancement Plan shall provide activities to support the successful implementation of Tasks #1.5.1, #1.5.2, #1.5.3, and #1.5.4. This plan will focus on providing targeted capacity building for the Client, traders, and other relevant stakeholders. This plan shall include certification rules for traders to access the platform as envisaged by par. 3.1.5.2 below. This plan shall include the suggested countries and concept of the study tours to be organized in accordance with requirements of par. 3.1.5.4 below.

The Consultant shall organize an inception workshop (online), at which it will present and discuss the inception report with the Client and other relevant stakeholders. The Client will provide comments on the report, including collating comments from the participating countries, and the Consultant will be required to address these comments. The Client must approve the inception report before the Consultant proceeds with the remainder of the assignment. During this workshop, the Consultant is expected to reconfirm the preliminary market design, objectives and scope of the work, along with the roadmap.

[1] Technical and financial proposal of the Consultant should be based on assumption of pilot market implementation using cloud infrastructure. Consultant shall include in the financial proposal estimated cost of physical infrastructure required to implement proposed market platform which will be included in the Contract price in case such decision is taken following recommendations within the Inception report.

3.1.2. Activity #1.2. Drafting of the Market Rules and Documentation

The Consultant will develop the necessary detailed Market Rules and Documentation required for the market's establishment and efficient operation. The Market Rules and Documentation must cover aspects such as the day-ahead market operation, imbalance settlement, market monitoring, auditing, dispute resolution, credit requirements, and market fees. Since the centralized market will operate alongside bilateral trade, it must accommodate bilateral trade practices. The Market Rules and Documentation should be designed as "living documents" that can be updated over time and as such should include rules and procedures for change management.

The Market Rules and Documentation should be designed to not only address the immediate requirements of the pilot market but also to accommodate prospects for future market evolvement and expansion of activities as identified in the market design (while it does not need to describe any new future market segments). The Consultant shall analyze the existing mechanisms for information (telemetry data) exchange between potential market participants and existing laws and regulations of participating countries related to energy trade, as well as assess adequacy of such mechanisms and the legal framework for the objectives of the proposed pilot energy market, as well as for more advanced phases of market implementation. The Consultant shall analyze the existing mechanisms for providing capacity regulation services that influence operation of the regional market.

The Market Rules and Documentation should be robust enough to stand the test of time, covering the following aspects and any other critical aspects identified by the Consultant:

General description of the market, price and quantity setting for the pilot market and imbalance settlements, including mechanisms for ensuring transparency of calculations and reporting. Electricity price calculation under the proposed mechanisms shall take into account third-party network transit charges;
Types of tradeable products;
Categories of participants and criteria for each;
Accession to and termination from the market (both voluntary and involuntary);
Timings and sequencing of trading;
Formats for bids and offers, required information, and information flows;
Market related metering information and its exchange between national system operators and CDC;
Settlement processes, financial rules, market fees, required collateral, and related parameters including the reasoning, calculations, and models supporting these parameters;
Allocating cross-border transmission capacity, including regional harmonisation of the capacity calculation;
Nomination of trades;
Congestion management, including congestion rents;
Treatment of cross-border bilateral contracts and other regional markets where Central Asian countries participate along with short-term pilot market, particularly aspects of their nominations;
Market monitoring, governance, audit, and procedures for rule changes, including suggestions of composition, functions and responsibilities of Market Oversight Committee and potential working groups;
Procedures and processes for dispute resolution between pilot market stakeholders;
Roles and responsibilities of market participants, and regional institutions. Regional institutions shall include the existing ones (CDC Energia) or suggestions of the new one(s) to be established to fully addressed the needs of Central Asia regional energy market.
Proposals for amendments and/or additions to the existing laws and regulations related to electric energy sector of participating countries required for operation of the pilot market (if needed).
Operation Agreement governing the operation of the Central Asia Pilot Market as a managed service, outlining the respective roles, responsibilities, authority, and obligations of the Client and the Consultant during operation of the Central Asia Pilot Market as described in par. 2 below.
Service Level Agreement (SLA) defining the required service standards for operating the Central Asia Pilot Market, including performance indicators, availability, response times, reporting requirements, and remedies for service failures as described in par. 2 below.
Initial approach and required actions for future market development, in particular, an intraday market, a forward market, balancing market, and market(s) for ancillary services. Required actions for future market development shall also include proposals on improving the interchange of telemetry information between the power systems of the Central Asian countries.

The Market Rules and Documentation shall provide clear and detailed suggestions on the structure and functionality of existing or suggested regional institutions to be able to perform, at least, the following functions:

Advising on market structure for the Regional Energy Market and market rules.
Evaluation of the need for market rule revisions and organizing additional studies.
Evaluation of market performance and supporting activities related to market monitoring and mitigation activities.
Performance of economic analysis of market competitiveness and efficiency.
Administration of day-to-day operation of Regional Energy Market.
Organization of market participants into the structure of the Regional Energy Market.
Monitoring and control of invoices for daily market operations.
Monitoring transactions between operating members and advise on the feasibility of wheeling transactions.
Settlement of payments arising from the use of, or transactions made in the Regional Energy Market.
Initiation of payment transfers in and out of a designated Clearing Bank(s) (if needed); and
Investigation of abnormalities in electricity trading in the day ahead and, later, balancing market.

