National Consultant

Women’s Leadership: Empowerment of Women in the Period of International Integration
PROJECT NUMBER: 74548
NATIONAL DESIGNATED INSTITUTION (DI): MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (MOFA) IMPLEMENTING AGENCY: Department of Multilateral Economic Cooperation, MOFA

REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Steps to increase women’s empowerment in Viet Nam’s new phase of international integration
1. Request for proposal from a national consultant
2. You are requested to submit in English a proposal for services in respect of the project identified above. The attached TORs and your proposal will form the basis for a contract between you and the National Designated Institution.
3. Your proposal should address the Terms of Reference (TOR), attached to this letter, which describe requirements of the assignment. These TOR will be used in the preparation of any contract arising out of this request. This letter is not to be construed in any way as an offer to contract with your company/organization.
4. A two-stage procedure will be utilized in evaluating the proposals: 1) evaluation of technical proposals, and 2) evaluation of financial proposals.

Technical Proposal
5. Your technical proposal should include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following information.
a) A brief description of you and an outline of recent experience on projects of a similar nature in Viet Nam. You should also provide any other information that will facilitate our evaluation of your
reliability and capacity to meet our requirements. Maximum 500 words.
b) Any comments or suggestions on the TOR or on the data, support services and facilities to be provided by the DI. Maximum 1,000 words.
c) A detailed description of the manner in which you would respond to the TOR. Submit a detailed workplan and include the number of person-days in each specialization/ role that you consider necessary to carry out the work required in the TOR. Maximum 1,000 words.
d) Curriculum vitae.
6. Technical proposals will be evaluated using the following criteria:
a) the consultant’s general expertise and reliability, evaluated on the basis of experience and capacity in the specific field of the assignment (200 out of 1000points);
b) the approach in responding to the TOR and the detailed workplan (350 out of 1000 points);
c) the qualifications and competence of the personnel proposed for the assignment for a total of (450 out of 1000 points). The personnel will be rated in accordance with:

• their general qualifications;
• suitability for the assignment;
• their language qualifications.

Only proposals, which obtain more than 75% of technical points will be considered technically qualified for financial assessment.

Financial offer: maximum 300 points will be given to the lowest offer and the other bidders will receive the points inversely proportional to their financial offers. Proposal obtaining the highest points (technical points + financial points) will be selected.

Financial Proposal
7. Your financial proposal must contain an overall quotation in USD for all services to be provided and must itemize the following:
a) An all-inclusive day rate for the national consultant;
b) Other costs, if any (indicating nature and breakdown);
d) Summary of total cost for the services proposed.
8. Note that the cost of preparing a proposal and of negotiating a contract, including any related travel, is not reimbursable as a direct cost of the assignment.

Submission of Technical and Financial Proposals
9. Your proposal is to be divided into a technical and a financial proposal, and submitted electronically in PDF format in separate emails with clear subject headings. It should be delivered to the Women’s Leadership Project Office at [email protected] or [email protected] on or before  December 13, 2013. All proposals submitted after that date or proposals not in conformity with the requirements specified above will not be considered.
10. Your are requested to hold your proposal valid for 120 days from the deadline for submission. The DI will make its best effort to select a company/organization within this period.
11. Please note that the DI is not bound to select any of the consultants, companies/organizations submitting proposals. A contract will be awarded in respect of the proposal which is considered most responsive to the needs of the project concerned with due consideration being given to economy and efficiency. DI does not bind itself in any way to select the company/organization offering the lowest price.
12. Assuming that a contract can be satisfactorily concluded, the assignment is expected to commence end of October.
13. Requests to submit proposals have also been sent to other individuals, companies/organizations.
14. Any questions should be referred to Women’s Leadership Project Office by telephone: +844 39448526/27 or email – [email protected] or [email protected] . Any written reply to a particular question may be copied to all other invited companies/organizations, at the discretion of DI.