Gavi Alliance- Request For Quotation For The Provision Of PR Services In Africa

DEADLINE: 25TH NOVEMBER, 2022
GAVI ALLIANCE
REQUEST FOR QUOTATION FOR THE PROVISION OF PR SERVICES IN AFRICA
REQUEST FOR QUOTATION (160-2022-GAVI-RFQ)

Address responses via email to; procurement@gavi.org

BACKGROUND AND INTRODUCTION:
Gavi is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 981 million children – and prevented more than 16.2 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 lower-income countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation, above all the zero-dose children who have not received even a single vaccine shot. The Vaccine Alliance employs innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency.

For more information please visit the Gavi website: http://www.gavi.org/

OBJECTIVE:
Gavi Alliance (“Gavi”), invites bidders (herein after called “Bidder” or “Bidders”) to submit offers, consisting of a technical and a financial offer, together with any supporting documents (herein after called the “Proposal” or “Proposals”) for the provision of the requirements defined in this RFQ document:

Gavi Project:
Gavi’s Communications team is looking to contract a highly qualified and experienced PR agency or firm on a retainer contract to boost Gavi’s visibility and media engagement in key markets in Africa, and to support on crisis communications as and when necessary. This work would cover the entire calendar year of 2023. 

Our initial Request For Quotation: 160-2022-GAVI-RFQ rules will apply for this bidding process and work against the below timelines.

Expected Deliverables and Timelines:
The selected agency is expected provided both strategic and tactical support on a regular basis, and should have a strong understanding of both key media markets and relevant political contexts  particularly in Gavi-supported countries on the continent. The specific deliverables include:

• Providing weekly media monitoring update and analysis, plus timely news alerts on critical stories in high impact outlets in Africa around topics related to Gavi’s work: COVAX, the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 vaccination, routine immunization, outbreak response, pandemic preparedness, and global health – including recommendations on whether to engage with media, where relevant.
• Support in pitching interviews and op-eds to media in situations including: 

1. When Gavi senior leadership is traveling to relevant countries
2. When Gavi has major announcements that are relevant

• Maintaining regular contact and building relationships with major print and broadcast news outlets, including identifying opportunities for background chats between Gavi press team and journalists.
• Supporting Gavi in crisis communications, where necessary.
• Support in drafting briefs and written media responses on a limited, ad hoc basis.
• Identifying major news hooks and providing creative ideas for engagement around media moments in Africa, on an ad hoc basis.

The scope of work is expected to be spread from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2023

Qualification Requirements:
The bidder should:

• Submit a Cover Letter containing the following:

(i)  Name and address of the Service Provider

(ii)  Name, title, telephone number, and e-mail address of the person authorized to commit the Service Provider to a contract

(iii) Name, title, telephone number, and e-mail address of the person to be contacted regarding the content of the proposal, if different from above

(iv) A signature of this letter done by a duly authorized representative of your company

• Demonstrate understanding of the requirements and deliverables
• Have the ability to work with deadlines in a challenging working environment.
• Demonstrate strong past experience with similar services and projects, and an extensive network and understanding of media across the region
• Experience working on issues around global health and/or international development, and national policy contexts strongly appreciated
• Fluency in written and spoken English and French is crucial; Portuguese, Arabic, Kiswahili, Amharic and other languages widely spoken on the continent are also appreciated
• Have excellent presentation and communication skills.

Technical Quotation:
Bidder’s must ensure that the Technical Quotation is provided within dedicated electronic document/file and that no financial information whatsoever is contained within. This is to ensure pricing information cannot be viewed when the Technical Quotation is under evaluation.

The technical Quotation should specify the following:

• Examples of coverage obtained for clients around events and media campaigns
• Examples of past communications plans/strategic proposals
• Credentials and presentation of capabilities of bidder
• References and recommendations from current/former clients

Financial Quotation:
The financial proposal should include an estimated cost per month for covering all the deliverables listed in this RFQ, and accommodate ad-hoc services as needed.

Evaluation:
The following aspect will be considered for the evaluation of the submitted proposals:

• Suitability of the proposed approach and methodology including firms capacity to undertake the services
• Qualifications and experience of proposed team composition
• Best Value for Money considering the Lowest priced technically-compliant of the proposed offers.

(i) Please note that prices should be tendered in United states Dollars (USD). Prices submitted in any other currency will be evaluated based on the Gavi prescribed exchange rate of the closing of the bid date as the financial evaluation of the bids is completed in USD.  Final contractual payments will be agreed by the parties during contract negotiations and can be made in the following Gavi accepted currencies: 

• United states Dollars (USD)
• Swiss Francs (CHF)
• Euros (EUR)
• Australian Dollars (AUD)
• Canadian Dollars (CAD)
• British Pounds (GBP)
• Norwegian Krone (NOK)
• Japanese Yen (JPY)

Quotation Submission:
Interested bidders should declare their Intent to Participate as well as any potential Conflicts of Interest by registering online using the: Gavi Supplier Declaration Form.

Technical and Financial Proposals should be sent no later than 15-Nov-22 23:59 (CET) at the following email address: procurement@gavi.org   

Please ensure that the different Proposal elements are returned in either MS Office Format or PDF.

Submission Checklist:
Document Checklist

• Cover Letter which includes: 
• Name and address of the Service Provider
• Name, title, telephone number, and e-mail address of the person authorized to commit the Service Provider to a contract
• Name, title, telephone number, and e-mail address of the person to be contacted regarding the content of the proposal, if different from above
• A signature of this letter done by a duly authorized representative of your company

1. Technical Quotation      
2. Financial Quotation
3. Pricing Schedule Template (if applicable)         
4. Online Conflict of Interest form

Proposed Contract and Gavi’s Terms and Conditions

The terms and conditions for the proposed Contract can be found here:

Request For Quotation Rules:
Gavi invites you to submit a competitive bid by responding to this “Request for Quotation” (RFQ), based on the below outlined rules:

(i) This entire RFQ and all related discussions, meetings, exchanges of information, and subsequent negotiations that may occur are confidential.

(ii) The issuance of this RFQ in no way commits Gavi to make an award. Gavi is under no obligation to justify the reasons for its supplier(s) choices as a result of this RFQ. Gavi may choose not to justify its business rewarding decision to the participants to this tender.

(iii) Gavi reserves the right to:

• reject any proposal without obligation or liability to the potential bidder;
• withdraw this RFQ at any time before or after submission of bids, without prior notice, explanation or reason;
• accept other than the lowest price offer;
• award a contract on the basis of initial offers received, without discussions or requests for best and final offers;
• decide not to award any contract to any bidder responding to this RFQ,

(iv) You agree that your bid is valid for no less than sixty (60) days from the quotation due date.

(v) Faxed copies will not be accepted. Late quotations are subject to rejection.

(vi) Gavi reserves the right to request additional data, information, discussions or presentations to support part of, or your entire bid proposal. Bidders or their representatives must be available to discuss the details of their proposal during the evaluation process. 

(vii) All responses should be submitted in electronic version.

(viii) The proposed time plan set out above indicates the process Gavi intends to follow. If there are any changes to this time plan, Gavi will notify you in writing.

(ix) If the applicant is a US Citizen or resident (Green Card holder) or a non-US person living or working in the US, they should be aware of OFAC regulations.