ARK Group- Request for Proposals (RFP) -RFP-22-ARKLB0134-S2- Media Production Services

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL 

MEDIA PRODUCTION SERVICES  

 

To: Bidder 

From: ARK Group DMCC (ARK) 

Subject: Request for Proposal (RFP) No. RFP-22-ARKLB0134-S2 

Performance Period: February 2023 to August 2023 

RFP Issue Date: Tuesday 21 February 2023 

RFP Closing Date: Sunday 26 February 2023  

RFP Closing Time: 12:00, Beirut-Lebanon time 

Deadline for Questions Friday 24 February 2023  

 

This is an emergency requirement following an unsuccessful attempt to select a service provider under a previous RFP and potential service providers must be prepared to start delivery from Monday 27 February 2023. Proposals must be received by [email protected] before the stated deadline, Late or incomplete proposals may not be considered for award of contract.  Instructions for the content, preparation, and submission of proposals are provided herein. A statement of work (SoW) is provided in annex 1.  

Suppliers are requested to notify ARK of their intention to bid as soon as possible, so that we can inform you of any updates or changes that may take place. 

1. Purpose 

 

The purpose of this RFP is to request proposals from individuals, groups, or established firms based in Lebanon to create visual productions, record live events, and provide photographic services in various locations throughout Lebanon between February and August 2023. ARK has an urgent need to begin delivery as soon as possible and service providers must be able to start immediately. Further details of the work involved is provided in the SoW in Annex 1. 

 

2. Description of Entity 

 

ARK is a stabilisation and development company committed to empowering local communities and beneficiaries in conflict, post-conflict, and fragile areas through evidence-based programmatic interventions, policy recommendations, research and capacity-building. Working with local communities, ARK seeks to understand and then mitigate the negative effects of conflict and instability, enhancing social cohesion and resilience whist promoting human security, development and economic opportunity. ARK is registered in the United Arab Emirates with branch offices in the Middle East and Europe. 

 

3. Procedure for Submitting Proposals and Award of Contract. 

 

Interested parties should provide an expression of interest (EOI) of their intent to submit a proposal to ARK as this enables us to inform potential service providers of any changes or updates that may occur.  

 

Potential service providers who are interested and qualified to providing media recording and production services are invited to submit their proposals by email to: [email protected].  

 

The submission must be sent in two separate emails. The first email should contain a technical proposal, and the second a price proposal. The subject headings must clearly state the RFP number, the proposal type (technical or price) and the Supplier name.     

Example: RFP-22-ARKLB013-S2 – Media Production Services – Company Name: Technical  

Do not make any reference to cost or pricing in the technical proposal as the technical offer is evaluated on merit.  

Failure to follow these procedures may result in proposals being excluded from the evaluation process.  

Ensure you send your proposal before the RFP submission deadline stated on page 1. Proposals will not be accepted after the deadline.  

 

Discussions may be held to clarify proposals. If any such discussions are held, bidders will be notified that a best and final offer may be submitted by a revised deadline. The best and final offer provides the opportunity for bidders to revise their proposals based on additional information gathered during discussions. If a best and final offer is not submitted, the previous offer will be considered as final. 

 

Any questions regarding this RFP must be sent by email to: [email protected] on or before the date stated on page 1. Questions sent after this date may not be answered. 

 

Ensure the RFP number is quoted in all correspondence.  

 

ARK reserves the right to reject any or all proposals submitted and to request additional information if required. 

 

4. Technical Proposal Format 

All proposals must be provided in the following format: 

a. An Introduction with a table of contents, and company information per the template below. Registered companies must provide their company registration documents, non-registered entities such as freelancers or sole traders will be required to provide identification documents before forming an agreement.  

 

Full Company Name * 

Trading name (if different from registered company name) 

Registered company address  

Website address 

* As per company registration document. 

RFP CONTACT DETAILS 

Contact name and title 

Email 

Phone  

COMPANY REGISTRATION DETAILS 

Trading status  

(Public Limited Company, Limited Company, Limited Liability Partnership, Sole Trader, Third Sector, Other. Please specify )

Registration date 

Registration number 

Trade license number 

VAT number 

Are you a Small, Medium or Micro Enterprise ** 

YES                    NO        

Do you have the legal right to work in Lebanon? 

