Public Call for Tender no 91188483 Mobile wastewater treatment Laboratory PN#16.2090.5-001.00 "Enhancing Water Resource Management" WAMA

Background 
The GIZ-implemented "Enhancing Water Resource Management" (WAMA) project, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), aims to improve the financial and organizational framework for water and wastewater management in Lebanon’s regional water establishments. The project runs from April 2022 to March 2026. The project has adapted to the ongoing situation in Lebanon, focusing on ensuring essential WASH services and implementing gender-responsive measures. WAMA’s political partner is the Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW), which oversees the water/wastewater sector and leads a reform process. The project’s implementation partners are the four Water Establishments (WEs) responsible for providing water and wastewater services.
WAMA has three outputs:
• Output 1: The capacity of a selected WE to respond to crises and emergencies in a gender-responsive manner is improved.
• Output 2: The conditions for increasing the technical and financial capacities of one WE have improved.
• Output 3: The conditions for WE to assume their responsibility for the collection and treatment of wastewater have improved.
The GIZ-funded WAMA project aims to enhance the operational and institutional capacities of Lebanon’s four regional Water Establishments in managing and supervising wastewater treatment infrastructure. Project assessments have consistently shown that many Wastewater Treatment Plants under these establishments lack adequate or functioning laboratory infrastructure. This deficiency significantly limits their ability to monitor influent and effluent water quality, undermining egulatory compliance and operational efficiency. To bridge this gap, the provision of 2 stand-alone mobile wastewater quality monitoring laboratory housed in a caravan is proposed as a strategic intervention. The caravan will be specifically designed for field deployment and can be towed by a standard 4x4 vehicle (which is not part of the procurement scope and is assumed to be available within the Water Establishments). It will feature a fully autonomous energy setup, including a dedicated generator, ensuring continuous operation under all conditions. The operational cycle will allow the mobile unit to visit relevant WWTPs on a rotating basis and maintain a continuous monitoring regime. The labs will also serve as a training hub, allowing WE staff to build practical competencies in sampling, laboratory analysis, data recording, and quality control. The caravan laboratory will perform on-site, real-time testing of critical physicochemical parameters, to ensure strict compliance with Lebanese Environmental, Limit
Values - ELVs.
This decentralized approach will improve responsiveness, data availability, and plantlevel process optimization. Moreover, the laboratory is conceived as a capacity development platform, allowing Water Establishment staff to gain long-term operational self-sufficiency. It will be ergonomically designed with embedded safety systems, including proper ventilation, spill containment, PPE storage, fire safety features, and meeting local and international safety norms.

Objectives 
The overarching objective of this intervention is to enhance Lebanon’s wastewater monitoring infrastructure by introducing a fully equipped, stand-alone mobile laboratory housed in a caravan. This self-contained unit will fill critical gaps in analytical capacity and enable real-time, on-site water quality testing at WWTPs currently operating without reliable laboratory access. The caravan labs will rotate between facilities
(WWTPs) according to operational priorities and availability, reinforcing timely compliance monitoring and decision-making.
• Support operational wastewater monitoring: Deploy 2 mobile caravan laboratory capable of autonomous field operation, designed to be easily towed to WWTP sites across diverse geographic and operational contexts.
• Enable routine and decentralized testing: Establish a consistent fieldtesting routine to support influent and effluent monitoring in accordance with Lebanese regulatory and operational standards.
• Ensure compliance with Lebanese ELVs: Provide instrumentation and protocols to measure all key physio-chemical parameters required for alignment with Lebanese ELVs, reinforcing environmental and legal compliance.
• Detect process deviations and enable timely corrective actions: Improve the ability of WWTP operators to detect operational parameters early on, enabling them to quickly diagnose potential process faults and implement effective corrective measures before regulatory thresholds are exceeded.
• Build institutional capacity within WEs: Use the mobile labs as a handson training platform to develop the skills of WE staff in laboratory methods, quality assurance, reporting, and environmental monitoring practices.
• Accelerate data-driven decision-making: Enable rapid turnaround of analytical results at the site level to support immediate operational
adjustments and reduce dependence on remote laboratory resources.
• Establish a scalable and replicable model: Demonstrate a flexible and cost-effective solution for wastewater monitoring that can be expanded to other regions or utility contexts.
• Promote safety and environmental accountability: Integrate robust safety features (e.g., ventilation, PPE protocols, spill containment, emergency systems) and ensure that monitoring results inform corrective action and institutional accountability.
• Protect public health and surrounding ecosystems: Allow timely identification of non-compliant discharges, support early mitigation
responses, and safeguard aquatic and human environments.
Specific Objective 
This mobile laboratory will serve as a cornerstone for strengthening wastewater sector performance, supporting Lebanese compliance frameworks, and institutionalizing high-frequency monitoring and technical autonomy across the Water Establishments.