The Market Rules and Documentation shall ensure that pilot market will work in parallel to bilateral trade and therefore the pilot market must accommodate bilateral trade, e.g., regarding nominations and imbalance settlement. The Market Rules and Documentation will be a living document that changes with time and therefore should include rules and procedures for change processes.

To support decision-making on the market rules and documentation, the Consultant shall plan to organize at least three workshops for the relevant stakeholders for consultation, including at least one for the Project Steering Committee (at the Ministerial level). Other details on workshop and arrangements shall be proposed by the Consultant within the Inception Report.

A suggested approach for undertaking this task is as follows:

The Consultant will develop the Market Rules and Documentation in cooperation with the Client and working group of national stakeholders to be established (Market Taskforce).
The initial draft of the Market Rules and Documentation will be submitted to the Client at least three weeks prior to the first workshop.
The Consultant will host the first workshop to refine the initial draft Market Rules and Documentation with stakeholders.
Based on feedback from the first workshop, the Consultant will revise the Market Rules and Documentation.
The revised draft documents will be submitted to the Client and Market Taskforce at least three weeks prior to the second workshop.
The Consultant will present the revised draft at the second workshop for further review.
The Consultant will revise the Market Rules and Documentation based on feedback from the second workshop.
The Consultant will provide the final Market Rules and Documentation to the Client and the market taskforce. The third workshop will be hosted for the project Steering Committee (ministerial level) to approve the documents or provide final comments.
The Consultant will revise the Market Rules and Documentation based on final comments from the Steering Committee.
The Consultant will present the final version to the Client and Market Taskforce for approval. Market Rules and Documentation must be approved by the Steering Committee before the Trading Platform is launched.

For all workshops included in par. 4.2.1 of this Terms of References, including those mentioned above, the Consultant is responsible for arranging/providing required facilities for such workshops. This should include, as applicable, providing a venue, catering, simultaneous interpretation (English/Russian), training materials, and economy-class travel, accommodation and per diem for participants from the participating countries, up to the indicative number of participants specified in the table in par. 4.2.1. Cost of such workshops will be fully borne by the Consultant.

3.1.3. Activity #1.3. Developing the trading platform.

In collaboration with the Client and Market Taskforce, the Consultant will develop or configure the trading platform based on the agreed Market Rules and Documentation. This activity includes delivering a technical description, developing and delivering the clearing engine software and market interfaces. The Consultant is to deliver technical description required for operating system and hardware / hosting setup. The platform must be designed for future expansion, including adding more tradeable products (e.g. iceberg orders), geographic zones, countries, market participants, and functionalities.

The Consultant shall organize a system design workshop for the Market Taskforce to discuss and confirm the specifications for the system.

The trading platform should allow but not be limited to:

a) Bid submissions into the market - Secure system for market players to submit bids (to buy) and offers (to sell) to the pilot DAM.
b) Market clearing engine – software implementation of the objective functions/ algorithms for market clearing and price determination, delivery of market schedules as well as the necessary market invoicing and settlement.
c) Algorithm

- The algorithm should be based on marginal pricing, with the primary objective of maximizing social welfare, which includes consumer surplus, producer surplus, and congestion income[3].

- Algorithm input: The algorithm will require inputs such as cross-zonal capacity, allocation constraints such as loss factors of cross-border interconnectors and buy and sell orders.

- Algorithm outputs:

A single clearing price for each bidding zone and market time unit, expressed in USD/MWh. (Note. Trading platform/algorithm shall be made flexible to accommodate trade in other (incl. national) currencies at a later stage if need to be implemented.
A single net position for each bidding zone and each market time unit.

iii. Information that enables the determination of the execution status of orders and allocating the results for each participant.

Cross-zonal electricity flow data.

- The algorithm should be transparent to all market participants to build and maintain trust in the market and ensure the equal treatment of all participants.

d) Management of trading risk - A module that allows managing trading risk: maintaining the up-to-date status collateral posted and limiting trading based on posted collateral.
e) Energy and administration fee invoicing and settlement - A module for calculating the settlement (energy, administration fee) results for invoicing and creation and sending of invoices.
f) Nomination of cross border flows and trades- A module for market participant nominating (reporting) of contracted energy
g) Available Transfer Capacity interface – Interface for CDC or national system operators to input the Available Transfer Capacity values
h) Market Outcomes: these are tools that enable stakeholders to view operational and market data both tabular and graphical form
i) Reporting or data interface - A reporting or data interface for market monitoring and surveillance and audit purposes
j) Market information platform - A market information platform for market participants, TSO and CDC for sharing information on outages, maintenance plans and other information that could affect regional market prices.
k) Data retention - A sufficient process for data retention.

