Public Call for Tender nb. 83439061 Development of 3 Virtual Reality Education Modules for Food Inspection- 18.2208.9-001.00 QuaVet

Brief information on the project

The project "Improving the Quality and Attractiveness of Vocational Education and Training in Lebanon" (QuA-VET) aims to increasingly align vocational education (TVET) and training in sectors with sustainable employment potentials with the needs of the Lebanese economy.

Emphasis is placed on improving the partnership between vocational training institutions and the private sector, strengthening human resource capacity in vocational training institutions, and developing practice-oriented training programs. The target groups of the project are young people, unemployed and underemployed adults who want to improve their employment prospects through qualifications relevant to the labour market.

The implementing partner is the Directorate General for Vocational and Technical Education (DGVTE), which lacks capacity at various levels to involve the private sector in vocational education and training. This concerns curriculum development, teacher training and the expansion of practical elements in teaching. The project's advisory approach includes establishing and advising coordination bodies with representatives of the state vocational training sector and company representatives at the macro and steering levels, piloting cooperation models between vocational training institutions and the private sector, systematic human resources development in public vocational training institutions and testing competency-based, modularized training programs.

Lebanon faces numerous political, economic and social challenges. Over the past several years, the nation's economic growth has failed to match the rising labor supply, particularly among younger workers, worsened by the economic and financial crisis, COVID-19 pandemic, and the aftermath of the August 2020 Beirut explosion and more recently cholera outbreak in some parts of the country. Against this background, improving skills that increase the productivity level of workers—and ultimately companies—is an important prerequisite for a stronger absorption of the labour supply, an increase in productivity and ultimately the achievement of stronger, lasting growth and creation of more and better jobs.

QuA-VET supports, among others, the field of Health Inspection and Food Safety (HIFS), at advanced technician's certificate (Technicien Supérieur TS) level. The TS is a specialized technical degree with an international equivalent to the diploma of advanced technician (TS, فني امتياز), the certificate is issued by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, which requires at least two academic years of study in technical institutes after obtaining the high school certificate. The field of HIFS has been identified as a sector with sustainable employment potential, in face of the current economic and sanitary crisis. The occupation of Food Inspector finds its interest in maintaining sanitary standards in the public as well as in the private sector in establishments such as hospitals, restaurants, but also food production factories.

 

Background – the curriculum of a Competency Based Training (CBT) module

Competency Based Training (CBT) courses designed by QuA-VET for the advanced technician's certificate (Technicien Supérieur TS) “Health Inspection & Food Safety (HIFS)” are targeting specific and narrow occupations defined in the occupation standards related to the sector. The CBTs as short-term courses are organized on the base of 40 hours of workshop trainings in the TVET schools, where the trainees practice the use of tools and materials typical to the occupation, in a way that the curriculum adopted is the same of the corresponding Travaux Pratique (TP) in a school and 80 hours of on-the-job training in companies. Courses are clustered according to different trades in a way that a trainee can acquire a set of competences related to different occupations of the trade attending different CBTs modules.

Background – The curriculum of a CBT module

A CBT module is a short-term course with 40 hours in the workshop in a school where the trainees practice the use of tools and materials typical of the occupation, the curriculum adopted is the same of the corresponding Travaux Pratiques (TP). At the end of this first in-school training a written assessment is carried out to issue a DGVTE certificate. Passing trainees will attend 80 hours of on-the-job training in a working site where they can practice in a working environment the skills acquired in the previous part of the course. At the completion of the experience in the workplace trainees’ skills are assessed by and a professional certificate is issued.

The curriculum of a CBT module is composed of the following documents:

Occupational standard:    A4 page describing synthetically the processes to be carried out by the job holder.

Competence standard:     A4 page defining learning outcomes grouped in competence unit (indicatively 4 Competence Units (CUs) per CBT module).

Assessment standard:      A definition of the conditions and the criteria for the assessment of the learning outcomes of each Competence Unit included in the qualification standard. The certification of competences is provided on the base of the verification of the criteria stated in the standard by an external professional assessor.

Education standard:          The document describing synthetically the topics covered in each classroom lesson (if any) and the practical activities in the workshop and in the workplace (internship) carried out by the trainee with the timing planned for each of them.

