RFQ Nº UNFPA/UZB/RFQ/24/002

Date:  February 8, 2024

REQUEST FOR QUOTATION

RFQ Nº UNFPA/UZB/RFQ/24/002

Dear Sir/Madam,

UNFPA hereby solicits a quotation for the following service:

[Undertaking the endline survey]

This Request for Quotation is open to all legally constituted companies that can provide the requested services/works and have legal capacity to deliver in the country, or through an authorized representative.

1. About UNFPA

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is an international development agency that works to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.  

UNFPA is the lead UN agency that expands the possibilities for women and young people to lead healthy sexual and reproductive lives. To read more about UNFPA, please go to: UNFPA about us

Service Requirements/Terms of Reference (ToR)

2. Background

People living in border areas of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan endure challenges which may not as acute for communities further inland. People have to travel long distances to border crossing points to visit their relatives on the other side, trade and access resources they need. Water, pastures and other natural resources are now unevenly divided by fortified borders, regulated by independent national legislations, and often may not be accessible at all for end users on the other side of the border.  

The Joint Project intends to address some of these challenges, by first of all diversifying income earning opportunities which minimize the overdependence on natural resources which are no longer easily accessible and may not be abundant as well. The Project also facilitates contacts among local authorities, and trains them in negotiation, communication skills so they can identify arising issues and have knowledge to address them in mutually agreeable way. This will contribute to the reduction in tensions in border areas driven by struggle for resources and prioritizing own without deeper look into others’ valid needs. The project actually strengthens connections among different ethnicities, and communities across borders. Women and young people have been key drivers of these changes and acted as agents in strengthening bonds between communities in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

3. Objectives and Expected Results

The main objective for undertaking the endline survey is to gather relevant data for the PBF project indicators to enable:

a) Measure the results at the end of the project with regards to baseline findings and;

b) Analyze of quantitative and qualitative information in the economic, social and ecological context.

It is envisaged to develop a comparative analysis between baseline results and endline results.

4. Indicative Timeline

Duration and Time Schedule

5. The geography of the assignment

Preceded by the baseline survey, the endline survey will be conducted in the following target locations:

6. Methodology

The endline survey consists of collection and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative information, by using structured questionnaires and key informant interviews (KII) as well as Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The endline data should also include disaggregation of beneficiaries by age, gender and ethnicity. Thus, a mixed method approach will be used.

To gather quality data from the field on relevant indicators and cross-cutting issues of this project, a systematic approach for data collection is essential. The steps mentioned below are highly recommended for data collection but not limited and based on appropriateness, it will be modified upon discussion between both parties (FAO and UNFPA).

Steps of the endline survey:

1. Preparation

The Company develops the following:

1. Endline study operational plan for two countries.
2. Research methodology: objective, tasks, sampling, data collection methods and final report to all project indicators;
   Review toolkits of baseline survey and if necessary, make adjustment (questionnaires, structured/semi structured questionnaires for FGDs and in-depth interviews).
3. Data collection and processing: interviewers, and transcription tools, etc.
4. Number and contacts of respondents (farmers, civil society workers, government representatives) for FGDs and structured interviews with key informants (KIs) and household surveys.

2. Data collection

2.1. Desk Research. The Company will review the baselines questionnaire, and will conduct a desk research of the current project implementation phase, relevant reports and literature on the related topics as well as study available data (obtained from Local (Self-) Governments (LSGs);village Ailyk Okmotu (AO)/ Mahalla passports, development plans, reports etc), national state committee etc). These data would be used for formulation of the research objective, tasks and the methodology design. Qualitative and quantitative questionnaires used in baseline surveys will be revised, if necessary, on the desktop study results, the project indicators and data needs identified in the ToR.

2.2. Testing the tools and questionnaires. The company will test the interview questionnaire on a sample of people who are not company employees or their relatives, and will make adjustments/corrections. The company will select and train interviewers to master the developed tools and data collection methods. They will get instructions on the research ethics, interview process and challenges could be faced during the fieldwork. The data collection methods will be built on a “Do No Harm” conflict-sensitive approach meaning that the wording, terminology and communication styles would not trigger conflicts and escalate tensions if any.

For efficient use of time and resources quantitative data will be collected with use of tablets and simple analytical platforms, which automatically counts in, process and produce basic primary analysis data.

The final version of the tools and questionnaires will be shared with the FAO and UNFPA management team for commenting and further approval. All data collection tools as well as interviews will be done in Kyrgyz and/or Uzbek languages based on the locations.

