Country: Somalia
Closing date: 08 Dec 2016
1.0 PROCEDURES AND RULES
UNICEF is the agency of the United Nations mandated to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential. Guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child UNICEF strives to establish children’s rights as international standards of behavior towards children. UNICEF’s role is to mobilize political will and material resources to help countries ensure a “first call for children". UNICEF is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children.
UNICEF carries out its work through its headquarters in New York, 8 regional offices and 125 country offices world-wide. UNICEF also has a research Centre in Florence, a supply operation based in Copenhagen and offices in Tokyo and Brussels. UNICEF’s 37 committees raise funds and spread awareness about the organizations mission and work.
1.2 PURPOSE OF THE RFP
The purpose of this RFP is to invite proposals from qualified institutions to develop a Capacity Development Strategic Paper and Costed Action Plan for Nutrition Human Resource Development in Somalia.
1.3 FORECAST SCHEDULE
The schedule of the contractual process is as follows:
Closing date and time for submission of full proposal: 16/11/2016 at 10.00 a.m. Nairobi Time.
b) Award Notice: To be determined
c) Signature of contract: To be determined
1.4 RFP CHANGE POLICY
All requests for formal clarification or queries on this RFP must be submitted in writing via email to somsupply@unicef.org prior to the closing date and time on: 26/10/2016 at 4.30 p.m. Nairobi Time. Please make sure that the e-mail mentions the RFP reference number.
Only written inquiries will be accepted. Please be informed that if the question is of common interest, answers will be shared with all potential RFP bidders.
Erasures or other corrections in the proposal must be explained and the signature of the applicant shown alongside. All changes to a proposal must be received prior to the closing time and date. It must be clearly indicated that it is a modification and supersedes the earlier proposal, or state the changes from the original proposal. Proposals may be withdrawn on written request received from bidders prior to the opening time and date. Bidders are expected to examine all instructions pertaining to the work. Failure to do so will be at bidder’s own risk and disadvantage.
1.5 RFP RESPONSE FORMAT
Full proposals should be submitted in English and must be received not later than 09/11/2016 by 10.30 a.m. Nairobi Time. Proposals received after the stipulated date and time will be invalidated.
The proposals should be submitted as follows:-
· Sealed Envelope 1: Technical proposal only without mention of the budget – the envelope should be clearly marked with “RFP No.; Name of Company; Technical Proposal”.
· Sealed Envelope 2: Financial Proposal - the envelope should be clearly marked with “RFP No.; Name of Company; Financial Proposal”.
· Sealed Envelope 3: Outer envelope containing the individual envelopes for Technical & Financial proposals – the envelope should be clearly marked with “RFP No.; Company Name”.
· Please remember to sign the “Request for Proposal for Services Form” on Page 3 of the RFP document and return together with the proposal.
Note: Proposals not submitted in this manner will be invalidated.
BIDS may be hand-delivered or sent by Courier to:-
UNICEF SOMALIA SUPPORT CENTRE OFFICE,
UN GIGIRI COMPLEX, BLOCK Q, GROUND FLOOR
P.O. Box 44145-00100
Nairobi
Bidders are requested to provide details (Name/ID No.) of the persons delivering a day in advance by sending an email to somsupply@unicef.org to facilitate clearance to enter the UN complex.
Due to the nature of this RFP, there will be no public opening of proposals and responsible officers will open technical proposals when the specified time has arrived.
1.6 BIDDER RESPONSE
1.6.1 Formal submission requirements
The formal submission requirements as outlined in this Request for Proposal must be followed, e.g. regarding form and timing of submission, marking of the envelopes, no price information in the technical proposal, etc.
1.6.2 Mandatory criteria
All mandatory (i.e. must/have to/shall/should/will) criteria mentioned throughout this Request for Proposal have to be addressed and met in your proposal.
All references to descriptive materials should be included in the appropriate response paragraph, though the material/documents themselves may be provided as annexes to the proposal/response.
It is important that you read all of the provisions of the request for proposal, to ensure that you understand UNICEF’s requirements and can submit a proposal in compliance with them. The bidder must also provide sufficient information in the proposal to address each area of the Proposal Evaluation to allow the evaluation team to make a fair assessment of the candidates and their proposal. Note that failure to provide compliant proposals may result in invalidation of your proposal.
