Consultancy for the External evaluation of NRC’s Cameroon Shelter Programme
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent, humanitarian, international Non-Governmental Organization that works to protect the rights of the displaced and vulnerable people during crisis. NRC provides assistance in the areas of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Education, Food Security and Livelihoods (LFS), Shelter, Information Counseling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) and Camp Management.
NRC invites submissions from interested and qualified individuals to participate in the tender for the provision of consultancy service.
NRC must receive any request for clarification in writing at least 5 working days before the deadline for submission of tenders. NRC will reply to bidders' questions at least 2 working days before the deadline for submission of documentation.
Costs incurred by the bidder in preparing and submitting the tender proposals will not be reimbursed.
We look forward to receiving your submission on or before 18thJune 2022 at 16:00 through the email address: cm.procurement@nrc.no
The bid application should be titled: “CM/AO/2022/003- External evaluation of NRC’s Cameroon Shelter Program” in the e-mail subject.
Yours sincerely,
NRC Logistics Team
This ITB document contains the following:
This cover Letter
Section 2: Bid Data sheet
Section 3: NRC Invitation to bid general terms & condition
Section 4:Technical Description of the Bid/ Pricing proposal
Section 5: Bidding form
Section 6: Service Provision Schedule
Section 7: Company Profile and Previous Experience
Consultancy Name: External evaluation of NRC’s Cameroon Shelter Program
EMAIL Address: cm.procurement@nrc.no
This bid is issued by Norwegian Refugee Council NRC office. Any correspondence in regards to technical clarifications should be addressed to cm.procurement@nrc.no
SCOPE OF SERVICE
The Contracts eligible for bidding are:
Contract No.
Service Description
CM/AO/2022/003
Consultancy for the External evaluation of NRC’s Cameroon Shelter Programme
Please refer to the service specifications in section 4
SCHEDULE & DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION
The deadline for submission of bids is 4: 00 PM on 22 June 2022. Late bids will not be accepted.
DATE
TIME*
Invitation to Bid release
02nd June 2022
11:00am
Deadline for request for any clarifications from NRC
13th June 2022
5:00pm
Last date on which clarifications are issued by NRC
20th June 2022
5:00pm
Deadline for submission of tenders (receiving date, not sending date)
22th June 2022
4:00pm
Tender opening session by NRC
TBC
Notification of award to the successful tenderer
TBC
Signature of the contract
TBC
* All times are in the local time of Cameroon
Please note all dates are provisional dates and NRC reserves the right to modify this schedule.
MANNER OF SUBMISSION:
Please submit your bids in accordance with the requirements. Complete bid documents shall be sent by email to cm.procurement@nrc.nonot later than 4:00pm on 22 June 2022. Only submission made via this email address will be acceptable and eligible for review.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Award of the contract(s) will be based on the following:
Step 1: Administrative compliance check
Bidders must provide evidence of the following for their bid to be considered compliant:
Sections 5-8 completed, signed and stamped
Bidder has included a copy of their valid business licence
Step 2: Technical Evaluation
A Technical Evaluation of all bids received will be conducted to shortlisted bidders. Criteria that will be used to evaluate and score the bids are outlined in Section 3, Clause 25
Step 3: Financial Evaluation
Price in comparison to NRC established expectation and in comparison to other bidders of comparable technical quality
SECTION 3
NRC Invitation to bid - General Terms & Conditions
SCOPE OF BID
The bid is based on the scope of the assignment as determined in the Bid Data Sheet (Section 2). The instruction to bidders should be read in conjunction with the Bid Data Sheet.
The successful Bidder will be expected to complete the assignment by the Intended Completion Date specified in the contract to be signed. Failure to do so with result in breach of contract.
CORRUPT PRACTICES
Norwegian Refugee Council requires Employees, Parties engaged in NRC Activities, including consultants and associated staff, to observe standards of ethics during procurement and the execution of contracts. In pursuit of this, Norwegian refugee Council defines, for the purposes of this provision, the terms set forth below as follows:
“Corrupt practice” includes the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of anything of value to influence the action of a public official in the procurement process or in contract execution; and
“Fraudulent practice” includes a misrepresentation of facts in order to influence a procurement process or the execution of a contract to the detriment of the Norwegian Refugee Council, and includes collusive practices among Bidders prior to or after bid submission designed to establish bid prices at artificial, non-competitive levels and to deprive the Norwegian Refugee Council of the benefits of free and open competition;
In any case where fraud or corruption is identified, NRC will:
reject any bids where the Bidder has engaged in corrupt or fraudulent practices in competing for the Contract;
remove bidding contractors who engage in fraudulent or corrupt practices, from our prequalified list
liaise with District or Government Officials to report if fraudulent or corrupt practices are identified
Terminate the consultancy activity, without due payment to be made by Norwegian Refugee Council.