The trading platform developed must be multilingual, offering support in English and Russian.

The Consultant shall ensure robust cybersecurity measures are implemented, adhering to industry best practices to maintain system integrity, safeguard sensitive data, and prevent unauthorized access. This includes employing up-to-date encryption, secure coding standards, regular security audits, and comprehensive access controls. The trading platform should be designed to resist cyber threats and attacks, ensuring that any vulnerabilities are promptly identified and mitigated to uphold data protection and operational reliability. The Consultant shall develop and apply a security strategy to be implemented during operation of trading platform, as well as any practical security measures and training of RMO staff with regards to system security.

The Consultant shall develop the trading platform ensuring future expandability to add more products as outlined above, more geographic zones or countries, more market participants and functionalities as the market evolves and in line with global trends, including the future market segments outlined in the Market Rules and Documentation (Intraday market, Forward Market, ancillary services markets, balancing market, etc.).

Consultant is expected to complete development/ customization of the trade platform software following best practices of software engineering including unit testing, systems testing, performance testing and security testing. Client should be updated regularly on all the status of the development cycle, including reports after completion of each phase of development and any outstanding issues which may arise.

Trial Acceptance Testing has to be conducted by Consultant and the Client and corresponding sign off to be obtained from the Client on successful completion of such testing. Once the sign-off is obtained the pilot market software can be implemented as required under Activity #3.1.4.

The Consultant can carry out the development/ customization of the trade platform at its own premises and using its own infrastructure. However, Consultant is required to ensure that the final product developed for pilot DAM trading platform is implemented using cloud or physical infrastructure to be decided by the Client and participating countries as discussed above.

The Consultant shall develop two user guides for the system, one for operators and one for traders, ensuring that each group has clear instructions and support for effectively using the platform. These guides should cover all key functionalities relevant to each user type. The trading platform should be user-friendly and include Help section for traders or on-line hints to assist traders in operations of the platform.

The Consultant shall prepare the Acceptance Test Program which shall outline at least the process of system dry runs, trading platform acceptance criteria, and procedure for authorizing go-live status of the system.

Consultant is encouraged to start work on Activity #1.3 prior to finishing the work on Activity #1.2 to reduce the overall time required to deliver the market platform and reach go-live status. However, final trading platform to be developed shall be based on the approved Market Rules and Documentation.

[1] Congestion income is the difference in the price of electricity that occurs between market areas when the capacity of transmission lines is limited and cannot meet demand. This is the amount of electricity (MW) transmitted between the price zones, multiplied by the price difference for MWh between these zones.

3.1.4. Activity #1.4. Installation, Testing and Commissioning

The Consultant will oversee the installation, testing, and commissioning of the trading platform. Additionally, the Consultant will provide training to the RMO’s staff[1] on how to use and manage the platform.

The Consultant shall install, test, and commission the trading platform and provide all necessary training to enable the RMO’s staff, the Consultant’s personnel responsible for market operations, and relevant entities from Central Asian countries to use and manage the platform efficiently.

Prior to acceptance of the system and start of operations under Phase 2 as outlined in section 3.2 of this Terms of References, the Consultant shall conduct a trial run (structured market simulation) of the system for at least 2 weeks (duration of the trial run to be confirmed in the Inception Report).

During this phase the trading platform shall be operated daily in the production environment under the approved Market Rules, using actual day-ahead data (available transfer capacities, bilateral contract nominations, participants’ bids and offers), without physical delivery or financial settlement.

The trial run shall:

replicate the full daily market cycle: capacity submission, bidding, gate closure, clearing, publication of results, nomination and scheduling with CDC Energia, indicative imbalance calculation, collateral checks and settlement statements;
serve as live, hands-on familiarization for traders, RMO staff, national system operators and CDC Energia dispatchers with elaborated platform, under the Consultant’s supervision. Participation in the trial run shall be part of the trader certification as required by par. 3.1.5.2;
test fallback procedures, incident management and the support hotline;
be documented in a trial run report, to be included in Report No. 4 as required by par. 4.2.2. The report shall cover KPIs (participation, bid submission errors, system availability, timeliness of results), a comparison of shadow results with actual bilateral schedules, lessons learnt, and any required amendments to the Market Rules or the platform.
Go-live shall be subject to pre-defined readiness criteria agreed with the Client and the Market Working Group, and to a formal go/no-go decision taken at Workshop 8 (final pre-launch workshop.

The Consultant shall host the final production version of the pilot DAM trading platform for the RMO using the cloud-based or physical infrastructure provided under this Contract. The Consultant shall also host a separate copy of the production version on its own infrastructure to ensure redundancy of the pilot market. This infrastructure shall be independent of the infrastructure used for the operation of the pilot market in Central Asia.

