Request for Proposal (RFP) to Conduct SMC End-of-Round Programmatic Assessment at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an international non-governmental organization supporting relief and development work in over 99 countries around the world. CRS programs assist persons based on need, regardless of creed, ethnicity, or nationality. CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs, therefore, strengthening and building the capacity of partner organizations is fundamental to the work of CRS. CRS re-established its presence in Nigeria in 2000 and currently focuses on health, vulnerable children, agriculture, extractives and governance, and peace-building programming.

We invite applications for:

Title: Request for Proposal (RFP) from Consultancy Firm to Conduct SMC End-of-Round Programmatic Assessment in 8 States

Ref: RFQNG16043
Locations: Adamawa, Jagawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Niger, Taraba and Yobe

Scope

• We are looking for a consulting firm(s) or a research institution with experience in public health research to carry out SMC end-of-round programmatic assessment in 8 states (Adamawa, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Niger, Taraba, and Yobe).
• The evaluation will assess the 2024 coverage of SMC in these states listed above, as well as the quality of implementation.
• The scope of work is to carry out data collection, analysis, and interpretation for the End of Round (EoR) programmatic assessment.
• The firm(s) will train data collectors, oversee data collection process and carry out the actual data collection using an electronic platform.
• The EoR evaluation will be conducted in eight (8) states as listed above where SMC is being implemented in 4 cycles. The process will involve identification, selection and training of supervisors at a Training of Trainers and subsequently, data collectors in the states. The aim of the EoR evaluation is to assess SMC coverage and adherence of CDDs to treatment protocol immediately at end of the fourth cycle of treatment. Findings will be analysed and any LGA scoring less than 80% will be targeted for corrective measures in their area of poor performance for improvement in subsequent rounds.
• The firm(s) is also expected to have excellent skills in the design of mobile data collection tools, data visualization, analysis and report writing. Therefore, experience with use of Kobo collect/Survey CTO, Tableau/Power BI, SPSS/STATA and programmable software like MySQL is desirable.
• The firm will work with CRS, SRs, State and LGA M&E team as SMC field officers in ensuring SMC data is harnessed in databases, meet quality standard, analyzed, reported, and used for programme improvement.

More specifically the firm(s) will make it possible to:

• Assess self-reported SMC coverage among the targeted population
• Identify the main factors associated with community drug distributors’ visits and treatment administration during the round of SMC.
• Measure adherence to the SMC protocol by the caregivers and distributors (CDDs).
• Highlight the most effective information channel on SMC.
• Measure the degree of information given to mothers/caregivers on what to do in case of adverse reaction to SMC.

Methodology:

• The survey will be based on the Lot quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS)methodology.
• The epidemiological unit of analysis, sample size, and sampling techniques for selecting sites and individual households within the selected sites are based on the LQAS methodology as detailed in the SMC end-of-round programmatic assessment National protocol. Bidders will train data collectors based on the protocol and use electronic data collection devices for the data collection process.
• Bidders must demonstrate understanding and ability to operationalize the protocol in technical and financial bids.
• survey will be conducted within 10 days. Activities will include an entry meeting with the state, 1 to 2 days of training of the data collectors, 5 days of data collection in the field, 2 days for data analysis, and a debrief meeting on the preliminary findings.

Deliverables:

• Develop an activity Gantt chat for the survey.
• Conduct an entry meeting and a debriefing of the preliminary report with the state and NMEP, CRS, and SR.
• Train data collectors on the methodology to be used based on the National protocol.
• Manage the entire data collection process including deploy and monitor data collectors during data collection, ensure that the right methodology is used and the use of mobile devices for data collection.
• Ensure quality of the data collected prior analysis
• Analyse data and provide an analytical and narrative report within a maximum of three (3) weeks after the end of the survey, covering the following key indicators:
  • Coverage among eligible children (3-59 months), by cycle, as defined above.
  • Proportions of eligible children according to the number of SMC cycles received.
  • Proportion of children receiving at least one (1), two (2) three (3), and all four SMC (4) cycles.
  • Reported treatment adherence by caregivers.
  • Other secondary indicators as contained in the protocol.
• Submit a comprehensive report of the entire process
• The language of all reports will be English.

Timing:
The period for conducting the survey is contingent upon the completion of the 4th cycle in the States:

• The survey will start 1 week after the completion of the SMC cycle 4 in each state.
• Training of data collectors, data collection process, entry and debrief meetings will all be conducted within a 10 day period.

Eligibility Document:

• Company Profile (Include address, phone number, email address etc
• Valid business license to operate in the country where the vendor is established (CAC Certificate)
• Tax identification number (TIN)
• Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) for 2 years (2022 & 2023).
• Bank Account Details
• Certificate that the company has been inspected and complies with labor laws and social security requirements (except for individual companies).

Requirements
CRS is looking for a consulting firm or a research institution with:

• Enough experienced survey consultants/specialists to survey 4 or more states at the same time.
• At least 3 years’ experience in conducting public health research/surveys.
• Previous experience conducting similar community field research/surveys.
• Knowledge of SMC implementation and processes.

Technical Evaluation Criteria:

Award criteria:

• Award criteria shall be based on the proposal’s overall “value for money” (quality, cost, delivery time, etc.) while taking into consideration donor and internal requirements and regulations.
• Each individual criteria have been assigned a weighting prior to the release of this tender based on its importance to CRS in this process.
• Offeror(s) with the best score will be accepted as the winning offeror(s), assuming the price is deemed fair and reasonable and subject to the additional due diligence.

Financial Proposal:
Financial proposal should be completed using the template below:

Application Closing Date
11th September, 2024 (5:00pm Nigeria local time).

How to Apply
Interested and qualified bidders should send their proposal addressing technical criteria together with the budget / financial bid and a sample of previous surveys conducted to: [email protected] using "RFQNG16043 Request for proposal CRS SMC Survey" as the subject of the mail.

Note

• Individual consultants will not be considered for the award.
• The proposal should be signed and stamped in all relevant pages.
• The submission documents should be addressed as follows:
  • Attn: CRS procurement unit Nigeria
  • Subject: RFQNG16043 Request for proposal CRS SMC Survey
  • Your e-mail must not exceed 3MB. Please specify in the message subject line, the above RFQ reference number.

Additional notes:

• Miscellaneous cost such as travel, accommodation, communication etc should be factored when submitting price quotation and not quoted as a separate line item.
• If price per state varies, kindly include separately.
• Kindly note that CRS is VAT exempt, so VAT should not be included under price quotation.
• Please note the Withholding tax (WHT) will be deducted in line with Federal Government of Nigeria Regulations.

Equal Employer Opportunity:

• “CRS is an equal–opportunity employer, does not discriminate based on race, color, religion and we are committed to gender-sensitive programming and management’. etc.
• Qualified women owned firms are strongly encouraged to apply.”

Safeguarding:

• CRS is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all people who interact with our work. We uphold the highest standards of safeguarding and expect all staff and partners to respect and protect the dignity and rights of everyone from any form of harm, abuse, harassment, or exploitation.
• All staff are required to follow CRS’s safeguarding policies and procedures and to complete mandatory safeguarding e-learning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.
• Statement of Commitment to Protection: ‘’CRS’ selection procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation’’.