DEFINING FUTURE OPTIONS

Water Sector

Expertise that covers international political and strategical experience, public and private utilities’
management experience, and engineering and economical background

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COMMITMENT

We are committed to Public Service and to the recognition of Water Supply and Sanitation as drivers of
society and the economy

CLIENT NEEDS

We are committed to addressing our clients’ needs with respect for their vision and priorities, always
guiding them in the right direction and adding real value

Every report we deliver is designed to transfer expertise – not just information – by bringing together global best practices and benchmarks.
Our goal is to empower our Clients with knowledge, strengthening their teams long after our work is done

THERE’S NO “ONE FITS ALL” SOLUTION

There is no one-size-fits-all solution in the water sector. Every country, region, municipality, and client
has its own singularities. Each deserves practical and viable solutions, not theoretical models
disconnected from reality

whole spectrum of Water Sector basis

Our expertise covers the whole spectrum of Water Sector basis: managerial, regulatory, organizational and operational

People First

Our projects are driven by “People First”, no one left behind

Our Services

Water – Energy Eficiency – Carbon Emissions

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DEFINING FUTURE OPTIONS is a Portuguese firm delivering investment, management, and advisory services for the environmental sector. We combine deep expertise in regulation, strategy, PPPs, due diligence, and organizational design with operational experience in public and private utilities. Our team’s engineering and economic background ensures practical, high-impact solutions for the water sector. More info…

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Knowledge of the water sector

DEFINING FUTURE OPTIONS stands out for its level of seniority, its knowledge of the water sector, and its experience of managing public and private water utilities.

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Extensive experience

DEFINING FUTURE OPTIONS team has extensive experience in project development in the water sector, having collaborated with Governments, Regulators, Municipalities, Utilities, and Multilateral donors worldwide.

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Unique advisory positioning

DEFINING FUTURE OPTIONS’ expertise in the water sector comes from acting on the international market, designing strategy and business plans, formulating base cases, advising management, technical and commercial operations’ reforms; supporting the implementation of investment programs, improving network efficiency and quality of service, analysing and setting tariffs, devising regulations and creating solutions for increased efficiency in operations.

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International footprint

DEFINING FUTURE OPTIONS has several projects across Europe, Africa and South America water sector, providing advisory services for institutional reforms of public utilities, regulation, PPP design and framework, procurement and Project Management.

Our Services

We provide consulting and advisory services in the Water and Sanitation Sector, Energy Efficiency and Carbon Emissions

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What we do

Establishing and Reforming Utilities

Assessing the Baseline
Setting objectives
Establishing quality standards and goals
Developing Implementation Plans
Forecasting Capex and Opex
Structuring organizations
Defining Staffing Plans
Training and capacity building
Defining internal procedures
Transforming inefficient services into highly professional and efficient ones

Helping Governments, Municipalities and Regulators

Performing Legal and Institutional reforms
Improving governance
Defining Key Performance Indicators
Designing rules and regulations
Providing Technical Assistance
Designing Tender Documents and assisting in the biding and negotiation phases
Establishing guidelines and monitoring procedures
Ensuring international best practices

Settings Tariffs and Cost Recovery Policies

Assessing the existing P&L and Tariff models
Providing Willingness-to-pay and Affordability Studies
Tariff benchmarking
Defining Pro-poor policies and social tariffs
Designing Tariff schemes
Setting tariff programs and tariff revision methods
Implementing cost recovery trajectories

Designing PPP framework

Assess economic, political and social situation to establish a PPP
Evaluate Vision alignment between parties
Analysis and challenge objectives and desired performance indicators
Define risk allocation
Design the PPP model
Develop the financial modelling
Critical review of the feasibility studies and investment plan
Advise on Private Party operational gains and efficiencies to ensure utility performance
Design tender and procurement tools
Supervise PPP performance and regulatory compliance

Evaluating Mergers & Acquisitions

Commercial, Technical and Environmental due diligence and transaction closing
Independent perspective on market potential, target valuation, risks and respective mitigation options
Base-case design, including Capex and Opex estimations
Strategic plan definition for the target company
Post merger planning and strategy definition

Albania

• Policy guidelines to support the government to develop new financing instruments to Regional Water Utilities under the Albania National Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Modernization Program (NWSSMP); World Bank; 2023
• Support to the Institutional Visit of Albania WSS Officials to Portugal; Danube Water Program, World Bank; 2018/2023
• Informing the Reform of the WSS Sector; World Bank; 2019-2020
–Review existing guideline for transfer of operating grants and PBG and recommendations
–Albania’s draft WSS sector national strategy and recommendations and draft sector Law
–Development of: a proposal of revised guideline
–High-level proposal for design of incentive packages and financing mechanisms
–Technical inputs to the design of the Government reform program
• Technical assistance to improve WSS utilities financial and operational performance; National Agency of Water Supply and Sewerage (AKUK); 2025-ongoing

Angola

• Support to Water Sector Reform in Angola Through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Cabinda; Aurecom/CPCS (for World Bank); 2020
• Procurement and Financial Management of the project components related to the EIB parallel financing within WSIDP-2; ADPi (for EIB); 2022-2023
• Public Finance Analyses in the Health, Nutrition and WASH sectors; LBC (for UNICEF); 2022-2023
• Technical Assistance for Establishment of Seven Provincial Water and Sanitation Utilities (PWAS); MINEA/DNA (AfDB funding)

