About NCSC

NCSC is a leading provider of technical assistance, training, and technology to strengthen legal systems in the U.S. and around the world. Founded 40 years ago by the leadership of the legal community in the U.S., NCSC offers its experience to advance legal systems and equal justice for all in emerging democracies around the world. For more information, visit www.ncsc.org. NCSC has been implementing programs funded by the U.S. government in Bangladesh since 2012. For more information about NCSC in Bangladesh, please see www.justice-bd.org.

Request for Consultant Quotations: Development Case Tracking Application

**This position is for short-term consultancy by individual or firm**

The National Center for State Courts is inviting applications from qualified individuals and firms for a short-term IT consultancy under the “Strengthening Rule of Law” Program in Bangladesh funded by U.S. Department of State and implemented in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka, the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the Judicial Administration Training Institute, and the Bangladeshi judiciary. The “Strengthening Rule of Law” Program will provide training and technical assistance to improve judicial efficiency and uniformity in adjudicating and managing complex criminal cases.

Summary of services to be performed

The consultancy shall assist the Program by developing a custom user-friendly desktop application using open source software or MS Excel/Access. The application shall be used by court staff and/or judges who have basic IT skills. The application shall include, but not be limited to, the following functionalities:

  • Register basic case information (e.g., case number, filing date, identifying information of the parties, etc.)
  • Record actions and dates of actions taken in a case, including actions related to scheduling, file review, motion and other documents receipt, hearings, adjournments, etc.
  • Generate auto-fill forms with basic case information and general identifying information.
  • Track summons status.
  • Track hearing schedule, hearing completion, and adjournments.
  • Track legal deadlines as well as any deadline set by the judge and/or agreement of the parties and allow for notification/alert reminder.
  • Allow for archiving of closed (disposed) cases without deleting or modifying historical information.
  • Auto-generate reports on the number of cases received, disposed, and pending for any given period and case category.
  • Auto-generate reports on the duration of case processing from filing to disposition or between specific case actions, for a single case or multiple cases in a given period or case category.
  • Allow for search by case number; type of offense or its article of Penal Code or other legislation; identifying information of the parties; date; etc.

In addition, the consultancy shall be responsible for initial test of the application in one site and for installation and training in four pilot Districts. The consultancy shall develop a User Manual with screen captures and step-by-step explanations. Four sessions of users training will be organized in the Program’s pilot courts (with all travel and logistics expenses covered directly by the Program). Installation of the application in pilot Districts shall take place at the same time as user training.

Deliverables

  • Application (development, test, installation)
  • User Manual
  • Source Code
  • Training module

Qualifications (Key Developer)

  • A minimum qualification of a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field and minimum 2 years of experience in development of similar application or software. Additional years of relevant experience may be considered in lieu of degree.
  • Expert knowledge of SQL, data base design, and solid knowledge and experience with MySQL, SQLite or JavaDB.
  • Development skills:
    • Solid knowledge and experience in development with JavaScript programming, Node.js, JQuery, CSS, XML, HTML5 and related technologies, as well as good understanding and experience of software development frameworks such as Electron or similar, or
    • Solid knowledge and experience in development with Java programming and strong skills in Java, JDK, JDBC and related technologies for desktop applications development, as well as a good understanding and experience of software development frameworks in Java such as SWT, Swing Application Framework, Spring Framework or similar.
  • Experience working with the legal system, Bangladesh courts, or other government entities, as well as in training delivery preferred.

Question Period

Interested applicants are invited to submit any questions regarding this RFQ by email to jobs@ncsc-bd.org with “IT Consultancy – Questions” in the subject heading. Questions may be submitted in English or Bangla by 15:00 on Sunday, July 7. Answers will be provided in English to all interested applicants who has submitted questions on or around Wednesday, July 10.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted in English by email to jobs@ncsc-bd.org with “IT Consultancy” in the subject heading. Applications must be submitted no later than 15:00 on Thursday, July 18 and include the following documents:

  • Methodology for the development and test of the application, with timeline and benchmarks (Maximum 10 pages)
  • CV of Key Developer(s) (Maximum 2 CVs)
  • Cost Proposal to the full execution of the consultancy (application development, test, and installation; user manual; two training sessions)
  • Three references of application development work, including demonstration frames or other visual presentation of past work

Only candidates or firms selected for interview will be contacted. Attempts to influence the hiring process will result in automatic disqualifications. No phone calls please.

**This position is for short-term consultancy by individual or firm only**