1.7 CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION
Information, which the bidder considers proprietary, should be clearly marked "proprietary", if any, next to the relevant part of the text, and UNICEF will treat such information accordingly.
1.8 RIGHTS OF UNICEF
UNICEF reserves the right to accept any proposal, in whole or in part; or, to reject any or all proposals. UNICEF reserves the right to invalidate any Proposal received from a Bidder who has previously failed to perform properly or complete contracts on time, or a Proposal received from a Bidder who, in the opinion of UNICEF, is not in a position to perform the contract. UNICEF shall not be held responsible for any cost incurred by the Bidder in preparing the response to this Request for Proposal. The Bidder agrees to be bound by the decision of UNICEF as to whether her/his proposal meets the requirements stated in this Request for Proposal. Specifically, UNICEF reserves the right to:
· Contact any or all references supplied by the bidder(s);
· Request additional supporting or supplementary data (from the bidder(s));
· Arrange interviews with the bidder(s);
· Reject any or all proposals submitted;
· Accept any proposals in whole or in part;
· Negotiate with the service provider(s) who has/have attained the best rating/ranking, i.e. the one(s) providing the overall best value proposal(s);
· Contract any number of candidates as required to achieve the overall evaluation objectives.
1.8.1 Validity
Proposal must be valid for a minimum of ninety (90) days from the date of opening of this RFP and must be signed by all candidates included in the submission. For proposals from institutions, the proposal must also be signed by an authorized representative of the institution. Bidders are requested to indicate the validity period of their proposal in the Proposal Form. UNICEF may also request for an extension of the validity of the proposal.
1.8.2 Insurance Clause
The contractor will be wholly responsible for their staff and must make the necessary arrangements and payments with the relevant companies for Health Insurance and Medical Evacuation etc.
1.9 PROPOSAL EVALUTION
After the RFP opening, each proposal will be assessed first on is technical merits and subsequently on its price. The proposal with the best overall value, composed of technical merit and price, will be recommended for approval. UNICEF will set up an evaluation panel composed of technical UNICEF staff and their conclusions will be forwarded to the internal UNICEF contracts Review Committee.
The evaluation panel will first evaluate each response for compliance with requirement of the RFP. Responses deemed not to meet all of the mandatory requirements will be considered non-compliant and rejected at this stage without further consideration. Failure to comply with any of the terms and conditions contained in this RFP, including provision of all required information may result in a response or proposal being disqualified from further consideration
1.9.1 Technical Proposal:
The technical proposal should clearly articulate how your institution proposes to address information outlined in the ‘Scope of Work/Required Services’ section in the terms of reference for the desired services. No price information should be contained in the technical proposal.
This technical proposal shall be organized according to the following content:
– i) Portfolio, ii) Talent pool, iii) Organizational capabilities and iv)Previous client experience.
Bidders are urged to present their proposals using the suggested subtitles.
UNICEF welcomes new ideas and innovative approaches therefore service providers are also free to provide any other information that they deem fit and relevant in support of their bid or solution. This text should provide enough information for UNICEF to judge whether your institution has the skills and personnel profiles required to carry out the full scope of work detailed in the terms of reference.
Evaluation Criteria
The technical evaluation Criteria will be as follows:
Category/Points
I Portfolio Total: 30 points
a. Technical Approach and Methodology
i. Understanding of objectives of the assignment, approach to services, methodology for carrying out the activities and obtaining the expected output, and the degree of detail of such output
ii. Issues being addressed and their importance are highlighted
iii. Explanation of the approach and methodologies proposed
b. Quality Assurance
· Service provider’s plan for the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of the project to ensure that standards of quality are being met
c. Work Plan
· A comprehensive work plan to deliver the overall requirement (TOR) including the main activities of the assignment, their content and duration, phasing and interrelations, milestones, key performance indicators (including interim approvals by the Client), and a list of deliverables (reports, products) within the estimated delivery timeframe and dates.
· Consistency of the proposed work plan with the technical approach and methodology, showing understanding of the TOR.
· The level of effort for each team member articulated and staff input throughout various stages/components explicitly laid out.
