RFP - Developing Heat and Health Protocols for Bengaluru

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About the Organization

C40 is a network of nearly 100 mayors of the world’s leading cities, who are working to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis, and create a future where everyone, everywhere can thrive. Mayors of C40 cities are committed to using a science-based and people-focused approach to limit global heating in line with the Paris Agreement and build healthy, equitable communities. Driven by the successful delivery of ambitious climate action by C40 cities, mayors are working alongside a broad coalition of representatives from labour, business, the youth climate movement and civil society to go further and faster than ever before.

The strategic direction of the organisation is determined by an elected Steering Committee of C40 mayors which is co-chaired by Mayor Sadiq Khan of London, United Kingdom, and Mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyer of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Three term Mayor of New York City Michael R. Bloomberg serves as President of the C40 Board of Directors, which is responsible for operational oversight. A nine-person management team, led by Executive Director, Mark Watts, leads the day-to-day management of C40. C40’s three core strategic funders are Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and Realdania.

About the Proposal

Context of the proposal - Accelerating Heat-Health Action in Cities Incubator

The health of urban populations is being increasingly impacted by climate change. Rapidly rising temperatures and longer periods of extreme heat are putting pressure on health systems around the world and causing significant numbers of deaths, particularly among vulnerable groups in cities. Heat-related deaths have increased 40% in Europe 2 , 100% in India 3 , and 130% in Latin America 4 over the last twenty years and the majority of these deaths are seniors and people with chronic conditions and with disabilities.

The health of city residents is especially impacted by extreme heat, amplified by dense populations, heat-absorbing urban fabric, non-permeable surfaces and lack of open green spaces. There are already 200 million people living in 350 cities with average summer temperature highs of over 35°C, and by 2050, this number will practically triple with 970 cities experiencing this average summer temperature particularly across Asia, Africa, and North America.

Urban heat is a critical environmental justice issue, disproportionately affecting low-income and historically marginalised communities. While cities are starting to take action to address extreme heat, challenges remain. There is no single department within cities responsible for monitoring weather conditions, tracking the impacts of extreme heat, responding to extreme heat events in the short-term, and taking actions to better prepare for extreme heat and cool cities in the long-term. Institutionalising health and climate data and information across municipal and regional governments is essential to ensure systematic, well-funded, and sustained responses to the increasing health threats posed by extreme heat.

With this background, C40 Cities, (supported by grant from The Rockefeller Foundation 6 ) launched in 2025 a call for applications to support Global South cities to implement data-driven heat-health pilot projects to protect the health of vulnerable populations during, and leading up to, extreme heat events. The city of Bengaluru was one of the pilot projects selected, as presented below.

Scope of the support and objectives of the project in Bengaluru:

A baseline study has been conducted to address heat vulnerabilities and identify priority wards through a detailed risk mapping process. The methodology is guided by the C40 Cities Climate Change Risk Assessment Framework (2018), which emphasizes understanding climate risks through the intersection of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability.

Currently, Bengaluru lacks a dedicated Heat-Health Protocols or Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to manage heat related crises during the summer, and adequate awareness and capacity among front line workers such as Health Workforce, Traffic Police etc. In recognition of this, the Bengaluru Climate Action Plan recommends assessing climate hazards' impact on public health, especially healthcare system readiness, and adaptation strategies. The goal of this project is to prepare Bengaluru to effectively respond to heat incidents by Summer 2026 by,

• Developing Heat-Health Protocols and implementing them through Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to strengthen the city’s ability to respond to extreme heat incidents.
• Strengthening collaboration among institutions and improving data collection and analysis to inform targeted and effective interventions.
• Establishing heat education programmes for healthcare workers, launching public heat-health awareness campaigns and conducting impact evaluations to measure the effectiveness of these initiatives.

Purpose:

The purpose of this Request for Proposal is to solicit proposals from consultancy firms to provide Technical Assistance (TA) to develop Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that enhance the city’s ability to cope with the impact of heat on public health. The assignment has the following main components:

• Develop heat and health evidence-based Protocols and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that mitigate heat risks in Bengaluru, with special focus on protecting identified vulnerable groups.
• Operationalise the identified Protocols through SOPs, thereby mainstreaming them into the workflow of relevant departments in Bengaluru that bridge the gap between climate (heat) and health by providing the necessary training and resources for effective implementation.

Both components will be delivered by effectively engaging with multiple stakeholders in the value chain including national, state and city governments, relevant parastatal bodies, private sector, academia, civil society on a common platform for building consensus on the roadmap.

The key activities, timeline and deliverable/s of the proposed project are as follows:

1. Preparation of Protocols, SOPs and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting (MER) framework to comprehensively address the impact of urban heat on health Timeline: Nov 2025 to Feb 2026.
2. Procurement of goods for identified vulnerable populations Timeline: March 2026.
3. Operationalise the Protocols through SOPs in 2 identified wards with Capacity Building and impact assessment Timeline: March to June 2026.

How to Apply

This Request for Proposal represents the requirements for an open and competitive process. Proposals will be accepted until 11:59 PM IST on 19th October 2025.

All proposals should include clear timetables, how you will work with C40, clear costs and details of experience in this area. The proposal should give C40 evaluators all the information they need to assess your bid. Please clearly indicate where applicable:

How your proposal is responsive to the Evaluation Criteria;

• The assumptions you are making about the project;
• Risks you have identified and appropriate mitigation measures;
• Information about your fee;
• Proposed timeline of implementation;
• Any additional support that you need to make the project a success, including any inputs you will need from third parties or C40 staff;
• Proposed working partnership with C40, including (as applicable) project governance and management, key personnel, key roles and responsibilities, and escalation procedure for issues.

Submissions should include the following documents:

• A work plan outlining how the above requirements will be delivered on time and to the expected standard, and how the bidder proposes to work with, and involve, the municipal corporation and other government bodies.
• A detailed cost breakdown for each of the deliverables, inclusive of taxes, allocated time to tasks per project team member and their daily rates needs to be included in the submission. All the tasks considered should include cost for any activities that the bidding organisation considers would be of value including costs for any additional project management.

Additional information on:

• Examples of relevant past work
• Details of the organisation and proposed project team – please include relevant experience and expertise and limit CVs to two pages per person; clearly indicate the project lead, the role of each team member and whether the person will be stationed in Karnataka.
• Resumes of proposed key personnel in the standard C40 CV Template
• At least two recent references with phone and email contact details.
• Information about the organisation’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and ethical alignment with C40
• Company history
• Executive background

Submissions:

Each Potential Supplier must submit 1 copy of their proposal to the email address below:

• Naim Keruwala, Regional Director, South and West Asia, C40, nkeruwala@c40.org,
• Sarika Chakravarty, Director of Implementation, C40, schakravarty@c40.org
• Benjamin John, Head of Implementation, C40, bjohn@c40.org
• Kaveri Bahure, Manager - Resilience, C40, kbahure@c40.org

Any pre-bid queries must be submitted to the above email addresses or on the link provided here by 6 October 2025, 6:00 PM IST.

For more information please check the Link

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Tags Environment and Sustainability Healthcare and Healthtech Smart City and Urban Issues Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Others