Request For Proposal - Digitization and Mobile Platform For Course Curriculum

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL - FY21-LBN-RFP#1-WGDP:EWLFL

 

OVERVIEW OF CORUS INTERNATIONAL

 

WHO WERE ARE

 

Founded in 1945, Lutheran World Relief (LWR) is a U.S.-based 501(c)3 organization with a mission to end poverty, injustice, and human suffering. LWR focuses its work on humanitarian assistance and long-term development, laying a foundation for resilience, sustainable adaptation to climate change, and the strengthening of value chains.

 

Headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, LWR has an annual operating budget of $50 million, with funding from Lutheran individual and congregational donors, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies, and others. LWR’s programmatic approaches promote collaboration between public and private institutions to achieve shared impact. In the past 10 years, LWR has successfully executed more than $60 million in restricted funding from the U.S. government, foundations, and the private sector.

 

 

IMA World Health and Lutheran World Relief combined in 2020 to create Corus International. Corus International is the parent organization of Lutheran World Relief and IMA World Health, two brands that operate as a single organization.

 

SCOPE OF WORK

 

Corus International seeks a qualified firm or consultant to

 

BACKGROUND

 

Project: Women’s Global Development Prosperity: Expanding Women’s Labor Force in Lebanon

 

1. Introduction

 

USAID’s $1.5 million Women’s Global Development Prosperity: Expanding Women’s Labor Force in Lebanon (W-GDP:EWLFL) Project (2020 – 2023) identifies women business owners or entrepreneurs and enables them to enhance their skills and affords opportunities to benefit from mentoring relationships and support networks. It helps ensure that Lebanese women become effective catalysts of entrepreneurial development for their businesses and families in a time of economic crisis through:

1.           Strengthening business development services for Lebanese women entrepreneurs;

2.           Improving the enabling environment for women’s entrepreneurship; and

3.           Strengthening the capabilities and resiliency of Lebanese women-led enterprises

 

Aligned with USAID’s strategies for development in Lebanon, the project utilizes opportunities that have materialized as a result of the current crisis, such as expanding home-based businesses and connecting quick-impact enterprises that inject stability rapidly, through support that would boost sales and hence improve income. The project targets women from all regions of Lebanon who have been involved in other USAID-funded entrepreneurial programs, known as Lebanon Investment in Quality (LINQ), Livelihoods and Inclusive Finance Expansion (LIFE), Lebanon Enterprise Development (LED), and Agriculture and Rural Empowerment (ARE), to build off those efforts

 

1. Geographic Location:

 

All over Lebanon.

 

1. Description of Service

The W-GDP:EWLFL project is collaborating with academic institutions to utilize existing and develop new coursework tailored to meet the needs of Lebanese women entrepreneurs. In order to make this content accessible to program participants, W-GDP:EWLFL seeks a Service Provider who can digitize the course contents and create a cross-platform mobile application to deliver the courses to program participants using their own devices.

 

1. Digitization of course contents

 

• Setup of mobile authoring tool. The mobile authoring tool can be a custom solution or a customized off-the-shelf mobile authoring product
• Digitization and optimization of course contents (curriculum is under development but thinking through how to best present it on a mobile platform will be essential support)

 

1. Mobile application

 

The application is envisioned as a platform to which program participants would log on and select the relevant course module to be completed on their own time (asynchronous learning). The application should provide the following basic features:

 

Front-end

• Student registration and profile customization
• Log-in and password recovery features including options to add two-factor authentication
• Push notifications
• Ability to display mobile contents (images/video/audio/texts) to a wide variety of devices with different capabilities and resolutions.

 

Back-end

• Cross platform management console/admin panel which can be opened using mobile devices, laptops, or PCs.
  • Log-in and password recovery features. Two-factor authentication is a security requirement for users of the management console
  • Manage users
  • Multilevel access systems
  • Performance Tracking System compliant with SCORM or Experience API standards
  • Messaging system which includes setup and delivery of automated or ad-hoc notifications to participants
  • Remote user support and maintenance
  • Dashboards and access to a variety of data analytics tool

   

 

 

As part of the support to the project, the Service Provider will be expected to review course content and participate in discussions about how to best revise or formulate the material for ease of use on a mobile device. The Service Provider is not required to be knowledgeable about the content itself, however past capabilities or experience with curriculum development, app tutorial generation, or support to micro and small businesses is an advantage.

 

Since the project is designed to benefit Lebanese entrepreneurs, all content and the mobile platform must be in Arabic.  The Service Provider must provide staff with language fluency in both English and Arabic.

 

INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS

 

RFP: This RFP constitutes an invitation to prospective Bidder(s) (“Bidder”) to submit proposals (“Proposal”) for the services described herein. It consists of (1) Cover Page, (2) Overview, (3) Scope of Work (4) Instructions for Bidder(s).

 

NOTIFICATION OF INTENT:  Each prospective Bidder(s) receiving a copy of this RFP shall, within 1 day, email an intention to submit or not to submit a proposal addressed to: [email protected]

 

 

All Proposals must be in the English language, signed and dated by an authorized employee of the Bidder. In additional to require documents requested, proposals can include additional items such, i.e., templates, brochures, media, etc.