Tasks to be performed by the contractor 
The contractor shall be responsible for the design, supply, customization, delivery, and commissioning of Two fully integrated mobile wastewater laboratory, housed in a towable caravan and compliant with Lebanese transportation regulations. The contractor’s tasks include:
• Equip, deliver and install two fully integrated mobile wastewater laboratories housed in caravans, based on the desired specs mentioned in
this TOR and as per the preliminary layout plans (Annex 4) for the internal arrangement of the laboratory furniture and equipment, adapted to the proposed caravan dimensions.
• Ensure full regulatory compliance, including:

o Caravan roadworthiness under Lebanese transportation regulations

o Maximum gross towing weight not exceeding 3,000kg, matching standard 4x4 towing capacity
o External dimensions not exceeding 2.55 m width, 4.00 m height, and 7.00 m length
o Legal registration and documentation for road deployment
• Provide complete mobile lab conversion and customization for two units, including:
o Interior furnishings with anti-corrosive lab-grade surfaces (minimum grade SS316 stainless steel or equivalent) and chemical-resistant
coatings compatible with wastewater-related reagents, acids, and alkalis Modular lab benches (≥2 linear meters) and cabinetry with shockabsorbing mounts
o Deployable stabilizing pods (mechanical or hydraulic) for safe, level operation at WWTPs
o Stand-alone diesel generator-based power supply for uninterrupted field operation
o HVAC system with inverter control for internal temperature stability (16– 25°C), soft starting, and optimized energy consumption
o Plumbing systems with clean water (100 L) and wastewater tanks 

o LED lighting (lab-grade, minimum IP65), grounded electrical outlets (minimum IP65, compliant with IEC 60364), and cable management
o Emergency safety features: fire extinguisher, eyewash station, emergency lighting, spill containment, PPE lockers, first aid kit
o Ventilated cabinets for hazardous and flammable chemicals, fume hood (minimum airflow: 0.5 m/s face velocity) with carbon/HEPA filters, and sample refrigeration
• Equip the laboratory for physico-chemical analysis, including: 

o Spectrophotometer compatible with LCK cuvettes (COD, BOD₅, TOC, NH₄⁺, NO₃⁻, NO₂⁻, PO₄³⁻, TKN, Cl₂) with ≥2000-memory, USB, and
barcode
o Drying oven 220 V, 1200 W, maximum temperature 250 °C; mechanical convection; sensitivity ± 0.25 °C (minimum internal chamber dimension 0.33 × 0.36 × 0.33 m)
o Portable multiparameter meter (pH, DO, EC, TDS, ORP, Temp), shockproof and IP67
o Dedicated optical DO meter with rechargeable battery and data logging
o COD/BOD digestion Block (37–150°C, 13/20 mm cuvette support)
o Respirometric BOD₅ measurement system (6-bottle, inductive stirring, USB export)
o Digital thermometer (-50 to +200°C, 0.1°C resolution)
o Medium-size programmable incubator (approx. 60–80 L, 2°C to 40°C)
• Integrate all necessary laboratory accessories and materials, including:
o Sampling: Extendable swing samplers, sterile bottles (500 ml & 1000 ml), waterproof markers, labelers, LDPE wash bottles
o Portable Automatic Sampler: e.g., Maxx P6L or equivalent, with vacuum pump, dual battery system, and 10-meter suction pipe with screen filter.
o Glassware & Tools: Graduated cylinders, beakers, Erlenmeyer and volumetric flasks, pipettes and tips, Imhoff cones, stirring rods, spatulas, tweezers
o Filtration: Stainless steel filtration setup (47 mm, minimum grade SS316), vacuum pump (oil-free, ≤50 dBA, 19 L/min), vacuum desiccator (250 mm), porcelain plate, silica gel, and filtration papers of various pore sizes