The Consultant shall provide the RMO with all required licenses for software production/ hosting as necessary to fulfill the requirements identified in par. 3.3. The Consultant should factor the prices for such licenses required for their solution in the financial proposal.

The Consultant shall provide the required technical documentation pertaining to the points mentioned below that need to be developed and agreed with the Client beforehand:

Software Requirement Specification (SRS)- It should be as per latest IEEE standards.
Functional Requirement Specification (FRS)- the Consultant will study the existing concepts, develop energy market functionality requirements, collect the data, set up the data migration strategy etc.
Load testing performance.
E-signing, availability of Master data.
User Acceptance Test (UAT).
User Requirement Specification (URS).
Change Request process.
User Manual(s).
Back up policy, duration, strategy for disaster recovery plan. Recovery plan to be aligned with latest technology.
Training and capacity enhancement plan.
Test cases
Test Manuals etc.
Assist in setting up helpdesk or helpline for the facility. The Consultant will provide necessary training for smooth functioning of helpline facility.

The Consultant shall prepare a deployment report, and the Client, Market Taskforce and RMO, if established as separate entity by the time of acceptance testing, will conduct an acceptance test of the system. Such acceptance test shall be conducted on Acceptance Test Program and Methodology agreed during Activity #1.3. based on mutually agreed acceptance criteria. The market participants performing an appropriate number of dry runs / market simulations covering a wide range of market states with the Consultant’s assistance. The form and duration of the testing should be included in the Acceptance Test Program and Methodology.

[1] All activities under this and further activities could be provided to staff of the organization to operating the trade platform, as agreed during Activity #1.1. For the purpose of this TOR such organization and staff are referred as Client and Client’s staff.

3.1.5. Activity #1.5: Capacity Enhancement

The Consultant will conduct training for at least 30 traders from all market signature countries to ensure they, as well as RMO’s staff, can effectively use the platform. Such training should include a module on ethics, compliance, market power and market monitoring and surveillance and other important aspects. Upon successful completion of the training program trainers are expected to receive certificate to use the trading platform. The Consultant shall also provide training for RMO staff or dedicated trainers who will carry out periodic refresher courses and new certifications. All such training and activities shall be conducted in accordance with Capacity Enhancement Plan agreed with the Client within activity #1.1.

3.1.5.1. Task #1.5.1. Capacity Building for Stakeholders.

To effectively implement the Central Asian pilot market requires capacity enhancement in the following broad categories:

Key market concepts: Essential parts of an energy market, power market architecture, market principles, merit order, pricing mechanisms and settlements
The Central Asian Pilot Market
Participation in a pool market
Contractual Relationships
Balancing and Settlement
Access to transmission network
Using the trading platform

The Consultant shall design and conduct specific capacity enhancement workshops and prepare training materials to train the Client specialists, responsible for System operator function, RMO, market participants, and other stakeholders in these areas.

3.1.5.2. Task #1.5.2. Training and Certification of Traders.

The Consultant shall design and deliver a training course, the related training material and assessment to certify market participant traders in trading and use of the trading platform and shall include a module on ethics, compliance, market power, and market monitoring and surveillance. The course outline and the approach to assessing and certifying traders will be submitted for Client’s, market taskforce’s and RMO, if established by that time as a separate entity, approval before being presented to traders shortly after the platform is ready. All traders are expected to participate in trial run of the system as explained by par. 3.1.4 of this Terms of References. Participation and successful completion of the trial run should be a condition for certification of traders.

3.1.5.3. Task #1.5.3. Training of Trainers.

The Consultant shall also prepare training material for and conduct training of up to 15 identified personnel from all countries participating in pilot market as Trainers, equipping them to deliver periodic refresher courses and new certifications as required, based on the material from Task #1.5.2.

3.1.5.4. Task #1.5.4. Study tours.

The Consultant shall also prepare and organize 2 study tours for the relevant personnel of the RMO and representatives of countries, participating in regional market (up to 14 people for each trip) to learn from experience of similar regional market development and operation in other regions to be agreed with the Client. As part of the study tour the Consultant is expected to provide, as applicable, an economy class international travel, accommodation, per diem, visas, insurance, host-institution fees, interpretation (English/Russian). Cost of the study tour will be fully borne by the Consultant.

3.1.6. Activity #1.6: Energy Market Initial Set-up

The Consultant will develop a detailed roadmap for the Pilot Market implementation and maintain it. This includes identifying issues that need to be addressed, and actions required by the Client, the RMO, market taskforce, market participants, TSOs and governing bodies. This plan will include operational, commercial, and legal activities required for market implementation that need to be undertaken by the RMO, service providers for the Central Asian Pilot Market, and entities in Central Asian countries. The Consultant will create a list of operational requirements for participants to join the market. While the Consultant is not responsible for implementing these requirements, they are expected to liaise with the Client and stakeholders to facilitate and monitor the implementation progress and identify potential issues that could affect the market's go-live date and further address those issues.