YES                    NO        

** See EU definition of SME https://ec.europa.eu/growth/smes/business-friendly-environment/sme-defin...

Section 1. A single page of A4 paper describing your company and your field experience. 

Section 2. A single page of A4 paper describing your work experience. 

Section 3. A single page of A4 describing who will work on this project and how they will cope with the scale of work and travel. 

Section 4. The equipment that will be used to deliver each type of activity. See SoW in annex 1 for details of each activity. 

Please note any proposals that are sent in any other format will not be evaluated and no gain is achieved by sending a glossy company brochure or more documents than asked for in this RFP. 

 

5. Price Proposal: 

(a) The bidder should submit a price for each individual activity described in annex 1: SOW,  

 

Activity 

Estimated quantity 

Break down of costs 

Price per activity (USD) 

Total 

Price (USD) 

 

1  - Filming and live broadcast of townhall meetings to online platform (maximum of 6 hours each) 

(4 meetings)

 

2  - Writing, filming, and editing of 108 short two-minute videos (108 videos)

 

3 - Production of two-minute long vox pop videos with footage of community members (36 vox pops)

 

4 - Still photography of project activities and events  (12 full days)

 

GRAND TOTAL (If all activities take place) 

 

(b) In order to determine the reasonableness of the prices quoted, the bidder should break down their price proposal to cost components that make up the final price, such as labour costs, equipment hire, transportation, subsistence etc. For example, if serial 1 were to cost $XX, column d will list labour, equipment hire, and the combined cost place in column e.  

 

(c) The price proposal should be submitted in USD. 

 

6. Evaluation Criteria  

 

Proposals will be evaluated over three rounds. In the first-round potential suppliers must meet the specified mandatory criteria. The second round evaluates and scores technical capability, and price offers are scored in the final round. The highest possible score for the technical and price proposal is 100. If several proposals are closely ranked, ARK may hold discussions with one or more of the proposers to assist with selection. The most advantageous offer will be determined by combining the technical and financial score and the highest scoring proposal will be selected for award of contract. 

 

The evaluation criteria are as follows: 

 

a. Mandatory Criteria. Proposals failing to meet the mandatory requirements will be eliminated:  

 

i. It is required that you hold a work permit or have the legal right to work in Lebanon as a person or entity. 

ii. Have a high level of experience of field work rather than studio production as our assignment requires the service provider to capture the moment rather than develop it in a studio. 

 

b. Technical Criteria (maximum 80 points).  

Provide a written response for each of the following criteria as outlined in section 4 of this RFP. Ensure each response is not more than one page of A4 paper. Tables, diagrams and images can be used and the guidance in the scoring table should be followed.  

i. Company description and field experience. (20 points). Provide a brief description of you as a service provider and your journey to where you are now. You must be able to demonstrate solid experience of field work. 

 

ii.Experience in providing media production services (20 points). Please provide details that illustrate experience in providing media production services, a list of prior clients and a description of services provided. Links to examples of productions and previous assignments to support your response is encouraged. Higher points will be awarded to proposals that match the services sought by ARK or describe and demonstrate how you intend to provide such services.  

 

iii. Qualifications and skills (20 points). Provide details of the employees who will carry out the tasks described in the SoW, their qualifications and experience, and why you believe they are the most suitable people to carry out these tasks. Responses which demonstrate innovation and achievement will be scored higher.  

 

iv. Quality and suitability of proposed equipment (20 points). Describe the type of equipment you will use to deliver each type of service to ARK and why this type of equipment is the most suitable for each service. Examples of how and why the equipment has been used effectively on previous assignments will score higher than just providing a standard list of equipment. 

The scoring methodology in the table below will be used to score each technical response.  

 

Scoring Table (check attachement)

 

Service providers must score at least 60% in each technical category and 40 points overall to proceed to the price evaluation.  

c. Price Criteria (maximum 20 points) 

The maximum number of points for the Price Proposal is 20 and this will be awarded to the lowest price offer for each type of service. Points will be awarded proportionally for all other offers. For example, if supplier A offers the lowest price for service X, they will score 20 points. If supplier B offers service X at twice the price as supplier A, they will receive half the points i.e., 10-points. An average score will be calculated from the combined total of each service price. 