2.3. Endline study schedule and preparation. The Company will communicate with local authorities and stakeholders to arrange and confirm the dates and respondents on the basis of which data collection research plan will be developed. The research team will conduct the field studies in two countries in parallel. Local authorities and stakeholders (i.e., project implementing partners) will be contacted to arrange venues and other possible logistic issues of the study events and start joint mobilization of the respondents for the respected events. It is expected that local authorities and other stakeholders will contribute by provision of venues and assistance in mobilization of the respondents. Venues need to meet requirements of each event, well aired. Needed stationary and handouts in Kyrgyz/Uzbek languages will be prepared and distributed to the field workers.

2.4. Data collection process. Data collection will take place in the field according to the agreed schedule, tools and questionnaires. First, the local authorities will be visited to acknowledge their preliminary support and be acquainted with the research team and goals of the visit.

Tools will include quantitative questionnaires, structured and semi structured interviews, meetings and focus group discussions. Management staff will be responsible for the coordination, monitoring, learning, reflection and adaptation (if needed) during the process. In the case of an emergency, RUNOs need to be informed. Special attention will be given to women and youth groups to ensure that all conditions for open, efficient and direct communication are created. Taking the specifics of the southern regions, mentality and traditions into consideration, Women and youth groups would be interviewed considering social determinants such as age, language, gender, social status and power, internal relations etc.

Data collection

The sample size and the composition of respondents are determined by the project indicators/dimensions. A mixed format of data collection and sample methods will be used in the methodology design.

The target groups are identified as the following:

1. Women (29-65 years old; disaggregated by age, marital status) ;
2. Youth (18-29 years old; including young women);
3. Local institutions: LSGs and institutions as AO, local parliament, Pasture Committee, Water User Associations CSOs, Women’s Committee, Youth Committee, Committee on Domestic Violence Prevention, Self-Help groups, Rural Health Committee, local NGO representatives, court of Aksakals etc;

Local institutions will be interviewed with consideration of gender representativeness and ethnicity, political power, institutional knowledge and experience. Women, youth and local institutions are predetermined to be surveyed within the framework.

Data collection tools:

1) In-depth interviews will be based on the structured and/ or semi-structured questionnaires addressing qualitative data which can be derived only from the key informants. The interviews help to get comprehensive and detailed analytical data on the most important, challenging and sensitive issues. In the project case, the data could be sensitive due to its transboundary context. It is expected that the interviews will contribute significantly to Outcome 1 indicators.

For Kyrgyzstan: The respondents will be 3 heads of AOs, 6 village head/activist/informal leader, 6 heads of SHG, in total 15 people. Duration of the interview is 1-1,5 hours.

For Uzbekistan: The respondents will be 3 representatives of district authorities, 6 village head/activist/informal leader, 6 heads of SHG, in total 15 people. Duration of the interview is 1-1,5 hours.

2) Focus groups discussions will be conducted to gather generalized data/public opinion from selected representatives of the local institutions and cluster groups as women and youth. The sessions will be led by the trained moderator and protocols according to the methodology prepared ahead. FGD methodology prescribes all the stages and steps to be taken to achieve the FGD goals. In addition, the sessions will be recorded.

 It is envisioned to have the following groups of 8 people per each FGD:

1. Women group
2. Youth group
3. Local institutions: AO / Mahalla staff and local parliament
4. Local institutions: Pasture committees, Water user associations, Forest management Units, NGOs and other institutions.

3) Household surveys will be conducted to collect generalized data as per economic, social, environmental, conflict etc. situation in the region.

Total sample size: It will be discussed jointly with the survey customer.

3. Data analysis and findings

As soon as the data is collected, data entry and analysis will be started. Household survey quantitative data will be analyzed with coding instruments and reflected in graphs. Interviews and focus groups discussions will be reviewed and analyzed by analytical blocks as per indicators and target groups: women, youth, local institutions etc. The local stakeholders could be approached via phone/ email if there will be any questions in regard to the collected data.

3.1. Final report development

Draft study reports will be developed on the basis of field survey data analysis and submitted to FAO/UNFPA for review. Questions and comments will be discussed and recommendations for the final study report will be developed and agreed between partners.

Draft report will be revised considering the recommendations of the draft revision, finalized and submitted to FAO/UNFPA.

3.2. Final report development

Draft study reports will be developed on the basis of field survey data analysis and submitted to FAO/UNFPA for review. Questions and comments will be discussed and recommendations for the final study report will be developed and agreed between partners.

Draft report will be revised considering the recommendations of the draft revision, finalized and submitted to FAO/UNFPA.

Monitoring and Supervisory arrangements:

FAO and UNFPA focal points will be responsible for monitoring and supervision of activities.

4. Report Submission

The consultant team/company will prepare a draft report and share it with FAO/UNFPA within two weeks after completion of field activities. The FAO/UNFPA team will provide feedback on the draft report and upon recommendation, the report must be finalized. The report should be comprehensive consisting of findings of all indicators set in logframe and other cross cutting issues. Raw data (both uncleaned and cleaned data from the field) should be also provided to FAO/UNFPA.

