Request for Proposal for communication agency

1. Background

1.1 Introduction

The ongoing inception phase of the SDC funded PRABRIDDHI project in Bangladesh aims to promote a favorable local level business enabling environment through which enhancement of the Local Economic Development can be achieved. Multiple ongoing and past government and NGO supported programs implemented successful value chain programming and market
development initiatives. These initiatives have been well supported by the government counterparts both at local level as well as in the central government units. However, there is limited to negligible evidence to establish the fact that there is a relevant framework and processes at district level, helping the local public and private sector to drive their local economic development agenda (if any) in a consolidated manner. This limitation may delay the process of localization of SDG implementation as well as the efforts of decentralization. With the aim of improving this challenge, the proposed programme aims to cover gaps in the Local Economic Development (LED) process by adopting and implementing multiple
interventions.

PRABRIDDHI is funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by Swisscontact.

During the pilot phase the project is working with two municipalities: Jashore and Shibganj

1.2 Approach

The LED programme’s aim is to create a positive impact by creating an environment and adaptive management practice by the Municipalities by understanding and addressing the gap in its function, in generating an energetic and inclusive local economic stimulation by initiating a “territorial change management initiative”. By firming up the capacity of the municipalities, local private sector (associations such as the Chamber of Commerce), civil society and by creating an environment of collaboration, they can jointly agree on a local economic development agenda. The programme will support the municipalities and local businesses to create a common platform and processes for identifying the key blockages for business growth which impacts wealth generation and employment creation. At this moment, multiple projects and investments (financed by GOB as well as Development partners) are focusing on the development of the municipalities and to improve the infrastructure atmunicipal level. The proposed LED programme will complement these investments by utilizing resources, both physical and administrative, to the planned activities for business growth. LED programme can support municipalities and local business association to identify key activities for business growth, design sub projects, while synergies can be made with other programs of the government or development partners.

2. Objective of the Assignment

The main objective of the assignment is to develop promotional materials to support PRABRIDDHI’s communication activities.

3. Broad activities

Activities Tentative timeline
1. 1 video (duration 5-7 minutes) on the summary of project activities going on in Shibganj and Jashore. April-July 2020
2. 1 video (duration 3-5 minutes) on the women amta
producers of Shibganj
May-June 2020
3. Redesign the logo of PRABRIDDHI April 2020
4. Design the layout of promotional materials (e.g.
leaflets, brochures, posters, booklets etc.)
April-July 2020
5. Good quality photographs of project activities (can be
taken while shooting the videos)
April-July 2020


4. Duration of the assignment

Tentative timeline of the assignment is April-July 2020.

5. Deliverable

  • Work plan
  • 2 short videos (as mentioned in section 3) in CD/DVD and pen drive
  • Updated logo of PRABRIDDHI
  • Layout of promotional materials (e.g. leaflets, brochures, posters, booklets etc.)
  • Good quality photographs of project activities

6. Required documents for evaluating the applications/EoI

The selection criteria are divided into two parts:

  • Technical Proposal (70% of the total possible score);
  • Financial Proposal (30% of the total possible score). Consultancy contracts are subject to VAT and AIT deduction as per government regulations

Financial proposal should be sent in a separate envelope. The name of the assignment should be mentioned on the top of the envelope.Soft copies of the technical proposal should be submitted via e-mail. Financial proposal should be sent in a separate e-mails. The name of the assignment should be mentioned in the subject line.

The technical proposal should include the following elements:

  • Understanding of the assignment and an initial plan as per the RfP
  • Description of organizational capabilities and related experiences;
  • Weblinks or soft copies of previous similar work (short videos, photographs, etc.)
  • Proposed staff members who will be assigned to this assignment, including the percentage of time to be devoted by them for this assignment and the description of their experience. The CVs of the proposed personnel should include signed confirmation of their availability for the assignment. The CVs should be submitted as Annex and maximum three pages should be allocated for each CV;
  • References: please include names, contact numbers and the main types of services that your organization provides/provided for the current and former clients. Along with the technical proposal, the bidder is required to submit a financial proposal, in separate e-mails.

The financial proposal will be opened only for the agencies scoring 50% and above in the technical proposal. The financial proposal would be evaluated based on:

  • Competitiveness of the financial offer;
  • Relevance and consistency with the technical proposal.

In addition to the technical and financial proposals, it is mandatory for bidders to submit necessary documents demonstrating their legal, taxation and financial statuses. The documents should be part of the technical proposal and include the following:

  • A certificate of incorporation (for individual companies- a trade license);
  • Joint stock registration certificate (if applicable);
  • An organizational organogram of key personnel, inclusive of the names of such personnel;
  • Tax Identification Number (TIN);
  • VAT registration number;
  • Proof of a segregated account (providing the name and address of such an account);
  • Other valid papers (Provided by Government institutions);
  • The vendor has to bear all Annual Income Tax (AIT) and VAT. The total amount of VAT should be mentioned in the financial proposal.

7. Scoring criteria

The scoring criteria will be as follows:

Criteria Weight
Background and experience of the bidder 15
Personnel involved in the assignment 15
Strategic thinking and technical knowledge 20
Efficiency of the proposed initial work plan 20
Financial proposal 30
Total 100

The selection of the potential agency will be based on:

  • Quality and cost-based evaluation by an evaluation team of Swisscontact;
  • The bidder achieving the highest score in the proposal will be awarded the contract, provided both parties reach an agreement on the final budget. If there is no agreement on the final budget, then the bidder with the second highest score will be considered.

8. Role of PRABRIDDHI

PRABRIDDHI will do the overall supervision for the assignment and support the selected agency by providing project related information and content.

9. Submission details

Considering the holidays declared by the Government of Bangladesh to limit the outbreak of Covid 19, PRABRIDDHI has decided to extend the timeline and change the procedure of submission.

Interested bidders should submit the technical and financial proposals and other necessary documents by 10th April 2020 to the following e-mail address:
bd.prabriddhi@swisscontact.org


The Technical and Financial proposal should be sent in a separate e-mails. Failure to do so will disqualify the tendering organization from tendering process. ‘Application for RfP for communication agency for PRABRIDDHI’ should be mentioned in the subject line.

If a proposal is not received in the manner specified in the request, specially if it is not received by the due time, it is deemed as non-qualifying proposal, and will not be considered.

For more information please e‐mail to bd.prabriddhi@swisscontact.org

Swisscontact is an equal opportunity employer. We strongly encourage female professionals to apply.