Any communications between a Bidder and the Norwegian Refugee Council related to matters of alleged fraud or corruption must be made in writing and addressed to anticorruption@nrc.no
ELIGIBLE BIDDERS
A Bidder shall meet the following criteria to be eligible to participate in NRC procurement of Services:
the bidder, at the time of bid, is not:
insolvent;
in receivership;
bankrupt; or
being wound up
the bidder’s business activities have not been suspended;
the bidder is not the subject of legal proceedings for any of the circumstances in (b); and
The bidder has fulfilled his or her obligations to pay taxes and social security contributions. In a case where VAT is included in a bid, a copy of the VAT certificate must accompany the bid. A Bidder, and all parties constituting the Bidder including sub-contractors, shall not have a conflict of interest. All Bidders found to have a conflict of interest shall be disqualified. A Bidder may be considered to have a conflict of interest with one or more parties in this bidding process, if they have a relationship with each other, directly or through common third parties, that puts them in a position to have access to information about or influence on the bid of another Bidder, or influence the decisions of the Norwegian Refugee Council regarding this bidding process
A Bidder whose circumstances in relation to eligibility change during a procurement process or during the execution of a contract shall immediately inform the Norwegian Refugee Council.
NRC reserves the right to refuse a bid at any time if the bidder or one of its sub-contractors provided material support or resources to any individual or entity that commits, attempts to commit, advocates, facilitates, or participates or is found guilty of fraud, active corruption, collusion, coercive practice, bribery, involvement in a criminal organization or illegal activity, or immoral human resources practices, including but not limited to: child labour, non-discrimination, freedom of association, payment of the legal national minimum wage, and forced labour.
JOINT VENTURES, CONSORTIA AND ASSOCIATIONS
Bids submitted by a joint venture, consortium or association of two or more firms as partners will only be accepted in exceptional circumstances.
ONE BID PER BIDDER PER WORK
Each Bidder shall submit only one Bid per contract. A Bidder who submits or participates in more than one bid per contract will cause all the bids with the Bidder’s participation to be rejected.
COST OF BIDDING
The Bidder shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of his Bid, and the Norwegian Refugee Council shall not be responsible or liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the bidding process.
INSPECTION
NRC is obliged to ensure that its procurement decisions are clearly justified, documented, and keeping within the Donors mandatory principles. In that regard, full and on-the-spot access must be granted to representatives of NRC, the Donor or any organization or person mandated by it, to premises belonging to NRC or its contractors. The right to access shall include all documents and information necessary to assess, or audit the implementation of the contract
COMPLETING BIDDING DOCUMENTS
The Bidder is expected to examine all instructions, forms, terms, and specifications in the Bidding Document. Failure to furnish all information or documentation required by the Bidding Document may result in the rejection of the bid.
CLARIFICATION OF BIDDING DOCUMENT
A prospective Bidder requiring any clarification of the Bidding Document shall contact the Norwegian Refugee Council in writing as mentioned above, through the given email address: cm.procurement@nrc.no. The Norwegian Refugee Council will respond in writing to any request for clarification before the deadline for clarification of bids. The Norwegian Refugee Council shall forward copies of its response to all Bidders who have acquired the Bidding Document, including a description of the inquiry but without identifying its source.
AMENDMENT OF BIDDING DOCUMENT
At any time, prior and until 48 hours prior to the deadline for submission of bids, the Norwegian Refugee Council may amend or cancel the Bidding Document by informing the bidders in writing.
To give prospective Bidders reasonable time in which to take an amendment or cancellation into account in preparing their bids, the Norwegian Refugee Council can, at his discretion, extend the deadline for the submission of bids.
LANGUAGE OF BID
The bid, as well as all correspondence and documents relating to the bid shall be written in English.
Supporting documents and printed literature that are part of the bid may be in another language provided they are accompanied by an accurate translation of the relevant passages in English, in which case, for purposes of interpretation of the Bid, such translation shall govern. The translator, with name and contact details, should certify all translations.
