Public Call for Tender nb. 83469180 Framework agreement with up to 3 experts for Psychological Counselling - GIZ Office Beirut 18.9207.4-001.00
1. Context
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH provides services in the fields of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education, working around the world to shape a future worth living. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is GIZ’s main commissioning party. As a federal enterprise, GIZ supports the German Government in achieving its objectives in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development. In Lebanon, GIZ is currently working in the Economic development and employment, Security, reconstruction and peace and Education sectors with 38 international and 119 national employees.
The health and safety of its employees is at the core of GIZ’s work worldwide. GIZ supports its workforce to stay healthy and to maintain their performance capacity. Health management is part of GIZ’s HR policy and reflects GIZ’s sense of social responsibility towards its entire workforce. The issue of health management covers both physical and mental health. GIZ provides services to its employees ranging from medical support over security management to psychosocial support. COPE is GIZ’s internal unit for psychological support in stress, crisis and work-related conflict situations. Based in the headquarters in Eschborn, Germany, COPE provides counselling services for all GIZ employees (national and international) and their families, including CIM-experts and development workers. If needed, COPE also provides information about or referral to further external psychosocial services such as coaches, counselling centres, therapists and clinics.
In addition to the direct counselling services, COPE also supports the elaboration and implementation of staff-care and self-care within GIZ. In general, staff-care relates to the organizational duty of care, whereas measures that focus on the individual are part of self-care. GIZ follows a concept of shared responsibility, which means that the responsibility for well-being is shared between the company, the leadership and the employee, interlinking staff-care and self-care. Staff-care covers a variety of dimensions, addressing economic (e.g. insurance & CTO regulations), physical, psychological and social well-being as well as safety and security. It is intended to both prevent and mitigate distress as well as enhance resilience in response to stressors, in order to maintain the long-term working capacity of the employees and to protect the staff from risks to physical and psychological well-being.
Objective of this Framework Contract
Following this understanding of staff-care, GIZ in Lebanon is committed to recognize stressors and to ensure a safe, secure work environment, where employees feel valued and motivated. By providing psychosocial support to individuals and teams, GIZ Lebanon aims at recognizing, preventing, mitigating, and managing stress that may impact staff performance and/or well-being, by that strengthening the resilience of staff.
The general objective of the framework contract aims at contracting local (or regional) psychosocial specialists to provide counselling services for GIZ staff in Lebanon. The required services will be commissioned in lots. GIZ is seeking the services of up to 3 psychologists based in Lebanon, who shall provide in person:
- Psychological first aid and crisis intervention in crisis situations (acute cases), for GIZ employees and their family members, if needed
- Work-related individual psychosocial support, psychological counselling or coaching
- Group psychosocial support, counselling sessions, trainings and workshops on mental health related topics
Bids should be submitted for all of the above-mentioned lots. Bid evaluations and contract awards will be made on combination of lots basis.
Please note that all services are on demand. This framework contract does not guarantee that these services are made use of by GIZ employees and teams.
2. Tasks to be performed by the contractor
Upon demand, the consultant/s shall fulfil the following tasks (lots):
Lot 1. Provision of psychological first aid and crisis intervention:
- Provision of psychological first aid and psychological crisis intervention to GIZ employees with acute psychological support needs, e.g. after highly stressful events, security incidences and other crises. The psychological crisis support may also include family members of affected GIZ employees if needed.
- The provision of psychological crisis support services is coordinated with and provided in accordance with the GIZ crisis management system.
- If indicated, the consultant will coordinate with COPE/Health Services of GIZ in Eschborn and provide referral to specialized services for medical and psychological treatment in crisis situations in Lebanon. The consultant is responsible for disposing of up-to-date information on available crisis support services at all times and is required to update his/her contacts continuously.
Lot 2. Provision of individual psychosocial support, psychological counselling on work related topics:
- Provision of a maximum of up to 10[1] continuous psychological counselling or coaching sessions for staff members on work-related topics such as: stress, excessive demands, conflicts with colleagues and executives, burn-out / bore-out, secondary traumatization through contact with affected target groups, continuous stress due to the economic crisis and volatile security situation etc.
- If necessary, referral to longer-term counselling and/or other support offers, if indicated in cooperation with COPE. The consultant is responsible for disposing of up-to-date information on available services at all times and is required to update his/her contacts continuously.
Lot 3. Provision of group psychosocial support, counselling sessions, trainings and workshops on mental health related topics:
- Provision of a maximum of 12 group counselling sessions on relevant mental health topics such as: coping with stress and anxiety, burn-out, resolving conflicts, psychological first aid etc.
- The specific topics, set up, composition of the groups and timing of the sessions are being mutually agreed at the beginning of the assignment between the consultant and GIZ.
- Provision of mental health, self and staff care, peer support related training, psychoeducational sessions, workshops to GIZ Lebanon staff upon request.
Period of assignment: from 01.10.2024 until 31.10.2026.