Training standard:             The training standard is a guidance for the teacher and the trainer to deliver the lessons. The training standard includes, the guideline, the list of tools and materials, the formative assessment and the summative assessment related to each competence unit.

Training guideline:            The training guideline is defining the topics covered in the lessons with some description for each topic and at the same time set the working procedure that are in line with best practice that should be implemented during the training program. The training guideline includes the links to tutorial videos (at least two) that were used for the development of the guideline.

Tools and materials:         An indicative list of tools and materials to be purchased for each Competence Unit to conduct the CBT training with a brief description and picture of the items, the quantities required per trainee, workshop, or CBT module edition, along with any further comments.

Formative assessment:     A definition of the conditions and the criteria for the assessment of each learning outcome of each Competence Unit included in the competence standard for improving the performances of the trainees.

 

Summative assessment:  A definition of the conditions and the criteria for the assessment of each learning outcome of each Competence Unit included in the competence standard to provide the trainees with the certification of competences on the base of the verification of the criteria by an external professional assessor.

 

Outline of the mission within the context of the project

In the frame of a more practice oriented training in the schools (and through cooperation with the private sector for work based learning) the QuA-VET project equips minimally the project’s partner schools (5 in the field of “Health Inspection & Food Safety”) with equipment, consumables and teaching solutions, aiming to address the entire range of necessary competences to enable the teachers and students not only to gain skills in dealing with new technologies prevailing on the labour market, but also to develop practical experience in making teaching and training more responsive to the needs of the trainees and the labour market.

The current situation in the schools doesn’t allow enough or efficient practical trainings for several reasons: on one hand, the schools do not have sufficient equipment, or the available equipment are outdated or in poor state. On the other hand, on-the-job training is foreseen in the curricula but is currently limited to observation visits to companies that allow teachers to bring students to observe company premises for a few hours, without hands-on work. Finding companies ready to tutor students for Work Based Learning, internships or other kind of on-the-job training has revealed very complicated as a lot of enterprises are scared that their reputation might be damaged if their standards don’t fall under the hygiene regulations or cannot offer a proper tutoring and the trainees cannot achieve tasks related to their major.

The need for qualified food inspectors is however given against the Lebanese context: the current economic crisis has induced frequent power cuts, resulting in interruptions of cooling chains for example, the supply of water is also becoming difficult. Many companies need to increase or keep their quality level despite sanitary issues. Some alternative solutions must be implemented to achieve proper practical training for students of the TVET system.

Immersive technologies to improve training and education

A wide range of companies from supermarkets to hospitality to engineering firms have developed VR training programs. VR allows every participant worldwide to experience the same level and quality of training in a cost efficient and interactive manner whilst also achieving enhanced effectiveness.

Several studies have shown the contributions of virtual reality, and among others showed that training through VR was up to 40% more effective for learner confidence and up to 50% cheaper than classroom training (for large audiences).

Virtual reality can be used to enhance and complement educational activities and is based on active learning where the student “does” rather than just “read” or “listens”. But, virtual reality, besides being more mature in terms of technology and less expensive, has the advantage of bringing another dimension, the cognitive dimension, which allows the student not only to “do” but also to “feel”.

 

Virtual reality is a real added-value in trainings, not only for trainees to experiement and practice, but also for trainers and schools to practice abstract training and review activities and to simulate areas that are difficult to access.

Several types of relationships between the trainer and the learner can be envisaged with VR:

  • The "tutoring" which allows to put in relation a learner and a trainer in VR. In this first type, the trainer takes charge of the assistance of the learner.
  • “Supervised group activity" situations involving a learner interacting with a group of learners
  • The "course materials" represent a resource used by the trainer in front of a group of learners. In this case, VR supports the training, allowing the trainer to perform demonstrations and explanations.
  • The "situation where the learner interacts alone" in VR that allows the learner to self-train via VR.

For use at TVET schools, the most appropriate immersive technology is virtual reality. With VR, students and learners can learn processes, experience situations, do and react, as if they were on the job, allowing for a wide range of variations and situations (e.g., health and safety awareness, observations, taking samples, etc.).