· The plan must identify and present specific steps and component activities in a chronological manner and must have attached, a flow chart/ critical path analysis, activity plans, personas etc.
II Talent Pool Total: 10 points
The proposed structure and composition of the team which will be deployed for this assignment. The main disciplines of the assignment, the key expert responsible and proposed technical and support staff along with their curriculum vitae (CVs) provided.
Team composition and tasks assigned details provided as per the following:
Name of Expert:
Area of expertise/Qualification:
Position Assigned:
No. of days of Input:
Firm:
Task(s) Assigned:
III Organizational Structure and Capabilities Total: 20 points
a. Highlights about the company, how it is organized and a brief about its key personnel including CVs/resumes of lead resource persons and, if any, partnership arrangements.
b. Demonstrable ability to design capacity building strategies based on clear needs identification and understanding of the operating context.
IV Previous Client Experience Total: 20 points
a. Demonstrable experience with similar projects. Up to a maximum of 10 names of clients for whom the contractor has undertaken similar assignments along with the name of the contact person and contact details of its clients.
b. From the above, information provided of 3 - 5 assignments for which the company and the company’s personnel were legally contracted as a corporate entity or as one of the major companies within an association, for carrying out consulting services similar to the ones requested under this assignment.
c. List of previous UN contracts carried out in related fields of work, if any.
TOTAL POINTS FOR TECHNICAL PROPOSAL IS 80 AND ONLY PROPOSALS THAT SCORE A MINIMUM OF 60 POINTS WILL BE REVIEWED FURTHER
1.9.2 Financial Proposal
Bidders are required to cost for all activities/items proposed in the technical proposal using the format provided below. Bidders should provide an all-inclusive budget as the successful company will be responsible for all project costs including security and insurance for its team members.
For ease of evaluation, the financial proposal should contain three components: 1) Work Plan; 2) Professional Fees; 3) Expenses.
Category
I Work Plan
· Bidders must submit the Work Plan that was produced in the Technical Proposal, this time they must indicate the cost of the various components of the plan.
II Professional fees
Name:
Description of Role/Function:
Number of Person Days:
Suggested Fee Rate: Amount USD:
Total Professional Fees in USD
III Out of pocket expenses
Items: No. Unit Rate: Amount USD:
· Local/Other Travel Costs (specify)
· Accommodation and subsistence per diem (DSA)
· Person / days and cities to be specified (specify) Communication including telephones and postage
· Documentation and reporting including computing expenses
· Any Other Cost (Specify)
Total Out of Pocket Expenses in USD.
Total Proposed Cost: in USD.
Note: Travel cost shall be calculated based on economy class travel regardless of the length of travel; and costs for accommodation, meals and incidentals shall not exceed applicable daily subsistence allowance (DSA) rates, as promulgated by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC)
The above is an indicative list of cost items and bidders are requested to add or delete budget line items depending on the requirements of the technical proposal.
The maximum score for financial proposal is 20. And is allocated to the lowest financial proposal. All other price proposals will receive scores in inverse proportion according to the following formula:-
Score for price proposal A = (Maximum score for price proposal (e.g. 20)* Price of lowest priced proposal)/Price of proposal A.
The financial scores for each proposal will be taken into further consideration in the final evaluation of proposals.
The maximum score for the final evaluation is 100.
The bidders should ensure that all pricing information is provided in accordance with the following: The currency of the proposal shall be in US Dollars. Invoicing will be in the currency of the proposal. The bidder may suggest a payment schedule for the contract, linked to unambiguous Contract milestones. All prices/rates quoted must be exclusive of all taxes as UNICEF is a tax exempt organization.
1.9.3 CONTRACT AWARD
Cumulative analysis method will be used in evaluating this RFP and the bidder obtaining the highest cumulative weight from the evaluation will be awarded the contract.
2.0 TERMS OF REFERENCE
Background
Over the last two decades, the health and nutrition status of Somalis in the country has been aggravated by prolonged and ongoing conflict and displacement. Health and nutrition infrastructure is damaged, workforce depleted, resulting in poor access to services. Improvements in nutrition sector governance, systems and service delivery cannot be achieved without increasing the capacity of the human resource to effectively deliver nutrition services. While Somalia is moving towards increased government oversight and leadership, all possible assistance in reducing mortality, morbidity and malnutrition is required in order to achieve a healthy and well-nourished population that can actively contribute to national development. To move towards this, Somalia requires a high-quality nutrition workforce to be in place to respond to the needs.
