Request for Proposal - Public Relation Agency - RFPJOR2023366 - WorldPal for Worldwide Pals

Eligibility and Qualification of Bidders
1. In order to be awarded the contract, bidders should possess the financial, economic, technical and professional capacity to perform the contract. Bidders should fulfill their tax and social insurance liabilities in the country and should not currently be subject to a debarment penalty.
2. Bidders must adhere to the highest ethical standards, both throughout the bidding process and execution of the contract.
3. WUSC has a zero tolerance for unethical behavior/corrupt practices including:

- Bribery: the act of unduly offering, giving, receiving or soliciting anything of value to influence the procurement process;
  – Extortion or coercion: the act of attempting to influence the process of procuring goods or services, or executing contracts by means of threats of injury to person, property or reputation;
  – Fraud: misrepresentation of information or facts for the purpose of influencing the procurement process;
  – Collusion: an agreement between bidders designed to result in bids at artificial prices that are not competitive;
  – Guilt of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the contracting authority as a condition of participation in the contract procedure or failing to supply this information;
  – Anti-terrorism: support of any terrorist or terrorist group as defined by donors;
  – Other civil, criminal acts or otherwise illegal activity which would be detrimental to the financial interests of WUSC

1. WUSC may declare the consultancy firms, their boards of directors and/or individual personnel ineligible to register with the organization either indefinitely or for a stated period of time.
2. WUSC will reject a proposal if it establishes that the bidder recommended for award has engaged in corrupt, fraudulent, collusive or coercive practices in competing for the contract.
Language of the Proposal

The Proposal as well as all, correspondence and documents related to the proposal shall be written in English Language.

Documents included in the Proposal

The proposal will be prepared, submitted and evaluated in two parts as follows:

1. Technical Proposal Format and Content

The Technical Proposal shall be prepared using the format provided below and shall comprise the documents listed**.** The Technical Proposal shall not include any financial information. A Technical Proposal containing material financial information shall be declared non-responsive.

Section 1 (In case of an open tender where the suppliers are not known to WUSC; the following documents should be requested) for eligibility and compliance check/evaluation

- Covering letter on firms headed paper giving complete details including email addresses, telephone contacts, office location
  – Copy of Certificate of incorporation/registration (Commercial registration)
  – Valid Tax compliance certificate (where applicable)
  – Copy of Current Trading License (Vocational license)
  – Copy of regulatory body certificate (where applicable)

Failure to submit the documents requested in section 1 will lead to rejection of the proposal.

1. Financial Proposal format and content

The Financial Proposal shall be prepared in the format below and it shall list all costs associated with the assignment, including (a) remuneration for Key Experts and Non-Key Experts, (b) reimbursable expenses as follows:

- Summary of Costs
  – Breakdown of Remuneration of the key experts proposed
  – Reimbursable expenses if any

4.2.1 The prices given in the financial proposal must include all taxes and duties in accordance with the laws of the country.

4.2.2 The price offered must remain fixed during the contract performance.

4.2.3 The bid price must be in the requested Currency, which is Jordanian Dinar (JOD).

Clarification and Amendment

WUSC will, within 5 working days, respond in writing or electronic mail to any request clarification received in writing or electronic mail no later than 7 days before expiry of the deadline for submission of the bid. The response will be distributed to all bidders without identifying the source of the request. All enquiries should be written to WUSC through ([email protected])

