DEADLINE: 9TH DECEMBER, 2022
BRITISH COUNCIL
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR CONSULTANCY SERVICES FOR IN-COUNTRY MONITORING AND EVALUATION ON THE SKILLS FOR INCLUSIVE DIGITAL PARTICIPATION (SIDP).
(1.0) Overview of the British Council
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. We do this by making a positive contribution to the UK and the countries we work with – changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections, and engendering trust.
We work with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year we reach over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications. Founded in 1934, we are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. The British Council employs over 10,500 staff worldwide. It has its headquarters in the UK, with offices in London, Manchester, Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh. Further information can be viewed at www.britishcouncil.org.
(1.1) Overview of the Skills for Inclusive Digital Participation
Rationale for the Project
The Skills for Inclusive Digital Participation Project (SIDP) enabled the British Council to build on networks established through Active Citizens, DICE and other programmes and address issues of digital inclusion and access to educational and other opportunities particularly for Youth, women and girls and People Living with Disability (PLWD). In its first iteration, the project was implemented in Indonesia, Kenya and Nairobi and focused on training to support beneficiaries with gaining digital skills. SIDP has received additional funding from the FCDO to implement a second phase of project implementation from August to December 2022.
The second phase of the project will focus on knowledge management, setting up and maintaining a Community of Practice (CoP), sustaining partnerships forged in the first phase and continuing with training, as well as engaging national and international stakeholders through policy dialogues.
(1.2) Project Introduction
The Skills for Inclusive Digital Participation was implemented as a pilot to test innovative digital approaches at scale within a limited timeframe. The programme worked with Community Level Trainers (CLTs) selected from digitally excluded groups, with support from Expert Level Digital Skills Trainers (ELTs) to deliver basic digital literacy and intermediate digital skills training to excluded groups in three target locations in Indonesia, Kenya and Nigeria. The training was based on bespoke manuals and toolkits tailored to the needs and aspirations of the target groups [Youth 18-35 years old, women and People Living with Disability], co-created by the CLTs and ELTs. The co-created manuals were built on recognised digital literacy frameworks and contextualised based on the representative lived experiences of the CLTs.
In addition to being used for training on the project, the created manuals and toolkits were to be disseminated to 90 relevant institutions like schools, vocational institutions targeting these digitally excluded groups, to share the learning and insight and subsequently influence their own approaches to teaching digital literacy more effectively to these groups.
The projects used a mix of traditional workshop styles (at a fixed location and fixed time) and more dynamic styles adapted to the lifestyles and needs of the target audiences (e.g., flexible timing, meeting trainees in their own spaces e.g., open markets).
In its second phase, the project teams has started working on sharing project assets such as manuals with relevant professional networks and stakeholders, nationally and internationally and on making these materials more accessible to PWDs. By setting up communities of practice, trainers in digital literacy will have higher levels of competence, increased opportunities for specialist employment, as well as learning and development, and access to counterparts nationally and internationally. Additionally, local organisations (public / private / voluntary and those brought on board as implementing partners) will improve their capacity to support digital literacy among disadvantaged and excluded groups by providing relevant and inclusive digital skills training to priority groups in their communities. Also, through policy dialogues, the project intends to increase awareness on improved policymaking on digital literacy as a result of sharing learning from the SIDP project with national and international stakeholders.
From the first phase of the project, the expected long-term impact of the project is that digitally excluded individuals develop the digital competencies they need, to take part in digital life and online activities safely and enhance their livelihoods through entrepreneurship that leverages online resources and markets.
(1.3) Scope/Deliverables/Specifications
Programme Scope
The project will continue working in marginalised communities in Indonesia, Kenya, and Nigeria to deliver the proposed outcomes and impact in its second phase of implementation.
Oct 2022 Nov 2022 Dec 2022 Jan 2023 Feb 2023 Dec 2023 Data collection (end of phase II) CL Consultants HERE Data analysis and reporting CL Consultants Winning Moves HERE BAU[4] reporting across all phases of the project HERE
(1.9) Reporting
The consultant will update the British Council on progress as outlined in the timelines; exact timings are to be agreed between the parties. There will be a quality assurance and feedback process throughout (refer to timeline). The consultant will be briefed at the start of the contract by the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager and the Project Managers who will be available for any questions or concerns throughout the consultancy.
Tender Conditions and Contractual Requirements
This section of the RFP sets out the British Council’s contracting requirements, general policy requirements, and the general tender conditions relating to this procurement process (“Procurement Process”).
Contracting requirements
The contracting authority is the British Council which includes any subsidiary companies and other organisations that control or are controlled by the British Council from time to time (see: http://www.britishcouncil.org/organisation/structure/status).
The appointed supplier will be expected to deliver the goods and/or provide services at the British Council offices in Nigeria.