This activity will begin with a list of documents part of the Market Rules and Documentation, and project plan for trading platform go-live developed during the inception phase and will continue throughout the duration of the project.

As part of this activity, the Consultant shall identify/define a list of minimum operational requirements for the market to function and for participants to join the market. This includes identifying issues that need to be addressed, and actions required by the Client, RMO, market taskforce, market participants, Transmission System Operators (TSO), and governing bodies including operational, commercial and legal activities required for market implementation that need to be undertaken by the said entities.

While the Consultant is not responsible for implementing these operational requirements, the Consultant is expected to liaise with the Client and stakeholders throughout the project to understand the status of implementation of the project, implementation of the minimum operational requirements developed under Activity #1.2 and raise issues where the status and plans may affect go live of the market.

3.2. PHASE 2 – Support to Operation of the Central Asia Pilot Market

The Consultant shall operate the market on behalf of the RMO as a service provider, according to separate Operational Agreement and Service Level Agreements (SLA), as agreed with the Client in accordance with requirements of par. 3.1.2 to be concluded between the Consultant and the Client or RMO, before the go-live, for a period of 2 years after acceptance of the trading platform under Activity #1.4, with option for subsequent yearly extension of service if requested following the pre-set arrangements and pricing for expanded yearly services provision. The Consultant will carry out market reviews to analyze and correct bugs in trading platform during this period.

During the pilot market operation, the following responsibilities will reside with the Consultant:

Provision of critical technical and operational support to maintain the market's smooth functioning in accordance with Operation Agreement with clear division of roles and responsibilities of parties developed by Consultant in accordance with par. 3.1.2 and agreed with the Client for provision of services at this phase of the Contract implementation.
Provision of all the necessary support and resolution for any technical, functional and / or other issue in the applications including any enhancement or bug fixing to ensure the trading platform operates in accordance with Market Rules and Documentation agreed during Activity #1.2.
System availability: Ensuring that the trading platform is operational and accessible to market participants at all critical times, in accordance with separately agreed service levels.
Second line support: Providing technical support to address issues that go beyond basic troubleshooting, including system malfunctions or operational errors that require more advanced solutions.
Third line support: Handling complex technical issues that require expert-level intervention, including coordination with software developers or external service providers, as necessary.
Calculation and provision of results: Managing and executing the processes for calculating market outcomes (e.g., prices, imbalances) and providing these results to market participants in a timely manner.
Responding to market incidents and operating the system in backup modes, ensuring transfer of information in backup mode in case of system or communication malfunctions.
Equip RMO’s staff with the skills needed to manage the market efficiently and address emerging issues, incl. covering areas such as cybersecurity, operational procedures, market analysis and reporting, compliance, and regulatory updates.
Carry out all required coordination with the third party if any such third party for the application hosting is engaged.
Ensure operation of the helpdesk for traders. A dedicated team of Consultant’s staff shall provide the application support and issue resolution and to be available for the entire period of Phase 2. Local Number or Toll-Free number for such help desk will be provided by the Client. Consultant is also expected to allow traders to get support through WhatsApp/Telegram or similar system commonly available in Central Asia and free to traders. Consultant is expected to develop and continuously support FAQ section on trading platform at the RMO’s site.
Organize quarterly workshops with the Client and RMO, and the Market Taskforce starting after the first quarter (3 months) of market operations discussing market reviews, any bugs in trading platform, and any market issues.
If and upon the end of the market operation services provision by Consultant, handover of system operations to the RMO.
training of the RMO personnel to efficiently operate the trading platform (i.e. training as platform operators).

The Client/RMO will retain responsibility for:

Maintaining oversight of day-to-day operations of the market functioning in accordance with Operation Agreement with clear division of roles and responsibilities of parties developed by Consultant in accordance with par. 3.1.2 and agreed with the Client for provision of services at this phase of the Contract implementation.

Daily monitoring of market operations, including ensuring that submitted orders from market participants are accurate and comply with market rules, and reporting to the regulatory and oversight bodies.

Ensuring operation of first line technical support, providing immediate, frontline assistance for basic user issues and operational queries.
Market Participant management, including onboarding of new participants, granting access to systems.
Clearing and settlement, enforcing payments and collateral requirements.
Operating the market information platform.

3.3. Ownership of Pilot Energy Market Platform Application

The Client or RMO shall be the sole owner of the Pilot Energy Market Platform application developed under the Contract. The Consultant shall provide the source code and any database used for the Pilot Energy Market platform or provide rights for indefinite use and modification of the platform to the Client or RMO, except for commercial use outside the Central Asia regional energy market. The Consultant shall hand over all the source code (if applicable) and the related developer documentation inclusive but not limited to application architecture documentation, UML files, README files, configuration and installation guides, and API documentation (in a suitable media) immediately after the successful acceptance testing of the main version of the Pilot Energy Market platform application and at its every subsequent revision. The Consultant shall develop and include necessary legal documents (license agreements, etc.) required to operate and develop the platform beyond the contract as part of the Market Rules and Documentation. If RMO is established as a separate entity based on decision of RSC and after RMO is operational source codes, licenses, documentation, etc. as mentioned above should be transferred to such entity.