Counselling sessions may be in Arabic and English. All documents shall be drawn up in English. Communication with the responsible GIZ technical officer will be in English.
Reporting and Confidentiality
Regarding individual psychological crisis support and counselling, the consultant/s will send a report on the services provided addressed to COPE, GIZ’s internal unit for psychological support in stress, crisis and work-related conflict situations in GIZ headquarters. A template for reporting is provided. COPE is subject to the professional secrecy and duty of confidentiality and does not report individual cases back to GIZ Lebanon.
In the report concerning provision of individual counselling, the consultant/s are expected to give basic information about the person seeking help, the number of consultation hours provided and inform if further measures, e.g. referral to outpatient or inpatient treatment etc. are needed.
COPE can request further information about specific needs and challenges from the consultant/s in order to develop general recommendations or feedback to the GIZ Lebanon management for actions to be taken to improve the well-being of staff.
The consultant has got the opportunity to contact COPE at any time to have collegial case supervision talks by telephone or MS Teams. These contacts underly the professional secrecy. The consultant should contact COPE in critical cases were further support is needed and not available in the country.
The consultant may not use, reproduce or otherwise disseminate or authorize others to use, reproduce or disseminate reports or works elaborated in the scope of this consultancy (for instance, didactical materials for group sessions). All materials, reports, plans and other works provided to or developed by the consultant on behalf of GIZ remain the property of GIZ.
Upon the start of this consultancy, the consultant shall have a MS Teams/telephone exchange with COPE in order to receive current information on psychological counselling in the GIZ, existing contingency plans and referral options.
3. Concept
In the tender, the tenderer is not required to submit a concept note.
Further requirements (1.7)
The best 10 experts will be selected to proceed with assessing their technical offers. Technically eligible candidates will be invited for an interview. (60 %)
4. Personnel concept
Key expert 1
Qualifications of key expert 1
- Education/training (2.2.1): University degree in Clinical Psychology (M.A. or equivalent), (5 %)
- Language (2.2.2):
- C2 -level language proficiency in Arabic (2,5 %)
- C1 -level language proficiency in English (2,5 %)
- C1 -level language proficiency in French is an Asset
- General professional experience (2.2.3): At least 5 years of proven work experience as a clinical psychologist providing psychosocial support in Lebanon. (10 %)
- Specific professional experience (2.2.4):
- Up-to-date knowledge on available psychological interventions and psychosocial services in Lebanon and their quality. Good professional networks with other psychosocial practitioners. (5 %)
- Good knowledge and experience using short-term approaches, as well as the ability to differentiate between topics suitable for short-term intervention and those requiring long-term mental health support. (5 %)
- Development Cooperation (DC) experience (2.2.7): Professional experience with staff welfare and stress management in humanitarian or development contexts, in particular with international NGOs, donor agencies etc. (10 %)
5. Minimum requirement
In order to proceed for the technical assessment, the bidder should comply with the below minimum requirements and failure to submit them will result in disqualification of the bidder:
- License to practice by the Ministry of Public health and valid Lebanese order of Psychologists Number
- For the duration of the contract the bidder should be based in Lebanon and is able to provide in person sessions (provide a signed letter).
6. Costing requirements
Please submit with your price offer your hourly rates for the following tasks:
- Psychological first aid and crisis intervention
- One-to-one psychosocial support, counselling or coaching on work-related topics
- Group sessions, trainings and workshops on mental health topics
In the case of one-to-one counselling/ coaching, GIZ will renumerate the consultant up to 10 sessions per client. If the need for longer-term support such as outpatient or inpatient psychotherapeutic treatment is identified, referral and follow-up measures need to be agreed upon with COPE.
All invoices shall be presented in USD to the GIZ country offices without divulging the identity of the persons seeking the consultant/s’ services.
Specification of inputs (as mentioned in the Terms of Refrence)
7. Inputs of GIZ or other actors
GIZ and/or other actors are expected to make the following available:
- Logistics for group session, trainings and workshops.
- If a trip outside Lebanon is necessary, travel costs and expenses will be paid in accordance with the GIZ Travel Expense Regulations.
- Upon request, GIZ might assist the consultant in the performance of advisory and treatment duties, e.g. by providing transportation upon need.
8. Requirements on the format of the tender
The structure of the tender must correspond to the structure of the ToRs. In particular, the detailed structure of the concept (Chapter 3) should be organised in accordance with the positively weighted criteria in the assessment grid (not with zero). The tender must be legible (font size 11 or larger) and clearly formulated. It must be drawn up in English.
The complete tender must not exceed 10 pages (excluding CVs). If one of the maximum page lengths is exceeded, the content appearing after the cut-off point will not be included in the assessment. External content (e.g. links to websites) will also not be considered.
The CVs of the personnel proposed in accordance with Chapter 4 of the ToRs must be submitted using the format specified in the terms and conditions for application. The CVs shall not exceed 4 pages each. They must clearly show the position and job the proposed person held in the reference project and for how long. The CVs can also be submitted in English.
