DEADLINE: 28TH JUNE, 2025
FINAQUEST INTEGRATED RESOURCES LIMITED REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
TERMS OF REFERENCE
PROJECT NAME: PRIMARY HEALTHCARE PROVISION STRENGTHENING PROGRAM (HOPE-PHC)
TITLE: A RAPID ASSESSMENT TO UNDERSTAND REQUIREMENTS FOR SUPPLY SECURITY OF ESSENTIAL COMMODITIES IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY HEALTHCARE FACILITIES IN NIGERIA.
LOCATION: NIGERIA
DURATION: THREE MONTHS
PROGRAMMATIC FOCUS: BASIC EMERGENCY OBSTETRIC NEWBORN CARE (BEMONC) AND COMPREHENSIVE EMERGENCY OBSTETRIC NEWBORN CARE (CEMONC)

Background:
Nigeria has a population of over 220,000,000 people and each year, over seven million pregnancies occur. With a maternal mortality rate (MMR) of 512 per 100,000 live births, translating to an estimated 58,000 maternal deaths annually, Nigeria is the highest contributor to maternal mortality globally. Similarly, more than 240,000 newborns die in their first month of life, and attempts to reverse this trend have not yielded significant progress in the last two decades.

National health indices indicate the country is substantially off track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target for reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality, which ultimately aims to realize an ambitious end in preventable maternal and newborn mortality by 2030. The SDG targets a reduction in maternal mortality to a milestone of 70 per 100,000 live births, and to achieve this, Nigeria requires a radical approach to rapidly attain a decrease by more than two-thirds of the current MMR values in the country by 2030.

In Nigeria, high maternal and infant mortality rates are caused by various biological and socio-economic factors, as well as a stretched healthcare system. The leading causes of maternal mortality in the country are hemorrhage (23%), pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (17%), maternal sepsis (11%), anemia (11%), and unsafe abortion (11%). Facility delivery rates in Nigeria are quite low at only 39%. Moreover, budgetary allocations for healthcare in the country remain way below the 15% resolution from the Abuja declaration. This makes it difficult for healthcare providers to address the existing challenges effectively. Newborns in Nigeria also face sub-optimal health conditions. The major causes of neonatal mortality in the country are birth asphyxia (36%), prematurity (28%), neonatal sepsis (12%), and congenital malformations (7%). These major drivers of maternal and newborn mortality in Nigeria are largely preventable and/or treatable using quality-assured medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted the availability of essential medicines, vaccines, and technology as one of six key pillars of a health system building block.

Available evidence suggests critical gaps in quality, availability, and delivery of essential commodities for basic and comprehensive healthcare in Nigeria. A systematic review of quality of medicines available in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), including Nigeria, found that 48.9% of uterotonic failed quality tests; failure rates were 75% for ergometrine and nearly 40% each for oxytocin and misoprostol. The overall prevalence of failed injectable antibiotics was 13.4%, ranging from 2.9% for injectable metronidazole to 16.0% for cefazolin. The prevalence of low-quality magnesium sulfate was 3.4%. This highlights pervasive issues hampering access to quality-assured maternal and newborn health (MNH) commodities.

The Nigerian government has shown a commitment to improving access to quality-assured MNH commodities and reducing the overall burden of maternal and newborn mortality through its recently developed Nigeria Ending Preventable Maternal Mortality (Ni-EPMM) Strategy (also known as the Safe Motherhood strategy).

Scope of Work:

Deliverables:

ObjectiveActivitiesOutputs
To assess the supplier landscape and current procurement systems and mechanisms for essential medicines while mapping potential local and global platforms that can be leveraged for supply planning, including product quality, quantification, forecasting, inventory management systems, demand aggregation, etc.– Conduct supplier landscape mapping for essential commodities to establish market size, market distribution, assess supply security for quality-assured products and potential for local manufacturing.

-Desk review/analysis of MNCH commodities procurement systems including ordering/procuring agents and platforms and a benchmark analysis on lead times for order fulfillment, pricing, etc.

-Exploration of contracting frameworks that improve accountability, flexibility, etc.		– Supplier landscaping (global, regional, and local) for key essential commodities

-Mapping of procurement processes and platforms (local and global)

-Identification of inefficiencies, bottlenecks, and gaps in procurement systems

-Recommendations to improve procurement efficiency and quality assurance
To evaluate various business models for commodity logistics, including distribution, warehousing, last-mile delivery.– Map private sector suppliers that can be engaged across the MNCH commodities supply chain

-Evaluate existing platforms for warehousing and delivery-outlet systems gaps and opportunities

-Evaluate business models for last-mile delivery of commodities		– Complete mapping of suppliers and local distribution mechanisms in the country

-Essential commodities warehousing and logistics platforms evaluation report
To assess operational capacity and efficiency of existing health commodities information and logistics management systems and data use for decision making.– Identify existing MNCH commodities Logistics Management Information Systems (LMIS) in-country

-Assess capacity, functionality, user

-friendliness, SCM requirements, interoperability, operational cost of the various LMIS platforms		– MNCH commodities LMIS assessment report
To conduct a deep dive into existing financing mechanisms and processes for the supply of essential commodities, including availability, payment mechanism, budgeting, etc.– Conduct KIIs to understand planning and budgeting processes for MNCH commodities supply

-Desk review of funding requirements for various essential MNCH commodities

-Map and evaluate existing financial processes for commodities’ procurement and distribution (e.g., mapping funding flows, payment timelines to help identify bottlenecks)		– Synthesize and analyze KII reports

-Best practices report on outcome of evaluation of existing funding flows, processes, and bottlenecks

Approach:

  • Desk Reviews: Review of existing documents and resources including facility readiness assessment reports, review of HMIS and LMIS data, etc.
  • Conduct Key Informant Interviews: Generate list of key informants; Develop questionnaires and assessment tools, conduct KIIs
  • Facility Assessments: Undertake facility assessments appropriate to gain additional insights and information on facility readiness and key barriers at the facility level
  • Undertake supplier sites visits, warehouses, logistics providers, 3PLs, contractors, etc.
  • Map, leverage, and adapt existing tools for undertaking an end-to-end supply chain assessment. Supply chain maturity model tools (refer to this resource here for discussion:

[https://www.unicef.org/supply/media/5626/file/Technical%20Review%20of%20Public%20Health%20Supply%20Chain%20Assessment%20Tools.pdf](https://www.unicef.org/supply/media/5626/file/Technical%20Review%20of%20Public%20Health%20Supply%20Chain%20Assessment%20Tools.pdf)

Timelines
Duration: 3 months

Interested firms are required to submit their proposals to `jell.olaya@finquestconsulting.com` no later than one week from the date of this publication. All inquiries should also be directed to the same email address.

Note:
Kindly submit hard copies of your proposals to:

FINAQUEST INTEGRATED RESOURCES LIMITED
Plot 1, Plot 3680, Erie Crescent, Off Nile Street, Maiama District, Abuja

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