3.4. Data Backup, Archival and Restoration

The failure or occurrence of a delay in performance of any of the obligations of either party shall constitute a Force Majeure event only where such failure or delay could not have reasonably been foreseen war or hostility, acts of the public or enemy, civil commotion, sabotage, fires, floods, Vandalism (due to law& order Situation), terrorism, explosions, epidemics, quarantine restriction, strikes, lockouts or act of God(hereinafter referred to as events) or where despite the Presence of adequate and stipulated safeguards the failure to perform obligations has occurred at any location. In such an event, the affected party shall inform the other party in writing within five days of the occurrence of such event. Any failure or lapse on the part of Consultant in performing any obligation as is necessary and proper, to negate the damage due to projected force majeure events or to mitigate the damage that may be caused due to above mentioned events or the failure to provide adequate disaster management/recovery or any failure in setting up a contingency mechanism would not constitute force majeure as set out above.

During Contract implementation the Consultant shall provide a cost estimate and propose a solution for a disaster recovery center of Tier III or above rating required for secured operations of trade platform if cloud platform is not used. The disaster recovery center is not foreseen to be part of the implementation of pilot DAM market.

The system shall take daily, weekly, and monthly backups of a cold storage facility. The archives shall be versioned and extracted using the same specifications as the underlying database

It must be ensured that any ongoing changes to the database scheme do not cause the archives to be invalidated.

Consultant should also make a one-click restoration facility available for easy and error-free data restoration.

3.5. Exit Management

After the successful completion of the operation and maintenance period, the Consultant is expected to carry out the following activities required to complete the exit formalities:

Functional, Commercial and Technical Knowledge transfer of the developed modules of the application to the personnel identified by the participating countries.
Transfer all the source codes and database to the Client or RMO and / or signing the licenses required to fulfill requirements of par. 3 above.
Obtain Completion Certificate from the Client or RMO.
Submission of self-certificate declaring adherence to non-disclosure agreement and data privacy.

4. Timeline and Deliverables:

4.1. Timeline of Activities

The estimated time for this work is 18 months for implementation Phase 1 plus the 24 months of services for Central Asia pilot market live operation Phase 2 (with optional yearly extension of service afterwards). The Consultant can propose a shorter time for Phase 1 implementations and Central Asia pilot market go live. Any other timelines and schedule for Phase 1 implementation could be followed if agreed with the Client. To ensuring time effective delivery it is assumed Consultant shall proceed at their own view and pace with Phase 2 preparatory work while Phase 1 is being completed. A tentative implementation schedule is provided below.

The Consultant will submit monthly progress reports and hold monthly update meeting calls with the Client and regular meetings with Market Taskforce (procedures to be agreed during Activity #1.1). In addition, the Consultant is expected to hold ad hoc calls with the RMO as required throughout the work.

Number	Activity	Expected Date (months, if not mentioned differently)
1	Award and signing of contract	M
2	Kick –off meeting (virtual)	M + 1 week
3	Submission of Draft Inception Report (Activity 1.1)	M + 1
4	Workshop 1: Inception Report Workshop (Activity 1.1)	M + 2
5	Submission of initial roadmap and issues to be addressed, map of documents, project plan for go-live (Activity 1.6)	M + 2
6	Submission of initial draft Market Rules and Documentation (Task 1.2)	M + 4
7	Workshop 2: Review and validation of initial draft Market Rules and Documentation	M + 5
8	Workshop 3: System design workshop	M + 5½
9	Workshop 4: Review and validation of Market Rules and Documentation	M + 6 ½
10	Submission of final roadmap and issues to be addressed, updated project plan for go-live (Activity 1.6)	M + 6 ½
11	Workshop 5: Presentation of Market Rules and Documentation	M + 7
12	Submission of final Market Rules and Documentation	M + 8
13	Development of the Trading Platform	M + 5 to M + 13
14	Workshop 5: Presentation of Trading Platform	M + 13
15	Workshop 6: Training of trainers and traders’ training certification	M + 14
16	2 study tours as specified in the scope of work	During the assignment based on agreement with the Client
17	Installation, testing and commissioning, including the trial run + training of RMO personnel	M +14 to M + 19
18	Workshop 7: Final preparatory workshop before go-live	M + 19
19	Go – live of the Central Asia market (market platform)	M + 20
20	Workshop 8: First quarterly market operation review workshop (after 1Q of market live operation start)	Step 16 +1Q (M + 23
21	System operation, maintenance, and support	M + 20 to M + 44
22	Optional Service provision yearly extension	if and as requested by the Client.