 

In order to be considered, the proposals must be received by email to the RFP contact email no later than 5pm (EST) May 7, 2021 at: [email protected].

 

Bidders are solely responsible to ensure the timely receipt of their proposals.  Proposals received after the date and time required will, generally, not be considered unless no other proposals are received.

 

Prospective Bidders are under no obligation to prepare or submit proposals in response to this RFP and do so solely at their own risk and expense. Corus will not reimburse any costs incurred related to this RFP.

 

Proposals may not be altered or corrected after the Date of Receipt, except when Corus at its sole discretion, may permit correction of arithmetic errors, transposition errors, or other clerical or minor mistakes, in cases in which Corus deems that both the mistake and the intended proposal can be established conclusively on the face of the proposal. 

 

Proposals must be valid for at least sixty (90) days from the Date of Receipt.

 

In evaluating the proposals, Corus will seek the best value for money. Specifically, proposals will be evaluated on the basis of the following:

 

TECHNICAL PROPOSAL EVALUATION:

 

Timeframe:

The W-GDP:EWLFL project envisions having content prepared and ready for digitization by July 2021. The engagement would therefore begin by June 2021 and end no later than September 2021.

 

Evaluation Criteria

Technical proposals will be evaluated using the criteria specified below:

 

Technical Qualifications

• Service Provider Capabilities and Past Performance
• Key Personnel Qualifications
• Proposed Solutions’ Alignment with Scope

80pts

Cost Proposal Competitiveness

20pts

Total

100pts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL EVALUATION:

 

Deliverables and Payment Criteria

The Service Provider shall complete all activities within the time frame specified by the Deliverable and Payment Schedule table below. The list of deliverables that would require review before acceptance is also given in the table below. Dates provided are estimates and service providers can propose alternatives based on their experience as to the stages of development, which can be discussed in the selection round for finalists.

 

The Deliverable and Payment Schedule also presents the corresponding payment terms as they relate to the deliverables of this assignment. Processing of payments will only commence upon acceptance of deliverables. Payments will be made within 30 days after receipt of invoice.

 

Deliverable

Estimated Date of Completion

% of contract total

Signed contract

June 1, 2021

10%

Workplan and Process Overview

June 20, 2021

15%

Prototype/App Demo

July 30, 2021

25%

Final Design and Launch

August 20, 2021

35%

Close out Report

August 30, 2021

15%

 

Rates for proposed approach to tasks in scope of work at Monthly flat rate for services rendered.

 

If at any time prior to award Corus deems there to be a need for a significant modification to the terms and conditions of this RFP, Corus will issue such a modification as a written RFP amendment to all competing Bidders. No oral statement of any person shall in any manner be deemed to modify or otherwise affect any RFP term or condition, and no Bidder shall rely on any such statement.

 

Corus may request additional information to clarify or substantiate information provided in the proposal or may request revisions to the proposed approach or personnel. After selection, Corus will negotiate the award cost with the selected bidder. A contract will be awarded after the selected Bidder undergoes a pre-award survey to assess the selected Bidder’s management capacity and financial capability and after references have been checked.

 

Corus is not bound to accept the lowest bid or any proposal and reserves the right to accept any proposal in whole or in part and to reject any or all proposals.

 

Corus shall not be legally bound by any award notice issued for this RFP until a contract is duly signed and executed with the winning Bidder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bidders should provide the following:

 

Evidence of Bidder’s legal company registration, incorporation or license to do business issued by a competent authority in the country of registration.

Audited financial statements for the previous fiscal year.

Wire Transfer Instructions, (IBAN, SWIFT, Account No.) or additional applicable banking Information:

Past Performance references from three previous customers for supply of similar goods/services as included in this RFP. Contact details should be included.

 

 

Financial Proposal shall be stated in US Dollars.

 

All bidders should be registered in SAM and have a DUNS number. This information should be submitted to Corus as part of the proposal.

For those vendors who do not have a current DUNS number, please apply (issued within 2 business days)  

 

https://www.grants.gov/applicants/organization-registration/step-1-obtai...[CG1] 

 

Technical Proposal Outline

 

The Technical Proposal format is recommended to include the checklist, the following sections, and attachments.

 

TECHNICAL PROPOSAL:

 

Section 1:  Cover Page

Section 2:  Experience

Section 3:  Proposed Approach

Section 4:  Management-Implementation

 

 

REQUIRED ATTACHMENTS TO THE TECHNICAL PROPOSAL: (no page limit):

 

A. One page CVs for Key Personnel

B. Organizational Chart

 

Service Providers are requested to submit a narrative and cost proposal by May 7, 2021 to [email protected] with subject line “ToR Response.” Narrative proposals must answer the following questions:

1. Please describe your past performance and staff qualifications to complete the scope of work as outlined in the Terms of Reference.
2. Please describe your ideal timeline and envisioned workflow, based on your understanding of the assignment.
3. Please provide a brief narrative of your cost proposal to help us understand any broad categories or unfamiliar terms. In addition, if there are any continuing operating costs necessary for the continued operation of the platform you would propose, please explain what those are and estimates of those costs.

 

Cost Proposal Outline

 

 

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