Communications Consultancy (Photography & Videography)

1.               Background

SPARK develops higher education and entrepreneurship to empower young, ambitious people to lead their fragile and conflict-affected societies into prosperity. SPARK is a dynamic and growing, international not-for-profit development organization with 100+ staff members, in more than 14 offices around the world. SPARK supports refugees in the Middle-East by providing them with scholarships in universities and higher education institutions in the region. SPARK also supports young entrepreneurs in fragile states, to start or grow their own businesses.

2.   Criteria for Submitting a Bid

2.1 Applicants must meet the following criteria:

• Be legally registered and have actual operations in Lebanon;
• Be directly responsible for the preparation/ management/implementation of the project, i.e. not act as an intermediary;

• Be experienced in the field of video production, editing, voice over, subtitles and photography
• Be financially sound and financial continuity throughout the project;
• Having Arabic-speaker staff on board is compulsory.
• Experience in communications with international European and Gulf projects is a plus.
• Deliver tangible and efficient results;
• Be able to efficiently budget and contribute to the success of the activities.
• Be in possession of technical equipment (camera, software, etc.) required for the production of deliverables.

2.2 Applicants must submit a bid on their own being the mere implementing body.

3.     Description

SPARK is seeking to hire the services of a professional communications service provider for the delivery of high quality photographs and videos. Visual communications materials will be developed in accordance with SPARK communications guideline and donor branding rules, geared towards increasing the visibility of SPARK’s project and donors’ support, through dignified and positive representation of vulnerable communities SPARK works with.

During the duration of 12 months, the service provider is expected to be the main photography and videography focal point for SPARK’s communication activities, and be available when needed. Service provider will be called on to participate in various communications activities and be compensated after each activity based on the qualification of said activities. Compensation will be based on the essential expenses provided by the service provider in the application.

Service provider should expect inquiries of the following kinds:
1) Delivery of 2 minutes long video, geared for social media circulation (horizontal and/or vertical orientation), featuring interviews with Arabic speakers, with precise editing that includes voiceover & subtitles.

2) Delivery of high quality photographs, portraying vulnerable people, portrait & candid, in a variety of locations, in a photojournalistic style, expressive of individuals’ characters.

3) Delivery of photographs capturing public events organized by SPARK, documenting the presence of participants, speakers and communications materials at the event venue. Deliverables of this kind are formulated as requiring a lower level of effort than the photojournalistic style.

4.     List of Deliverables

• Conduct country-wide field visits to project implementation locations (all over Lebanon) alongside SPARK team or by oneself to film/photograph events and participants of SPARK's programmes;
•  Create video storyboards and scripts (optimised for social media) based on briefings provided by SPARK, in accordance with SPARK's brand guidelines and the visibility requirements of SPARK's donors;
• Collect varied and strong visual photography (portraits and candid) of participants of SPARK's programmes, according to the photography briefing (photos must be edited and a selection of the best made before delivery to SPARK);
• Deliver a list with captions detailing the scene in each photograph. The caption information should include, date, location, name of the individual and scene in action.
• Conduct sensitive, on-camera interviews with vulnerable participants of SPARK's programmes about their experiences, making sure to capture challenges, successes, anecdotes and donor contributions;
• Provide short human interest stories based on the interviews conducted with project participants and couple the stories with photos to develop photo-stories.
• Ensure written consent taken through SPARK approved consent form for each participant captured in, photographed and filmed;
• Film B-roll with participants of SPARK's programmes showcasing their studies, workplace or entrepreneurship environments (SPARK owns the copyright of all footage captured);
• Edit and produce strong, final videos that include SPARK branded elements and donor logos (during the editing phase of the video, SPARK requires several feedback rounds before final delivery depending on donor review processes).

5.   Application Details

We are looking for service providers who:

• Are competitive budget-wise and can contribute to the success of the activities.
• Ensure visibility and branding for the activities, participants, SPARK, and the back donor
• Have reasonable experience in the fields of refugees and development sector in general and entrepreneurship/start-ups and MSMEs in specific.
• Are well-connected with the Lebanese start-up ecosystem;
• Have added-value and advantage over competitors;
• SPARK will be the copyright owner of all videos, including raw footage.

6.  Required documents:

• Narrative description of the offer, written in English.
• Financial Proposal in EURO (The template will be provided by SPARK).
• CVs & portfolios of photographers and videographers who will be responsible for the deliverables.
• Due diligence documents
• Registration information

7.   Selection Criteria:

1. The tender evaluation committee will evaluate and award the contract on the basis of the following selection criteria:
2. Price
3. Quality
4. Selection method (selection criteria evaluation):

       Evaluation method (selection criteria evaluation):

• Price
  • Criteria weight is 50 %
  • Formula: (Best Tenderer Price/Evaluated Tenderer Price) *Criterion Weight.
  • Price shall be quoted in EURO
• Quality
  • Criteria weight is 50%
  • Point evaluation (weighted points):
  • Criterion will obtain between 0 and 5-point, 5 point being the maximum, 0 points the minimum and the points obtained will be multiplied by criterion weight.

PIN expert evaluation committee will assign up to 5 points for the best quality of the sample, based on the following evaluation grid:

Score

Benchmark for Services/Works

5

Excellent response with no weaknesses shown and exceeds the requirement - also provides comprehensive, detailed, and convincing assurances that the services will be delivered to an excellent standard

4

A very response that demonstrates real understanding and fully meets the requirements - offers assurances that the service delivered will be of a high standard

3

A satisfactory response which demonstrates a reasonable understanding of the requirements and gives reasonable assurance of delivery of services to an adequate standard, but does not provide sufficiently convincing assurance to be able to award them a higher mark

2

A response where reservations exist - lacks full credibility/convincing detail, and there is a significant risk that the response will not deliver/be successful

1

A response where serious reservations exist - the may be because, for example, insufficient detail is provided and the response has fundamental flaws, or seriously lacks credibility with a high risk of non-delivery

0

Response completely fails to address the criterion under consideration

Those bidders who get less than 3 for the capacity of the bidder shall not be accepted or considered and their offer will be rejected.

For each bid, points from all evaluation criteria will be added up and the winning bid will be the bid with the highest number of points. In case of equal number of points, the winning bid will be the one with the lowest price.

8.     Remuneration

Payment will be released upon SPARK’s acceptance of the final deliverables following review by SPARK.