Any proposals that exceed the allocated funds to this project will not be assessed.  

 

Annex 1: Statement of Work 

 

Media Production Services 

 

1. Background  

 

The Enhancing Public Accountability and Trust in Lebanon (EPATL) is a program delivered by ARK and supported by the United States Embassy in Lebanon through the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) that promotes social accountability. Implemented by ARK, The EPATL project aims to promote social accountability through engaging citizens and civil society in providing transparent information about and building the capacity for citizen oversight through communication campaigns and other activities which are implemented and led by local Civil society organizations.  

2. Purpose 

 

The project’s key media driver will continue to aggregate content from civil society actors working on transparency and good governance across Lebanon, as well as generate original content.  

 

The Platform will run polls, amplify content from various civil society actors, raise awareness of advocacy campaigns being delivered by grantees, highlight key issues affecting communities relating to security and governance, and engage communities nationwide with targeted advocacy related content.  

 

To achieve the above-mentioned media activities/campaigns, ARK requires media production and content creation support services to create visual products of project partners, activities (sub-grantees) and events and to publish high-quality content on the project platform. If required, the media partner should accept that media outputs will be branded as required by the project. 

 

3. Description of Services Required 

 

 Services are required for the provision of media outputs between December 2022 and August 2023. The required media services include: 

 

Live coverage of events conducted by project sub-grantees (including photography and videography). Events include townhall meetings, advocacy campaigns, and workshops that will be implemented by project sub-grantees across different areas in Lebanon. The media team is required to attend ALL events and along with providing live coverage, they are expected to produce a short, edited video summarizing major highlights of the event (four townhall meetings in total).  

 

Production of weekly video content as requested by ARK relevant to project objectives which tackle the following specific campaign themes:  

Accountability 

Transparency 

Civic Engagement 

Political participation 

Videos duration will be dependent on topic and written script.  

 

c. Provision of vox pop videos with the public upon discussions and planning meetings with ARK. These videos will cover hot topics trending across the country. The media team is expected to engage with the civil society and gather views/thoughts on specific topics (36 vox pops in total – 1/week).  

 

d. The provision of photography services during events, campaigns, and project activities. In addition to, journalistic photography services which will be utilised to create engaging polls on the project media platform (12 events in total).  

 

4. Deliverables   

 

Throughout the term of contract, the media service provider is required to deliver the following services to ARK:  

 

a. Attend, film, and live broadcast to the online platform, four townhall meetings (3 to 6 hours each) which will be led and facilitated by project sub-grantees. The service provider is required to provide high-quality live broadcast of meetings and is to ensure that both the panel and the audience receive coverage and all sides of any discussion taking place are clearly heard. The exact date and location for each meeting will be provided to the service provider with as much notice as possible and meetings will take place between January and August 2023. 

 

b. Write, film, and edit content for 108 short 2-minute full HD (1080p) videos which will then be published to the online platform. This equates to approximately 3-videos per week.  

 

c. Produce 36, 2-minute long, full HD (1080p) vox pop videos, with footage of local community members. This equates to approximately 1 video per week. 

 

d. Still high-quality photography of project activities and events over 12-full days (96-hours). 

 

5. Milestones and Payment Schedule  

 

Payments will be made each month to the service provider for services successfully provided to ARK. Payments will be made by bank transfer upon receipt of a properly executed invoice including breakdown of monthly deliverables.  

 

6. Requirements and Qualifications 

 

The service provider should have a team of 4 individuals with the following skills and equipment:  

A content creator who is responsible for the delivery of ideas and written scripts.  

A videographer who has the skills to film a professional video using a DSLR camera. In addition to setting up the lighting if needed. 

A photographer who has prior experience journalistic photography and in covering events such as townhalls. 

An editor who is able to create the final video/promo using the content provided by the team during the production phase by using a professional editing software such as Avid/Adobe Premiere. 

The media team should have previous experience in relevant areas of intervention specifically targeting projects with NGOs, civil society, and advocacy campaigns.  

The service provider must have the flexibility to cover project activities across the various governorates of Lebanon. 

The service provider should have prior experience implementing engaging advocacy media content working with CSOs and grassroots organizations.