4.2. Deliverables

4.2.1. Workshops

The Consultant shall provide a minimum of 9 workshops (including 1 virtual) at venues to be decided by the Client but within the Central Asia region as follows. One workshop (inception) will be virtual, and the remainder are face to face.

Workshop	Participants	Number of Days	Indicative Number of Participants
Workshop 1: Inception (virtual)	RMO, Market Taskforce	0.5	5-20
Workshop 2: Review and validation of initial draft Market Rules and Documentation	RMO, Market Taskforce	4	35
Workshop 3: System design workshop	RMO, Market Taskforce, national operators	2	10
Workshop 4: Review and validation of Market Rules and Documentation	RMO, Market Taskforce	4	35
Workshop 5: Presentation of Market Rules and Documentation	RMO, Market Taskforce, National operators	1	35
Workshop 6: Presentation of Trading Platform	RMO, traders	2	25
Workshop 7: a) Training of RMO personnel, trainers b) Training and certification of traders	RMO, traders	3	25
Workshop 8: Final preparatory workshop before go-live	RMO, traders	2	30
2 study tours	RMO, countries	To be agreed during implementation	14
Workshop 9: Market operation review workshop (starting 1^st quarter of market operations	RMO, Market Taskforce	2	37

4.2.2. Reports and other requirements

The Consultant shall prepare and submit the following key Reports which are subject to review and approval by the Client:

Report #1 – Inception report

Report should present results of Consultant’s work under Activity #1.1. Initial review implemented as described in par. 3.1.1 of these TOR, including Capacity Enhancement Plan.

Report #2 - Market Rules and Documentation

Report should present results of Consultant’s work under Activity #1.2. Drafting of the Market Rules and Documentation as described in par. 3.1.2 of these TOR and Activity 1.6 Energy Market Initial Set-up as described in par. 3.1.6 of these TOR. Report #2 should include, at least:

Market Conduct Rules and Guidelines
Market Rules
Market Procedures, including procedures governing information security
Market Participation Agreement
List of operating requirements
Financial settlement rules and procedures
Dispute resolution arrangements
Operation Agreement for operating the market as a service
Service Level Agreement for operating the market as a service
Other documents needed for market implementation
Initial approach and required actions to future market development
Final detailed roadmap for the Pilot Market implementation and issues to be addressed, updated project plan for trading platform to go-live

Report # 3. Trading Platform Development.

Report should present results of Consultant’s work under Activity #1.3. Developing the trading platform as described in par. 3.1.3 of these TOR. The report should include trading platform software and results of acceptance testing agreed by the Client authorizing proceeding with implementation of the trading platform.

Report # 4. Implementation of the Trading Platform.

Report should present results of Consultant’s work under Activities #1.4. Installation, Testing and Commissioning, 1.5: Capacity Building, as described in par. 3.1.4 - 3.1.5 of these TOR. For the trading platform the report shall include, at least:

Trading platform, including hardware, software, and licenses
Trading Platform Operational manuals, documentation, and user guides (RMO version and User/Traders versions).
Central Asia market algorithm description document.
Installation and Commissioning report
Dry run and trial run report
Acceptance test report

For capacity building the report shall include, at least:

Description of capacity building activities for RMO and Central Asian stakeholders conducted by the Consultant
Certification course outline, approach to certifying traders, and certification course for traders with an e-learning component
Report on Trader’s training workshop
Report on Training of Trainers including the list of trainers certified to conduct future training and certification for traders
Report on Study tours conducted.

Reports #5-12. Quarterly Market review report(s)

During Phase 2 of the assignment Consultant shall submit quarterly reports with results of Consultant’s work under Phase 2 Support to Operation of the Central Asia Pilot Market as described in par. 3.2 of these TOR.

Format and detailed content of all reports shall be presented in the Inception report and agreed between the Consultant and the Client.

All reports shall be submitted as electronic copies, MS Word/ MS Office, other formats as agreed with the Client and PDF versions in English accompanied by Russian versions.

The Consultant shall submit each report in draft form to the Client in accordance with the timeline indicated in par. 7.1 of these TOR. The Client will review the report within 10 business days and will either approve the report or provide written comments clearly identifying deficiencies to be corrected by the Consultant. In case comments are provided the Consultant will revise the report by incorporating comments from the Client within 5 working days from receipt of the comments. The Client will review the revised report within 5 working days to ensure all earlier comments are properly incorporated by the Consultant. The Client shall not introduce any additional comments in the subsequent review of the report and shall not delay the approval of the report.

Upon completion of the assignment, it is expected that Consultant will transfer to the Client all input data files, detailed models and results, as well as any necessary licenses required for operating the market.

5. Staffing Requirements:

The Consultant’s team will be composed of at least six (6) experienced professionals (key staff), including local (regional) experts, to ensure the project’s relevance and effectiveness in line with local conditions. The team will be led by a team leader and supported by qualified key experts and deputy Project manager. Non-key experts, which are also responsible for activities in Central Asian countries, may further support these key experts as needed in accordance with Consultant’s methodology.