The British Council’s contracting and commercial approach in respect of the required goods and/or services is set out at Annex [1] (Terms and Conditions of contract) (“Contract”). By submitting a tender response, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of this RFP and the Contract without further negotiation or amendment.
Timescales
Subject to any changes notified to potential suppliers by the British Council in accordance with the Tender Conditions, the key milestones below shall apply to this Procurement Process.
The Contract awarded will be in-line with the milestones listed below. The expected timeframe for some elements of this consultancy, exact timelines will be raised again with the contracted partner once the methodology is agreed.
By 28 November 2022 Call-out for Request for Proposal (RFP).
By 5 December 2022 End request for proposal (RFP) call-out
By 9 December 2022 Consultant identified and contracted
By 9 December 2022 Inception Meeting regarding deliverables
Tender Validity
Your tender response must remain open for acceptance by the British Council for a period of [sixty days] from the Response Deadline. A tender response not valid for this period may be rejected by the British Council.
Payment and Invoicing
The British Council will pay correctly addressed and undisputed invoices within 30 days in accordance with the requirements of the Contract. Suppliers to the British Council must ensure comparable payment provisions apply to the payment of their sub-contractors and the sub-contractors of their sub-contractors. General requirements for an invoice for the British Council include:
- A description of the good/services supplied is included.
- The British Council Purchase Order number is included.
- It is sent electronically via email in PDF format to the Project Manager in each designated country or by sending a hard copy invoice to British Council office.
Audience
The evaluation report will be primarily for British Council and the FCDO; however, the final report including case studies and recommendations should be suitable to share externally. Therefore, it should be written with external stakeholders in mind and be of a high written standard. It is important that plain and clear English is used in all documents produced, and that technical language is used clearly and only when necessary. The detailed report should be in MS Word format with a summary in PowerPoint.
Mandatory Requirements / Constraints
As part of your tender response, you must confirm that you meet the mandatory requirements / constraints, if any, as set out in the British Council’s specification forming part of this RFP. A failure to comply with one or more mandatory requirements or constraints shall entitle the British Council to reject a tender response in full.
Qualification Requirements
As part of your tender response, you must confirm compliance with any qualification requirements as set out at Annex [2] (Qualification Questionnaire). A failure to comply with one or more such qualification requirements shall entitle the British Council to reject a tender response in full.
Key background documents and further information
Further relevant background documents / information may be provided to potential suppliers as set out below, as an Annex to this RFP and/or by way of the issue of additional documents / links to additional information / documents. Where no such information / documents are provided, this Section of the RFP will not apply.
Instructions for Responding
The documents that must be submitted to form your tender response are listed at Part [2] (Submission Checklist) of Annex [3] (Supplier Response) to this RFP. The following requirements should be complied with when summiting your response to this RFP:
- Please ensure that you send your submission in good time to prevent issues with technology – late tender responses may be rejected by the British Council.
- Do not submit any additional supporting documentation with your RFP response except where specifically requested to do so as part of this RFP. PDF, JPG, PPT, Word and Excel formats can be used for any additional supporting documentation (other formats should not be used without the prior written approval of the British Council).
- All attachments/supporting documentation should be provided separately to your main tender response and clearly labelled to make it clear as to which part of your tender response it relates.
- If you submit a generic policy / document, you must indicate the page and paragraph reference that is relevant to a particular part of your tender response.
- Unless otherwise stated as part of this RFP or its Annexes, all tender responses should be in the format of the relevant British Council requirement with your response to that requirement inserted underneath.
- Where supporting evidence is requested as ‘or equivalent’ you must demonstrate such equivalence as part of your tender response.
- Any deliberate alteration of a British Council requirement as part of your tender response will invalidate your tender response to that requirement and for evaluation purposes you shall be deemed not to have responded to that requirement.
- Responses should concise, unambiguous, and should directly address the requirement stated.
- Your tender responses to the tender requirements and pricing will be incorporated into the Contract, as appropriate.
Clarification Requests
All clarification requests should be submitted before the Clarification Deadline, as set out in the Timescales section of this RFP. The British Council is under no obligation to respond to clarification requests received after the Clarification Deadline.
Any clarification requests should clearly reference the appropriate paragraph in the RFP documentation and, to the extent possible, should be aggregated rather than sent individually.
The British Council reserves the right to issue any clarification request made by you, and the response, to all potential suppliers unless you expressly require it to be kept confidential at the time the request is made. If the British Council considers the contents of the request not to be confidential, it will inform you and you will have the opportunity to withdraw the clarification query prior to the British Council responding to all potential suppliers.
The British Council may at any time request further information from potential suppliers to verify or clarify any aspects of their tender response or other information they may have provided. Should you not provide supplementary information or clarifications to the British Council by any deadline notified to you, your tender response may be rejected in full and you may be disqualified from this Procurement Process
