Democratic Republic of the Congo: PEA Analyses consultancy (firm, organization or group)

The project

Community Resilience in Central Africa (CRCA) is a 5-year USAID-funded project implemented by the US NGO Invisible Children in DR Congo (in parts of Bas- and Haut-Uele) and Central African Republic (in parts of Mbomou, Haut-Mbomou and Haute Kotto). The project will run until October 2022.

The project aims to contribute to communities (a) more resilient to the impact of armed groups, (b) more likely to peacefully transform intercommunal conflict and (c) more supportive of wildlife conservation initiatives. The strategy of the project is to empower communities through community-based protection (an Early Warning System mostly based on HF radios), livelihoods, psychosocial services and conflict transformation support. The project has a significant component of collaboration with wildlife protection stakeholders, including natural parks.

Note that CRCA has a project-long contract with Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) for monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL). While the contract resulting from this SoW will be managed directly by Invisible Children, CRCA expects from the offerors to foresee a degree of dialogue and informal coordination with HHI lead researcher(s) to maximize convergence between the outputs of this SoW and CRCA’s more global MEL agenda. This may include HHI reviewing (in an advisory role to CRCA) the detailed methodology of this consultancy after award, meeting/calls between researchers, and the sharing of tools and dataset, for example. Offerors must be comfortable with working alongside HHI, collaborating with HHI and sharing documents, information and data with that organization.

The consulting need

To support project delivery and sustainability, CRCA wants to understand better local dynamics where the project will take place, focusing on the individual stakeholders in place that can have a positive or negative effect on the project.

CRCA is seeking the services of a consulting firm, organization, or group of individual consultants that will research, write up and present those local dynamics, primarily using a Political Economy Analysis (PEA) approach. PEA is required as the core methodology however offerors can submit proposed draft methodologies that also include other approaches in complement.

CRCA anticipates signing a final consulting agreement o/a February 15, 2018. Delivery could then start immediately, or at the date stated in the selected offeror(s)’ Gantt chart.

The expected outputs

As a result of the consultancy, CRCA wants to know and understand who the individual stakeholders in the project’s area of operation (AOO) are, what their background is, what their motives are, and how they could impact the project negatively or positively. CRCA wants to receive specific, actionable recommendations on how to maximize positive effects and mitigate against negative ones.

The output is expected to be:

1. Individual analyses per chefferie and territoire in DRC and per Préfecture and Sous-Préfecture in CAR (list provided further below);

2. A broader overall analytical piece covering the entire AOO in each country;

3. Recommendations for future steps in the project to use and maintain this knowledge.

All outputs are expected to be provided in French language, in soft copy, in editable formats (Word, Excel, etc. – not just PDFs).

Practical considerations

Because of the spread of the AOO to be covered, CRCA expects that offerors will present a plan that includes the deployment of several individuals or teams, working each in different locations at any given time. Offerors are free to suggest the number of individuals or teams they want to deploy, and the total duration they foresee for the entire process, provided it does not exceed 6 months in total and that it does cover all locations listed above. Offers that are able to complete the work in less than 6 months will be considered positively. If delivery must be suspended in all or part of the entire AOO of CRCA due to security reasons or force majeure, CRCA will not deem this a breach of performance and will not consider this a delay on the part of the consultant; CRCA does welcome offers from offerors that are security cautious.

What CRCA will be able to provide as support, at no cost to the offeror:

1. Invitation letters to request visas for DRC or CAR, if the offeror is unable to process those itself;

2. Booking on UN flights, if the offeror is unable to process those itself (CRCA still expects offerors to budget for the actual cost of those flights and to pay for those);

3. Provision of all relevant project documents, in both French and English in soft copy;

4. Security briefings in each location where CRCA has offices;

5. Local ground transportation (4x4 or motorbikes) in locations where CRCA has offices, outside of Bangui and Kinshasa, provided the offeror has indicated in its offer the number of such vehicles it needs, and for what duration each (4x4 will be provided with drivers, motorbikes without);

6. Where the offeror requests such introduction, an in-person or letter-based introduction to local stakeholders, where CRCA has offices;

7. Ample staff time to answer any question the offeror may have during the course of the consultancy, or to review and discuss draft/template outputs;

8. Access to the project network of fixed HF radios, provided the offeror complies with usage rules.

What CRCA will NOT be able to provide as support (this is indicative, not exhaustive):

1. Logistics support in Bangui and Kinshasa;

2. Lodging/bookings (however CRCA will make its own guesthouses available to offerors where beds happen to be available);

3. Commercial flights booking;

4. Security support beyond security briefings and access to the network of HF radios;

5. Translation;

6. Any logistics support not explicitly listed in this document. **

Proposal submission

Offerors can ask technical or practical questions to help them prepare their offer by emailing their questions to crcaprocurements@invisiblechildren.com by December 24, 12-midnight Kinshasa time. All questions will be answered in writing and all answers provided at once to all offerors who have either asked a question or registered (at the same email address) to receive the answers. All emails must use the title ‘QUESTIONS FOR CRCA PEA ANALYSES’.

