Invitation to Tender – Framework Agreement for the Provision of Communication, Transformation & Innovation Services At Seefar

The Seefar Foundation hereby invites interested and qualified organisations to bid for a Framework Agreement for the provision of behavior change, strategic communication, digitalisation and innovation, services as outlined by the instructions and procedures in this invitation and related annexes.

Please read the instructions on the tendering procedures carefully as failure to comply may invalidate your tender. Your tender must be submitted electronically to alison@seefarfoundation.org latest by 6:00pm Brussels time on Monday 21st March 2022. Tenders submitted after the deadline will not be considered.

Note: The Seefar Foundation reserves the right to change or cancel the invitation to tender at any time during the solicitation process. Submitting a bid does not automatically guarantee that an organization will be considered for receipt of the solicitation.

1. Seefar Foundation

The Seefar Foundation (‘the Foundation’) is a non-profit association, established as a charity under the Laws of Belgium with incorporation number 0665649335 and registered office in Rue de la Filature 10, 1060 Brussels, Belgium.

The association aims to promote the economic and social impact of cross-border issues taking into account local political and security issues. The Seefar Foundation works in more than 30 countries with some of the most vulnerable populations whose lives are impacted by migration, human trafficking, displacement, extremism and social exclusion. The Seefar Foundation is the charitable arm of Seefar. It exists to give some of the most vulnerable people in the world opportunities to advance themselves. Our 300 personnel have been working on the ground in communities to support more than 100,000 beneficiaries in more than 30 countries.

We receive funding from a number of European governments including Germany, Austria, Denmark and Norway; from international organisations such as the UN and World Bank; from the European Union; and from foundations and philanthropy to tackle some of the most difficult problems in the developing world

2. Scope Framework Agreement

Since 2016, the Seefar Foundation has been delivering strategic communication, livelihoods and social inclusion campaigns designed to encourage attitudinal and behaviour change, for example for people at risk of trafficking, radicalisation towards violent extremism or unsafe migration. The Seefar Foundation has run such programmes in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.

In 2022 Seefar Foundation plans to continue deploying its expertise in strategic communications, counselling, consulting, monitoring and evaluation, and research. Seefar’s priority regions remain: East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, North Africa, the Sahel and Europe.

In the course of programming the Foundation has found that emerging innovative approaches have the potential to support a paradigm shift from reaction to anticipation. Innovative programming, including technologies can enable earlier, faster and potentially more effective humanitarian action and development aid. Innovation, including digital and technological approaches, in humanitarian and assistance is increasingly perceived as an enabler in reducing human suffering during crises and can contribute to tackling a wide range of problems. There is growing consensus that humanitarian and development efforts and resources should be focused on addressing the barriers for scaling technologies to respond to some of the world’s toughest challenges. As part of it’s 2022-2025 strategy the Seefar Foundation is now focused on bringing innovative approaches, digital transformation and technology to some of the most pressing global development challenges. To do so the Foundation seeks to partner with other innovation-centric creative organizations taking approaches that address identified challenges and lead to structural changes and improvements.

The Foundation looks to find partners willing to design and implement innovations which can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian assistance when scaled. In response to a growing demand for technological innovation for humanitarian aid and development assistance by different donors, the Foundation seeks a long-term partnership with innovation and digitalisation specialists to provide related services. The Foundation is specifically seeking partners capable of promoting innovation while being aware of practical issues in development and humanitarian programming. This will allow the Foundation to increase the scope and quality of the projects being delivered over the next few years. The Foundation is looking to apply digital transformation and innovation approaches to it’s communications,social inclusion, livelihoods and information sharing and awareness activities.

Projects and interventions the Foundation seeks to explore over the course of 2022-2025

• Behavior Change Communication campaigns in migration, social inclusion, livelihoods, trafficking, modern slavery
• Build and promote information sharing platforms
• Strengthening and sustaining community livelihoods through innovation
• Develop and adapt existing technologies to the humanitarian and public sector and ensure their proper contextual tailoring, testing, efficacy and safety before deployment.
• Testing the uses of IT for vulnerable populations and promoting a people-centered, needs-based and context-specific use of digital tools and
• Promoting digital literacy within organisations and institutions
• Develop comprehensive research exploring the development, application and scaling of new and emerging technologies in humanitarian action
• Drive public sector digitalization and the use of IT in humanitarian services

The Foundation will seek to implement projects on the thematic areas of migration, anti-slavery, climate-change which aim to transform conditions for vulnerable people. In addition to its existing behaviour change model the Foundation will also seek to deploy new innovative approaches, including technologies and digitalisation, but not limited to such, which target challenges of protection, green response, including energy and infrastructure as well as livelihoods and returns-reintegration programming.