Please calculate your financial tender based exactly on the parameters specified in Chapter 5 Quantitative requirements. The contractor is not contractually entitled to use up the days, trips, workshops or budgets in full. The number of days, trips and workshops and the budgets will be contractually agreed as maximum limits. The specifications for pricing are defined in the price schedule.
9. Option
After the services put out to tender have been completed, important elements of these tasks can be continued or extended. Specifically:
Type and scope
The contractor is responsible for providing the following optional services:
- Promotion of psychological first aid and crisis intervention
- Provision of individual psychosocial support, psychological counselling on work related topics
- Provision of group psychosocial support, counselling sessions, trainings and workshops on mental health related topics
- Requirements
Exercising the option will depend on the condition that the services are made use of and GIZ is satisfied with the services and disposes of the necessary funds. The decision on continuation is expected to be made in the period 01.06.2026 until 30.09.2026. If the option is exercised, it is anticipated that the contract term will be extended to additional 2 years until 30.10.2028.
The option will be exercised by means of a contract extension on the basis of the individual approaches already offered.
How to apply
If you are willing to provide the service, you are kindly requested to abide by the following instructions:
The Tender Documents consist of:
- Terms of Reference (ToR)
- Annex 1: Financial offer template
- Annex 2: Technical assessment grid (only for your information)
- Annex 3: Eligibility check grid (only for your information)
- Annex 4: General Terms and Conditions
- Annex 5: Self-declaration on EU Russia sanctions
Further information, regarding the intended project, may be obtained in writing by sending an email to [email protected] during normal office hours by 29.08.2024.
Noting that in your e-mail the subject should be:
"Clarification - Tender number 83469180 Psychological Counselling - GIZ Office Beirut"
The offers/Proposals shall be sent in TWO separate emails to the following email:
Latest by Thursday September 5th, 2024, till 23:59 o’clock (Beirut Local Time).
Note: Sending your offers to any other email address or non-compliance with any of the mentioned conditions will result in rejecting your participation in this tender.
Two Emails shall be sent, one for the Technical Offer and another email for the Financial Offer.
Your email subject lines shall be named as follows:
- Consultant Name/Technical offer/ Tender no. 83469180
- Consultant Name/ Financial offer/ Tender no. 83469180
- The offers shall be submitted in English language only.
- The offers shall be signed & stamped.
- The financial offer must be in USD only including VAT, should be valid at least for Four Months after the submission date (Please mention it in your offer).
- You shall not be reimbursed for your submitted offers.
Technical and Financial offers/Proposals (in two Separate Emails),
i-Technical Offer/Proposal which consists of:
- Resume highlighting all the requirements as per section 4 in the Terms of Reference
- Minimum Requirements as per section 5 in the Terms of Reference
-
Copy of Ministry of Finance (MoF) registration - If Available. Please note that experts not registered with the MoF are eligible but will be taxed at a higher rate in accordance with applicable tax laws and regulations.
- General Terms and Conditions (signed and stamped)
- Self-declaration on EU-Russia Sanctions (signed and stamped)
- Kindly note that any price indication of any item in the technical offer may lead to disqualification.
ii- Financial Offer/Proposal, which should consist of:
- Bank account details of the consulting firm inside Lebanon (fresh account if any)
- Financial Offer (please use Annex 1 and quote your fee in USD incl. VAT)
Detailed instructions of the contents of your offer/proposal and the mode of presentation/submission are attached both in the ToR, assessment grid for eligibility check and Technical Assessment Grid.
The technical offer has a weighting of T:70% and the price offer F:30%
Additional Conditions:
- The currency of the contract is USD. The employer shall not be responsible for any currency fluctuation.
- The payment will be made via bank transfer to the consultant’s local bank account “fresh money”.
- Non -compliance may result in your bid not to be considered.
- The first 10 experts who scored the highest in the technical assessment for Section 4, "Personnel Concept," will be selected to proceed to the interview process. The interview process constitutes 60% of the overall technical assessment score.
- In the event the consultant was not registered in the ministry of finance and does not hold an income tax number, GIZ has the right to deduct 8.5 % of the amount presented in the invoices by the contractor.
- The type of procedure for this tender is Negotiated procedure as per the below instructions:
Only for Negotiated Procedure
1. Option to award without negotiations:
We reserve the right to award the contract on the basis of initial tenders without entering into negotiations.
2. Option to reduce bidders during negotiations:
We also reserve the right, once the initial tenders have been submitted, to make a selection on the basis of the criteria listed in the tender documents (price or technical) and only to enter into negotiations with the first three tenderers that received the best scores.
In addition, we reserve the right to conduct the negotiations in consecutive phases with a view to reducing the number of tenders under negotiation.
N.B. The maximum mailbox receive size is capped at 25 MB. Documents exceeding the mentioned MB should be transferred via : Start (giz.de) (Provide the password)