DOCUMENTS COMPRISING THE BID
The bid submitted by the Bidder shall comprise the following:
Signed and stamped Consultancy’s Biding form in Section 5
TOR and Pricing proposal or any other information and documents requested in Section 4.
Timetable provision Schedule (as in Section 6)
Consultancy Profile and Previous experience, including Curriculum Vital of personnel to be included (as in Section 7)
Signed and stamped Supplier Ethical Standards Declaration in Section 8
All forms must be completed without any alterations to the format, and no substitutes shall be accepted.
Proof of registration (business registration documents and/or VAT or company tax registration. If the consultant is a sole-trade (self-employed), a confirmation of the status from a certified accountant or the tax authorities is mandatory. For any self-employed person based in European country, a sole-trade certificate/registration document is required. If the sole trade consultant is from the US, a certificate from his/her registered account is sufficient.
All blank spaces shall be filled in with the information requested.
BID PRICE FOR CONSULTANCY CONTRACT
Submitted prices are for complete contracts. Contracts cannot be subdivided into pieces. Where a bid is submitted, all relevant services must be offered, with no request for advance payment.
One financial offer (Excel) detailing the budget in USD only
Services for which no rate or price is entered by the Bidder will be considered as not quoted.
Unless otherwise specified in Section 2 - the Bid Data Sheet, all duties, taxes and other levies payable by the bidder under the contract, shall be included in the total bid price submitted by the bidder.
For bidder subject to VAT, VAT should be mentioned in the offers
For Bidder subject to social benefits to respective authorities, such as and not limited to social insurance, travel insurance, vacation payments, these should not be mentioned; these are the absolute responsibility of the bidder.
The prices submitted by any Bidder shall be checked for arithmetical errors and for what might be considered unreasonable rates during the evaluation. Where errors are identified one or more of the following steps may be taken:
If any rates are considered unrealistic or unreasonable, they may be altered by mutual agreement, if no alteration shall be made for Bid.
If any arithmetical errors are detected in an otherwise acceptable bid, and the Bidder, on being so notified, is prepared to confirm his bid and if the Bidder is subsequently awarded the contract, then the Bid shall be altered to reflect the difference.
Bidders are reminded that it is entirely their responsibility to ensure the accuracy of their bids. No alteration will be made to the bid after its submission on the grounds of any arithmetical errors subsequently discovered except as provided above.
CURRENCIES OF BID AND PAYMENT
The Bidder in US Dollars (USD) shall quote all prices, unless otherwise stated.
BID VALIDITY
Bids shall remain valid for a period of 90 calendar days after the date of the bid submission deadline as prescribed by Norwegian Refugee Council. A bid valid for a shorter period shall be rejected as non-compliant.
In exceptional circumstances, prior to the expiration of the bid validity period, the Norwegian Refugee Council may request Bidders in writing to extend the period of validity of their bids. A Bidder must confirm in writing his acceptance of the extension. In case of extension, modification of the bid is not permitted.
ALTERNATIVE BIDS
Bidders shall submit offers that comply with the requirements of the bidding documents, including the basic scope of method. Alternative bids shall not be considered unless otherwise indicated in Section 2 – the Bid Data Sheet.
FORMAT AND SIGNING OF BID
The bidder should hold a copy of the documents for reference purposes.
EMAIL SUBMISSION FORMAT
The Bidder shall enclose the bid for the activity. the email subject of the email should clearly indicate – “CM/AO/2022/003 - Consultancy for the External Evaluation of NRC’s Cameroon Shelter Programme”
If information or title is not correct, the Norwegian Refugee Council may at its discretion reject the bid.
All information for presentation should be one email, subsequent emails; even before submission date will not be accepted and will be automatically rejected.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF BIDS
The Norwegian Refugee Council at the email given and no must receive bids later than the date and time indicated in Section 2 - the Bid Data Sheet and associated information. Submission of information by other means will not be accepted.
LATE BIDS
The Norwegian Refugee Council shall not consider any bid that arrives after the deadline for submission as stipulated in Section 2 – the Bid Data Sheet. Any bid received by the Norwegian Refugee Council after the deadline for submission of bids shall be declared late and rejected.