A draft report of the endline survey must be submitted together with a presentation of the findings. The final report of the endline survey should be submitted to FAO and UNFPA within a given contract period of 2 months.

Draft Final Report to submitted by March 25, 2024

Final Report to be submitted by March 31, 2024

5. Project Working Group/ Review Committee

This section documents the designations of members of the Project Working Group (FAO-UNFPA Project teams, PBF Secretariat) who will constitute the review committee, which is responsible for overseeing the work of the consultant firm and ensuring effective implementation of the endline survey. It is also important to highlight when the firm will interact with the review committee, such as at the time of inception of the survey, before finalization of the draft report, during preparation of the final report, etc.

Confidentiality and Data Ownership. The Company will protect the confidentiality of those participating in the survey at all stages. All data is confidential and is the property of the Government of Kyrgyz Republic. No data or other information from this survey will be released to third parties without the written approval of the Government of Kyrgyz Republic and Republic of Uzbekistan.

The Company will turn over all data and questionnaires to the RUNOs and will not destroy information and material at the end of the project and after all data and original documentation has been delivered to the RUNOs and the Government of Kyrgyz Republic and Republic of Uzbekistan.

Options. A company that wants to participate in the tender for the implementation of Endline Survey must provide its commercial proposal for two proposed options.

Option № 1

The Endline Survey will involve the exact beneficiaries of the project who received financial support from the project to ensure an accurate assessment of the impact of the project and not the exact beneficiaries, these are relatives of the beneficiaries or officials and non-officials of local authorities and self-government.

Conducting an Endline Survey on all indicators (quantitative survey, focus group discussion, household surveys, in-depth interviews) only among beneficiaries. And to provide an assessment of the impact of our project on the area only among the involved beneficiaries. And the answers of the heads and activists of the mahallas can be shown as confirmation of the interest of the area in such projects in the future.

The results of the End line Survey will not be able to specifically show the level of the project's impact in ensuring peacebuilding in the region, but it will be able to identify the usefulness of the project among beneficiaries and their families. Which may have a spreading effect in the near future. And we hope that government agencies will continue this and assess the future effect of the project in ensuring peacebuilding in the region.

Below is a table of project indicators for the Endline Survey, indicating the specific metrics for which the project team requires corresponding values to assess the project's impact.

Table 1. Project Indicators by outcomes and outputs

Option № 2

Conducting only a quantitative survey among the population with a random sample, involving 50% of beneficiaries and 50% of non-beneficiaries. To compare the answers between them. As well as to compare the results for certain indicators with the Baseline Survey. And the rest of the project indicators should be interviewed only among the beneficiaries (focus group discussion, household surveys, in-depth interviews).

The endline survey will employ targeted representation through a stratified sample to ensure an accurate assessment of the project’s impact while maintaining a representative sample for broader conclusions about its effect. To achieve this, 50 percent of the sample size will comprise randomly selected project beneficiaries, while 50 percent - randomly-selected non-beneficiaries.

Below is a table of project indicators for the Endline Survey, indicating the specific metrics for which the project team requires corresponding values to assess the project's impact.

Table 1. Project Indicators by outcomes and outputs

7. Qualifications Requirements

Submission of Technical and Financial Proposition

1. Requirement for the Company/organization

The Company/organization should possess extensive work experiences (minimum five years) in conducting assessments, baseline/endline and evaluation surveys.

• At least 2 successfully implemented surveys in Kyrgyzstan and/or Uzbekistan, working experience in both countries is an asset.
• Previous experience in partnering with UN Agencies. The potential and interested company/consultant team should submit technical and financial propositions showing their interest to conduct an endline survey.

2. Following documents are expected to receive as technical and financial proposition:

• Profile of organization/CVs

• Technical proposal and financial proposal

8. Payment allocation:

9. Questions

Questions or requests for further clarifications should be submitted in writing to the contact person below:

The deadline for submission of questions is Monday, February 17, 13 00, Tashkent time. Questions will be answered in writing and shared will parties as soon as possible after this deadline.

10. Content of quotations

Quotations should be submitted in a single email whenever possible, depending on file size. Quotations must contain:

1. Technical proposal, in response to the requirements outlined in the service requirements / TORs.
2. Price quotation, to be submitted strictly in accordance with the price quotation form.

Both parts of the quotation must be signed by the bidding company’s relevant authority and submitted in PDF format.

11. Instructions for submission

Proposals should be prepared based on the guidelines set forth in Section III above, along with a properly filled out and signed price quotation form and are to be sent by email to the contact person indicated below no later than: Monday, February 19, 13 00, Tashkent time.