Modification and Withdrawal
1. The bidder may submit a modified bid or a modification to any part of it at any time prior to the proposal submission deadline. The bidder’s withdrawal notice envelope must be marked as “Modification”. No modifications to the bid shall be accepted after the deadline.
2. The bidder may submit a bid withdrawal notice to any part of it at any time prior to the proposal submission deadline. The bidder’s withdrawal notice envelope must be marked as “Withdrawal”. No withdrawals to the bid shall be accepted after the deadline.
Payment and Currency
1. Payment under the Contract shall be made in the currency or currencies in the bid which is (JOD)
2. Payment will be made within 30 days upon submission of invoice and satisfactory receipt of goods.
Format, signing and submission of Proposals
1. An authorized representative of the bidder shall sign the original submission letters in the required format as one original.
2. The original Technical Proposal shall be placed inside a sealed envelope clearly marked “TECHNICAL PROPOSAL” Tittle of assignment, name and address of the Consultant, and with a warning “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL Feb 21st 2023 16:00.
3. The original Financial Proposal shall be placed inside a sealed envelope clearly marked “FINANCIAL PROPOSAL” Tittle of assignment, name and address of the Consultant, and with a warning “DO NOT OPEN UNTIL Feb 21st 2023 16:00.
4. The sealed envelopes containing the Technical and Financial Proposals shall be placed into one outer envelope and sealed. This outer envelope shall be addressed to WUSC and bear the submission address, RFP reference number, the name of the assignment, the Consultant’s name and the address, and shall be clearly marked “Do Not Open Before Feb 21st 2023 16:00”. The bidder will submit his bid in a sealed envelope which must be addressed and delivered to: WUSC Jordan Country Office.
Deadline for Submission of Bids

The sealed envelopes containing the bid shall be addressed to WUSC and bear the submission address, RFP reference number, the name of the assignment, must be received by WUSC by Feb 21st 2023 16:00. Bids received after this date will be rejected.

Proposals submitted must be valid for 90 days from the bid submission date.

Bid Opening
1. WUSC evaluation committee shall conduct the opening of the proposals immediately after the bid submission time.The opening date will be Feb 22th, 2023.
2. At the opening of the proposals, only the envelop with the Technical proposal shall be opened while Financial Proposal shall remain sealed and shall be securely stored. bids the following shall be read out: (i) the name and the country of the bidder (ii) any modifications to the bid submitted prior to proposal submission deadline; (iii) the presence or absence of a duly sealed envelope with the Financial Proposal (iv) any other information deemed appropriate. This information will be filled in the bid opening form.
Evaluation of Technical Proposals
1. The evaluators of the Technical Proposals shall have no access to the Financial Proposals until the technical evaluation is concluded.
2. The tender committee shall evaluate the Technical Proposals on the basis of their responsiveness to the Terms of Reference and the RFP, applying the evaluation criteria, sub-criteria, and point system specified below. Each responsive Proposal will be given a technical score.

A Proposal shall be rejected at this stage if it does not respond to important aspects of the RFP or if it fails to achieve the minimum technical score.

During evaluation of bids, WUSC may request of the bidder, in writing using mailing address or email address, to provide clarification of his bid. No change in price or substance of the bid shall be sought, offered or permitted.

Proposal Evaluation Criteria

Criteria, sub-criteria, and point system for the evaluation of the Technical Proposals:

Points

Technical ( which includes; doing an evaluation for the video quality, equipment & creativity – (70 points)
Financial Proposal (30 points)

Total points for the four criteria: 100**

The minimum technical score (St) required to pass is: 65

The minimum Overall score 70

Evaluation of Financial Proposals
1. The Financial Proposals of the bidders who attain the minimum technical scores are opened (can be made public to all bidders who participated, and if a public opening is called all bidders must be informed in advance of their technical scores and those qualifying informed that their financial proposals will be opened during the public opening and those who did not attain the minimum points are informed that their financial proposals will be returned unopened after the contracting process is complete ) and the summary of cost prices read out and recorded in the bid opening form by the tender committee. All other Financial Proposals are returned unopened after the Contract negotiations are successfully concluded and the Contract is signed.
2. Arithmetical errors will be rectified in the following manner. If there is a discrepancy between the unit price and the total price, obtained in multiplying the unit price by quantity, the unit price will prevail. If there is a discrepancy between the words and figures, the amount in words shall prevail. If the bidder disagrees with such his bid will be rejected.

Proposal Evaluation Criteria

The lowest evaluated Financial Proposal (Fm) is given the maximum financial score (Sf) of 100.

The formula for determining the financial scores (Sf) of all other Proposals is calculated as following:

Sf = 100 x Fm/ F, in which “Sf” is the financial score, “Fm” is the lowest price, and “F” the price of the proposal under consideration.