WITHDRAWAL OF BIDS
A Bidder may withdraw its bid after it has been submitted at any time before the deadline for submission of bids by sending a written notice, signed by an authorized representative. Any corresponding replacement of the bid must accompany the respective written notice.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Information relating to the examination, evaluation, comparison, and post-qualification of bids, and recommendation of contract award, shall not be disclosed to bidders or any other persons not officially concerned with such process.
Any effort by a Bidder to influence the Norwegian Refugee Council in the examination, evaluation, comparison, and post-qualification of the bids or contract award decisions may result in the rejection of its bid.
From the time of bid opening to the time of Contract award, if any Bidder wishes to contact the Norwegian Refugee Council on any matter related to the bidding process, it should do through the given email account cm.procurement@nrc.no
CLARIFICATION OF BIDS
Norwegian Refugee Council may, at its discretion, ask any Bidder for a clarification of its Bid. The Norwegian Refugee Council’s request for clarification and the response shall be in writing. Any clarification submitted by a Bidder that is not in response to a request by the Norwegian Refugee Council shall not be considered. All requests for clarifications shall be copied to all bidders for information purposes. No change in the price or substance of the bid shall be permitted, except to confirm the correction of errors.
BIDS VALIDATION
The Norwegian Refugee Council’s determination of a Bid’s validity is to be based on the contents of the bid itself, which cannot be corrected if determined to be invalid
A valid bid is one that complies with all the terms, conditions, and specifications of the Bidding Document, without deviation or omission, which affects, or could affect;
the scope, quality, or performance of the services specified in the Contract; or
limits in any substantial way, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s rights or the Bidder’s obligations under the Contract
EVALUATION OF BID
The Norwegian Refugee Council shall examine the legal documentation and other information submitted by Bidders to verify eligibility, and then will review and score bids according to the following criteria:
Professional competencies, expertise and qualification for the tasks described above (30%),
Professional references on the successful completion of similar works (20%),
Technical quality of bid package- completeness and alignment with TOR in terms of methodology (20%),
Evidence of previous relevant experience- copies of reports for similar consultancies (10%)
Technical quality (and relevance) of past work samples (10%)
Financial offer (10%)
Anti-money laundering, anti-bribery, anti-corruption and anti-terrorism legislation applicable in some jurisdictions will require NRC to verify the identity of the bidder prior to financial transactions. NRC reserves the right to use online screening tools to check the bidder’s record about their possible involvement in illegal or unethical practices. This is without exception. All records will be kept strictly confidential.
The Norwegian Refugee Council reserves the right to reject all bids, and re-tender if no satisfactory bids are submitted
AWARD PROCEDURE
The Norwegian Refugee Council shall award the Contract in writing, with an award letter, to the Bidder whose offer has been determined to be the best, before the end of the bid validity period
Any bidder who has not been awarded a contract, will be notified in writing
Until a formal contract is prepared and executed, the Award Letter shall constitute a binding agreement between the bidder and NRC.
The Award Letter will state the sum that the Norwegian Refugee Council will pay the Consultancy Company in consideration of the Services as prescribed in the Contract, and in accordance with the Bid.
The Bidder is thereafter required to submit a Letter of Acceptance, confirming their wish to proceed with a contract.
SIGNING OF CONTRACT
Upon receipt of the Letter of Acceptance, the Norwegian Refugee Council shall call the successful Bidder to sign the Contract.
Within an agreed timeframe, the successful Bidder shall sign, date, and return the Contract to the Norwegian Refugee Council.
The signing of the contract does not mean the start of the stated activity, but an agreement that an activity has to be undertaken.
SECTION 4
SERVICE PROVISION: Technical Description of the Bid/ Pricing proposal
Terms of Reference: External evaluation of NRC Cameroon’s shelter programme
Project title: ALL PROJECT
The evaluation would review all aspects of shelter programming implemented by NRC in Cameroon between April 2017 and December 2021.
Organization
Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
Geographical coverage:
Cameroon: FAR NORTH REGION, NORTH WEST AND SOUTH WEST REGIONS
PlannedEvaluation period:
July-October 2022
1. Background information
1.1 Background on the context
Nine out of ten regions of Cameroon continue to be impacted by three complex, protracted, humanitarian crises caused by continuous violence in the Lake Chad Basin and in the North-West and South-West regions, as well as the presence of over 325,000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) in the Eastern regions. For 2022, 3.9 million people are estimated to need assistance, of which 1.2 million persons are in need of Shelter and Non-food Items. The number of displaced people in Cameroon continues to increase. Violence in the Far North region has led to a steady rise of displacement since 2014 and as of November 2021, violence has uprooted 608,000 people (358,000 IDPs, 115,000 Nigerian refugees, and 135,000 returnees), an increase of 48,000 people since November 2020. In the North-West and South-West, the socio-political crisis, entering its sixth year, has led to massive population displacements. As of August 2021, the crisis has displaced over one million people, including to other regions of Cameroon and to Nigeria.