Against this background Virtual Reality optimal use will be within the framework of active training, to acquire a know-how which will allow a better employability. Immersive virtual reality can also be used to measure and test various skills and competencies: With VR, students and learners are able to learn processes, experience situations, do and react, as if they were on the job, allowing for a wide range of variations and situations.

Implementation at Lebanese TVET schools

5 public VTE schools in different regions of Lebanon are considering offering practice-oriented competency based modular trainings (CBT) in several occupations related to HIFS. The occupations and modules concerned by this tender are:

  • Sanitation and food safety inspector:
    • Inspecting food storage
    • Identifying unsafe practices
    • Inspecting labels on materials and consumables
    • Monitoring pest control system
    • Inspecting facilities to identify potential hazards
  • Food laboratory technician:
    • Registering and storing samples
    • Performing chemical and microbiological lab tests on samples
    • Performing physical lab tests on samples

To train the related skills to the students, equipment for the school workshops and work-based learning experiences in companies is needed.

The teachers at the schools will be trained for each module by QuA-VET, and some material and equipment will be provided to each school for practical exercises. However, given the difficulty to find work base learning facilities, QuA-VET also wants to give students the opportunity to exercise the occupation through VR activities to simulate the food inspection activities in food production facilities.

The tender is related to the creation of VR solutions for 3 of the above-mentioned modules, including the development of training exercises, as well as assessment solutions to achieve the formative assessment, the selection and delivery of hardware, in commissioning at the schools as well as training of the staffs at the following school premises:

  • Nabatiyeh Technical Institute
  • Rene Mouawad Technical Institute
  • Bednayel Technical Institute
  • The Orthodox Vocational Institute Akkar
  • National Institute of Nursing Care Bir Hassan

The description of the course and the curricula (occupational, qualification, assessment and training standards, training documentation - in English, and Arabic) building the base for the development of the VR modules, will be provided by the QuA-VET team.

Please refer to the attached Terms of Reference for a detailed explanation of the work requested.

How to apply

The Tender Documents consist of:

Annex 1- Terms of Reference

Annex 2- Financial Offer Template

Annex 3- Company Elegibility Assessment Grid 

Annex 4- Technical Assessment Grid 

Annex 5- General Terms and Conditions

Annex 6- Self-declaration on EU Russia sanctions 

 

 

Tender documents may be obtained in writing by email only, latest till Friday 9th of June 2023 13:00. Please refer to the email address: [email protected] , noting that in your e-mail the subject should be: Tender 83439061- Virtual Reality - 18.2208.9-001.00 QuaVet 

 

Submission of bids:

If you are willing to provide the service, you are kindly requested to abide by the following instructions:

 

The offers/Proposals shall be sent in TWO separate emails to the following email:

 

[email protected]

 

Latest by Sunday June 25th, 2023, 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:

    1. Company Name/Technical offer/ Tender no. 83439061
    2. Company Name/ Financial offer/ Tender no. 83439061
  • 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:

  • Concept Note
  • Personnel Concept
  • Detailed description of the products to be offered (Name, Brand, Pictures, Specification and Certification of the products incl. atleast 1 year warranty)
  • Company’s profile including number of employees and turnover from the past 3 years in USD
  • Company’s Legal documents: Official registration, MoF registration, attestation of board members/shareholders 
  • Annex 5 “General Terms and Conditions” signed and stamped
  • Annex 6 “Self-declaration on EU Russia sanctions” signed and stamped

 

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 2 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 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 company’s local bank account “fresh money”.
  • Non -compliance may result in your bid not to be considered.
  • Please note that in case you did not receive any notification in writing within 4 weeks after the deadline for submitting the offers/quotations, it shall indicate that your offer has not been accepted. You shall not receive a separate notice to this effect.

Note: Only applications containing the mentioned documents will be taken into consideration.

 

 

Further information/inquiries , regarding the intended project, may be obtained in writing by sending an email to [email protected] during normal office hours before June 9th 2023.

Expired
Deadline
Sunday, 25. Jun 2023
Type of Call
Call for Consultancies
Intervention Sector(s):
Education
Remuneration range:
> 6000 (USD)
Duration of Contract:
01-07.2023-31.07.2024