[or replace with another inversely proportional formula acceptable to the WUSC]

The weights given to the Technical (T) and Financial (P) Proposals are:

T = [70], and

P = _______[30]

Proposals are ranked according to their combined technical (St) and financial (Sf) scores using the weights (T = the weight given to the Technical Proposal; P = the weight given to the Financial Proposal; T + P = 1) as following: S = St x T% + Sf x P%.

Confidentiality
1. No bidder will contact WUSC on any matter related to his bid except for requests related to clarifications of the bid. Information concerning procurement process and evaluation of bids is confidential. Any clarification related to the selection process, shall be done only in writing.
2. Any attempt by the bidder to influence improperly WUSC officials in the evaluation of the bid or Contract award decisions may result in the rejection of its bid, and may be subject to the application of prevailing WUSC’s debarment procedures.
Notification of Award
1. The Consultant with the Most Advantageous Proposal, which is the Proposal that achieves the highest combined technical and financial scores, will be notified of award of contract by WUSC in writing.
2. At the same time WUSC notifies the successful bidder, WUSC will notify all other unsuccessful bidders and provide a debrief where one is sought in writing within 5 days.
3. The notice of acceptance will be given by the successful bidder within 7 days of the notification of award.
Award of Contract
1. WUSC will award the contract to the bidder whose bid is determined to be substantially responsive and who offered the best evaluated bid.
2. WUSC reserves the right to accept or reject any bid or all bids and to cancel the bidding process at any time prior to award of the contact without thereby incurring any liability to bidders without being required to inform the bidders of reasons for such actions.
Signing of Contract and Performance Security
1. WUSC will send the successful bidder the Contract. The bidder will sign and date the contract and return to WUSC within 14 days of receipt of the notice of award.
2. Together with the signed Contract, the bidder will furnish WUSC with a Performance Security, if required to do so.
3. If the successful bidder fails to submit the performance security, if required to do so, within 14 days, then it shall be sufficient grounds to revoke the award of the contract. In this case, WUSC will award the contract to the next bidder.
4. A performance security may be required in cases where the supplier is given an advance payment. Performance Security must be in the form of a Bank Guarantee or a bond from an Insurance Company licensed by the Bank.
Settlement of Disputes

Disputes that may arise during the performance of the Contract shall be settled in accordance with the laws of the country, by arbitration or mutual agreement between the parties.

Compliances

Bidders must submit valid certificates of compliances from the relevant bodies as requested.

Annex 1: Terms of Reference (TOR)

Women’s Economic Linkages and Employment Development Project (WE LEAD)

National Campaign Component

Terms of Reference

For consultancy services

Background

World University Service of Canada (WUSC) and Canadian Leaders in International Consulting (CLIC) are implementing the Women’s Economic Linkages and Employment Development (WE LEAD) project in Jordan, in collaboration with several local partners. The WE LEAD project is funded by Global Affairs Canada and aims to increase women’s empowerment for sustainable economic growth through increasing employment opportunities for women in the health sector and reducing gender-specific barriers to women entering into and remaining in the workforce. The project is currently being implemented from 2017–2024 in the three governorates of East Amman, Irbid, and Zarqa in Jordan.

In order to Increase awareness of women, their families and communities on women’s economic opportunities, GBV, mediation and gender equality in the workplace, WUSC and its partners are developing a national gender-sensitive media campaign that will extend for six or more (6+) months. Its goal is to promote: decent and friendly work environments; best practices and solutions; and women in leadership roles in the health sector.

Context

Despite the fact that women account for more than 50 percent of the health workforce, they are more likely to face barriers to enter this sector as well as for career advancement within it. WUSC, in collaboration with its partners, will analyze the health sector (mainly private sector) regarding women’s employability, and identify the areas for improvement. The goal is to better understand challenges faced by women, and how we can create a more friendly environment to help their entrance into or their ability to remain in the workplace.

Purpose

WE LEAD project is currently looking for a PR agency/ social enterprise to increase awareness and achieve social change, public reform, and enhanced access to information among women and their families and communities, using technology.

