The Unit for the Horn of Africa and Eastern Africa (hereafter referred to as the ”Contracting Entity”) requests tenders on the Implementation of the Programme on Strengthening Prevention and Response to Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Kenya. Please refer to Annex 1 "Programme Document" for a more detailed description of the required services (hereinafter referred to as "the Services").
The goal of the programme is to contribute to improved access to quality services for the survivors of GBV, to improve relevant cooperation and coordination between stakeholders in three counties of Kenya, as well as to strengthen the link between national and county governments. The Programme contributes specifically to capacity-building at the county level and facilitates cooperation and coordination among Kenyan actors. The programme will support the country’s own systems, strategies, policies, and plans, such as achievement of Kenya Vision 2030 goals, rolling out GBV policy and legislative implementation to counties, and supporting integrated services to respond to sexual and gender-based violence.
Suggested timeframe for the assignment:
- Tender period open from 6 May 2021 to 2 June 2021
- Questions and answers: question to be submitted by 17th May, answers as soon as possible
- Information session: week 20, upon request
- Interviews: week 23 (7.6.-11.6.2021)
Total funding by Finnish Government is 5 million euros (not including an option of 1 million euros for additional services) of which
- estimated maximum value of the contract: 5 million euros
- maximum value of technical assistance (expert) fees: 700 000 euros
- estimated maximum value of technical assistance reimbursable costs: 370 000 euros
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs asks all potential tenderers to pay attention to the fact that the interviews with the appointed expert (Chief Technical Advisor) will influence the comparison of tenders and the final result of the procurement procedure.
The tender documents include a full list of the minimum requirements set for the appointed experts [ Chief Technical Advisor, Capacity Development Expert and Monitoring & Evaluation Expert ] in respect of education, language proficiency and work experience as well as factors influencing the quality comparison. In addition, the appointed Chief technical Advisor will be interviewed as part of the procurement procedure as specified in the tender documents, which means that the experts’ answers will influence the quality score obtained by the tenderer.
Should several tenderers have appointed the same expert for their tender, tenderers remain responsible for making an agreement on how they will possibly protect their own trade secrets or ensure the effective availability of the appointed expert resource during the contract period if one appointed expert was working for several different tenderers. Additionally, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs requires that the expert commit to confidentiality as regards the content of the interviews. To promote the equal and non-discriminatory treatment of tenderers, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs also tries to schedule the interviews of these tenderers [or project teams] on the same day.
The contract will be awarded through an open procedure. The procurement will take place in compliance with the Act on Public Contracts and Concession Contracts (1397/2016). The contract concerns a service procurement exceeding EU threshold which is based on a development cooperation agreement between the contracting authority and the partner country (on grounds 8 § paragraph 2 of the Act on Public Contracts and Concession Contracts 1397/2016 the procurement will be conducted through National Procedures).
The processing of tenders will progress in the following steps:
1. Opening of the tenders
2. Verifying the suitability of the tenderers. The Tenderers who do not fulfill the suitability criteria will be excluded from the tendering process.
3. Verifying that the tenders and the services tendered fulfill the requirements of the Invitation to Tender. The tenders that do not fulfill the requirements will be excluded from the tendering process.
4. Evaluation of tenders:
a. Evaluation of technical tender
b. Tender Interview (week 23, 7.6.-11.6.2021)
c. Price comparison
Evaluation will be made in two parts: preliminary evaluation will only involve the reference forms for experts (Annex 3A-C) and the Approach. Tenderers are invited to participate in the Interview based on their references and Approach score. Four highest-scoring tenders are accepted. If two or more tenders have the same score, the tender with the lower price takes precedence. If two or more tenders have the same score and price, the tender that takes precedence is chosen by random draw.
The final quality score is calculated by adding up the points awarded for 1) References, 2) Approach and 3) Interview. The winning tender is determined by the quality and price score. See "Procurement Object Criteria" for further information.
5. Verifying the supporting documents about the suitability of the tenderer from the winner.
6. Contract award decision and notification
7. Concluding and signing the Contract with the selected service provider.
The Contracting Authority may wholly or partially interrupt the procurement procedure for a justified reason.
The signing of the contract with the selected Tenderer and the commencement and continuation of the implementation of the Programme are subject to the intergovernmental agreement on the project being in force.
No compensation will be payable to tenderers for preparing a tender, presenting it or otherwise taking part in the procedure. The tender documents are available in English language and the tender shall also be submitted in English language. Should the tenderer wish to obtain the tender documents in another language, they shall themselves arrange for their translation and bear the costs thus incurred.
The Contracting Authority selects one (1) service provider and concludes a contract with that service provider. The amount of Services to be supplied is an estimate and does not form an obligation for the Contracting Authority to buy that amount of Services. The contract does not give an exclusive right to the service provider to supply the Contracting Authority.
Option: The Contracting Authority reserves a right for a contract of additional services from the same service provider amounting up to a maximum of 1 000 000 euros and 24 months. The option is reserved to carry out additional services/assignments specified in this Invitation to Tender and its Annexes. The unit prices for fees in the Tenderer's Price Tender will be the basis of compensation in the option period. The Contracting Authority has the sole right to decide whether to use the option or not. The Winning Tenderer will be notified of the use within three (3) years of the contract's entry into force.