Development of a regional digital infrastructure plan under the Conexión Sur Program

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) seeks a consulting firm to provide technical support in developing the Conexión Sur Regional Digital Infrastructure Plan. The initiative aims to strengthen digital integration across South America—focusing primarily on Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Paraguay, with complementary analysis of Bolivia, Uruguay, Peru, Venezuela, Guyana, and Suriname—by enhancing cross-border connectivity, data infrastructure, and regulatory alignment.

1. Strategic scope and regional diagnosis
Geographic and functional scope: Assess national and international digital connectivity corridors across participating South American nations, addressing fiber-optic backbones, submarine cables, landing stations, Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), data centers, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), and artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Gap analysis and infrastructure mapping: Map active/passive infrastructure to identify continuity gaps, indirect routing, low redundancy, and single points of failure, prioritizing strategic corridors that reduce latency and lower costs.

Regulatory and legal framework: Perform a comparative assessment of national legal, institutional, and policy frameworks to identify barriers to infrastructure sharing, rights-of-way, wholesale capacity access, spectrum allocation, and regional roaming.

2. Strategic initiatives and investment pipeline
Prioritized digital projects: Identify key regional initiatives based on open-access and neutral-operator models, including cross-border fiber connections, regional IXPs, data center hubs, and intra-regional submarine routes.

Order-of-magnitude investment estimation: Estimate indicative public, private, and blended finance investment requirements for prioritized initiatives to support strategic discussions among member states.

Pre-feasibility study pipeline: Formulate a prioritized pipeline of subsequent pre-feasibility and project preparation studies detailing objectives, geographic scope, and expected technical outputs.

3. Governance, financing, and implementation roadmap
Regional governance and stakeholder validation: Design sustainable governance mechanisms and facilitate consultation workshops with economic authorities, sector ministries, IDB Invest, and regional stakeholders.

Resource mobilization strategy: Map potential sources of financing and technical assistance, including multilateral development banks, climate/digital funds, PPPs, and private investors.

Phased execution sequence: Structure a clear implementation roadmap differentiating short-term actions, quick wins, regulatory reforms, institutional agreements, and long-term investment projects.

Note: Interested consulting firms must review the requirements on the BEO Bidders Portal.