The main shocks of the different crises in Cameroon relate to violence, natural disasters, health outbreaks, mortality and morbidity due to communicable diseases as well as a lack of access to minimum food, nutrition, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH), shelter, and lifesaving health services. A lack of adequate shelter and the lack of access to basic safe water, sanitation and health services exposes thousands of people to harsh weather, increasing the exposure to sickness. Due to the continuous burning of houses, and occasionally entire villages, to the ground in the North West and South West (NW/SW) regions of Cameroon, there is an increase in the need for shelter and NFIs for the IDP population who have fled to the bush in search of security. The shelter conditions in the Far North region remain insufficient to meet the needs of the displaced populations (IDPs, refugees and returnees) due to either having been destroyed during conflict or poorly maintained. The majority of the affected population do not have legal documents (most having lost their documents when fleeing) proving that they are the owners of their properties. NRC has noted an increasing number of disputes between IDPs, refugees and property owners leading to (unlawful) evictions, where IDPs and refugees have little means to defend themselves due to, among others, barriers to justice linked to lack of legal stay and absence of written lease agreements.
1.2 NRC’s intervention specific to the evaluation
NRC has been working in Cameroon since 2017 through the Shelter, WASH, Livelihood and Food Security (LFS), Education and Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) programmes. In our first actions, we started with the shelter core competency, particularly in the Far North Region, and the other core competencies gradually followed. NRC then started its activities in the North-West and South-West Regions in June 2018 and our first interventions were through an integrated WASH and Shelter response. NRC also contributes to the CAR crisis response in the East Region since 2019 through ICLA programming around the cross-border plurennial project Iyeke Oko.
Shelter and settlements
In the varied climates of Cameroon, shelter is essential for people to live safely and secure while a lack of adequate shelter in many areas features among the key obstacles to sustainable return. Whilst emergency response capacity is maintained, shelter focus has developed in line with changing contexts, moving to durable solutions needs that look to support development activities. Key activities provided by Shelter teams include:
provide materials, training and/or financial resources to internally displaced, refugee and returnee families - support vulnerable families in achieving their tenure rights - construct / rehabilitate educational facilities.
The NRC Shelter programme targets refugees, IDPs, returnees and vulnerable host communities households who need shelter assistance to improve their living conditions in the project implementation locations. Particular attention is given to households that meet the following vulnerability criteria:
IDPs and refugees living in makeshift camps with shelters exposing them to bad weather; - IDPs and refugees living in host communities where they scramble for the very limited space available and share sleeping spaces; - Returnees (former IDPs), where houses have been vandalised or destroyed due to the crisis; - Schools in conflict affected areas that are used as collective housing by the displaced communities. - Returnees and influx of refugees in the East area affected by the CAR crisis.
Beneficiary targeting also aims to reach the most vulnerable households based on pre-established selection criteria, agreed upon by the community. Priority will be given to female headed households (HHs), unaccompanied minors and child headed HHs, and HHs with disabled members. Having clear beneficiary selection criteria will ensure that deserving beneficiaries have equitable access to NRC’s shelter assistance, and hence mitigate the risk of tensions if the assistance is solely addressed to a particular group
1.3 NRC’s intervention specific to the evaluation
To date, NRC has assisted 250,748 persons and counting through the shelter component. The current integrated programming approach in Cameroon sees shelter programming being carried out by a combined Shelter-WASH team.
The overall objectives of NRC’s shelter programme in Cameroon are to improve the living conditions, dignity and protections of vulnerable populations affected by displacement. This includes access to property rights, livelihoods and education.
NRC provides a range of shelter assistance options to households meeting our vulnerability and displacement criteria. This most often involves the Shelter and WASH teams working together in delivering both shelter and WASH goods and services. NRC Cameroon implements four types of shelter-related programmes:
Temporary shelter solutions: Tents, NFIs, multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA), training and information provided by the shelter teams in the SWNW and in the Far North. Since