The development of a quality nutrition workforce for Somalia is in line with the country’s health sector strategic plans and policies for human resources for health. It is an essential precondition for the implementation of the nutrition plans of action that the Ministries of Health (MoH) have developed and costed in Somalia’s three zones namely Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), Puntland and Somaliland.
The formulation of a national capacity development programme on nutrition will enable Government, UNICEF and all the stakeholders in Somalia to build local capacity on development of human capital on nutrition interventions, namely of general practitioners/medical doctors through universities and mid-level health cadres for example, midwives, nurses and nutritionists through the support for the existing training institutes in the three zones. With the full support of Somalia’s Ministry of Health, UNICEF has taken a lead role towards this important outcome.
The sectoral capacity development is a three phased approach that kicked off in 2015 with Phase I - a scoping assessment. The scoping assessment was conducted through collaboration between three organizations working closely with MoH of Somalia: UNICEF, which initiated and funded the activity; PSI (Population Services International); and PSI partner in nutrition and health in Somaliland THET (Tropical Health and Education Trust). The overall objective of the scoping assessment was to determine the extent, quality and adequacy of both in-service and pre-service nutrition training undertaken in the three zones of Somalia, in order to identify needs and gaps and propose ways to address these deficiencies.
The training gaps and challenges identified in the scoping assessment provide valuable information for programming pre- and in-service nutrition-related training in Somalia. The frontline nutrition workforce in Somalia is largely non-nutritionists. Pre-service nutrition training in Somalia is not regulated and does not match the nutrition service provision needs of Somalia. Staff at institutions that provide nutrition training for nutrition as well as non-nutrition health students are not properly qualified or adequate in number, and lack the facilities to effectively provide the required expertise at different qualification levels (certificate through to Masters levels), as well as for non-nutrition health courses. In-service training is marred by a number of gaps including: lack of standard modules/curricula; gaps in training content; a limited mix of training methodologies; poor documentation including record keeping of people trained; ineffective supervision and post-training follow up, among other challenges.
The report of the scoping assessment provides three sets of recommendations:
a. Interventions to build up pre- and in-service nutrition training in Somalia;
b. Establishment of a Centre of Excellence;
c. A monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework for nutrition training programming in Somalia
Objectives and Purpose
UNICEF Somalia solicits the services of an institute, NGO or university to conduct Phase II of sectoral capacity development programme which will include:
a. A review of the findings and recommendations of the scoping assessment report, leading to the development of a Strategic Paper for Nutrition Sector Capacity Development
b. Translating the strategy paper into a costed Nutrition Capacity Development plan so as to institutionalize nutrition training centres and/or centre of excellence and provide the ground for training of an adequate number of well-trained nutrition professionals in Somalia
Expected deliverables
The following deliverables are expected:
a. Comprehensive, concise strategic paper summarizing the overall approach to capacity development, based on the findings and recommendations of the scoping assessment;
b. National capacity development plan for the Nutrition workforce in Somalia.
c. Draft costing of the plan
d. Conduct validation workshop in all three zones
Location
Although some parts of the assignment can be worked on remotely, the contractor will be expected to travel to Kenya (Nairobi), Southern and Central regions, Puntland and Somaliland.
Duration
The contract shall commence as soon as possible but no later than 1 December 2016. The maximum duration of the contract will be 50 days.
Qualifications and experience of the team lead
a. Advanced university degree in nutrition, agriculture, food security, social sciences and/or public health with expertise in food policy or nutrition issues
b. At least 5 years’ experience in developing countries as a senior expert in training and capacity building required. Preference for experience working in the health and/or nutrition sector
c. Demonstrated ability to design capacity building strategies based on clear needs identification and understanding of the operating context, and experience of working with government and NGOs
d. Ability to translate strategic direction into plans
e. Proven experience in development of interventions to improve quality, efficiency and sustainability of service delivery in development settings
f. Proven expertise in health systems strengthening, to improve sustainability and contribute to a vibrant, effective government and nongovernmental sector
g. Familiarity with a wide range of capacity building techniques
h. Strong communication, coordination and interpersonal skills
i. Good writing skills in English
Accountabilities and responsibilities
The service provider will be responsible for ensuring the timely completion of all deliverables meeting defined and agreed quality standards.
