Request for Proposal for Designing of information and advocacy strategy, Train female advocacy from CSOs for Home-grown School Feeding project

1.       GENERAL CONDITIONS and CLAUSES1.1.     CARE’s GENERAL CONDITIONS

The enclosed document is not an offer to contract, but a solicitation of a vendor’s proposed intent.  Acceptance of a proposal in no way commits CARE to award a contract for any or all products and services to any vendor. 

CARE reserves the right to make the following decisions and actions based on its business interests and for reasons known only to CARE:

·         To determine whether the information provided does or does not substantially comply with the requirements of the RFP.

·         To contact any bidder after proposal submittal for clarification of any information provided.

·         To waive any or all formalities of bidding

·         To accept or reject a proposal in whole or part without justification to the bidder.

·         To not accept the lowest bid

·         To negotiate with one or more bidders in respect to any aspect of the submitted proposal.

·         To award another type of contract other than that described herein, or to award no contract.

·         To enter into a contract or agreement for purchase with parties not responding to this RFP

·         To request, at its sole discretion, selected Vendors to provide a more detailed presentation of the proposal.

·         To not share the results of the bids with other bidders and to award contracts based on whatever is in the best interest of CARE.

Any material statements made orally or in writing in response to this RFP or in response to requests for additional information will be considered offers to contract and should be included by vendor in any final contract.

1.2.     CONFIDENTIALITY/ NON-DISCLOSURE

All information gained by any vendor concerning CARE work practices is not to be disclosed to anyone outside those responsible for the preparation of this proposal.  Any discussion by the vendor of CARE’s business practices could be reason for disqualification.  CARE, at their discretion, reserves the right to require a non-disclosure agreement.

Reciprocally, CARE commits that information received in response to this RFP will be held in strict confidence and not disclosed to any party, other than those persons directly responsible for the evaluation of the responses, without the express consent of the responding vendor. 

Finally, the information contained within this RFP is confidential and is not to be disclosed or used for any other purpose by the vendor.

1.3.     PUBLICITY

Any publicity referring to this project, whether in the form of press releases, brochures, or photographic coverage will not be permitted without prior written approval from CARE.

1.4.     LIABILITY

The selected vendor(s) will be required to show proof of adequate insurance at such time as CARE is prepared to procure the services.  The participating vendor will also be required to indemnify and hold harmless CARE for, among other things, any third-party claims arising from the selected vendor’s acts or omissions and will be liable for any damage caused by its employees, agents or subcontractors. 

1.5.     FORCE MAJEURE

a.       Neither Party shall be responsible for a performance that is delayed, hindered, or is rendered inadvisable, commercially impracticable, illegal, or impossible by a “Force Majeure Event.” A Force Majeure event includes, without limitation, an act of nature, a pandemic, emergency, civil unrest, or disorder, actual or threatened terrorism, war, fire, governmental action or interference of any kind, power or utility failures, strikes or other labor disturbances, a health warning issued by the Center for Disease Control (or similar agency), any other civil or governmental emergency and/or any other similar event beyond a Party’s reasonable control.

b.       The Party that seeks to invoke this Force Majeure provision (the “Affected Party”) shall provide the other Party (the “Unaffected Party”) with a written notice within ten (10) days of the date the Affected Party determines a Force Majeure Event has occurred.

1.6.     ERRORS AND OMISSIONS

CARE expects the vendor will provide all labor, coordination, support, and resources required based on the vendor’s proposal and corresponding final SOW.  No additional compensation will be available to the vendor for any error or omission from the proposal made to CARE.  The only exclusions are add-ons, deletions, and/or optional services for which the vendor has received written authorization from CARE.

1.7.     OWNERSHIP OF WORK

All work created during this evaluation must be original work, and no third party should hold any rights in or to the work.  All rights, title and interest in the work shall be vested in CARE.

1.8.     CONFLICT OF INTEREST

CARE encourages every prospective Supplier to avoid and prevent conflicts of interest, by disclosing to CARE if you, or any of your affiliates or personnel, were involved in the preparation of the requirements, design, specifications, cost estimates, and other information used in this RFP.

2.       COMPANY PROFILE & BIDDER’S DECLARATION

Bidders are requested to complete this form, including the Company Profile and Bidder’s Declaration, sign it and return it as part of your proposal. No alterations to its format shall be permitted and no substitutions shall be accepted.

Requirements and Selection Criteria

The ideal consultant(s) should have the following qualifications and expertise:

·         Extensive experience in developing advocacy strategies in the given context

·         Strong knowledge of communication, advocacy and training skills

·         Familiarity with local Somaliland context and policies.

·         Registered Certificate from Somaliland Government

·         At least sample of previous strategy developed

·         Minimum two (preferable INGO) reference of the previous client/partners they worked with

·         Ability to communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders.

·         Fluency in English is required, and knowledge of the local language would be an advantage.

This Request for Proposal represents the requirements for an open and competitive process. 

All vendors must provide written notification via email to [email protected]  of their intent to participate, or not to participate in the bidding process on June 22nd , 2024.

Proposals will be accepted until 11:59 PM EST on June 22nd  2024.

delivered via email solely to [email protected], no later than the above specified date.

Any proposals received after this date and time will not be accepted.  All proposals must be signed by an official agent or representative of the company submitting the proposal.

If the organization submitting a proposal must outsource or contract any work to meet the requirements contained herein, this must be clearly stated in the proposal.  Additionally, all costs included in the proposals must be all-inclusive to include any outsourced or contracted work.  Any proposals which call for outsourcing or contracting work must include the name and description of the organizations being contracted. 

All costs must be itemized to include an explanation of all fees and costs. 

Contract terms and conditions will be negotiated upon selection of the winning bidder for this RFP.  All contractual terms and conditions will be subject to review by the CARE legal department, and will include scope, budget, schedule, and other necessary items pertaining to the project.

You must respond to every subsection including statement, question, and/or instruction without exception.

Any verbal information obtained from, or statements made by representatives of CARE shall not be construed as in any way amending this RFP.  Only such corrections or addenda as are issued in writing by CARE to all RFP participants shall be official.  CARE will not be responsible for verbal instructions.

1.1.    PROJECT PURPOSE AND DESCRIPTION

CARE is issuing this RFP (Request for Proposal) soliciting qualified bidders to submit proposals intended Designing of information and advocacy strategy, Train female advocacy from CSOs for Home-grown School Feeding project 

Submit a response that complies with the minimum requirements contained herein.