2.1 Categories of services requested

Services to be delivered under this Framework Agreement will relate to different types of activities as part of digital transformation and innovations programmes and projects, including:

• Messaging and content creation;
• Social media campaign management and online advertising;
• Artificial intelligence tool development
• Implementation of advanced information system
• Web application development
• Project design and mainstreaming digital solutions and technologies
• Project delivery of innovative approaches to development projects
• Database development
• Digital platforms development
• Social media analysis and optimisation;
• Training and capacity development;
• Monitoring, evaluation and learning

3. Delivering service provisions under this agreement

The partner selected for the Framework Agreement will be requested to deliver one or more of the services listed under 2.1. Activities may vary over the duration of this agreement and details will be provided in each single request for services.

The selected partner is required to provide a financial proposal (‘service provision offer’) within two weeks upon receipt of a request for services, in line with the level of effort and pricing references submitted in the proposal accepted and included in the agreement.

The Foundation will have two weeks to evaluate the offer received and – if accepted – prepare a separate contract (‘work order contract’) for the specific collaboration to be jointly signed with the partner.

Work order contracts are awarded in accordance with the terms agreed in the Framework Agreement contract. The latter represents the overarching reference and shall prevail in the case of conflict with articles included in the work order contracts.

4. Duration of the agreement

This framework agreement is foreseen for a duration of 4 years, starting on 11th of April 2022 and ending on 11th of April 2026. All single service provisions will be delivered within this timeline, solely by the selected partner.

5. Proposal evaluation

5.1 Evaluation criteria

The Organisational Profile will serve to determine if an applicant is eligible as per exclusion criteria listed in Annex I.

The Technical Offer will represent 80% of the overall score; the weight of the Financial Offer represents 20%.

For the Technical Offer, evaluation criteria correspond to the requested information outlined under 5.1 and will be weighted as indicated in the list below.

Criteria: Geographical reach

• Sub-criteria: Presence and registration in Western Africa, Horn of Africa, South East Asia and the Middle East. Weight: 5%

Criteria: Thematic expertise and proven track record

• Sub-criteria: Knowledge in migration, trafficking and countering violent extremism. Weight: 10%
• Sub-criteria: Experience in innovation in humanitarian and development programming. Weight: 15%
• Sub-criteria: Innovation in the humanitarian sector. Weight: 10%
• Sub-criteria: Experience delivering behavior change communications campaigns. Weight: 10%
• Sub-criteria: Design and implementation of strategic communication campaigns. Weight: 10%
• Sub-criteria: Project monitoring and evaluation. Weight: 5%

Criteria: Cross-cutting capacities. Weight: 5%

• Sub-criteria: Technology and innovation.
• Sub-criteria: Data science and AI.

Criteria: Cost (Financial Offer)

• Sub-criteria: Value for money. Weight: 20%

Criteria: Project management capacities. Weight: 10%

• Sub-criteria: Procedures & Supervisory Systems
• Sub-criteria: Supply Chain Management
• Sub-criteria: Risk Management
• Sub-criteria: IT and digital expertise

5.2 Award Decision

The Evaluation Committee will review applications by Monday 8th of April 2022, and communicate results in the same week. If the planned timeline changes, applicants will be informed accordingly.

Annex I – Organisation Profile

Organisation Information

• Name of applying organization
• Address
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Name(s) of director(s)
• Name and email address of contact person
• Country in which the applicant/lead party has its registered office.

Potential exclusion criteria

Please confirm that following situations do not apply to your organisation:

1. bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up procedures; (Yes/No)
2. in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions in accordance with the applicable law; (Yes/No)
3. guilty of professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards, including wrongful intent or gross negligence such as: (Yes/No)
4. fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of selection criteria or in the performance of a contract; (Yes/No)
5. entering into an agreement with other actors with the aim of distorting competition; (Yes/No)
6. violating intellectual property rights; (Yes/No)
7. attempting to influence the decision-making process of the contracting authority during the procurement procedure; (Yes/No)
8. attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the procurement procedure; (Yes/No)
9. it has been established by a final judgment that the actor is guilty of fraud, corruption, money laundering, terrorist-related offences or offences linked to terrorist activities and financing, or child labour or other forms of trafficking in human beings. (Yes/No)