Alliance For A Green Revolution In Africa (AGRA)- Request For Proposal For African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) Web Developer

DEADLINE: 13TH APRIL, 2021
ALLIANCE FOR A GREEN REVOLUTION IN AFRICA (AGRA)
RFP: AGRF WEB DEVELOPER
SYNOPSIS OF THE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (FIRM)

Terms of Reference
AGRF Web Developer

The African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) is the world’s premier forum for African agriculture, bringing together stakeholders in the agricultural landscape to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African agriculture forward. The AGRF is a multi-sector platform comprising of 26 partners leading in African agriculture all focused on putting farmers at the center of the continent’s growing economies.

The AGRF flagship Summit was first held in Ghana in 2010 and has annually brought together Heads of State, Ministers, business leaders, development partners, thought leaders, farmers, youth, and other stakeholders to focus on the actions and policies need to move the continental agenda forward. As the Forum moves into a new decade, the AGRF seeks to move beyond the annual summit into a year-round engagement. The AGRF is seeking the services of a web developer to refresh the AGRF and the Pitch AgriHack websites.

Scope of Work
The consultant will take lead in the refresh and update of the AGRF and Pitch AgriHack websites and their sub-domains and deliver on the following tasks:

Website Redesign

• Redesign the front end and back end of the AGRF and Pitch AgriHack websites and their sub-domains.
• Create wireframes, storyboards, and prototypes to propose options for implementation.
• Develop corresponding user interface components (themes, style sheets, scripts, images, infographics, etc,) as needed
• Design/develop the French & Portuguese duplicate websites that will be linked to the English parent website. The translated content will be provided.
• Provide a  content management system (CMS) to ease content updates
• Enhance the User Experience and User Interface within modern trends, and ensure that the websites should are mobile responsive.
• Integrate a content and event calendar on the website
• Develop features that allow for the integration of digital reports to enhance the user experience and interaction
• Include newsletter subscription and management features
• Integrate heat maps and user behavior analysis  tracking and provide timely recommendations

Website Management

• Monthly health check which includes internal and external links, on-line forms, search facilities, site maps, and any dynamic functionality.
• Provide prompt technical support for issue resolution
• CMS maintenance – installation of upgrades, patches, and plugins updates
• Enhance the Google Analytics feature, provide a user visits analysis, and provide recommendations
• Frontend management (design and content updates)
• Backend management and CMS plugin updates
• Website reliability & responsiveness
• Script/program updates
• Website monitoring and reporting (including uptime, performance, and bandwidth monitoring)
• Conduct regular security checks and vulnerability assessments

Deliverables

The developer(s) should produce the following results:

1. Inception Meeting Report – This report will compile the deadlines, the methodology to be applied, a template and graphic design for the website that will be discussed during the inception meeting ;
2. Refreshed and updated websites: The developer(s) will create the website following the functional requirements indicated in the ToRs and test the site in collaboration with system administrators from AGRA and AGRF to ensure the quality performance of the website.
3. The developer will submit a report on the User Acceptance Testing to be validated by the AGRA ICT office.
4. User Manual and Training – Develop a user manual and carry out a training session on the use and maintenance of the website with the system administrators, technical support staff, and users from AGRF and AGRA
5. Support and Quality Control – Technical support, quality control for 6 (six) months after the go-live of the websites.
6. Monthly reports with statistics on engagement and website performance
7. Maintenance plan – including tasks and schedule

Functional Competencies

• Strong understanding of UI & UX, cross-browser compatibility, general web functions, and standards.
• Experience in planning and delivering software platforms used across multiple products and organizational units. The portfolio should include similar global development organizations.
• Deep expertise and hands-on experience with web applications and programming languages such as HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery, and APIs.
• Strong understanding of the WordPress Content Management system. Candidate/firm should demonstrate experience in developing similar websites for global development organizations.
• Deep functional knowledge or hands-on design experience with web services
• Strong and demonstrated experience in graphic design in similar websites.

Proposal Submission

Interested and qualified consultant firms are invited to submit their proposal(s) comprising of the following:

• An understanding of the consultancy requirements
• Methodology and work-plan for performing the assignment
• Project delivery plan
• Maintenance plan
• Resource Plan and Personnel: A description of the management plan, including individual(s) who will be responsible for the contract, including CVs and references
• Detailed reference list indicating the scope and magnitude of similar assignments
• Relevant services undertaken in the past three (3) years
• Explain if you intend to outsource any part of the deliverables to others, such as hiring freelancers (This carries additional risks that may affect project implementation, but properly done it offers a chance to access specialized skills).

Evaluation Criteria

NB: Only the candidate with the best technical proposal equal or above 75% shall be considered for financial negotiations.

Application Submission Requirements

Technical Proposal

1. An understanding of the assignment requirements, expectations and deliverables
2. The organizational profile and experience:
   • Provide a brief description of the background and organization of your company/firm
   • List only previous similar assignments successfully completed in the last 5 years: detailing the date; assignment name and brief description of key deliverables; name of client and country of assignment; contract budget (in US$); and role on the assignment.
   • List only those assignments for which you were legally contracted
3. Description of approach, methodology and work-plan for performing the assignment
   • The technical approach and methodology should explain the understanding of the assignment objectives; analytical strategies; and the degree of detail of expected outputs.
   • The work plan should describe the implementation of the main activities/tasks of the assignment, their content and duration, phasing and interrelations, and tentative delivery dates of the deliverables. A list of the final deliverables (including reports) to be delivered as final output(s) should be included here.
4. Assignment project plan
5. Maintenance plan
6. Team composition and tasks assignment: describe the structure and composition of your team, including the list of the Key Experts and relevant technical and administrative support staff.
7. Curriculum Vitae of team members with information on: Candidate’s bio-data; education; employment record relevant to the assignment – giving date, employer, country, and summary of activities performed relevant to the assignment; membership in professional associations and relevant publications.

Financial Proposal (see Annex A)

1. Professional fees chargeable per day
2. All applicable taxes (withholding taxes) should be quoted separately
3. The financial proposal shall be inclusive of the applicable withholding taxes. If the financial proposal is silent on taxes, AGRA shall assume that these are inclusive;
4. Reimbursable costs if applicable shall be quoted separately.
5. Price must be quoted in USD ($)
6. The financial proposal shall be submitted separately from the technical proposal and should be password protected. Only the best candidate shall be requested for the password to their financial proposal

Guidelines for Preparations and Submission of Proposals

1. The proposals and sample case studies SHALL be submitted to procurement@agra.org by deadline indicated in the synopsis
2. The proposal and ALL Attachments submitted via email SHALL NOT exceed 10MB
3. VALIDITY of the proposal shall be for a period of 90 days from the date of bid closure.
4. Financial proposal shall be sent as a separate attachment and MUST be password protected. The password shall be requested from the best technically qualified firm

Download full RFP:
https://agra.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RFP-AGRF-Web-Developer.docx