The Consultant must ensure that key experts and/or additional local experts are present in the Central Asian region and regularly at the premises of the Client during the implementation phase, as required for tasks such as data collection, dialogue with the Client team and stakeholders, and the organization and participation in workshops. Deputy Project manager should be permanently located in Tashkent to ensure continuous interaction with the Client.

The proposed team of experts shall include local experts from Central Asian countries, with good technical knowledge of power markets and good relationship with key stakeholders in the region, to contribute to the assignment and facilitate regular liaison with the Client and stakeholders.

The following are the key experts*[1] needed for the assignment. Consultant is also expected to present non-key experts in its proposal with clear roles and responsibilities:

[1] One professional could assume up to two roles in the Consultant’s team in which case the suggested expert should have the qualification and skills required for both roles as described above. Deputy Team Leader/Project Manager and/or at least one of the key experts is required to be fluent in Russian, to assist in interactions with counterparties.

Key experts	Minimum qualification and experience required
Team Leader/Project Manager: Power pools and/or regional electricity markets expert	Master Degree in a relevant field with at least 10 years’ of progressively senior experience in design and/or implementation of power pools and/or regional electricity markets, power purchase agreements, transmission charging, cross border power flows, and transmission capacity allocation.
Deputy Project Manager: Client and other stakeholder Coordinator	Master Degree in a relevant field with at least 10 years’ of progressively senior experience in implementation of complex energy projects in Central Asia, demonstrated experience in managing complex consulting assignments with authorities of Central Asian countries. Stakeholder management experience and record of good relationship with key stakeholders in the region. Fluent in relevant Central Asia country language, Russian and English.
Power markets / Energy trading expert	Master Degree in economics, electrical engineering, or related field with at least 10 years’ experience in power trade, specifically in areas such as market operations, power trading methodologies, systems, and practices in a power pool environment. The expert must also have thorough knowledge of market design, market monitoring and surveillance, power trading methodologies, systems, and practices in a mature power pool environment.
Power System Legal and Regulatory expert	Bachelor’s degree in law or related field with at least 10 years’ experience in the development or application of legal and regulatory frameworks in the power sector, out of which at least 5 years in a power pool and regional market environment dealing with the formulation or application of market rules, regulations and power purchase agreements, and trading issues.
Transmission system operation expert	Bachelor’s Degree in electrical or power systems engineering or related field, with at least 10 years’ experience in power system operation. The expert should possess a solid understanding of the technical aspects of transmission system operations in the context of electricity markets, particularly in coordinating between TSOs and electricity markets, including the technical interfaces. Experience with developing and applying transmission capacity calculation and allocation, balancing and imbalance arrangements, and congestion management.
Energy Trading Platform developer (2 persons)	Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science, electrical engineering, or related field with at least 10 years’ general IT experience and at least 5 years’ experience (supported by traceable records) in development of trading platforms, preferably for electricity market operations.

The team shall also include at least one local coordinator in each Central Asian country, who is in charge of project activities in a corresponding country, (non-key staff) and one for regional level to coordinate regional project activities with degree in a relevant field at least 7 years’ proven record of progressively acquired knowledge and experience on Central Asian countries power systems operation, electricity trading and national markets. Regional Coordinator role could be performed by other key staff suggested by the Consultant or separate expert.

During Phases 1 and 2 of the assignment the Consultant shall ensure physical meetings by team lead, deputy project manager, assigned Central Asia local managers, required experts and Central Asia stakeholders shall take place in the Central Asia region capitals routinely/as needed for efficient project task execution. Based on agreement with the Client, Consultant should define the approach for meetings including on rotational basis in the Central Asia capitals at least once every half - year during implementation and market operation phases. It is preferred that such meetings are aligned with planned workshops or other assignment activities in Central Asia.

6. Monitoring and Reporting:

The Consultant will report to the Project Director (to be appointed by the Client), unless specified otherwise. Besides Reports #1-12 as described in par. 4.2.2 the Consultant shall present to the Client monthly progress reports summarizing key activities and progress under the assignment, key issues, risks and proposed mitigation measures, and actions required by the Client, Consultant and other parties. Those reports shall include summaries of key meetings (on-line and in-person) between the Consultant, Client and other stakeholders engaged in the assignment.

7. Facilities provided by the Client:

The Client will share the Pilot Market Design documentation with short-listed consultants following signing of non-disclosure agreement.

The Client shall provide the Consultant with access to available documents related to energy market operations and plans in Central Asia, will assist in site visits, will provide workspace in the Client’s premises , will provide infrastructure (except cloud infrastructure necessary for implementation of pilot DAM trading platform or server infrastructure, if such decision is taken, which is expected to be provided by the Consultant) required for implementation of pilot energy market, hosting and domain access and internet connections needed for timely delivery of the assignment.