Offerors must submit their initial offer by January 12, 2018, 12-midnight Kinshasa time at the same email address. Offers must include one single PDF file including the following, in this order:

1. Cover page clearly referencing the name of the lead firm, organization or individual submitting the offer, and contact details (1 page);

2. A draft methodology (to be refined and finalized after award) including:

3. A description of the approach proposed of no more than 5 pages;

4. A calendar (Gantt chart) for delivery;

5. A description of the team structure proposed of no more than 2 pages, including a clear statement of the level of effort of each team member;

6. Offeror approach to security, including the means it will employ to ensure the security and safety of the personnel deployed, of no more than 3 pages;

7. CVs of all identified personnel to be involved – Offerors are not required to have identified all personnel for all positions, and each CV must be no more than 2 pages. Each identified CV must be accompanied by a proof that the person commits to and is available for the consultancy, in the form of a brief signed statement at the end of the CV. Ideally, all CVs should use the same format;

8. A description of the offeror’s past experience in conducting similar work, with references that can be contacted by IC, with name, phone number and email address – no more than 3 pages in total with a clear statement that IC is authorized to contact the references;

9. On a separate single page, an overall price for the service, as one single figure, quoted in USD and to be understood as all-inclusive, as well as a break down per geographical unit (list provided below). The purpose of this breakdown is to be able to establish payments due in case some geographical units cannot be covered due to security or other issues. If the security situation was to remain similar during the period of performance to that as of the time this SoW is issued, CRCA expects that a large number of geographical units in CAR will not be reachable due to security reasons;

10. A detailed list of the vehicle usage the offeror requests from CRCA, if any, broken down by types (motorbikes, 4x4) and locations (this will be understood as a draft, for indication only) – no more than 1 page. Locations where vehicles are available are: Dungu and Ango, DRC and Obo, Zémio and Bria, CAR.

Offers may be submitted in either French or English, or a mixture of both (for example, it is perfectly acceptable to submit a methodology in English, but to have some of the CVs in French, or the other way around).

Offerors may bid for all the AOO, or only all of the DRC AOO, or only all of the CAR AOO. If the offeror bids for only all of DRC or all of CAR, this should be clearly indicated on the cover page, otherwise offers will be assumed as covering the entire project AOO in both countries.

Evaluation criteria for Award

Proposals received from responsible Offerors in a timely fashion will be evaluated for award on the basis of their best overall value to the project. Best Overall Value will be determined by a Selection Committee on the basis of the criteria set forth below.

Evaluation Factors

1. Proposed Methodology (from sections 2a and 2b) -- 40 Points

2. Proposed Team including CVs, management arrangements, level of effort and approach to security (from sections 2c, 2d and 3) -- 30 Points

3. Past Performance (from section 4) -- 10 Points

Although price is not a factor for technical consideration, it is an important element in evaluation for award. Price must show demonstrated reasonableness and be balanced among the respective items to be delivered. The significance of price will increase the closer technical rankings become. Offerors are strongly encouraged to provide their best price proposal with submission of their offer.

Upon analysis of the offers, CRCA may either award the consultancy to one offeror, consider splitting the consultancy between several offerors, or short-list one or several offers for further discussions with those offerors.

Source and nationality considerations

The USAID “Geographic Code” for the procurement of goods and services under this project is Code 937 – United States of America, Cooperating Country, and Low Income/Lower Middle Income Developing Countries. All interested Offerors meeting these product/service eligibility requirements are invited to submit proposals under this RFP. Offerors must agree that no services will be rendered through a service provider in any foreign policy restricted country.

A current list of eligible countries and further information on Source and Nationality may be found at http://www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/300/310.pdf. Funds provided under this award shall not be used to procure any goods or services furnished by any firms or individuals from Cuba, North Korea, Syria, or Iran nor any goods manufactured in any of these countries.

List of geographical units to be covered

In CAR – at the time this SoW is published, all work except Obo sous-préfecture is likely to be suspended due to security reasons.

Obo sous-préfecture

Zemio sous-préfecture

Bakouma sous-préfecture

Bangassou sous-préfecture

Rafai sous-préfecture

Haute Kotto préfecture

In DRC:

Ezo Chefferie

Mopoyi Chefferie

Ngindo Chefferie

Sasa Chefferie

Bondo Territoire

Deni Chefferie

Gama Chefferie

Malingindu Chefferie

Wando Chefferie

Faradje Territoire

Niangara Territoire

Poko Territoire