Please note the following guidelines for electronic submissions:

• The following reference must be included in the email subject line: RFQ Nº UNFPA/UZB/RFQ/24/002 – [Undertaking the endline survey]. Proposals, including both technical and financial proposals, that do not contain the correct email subject line may be overlooked by the procurement officer and therefore not considered.

• The total email size may not exceed 20 MB (including email body, encoded attachments and headers). Where the technical details are in large electronic files, it is recommended that these be sent separately before the deadline.

• Any quotation submitted will be regarded as an offer by the bidder and does not
  constitute or imply the acceptance of any quotation by UNFPA. UNFPA is under no obligation to award a contract to any bidder as a result of this RFQ.

12. Overview of Evaluation Process

The evaluation will be carried out in a two-step process by an ad-hoc evaluation panel. Technical proposals will be evaluated and scored first, prior to the evaluation and scoring of price quotations.

Technical Evaluation

Technical proposals will be evaluated based on their responsiveness to the service requirements /TORs listed in Section II and in accordance with the evaluation criteria below.

The following scoring scale will be used to ensure objective evaluation:

Financial Evaluation

Price quotes will be evaluated only for bidders whose technical proposals achieve a minimum score of [50] points in the technical evaluation.

Price quotes will be evaluated based on their responsiveness to the price quote form. The maximum number of points for the price quote is 100, which will be allocated to the lowest total price provided in the quotation or based on the specific formula indicated in the TORs. All other price quotes will receive points in inverse proportion according to the following formula:

Total score

The total score for each proposal will be the weighted sum of the technical score and the financial score.  The maximum total score is 100 points.

13. Award Criteria

In case of a satisfactory result from the evaluation process, UNFPA intends to award a Professional Service Contract to the Bidder(s) that obtain the highest total score.

14. Right to Vary Requirements at Time of Award

UNFPA reserves the right at the time of award of contract to increase or decrease by up to 20% the volume of services specified in this RFQ without any change in unit prices or other terms and conditions.

15. Payment Terms

UNFPA payment terms are net 30 days upon receipt of invoice and delivery/acceptance of the milestone deliverables linked to payment as specified in the contract.

16. Fraud and Corruption

UNFPA is committed to preventing, identifying, and addressing all acts of fraud against UNFPA, as well as against third parties involved in UNFPA activities. UNFPA’s policy regarding fraud and corruption is available here: Fraud Policy. Submission of a proposal implies that the Bidder is aware of this policy.

Suppliers, their subsidiaries, agents, intermediaries and principals must cooperate with the UNFPA Office of Audit and Investigations Services as well as with any other oversight entity authorized by the Executive Director and with the UNFPA Ethics Advisor as and when required.  Such cooperation shall include, but not be limited to, the following: access to all employees, representatives agents and assignees of the vendor; as well as production of all documents requested, including financial records.  Failure to fully cooperate with investigations will be considered sufficient grounds to allow UNFPA to repudiate and terminate the Agreement, and to debar and remove the supplier from UNFPA's list of registered suppliers.

A confidential Anti-Fraud Hotline is available to any Bidder to report suspicious fraudulent activities at UNFPA Investigation Hotline.

17. Zero Tolerance

UNFPA has adopted a zero-tolerance policy on gifts and hospitality. Suppliers are therefore requested not to send gifts or offer hospitality to UNFPA personnel. Further details on this policy are available here: Zero Tolerance Policy.

18. RFQ Protest

Bidder(s) perceiving that they have been unjustly or unfairly treated in connection with a solicitation, evaluation, or award of a contract may submit a complaint to the UNFPA Head of the Business Unit Yu Yu at yu@unfpa.org. Should the supplier be unsatisfied with the reply provided by the UNFPA Head of the Business Unit, the supplier may contact the Chief, Procurement Services Branch at procurement@unfpa.org.

19. Disclaimer

Should any of the links in this RFQ document be unavailable or inaccessible for any reason, bidders can contact the Procurement Officer in charge of the procurement to request for them to share a PDF version of such document(s).

Nigina Abaszada

UNFPA Representative in Uzbekistan / Представитель ЮНФПА в Узбекистане

PRICE Quotation Form

• Quoted rates must include taxes in a separate line.

I hereby certify that the company mentioned above, which I am duly authorized to sign for, has reviewed RFQ UNFPA/UZB/RFQ/23/001 including all annexes, amendments to the RFQ document (if applicable) and the responses provided by UNFPA on clarification questions from the prospective service providers.  Further, the company accepts the General Conditions of Contract for UNFPA and we will abide by this quotation until it expires.

ANNEX I:

General Conditions of Contracts:

De Minimis Contracts

This Request for Quotation is subject to UNFPA’s General Conditions of Contract: De Minimis Contracts, which are available in: English, Spanish and French