Interested entities are requested to bid in response to the scope of work described below and in accordance with the stipulated bidding requirements of this RFP.

The table below summarizes important dates for the bidders:

Table 1: Important Dates

RFP Key Activities

Date

RFP announcement date

05-02-2023

/Pre-bid Clarification (Q&A)

14-02-2023

Deadline for submitting the bid

21-02-2023

Sign the agreement

First Week of March

Scope of Work

The consultant will be responsible for:

Translating the key messages developed by WUSC’s partner, HCAC, to accessible multimedia files including text, audios, videos, images, and/or Avatars that are simple and able to be understood by the targeted audiences in Irbid, Amman and Zarqa.
Posting the developed content on WUSC’s social media
Developing a user friendly tech tool that is easily accessible by the target audience. The tech tool will target different types of stakeholders.
Disseminating the key messages (multimedia files) through the tech tool and other mediums e.g. Social media, TV/Radio
The tech tools will be linked to a dashboard that will provide WUSC with data insights on the campaign and those who access it. This Data will be used to inform decisions and future programming of WUSC.
The entity, together with WUSC, can highlight a set number of success stories via radio/TV based on the interaction with the tech tools.
The entity will submit a report that includes narrative with findings and recommendations based on the analysis of real time data, in addition to the dashboard.

Timeframe:

The campaign will be live for a minimum of 6 months with possibility of extension and scaling up. The campaign is expected to start in April 2023.

Milestone

Deliverables

Timeframe

Milestone 1

Contract
Kick off meeting with HCAC and WUSC
Contract to be signed between March 1st-7th
Kick off meeting to be done within 1 week of contract signing

Milestone 2

Multimedia files are developed
Accounts are created and approvals are obtained for the tech tool (if applicable)
Testing of the tech tool
Promotion of the tech tool among users (e.g. social media, Radio, TV)

April- May

Milestone 3

Creation of a customized dashboard to showcase the interaction on the tech tool by the users
Launching of the tech tool

June-July

Milestone 4

Success story is highlighted and disseminated via radio, tv, or social media

August

Milestone 5

Final report (Narrative) and

Final Dashboard

September

Qualification requirements:
Have past experience in developing tech tools for development and ICT4D in Jordan and the MENA region. At least 2 detailed examples should be submitted with your bid.
Be a Jordanian company, legally allowed to operate in Jordan with all licenses needed to work in IT and communications in Jordan
Have the ability to produce high-quality work under tight timeframes
Previous experience with the VTC’s work is desirable.

Proposal Submission Deadline:

The proposal should be submitted no later than 21 February 2023 16:00 Amman local time

Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria

Technical Proposal

Evaluation Elements

Maximum Score

Technical Approach

Previous experience

Financial Proposal

TOTAL

100

The revision process: proposals will be evaluated according to the criteria below. Any bidder who scores below 50 on the technical proposal will be immediately excluded. Although WE LEAD expects to select the winning bidder based on the materials submitted, the evaluation committee retains the right to interview the key experts, or negotiate and/or clarify the proposals and deliverables. The results of these interviews will be factored into the final technical score of the proposal.

WE LEAD is not obligated to accept the lowest bid.
WE LEAD-WUSC has the right to amend or change any clauses as per project needs and available budget.

Price and payment

I. Quoted price must be open to negotiation

II. Prices must be tax exempted.

III. Payment schedule as follows:

Milestone

Payment

Milestone 1

30%

Milestone 2 and 3

20%

Milestone 4 and 5

50%

Legal responsibility

Any document shared with the service provider as part of this TOR, is considered WUSC-WE LEAD property that cannot be distributed or used by any other agency. All rights, including title,copyrights,patent rights, etc for materials produced by the service provider during this contract with WUSC shall be the property of, and vest in, WUSC .

How to apply

The closing date for receipt of proposals will be «21/02/2023» at«16:00 Amman Local time» –

Sealed proposals must be delivered to WUSC Office

Amman – Shmisani

Abdulhameed Badees Street, Building 57

Second floor

Addressed to «WUSC Jordan»

Closing date: 21-Feb-23