Administrative issues
a. The contractor shall ensure provision of Data Protection as defined in Annex I. An infringement on this provision will result in an immediate cancellation of the contract.
b. The contractor shall handle all aspects of the surveys. UNICEF will give strategic guidance, but will not be involved in the operations-side of the process, such as hiring of personnel, travel, equipment, etc.
c. The contractor is expected to have already well-established partners that can be leveraged in the design and implementation of the surveys.
Project management
The assignment will be conducted in close consultation with Ministry of Health, the academia network of Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) and managed by the Nutrition Section of UNICEF Somalia Support Centre (USSC) based in Nairobi, Kenya.
2.1 PAYMENT SCHEDULE/TERMS:
The payment for the Contract will be linked to deliverables and will only be made upon satisfactory completion and acceptance by UNICEF. For this consultancy proposed payment schedule will be as follows:-
First payment: 30% on completion and submission of inception report
Second payment: 40% on completion of capacity development strategic paper and implementation plan with costing
Third (final) payment; 30% on completion of validation workshops and submission of final versions of the two documents i.e. capacity development strategy and implementation plan.
UNICEF payment terms are within 30 days of receipt of original invoice and supporting documents.
2.3 Terms of Engagement
i. The service provider is expected to provide its own office space and equipment (computers, phones, etc.)
ii. Work shall not commence unless a contract is signed by both UNICEF and the service provider.
iii. The contract will required travel into Somalia to conduct Validation Workshops across the three zones.
iv. The service provider will be responsible for its own health insurance.
Any other information
The following documents will be shared with the service provider:
a. Somalia Nutrition Training and Development Needs Scoping Assessment
b. Somalia Nutrition Sector Capacity Development Framework v3
c. Somali Health Sector Coordination (Jack Eldon, 2013)
d. Governance Leadership and Management Programme for Somalia
e. National Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Strategy for Somaliland 2012-2016
f. IYCF Strategy and Action Plan for South Central Somalia 2013-2017
g. Micronutrient Strategy (Final)
h. Costed Nutrition Plans of Action (Somaliland, Puntland, CSZ)
i. South Central Somalia Human Resources for Health Policy (2014)
j. Somali Human Resources for Health Development Policy 2016-2021
k. Draft Somali Nutrition Strategy 2011-2013 (Revised)
l. Federal Republic of Somalia Health Sector Strategic Plan 2013-2016
m. Puntland Human Resources for Health Policy 2014
n. Puntland Health Sector Strategic Plan 2013-2016
o. Somaliland Health Sector Strategic Plan 2013-2016
p. Consultancy Services for Adult Learning Training of Trainers (TOT) workshops for the Nutrition Sector, Somalia (RedR UK, UNICEF, 2013).
2.4 Components of Submission Package
a. CVs of staff, including reference to (or specimens of) assignments completed in the Somali context or similar
b. Technical bid – Should clearly articulate the management and delivery of tasks:
c· Interpretation of the RFP, with proposed methodology
d. Financial bid – The exact resources/timelines required for the specific assignment will be discussed and agreed upon between UNICEF and the successful bidder. As part of the submission package, however, contractors must provide financial bids:
e. Proposed personnel composition for completion of each of the deliverables, explanation of the roles different personnel will play, and the associated unit costs for personnel (e.g. project manager, researcher, etc.), along with an indicative range of the time, human and financial resources required to complete each of the tasks. These tasks include, but are not limited to, inception meeting, drafting of costed strategy and validation workshop.
How to apply:
PLEASE NOTE:
RE-ADVERTISEMENT
The NEW closing date for this RFP is 08/12/2016
All the other details remain the same
Interested bidders are requested to send an email to somsupply@unicef.org and request for a full RFP document. Please remember to quote our LRPS-2016-9128197 as your subject.