Botswana

• Economic & Financial Due Diligence of a Proposed PPP for a Wastewater Reuse Project; K&M Advisors (for IFC); 2020
–Develop the tariff structure of the project and determine the off-take charges that the public part would pay to the private operator

Caribbean

• Feasibility Study – Mutual for Caribbean Water Utilities to Insure Natural Disasters Risks; K&M Advisors (for IDB Invest); 2019
–Gather field data, review available insurance services, and define a methodological framework
–Define mutual assistance procedures among water utility companies and draft a feasibility report
–Business plan for the risk protection financial solution and in-person consultations with potential stakeholders

Indonesia

• Institutional Transformation of Water Supply in Indonesia - Case Study Bali Province; ADPi (for Ministry of Public Works and Housing of Indonesia); 2024
–Deep-dive PIR Assessment
–Scenarios for utilities aggregation in Bali
–The National Framework for WSS Sector Transformation

Lebanon

• Water Sanitation and Conservation (WSC) Project in Lebanon – Crisis Response Management Plan; DAI Global, LLC/ADPi (for USAID); 2022
–Ensure the operational diagnoses of the four Regional Water Establishments in their most critical technical aspects (production/distribution and financial), develop a medium-term emergency strategy plan to tackle urgent measures and lead the team of 8 experts

Moldova

• Support to the Institutional Visit of Moldova WSS Officials to Portugal; Danube Water Program, World Bank; 2023
• Program for Regionalization and Professionalization of Water Supply and Sanitation Services in Moldova; World Bank; 2024
–High Level Assessment of the non-licensed service providers in Moldova, analysing the obstacles the sector faces to license non-utility / supplementary service provider (SSP) and advise on next steps towards organizing the sector

Mozambique

For AURA, IP, Water and Sanitation Regulator:
• Tariff model study (structure and mechanism of cross subsidies for poor and sustainability of connections fees subsidy); Castalia; 2018-2020
• AURA’s Strategic and Sustainability Plan; KPMG; 2021
• Specialized Technical Assistance in the field of Regulation; ADPi; 2024
• Incentives and Sanctions Regime (RIS) for the Provision of Public Services of Water Supply and Sanitation; 2024-ongoing

For AIAS, Water and Sanitation Administration:
• Transaction Advisory Services for the Development of a PPP Model to Enable Private Participation in the Design, Build, Finance and Operation of Small Towns Water Supply Systems; Castalia/USAID (for AIAS); 2019-2020
• Small Towns Water Infrastructure Fund Feasibility Study; Castalia/Tetra-Tech/USAID WASH-FIN; 2021

For DNAAS, National Water Directorate:
• Public-Private Cooperation Strategy for Water Concession, Distribution and Collection; 2024
• Adjustment of the Regulatory Framework for the Rural Space Covering Water Supply and Sanitation and Decentralization Issues; 2025-ongoing

Peru

• Technical Assistance To Sedapal´s Investment Planning and Tariff Setting; K&M Advisors (for World Bank); 2019
–Sedapal’s Investment Planning and Tariff Review
–Water Utility Turnaround Framework assessment
–Regulatory and institutional framework for investment planning in the water sector assessment

Portugal

• 75+ Client Municipalities
• Aggregation of Municipal services into large regional Utilities
• Advisory to the Regulator, ERSAR
• Technical Assistance to Public Companies
• Establishing and reforming Public and Private Utilities
• Improve utilities operations
• Tariff setting

Romania

• Water and Sanitation Strategy; K&M Advisors (for World Bank); 2019-2020
–Update implementation plan and national monitoring, evaluation and reporting of UWWTD
–Outline draft of the National Strategy for the WSS Sector
–Contribution to the development of objectives, measures, targets and monitoring indicators
–Assess the situation of WSS regulation and provide the outline of an action plan for improvement
–Support the preparation of the Strategic Financial Plan by sharing information about how the requirements of the EU environmental directives have been financed in Portugal

Bulgaria

• Support to the Institutional Visit of Bulgaria WSS Officials to Portugal; Danube Water Program, World Bank; 2018

North Macedonia

• Support to the Institutional Visit of Macedonia WSS Officials to Portugal; Danube Water Program, World Bank; 2018

Pakistan

• Design of NRW Program and Metering System including Preparation of PB NRW Contracts for Karashi, Pakistan; Idrostudi (for Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation); 2024-ongoing

Montenegro

• Support to the Institutional Visit of Montenegro WSS Officials to Portugal; Danube Water Program, World Bank; 2018

Malawi

• Support to the Institutional Visit of Malawi WSS Officials to Portugal; World Bank; 2024

Croatia

• Support to the Institutional Visit of Croatia WSS Officials to Portugal; Danube Water Program, World Bank; 2023

European Union

• Internal Working Paper on Experiences with Social WSS Tariffs in EU Countries: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Malta, Greece, France, Belgium, and England and Wales; World Bank; 2021

Guinea-Bissau

• Financial Model of Mansoa and Oio Region Water Supply Systems; TESE (for European Union Program); 2025
–Two financial models for three water supply systems (WSS) - Mansôa, Encheia, and Sansabato (Oio Region)- managed through Mansoa’s Management Unit (UGAR) and Rural Management Unit (UGAR) respectively, to ensure their economic sustainability, operational efficiency, and transparency in management