Request for Proposal Title: Website Development and Maintenance for the Caribbean Leadership Project Country: International

Transcription

1 Request for Proposal Title: Website Development and Maintenance for the Caribbean Leadership Project Country: International

2 Information to Consultants 1. Introduction 1.1 Consultants are invited to submit a Technical and Financial Proposal, for consulting services required for the development and maintenance of a website for the Caribbean Leadership Project (CLP). The proposal will be the basis for contract negotiations and ultimately for a signed special services agreement with CARICAD. 1.2 The assignment shall be implemented in accordance with the scope outlined in the Terms of Reference. Please note that: (i) the costs of preparing the proposal and of negotiating the contract are not reimbursable as a direct cost of the assignment; and (ii) CARICAD is not bound to accept any of the proposals submitted. 1.3 CARICAD s policy requires that consultants provide professional, objective, impartial advice and at all times hold CARICAD s interests paramount, without any consideration for future work, and strictly avoid conflicts with other assignments or their own corporate interests. Consultants shall not be hired for any assignment that would be in conflict with their prior or current obligations to other clients, or that may place them in a position of not being able to carry out the assignment in the best interest of CARICAD. 2. Preparation of Technical and Financial Proposal 2.1 Consultants are requested to submit two separate proposals using Standard English a Technical Proposal and a Financial Proposal. 2.2 In preparing the Proposal, consultants are expected to examine the documents constituting this RFP in detail. Material deficiencies in providing the information requested may result in rejection of a proposal. 2.3 While preparing the Technical and Financial Proposals, consultants must give particular attention to the following: (i) If a consultant/firm considers that it does not have all the expertise for the assignment, it may obtain a full range of expertise by associating with individual consultant(s) and/or other firms or entities in a joint venture or sub-consultancy, as appropriate. 2.4 The Technical Proposal shall provide the following information: (i) A brief description of the consultant s recent experience on assignments. (ii) Any comments or suggestions on the Terms of Reference (iii) A detailed description of services and work plan for performing the assignment (iv) Recent CVs of consultant(s) (v) A detailed description of the proposed methodology

3 2.5 The Financial Proposal should list all costs associated with the assignment. If appropriate, these costs should be broken down by activity. 3. Submission, Receipt, and Opening of Proposals 3.1 The completed Technical and Financial Proposals must be delivered at CARICAD s office situated at 1 st Floor, Weymouth Corporate Centre, Roebuck Street, Bridgetown, St. Michael BB11080 Barbados, by the close of business on Friday, 4 th May, Any proposal received after the time for submission of proposals shall not be evaluated. 4. Proposal Evaluation 4.1 An evaluation committee, appointed by CARICAD will evaluate the proposals on the basis of their responsiveness to the Terms of Reference. 4.2 After the evaluation of quality is completed, CARICAD shall notify those consultants whose proposals did not meet the minimum qualifying mark or were considered non-responsive to the RFP and Terms of Reference. 5. Negotiations 5.1 Negotiations will include a discussion of the Technical and Financial Proposals, the proposed methodology (work plan), and any suggestions made by the consultant/firm to improve the Terms of Reference. The agreed work plan and final Terms of Reference will then be incorporated in the special services agreement with CARICAD. 6. Award of Contract 6.1 The contract will be awarded following negotiations. 6.2 The consultant/firm is expected to commence the assignment on the date specified in the schedule. 7. Confidentiality 7.1 Information relating to evaluation of proposals and recommendations concerning awards shall not be disclosed to the consultants who submitted the proposals or to other persons not officially concerned with the process, until the successful consultant/firm has been notified that it has been awarded the contract.

4 TERMS OF REFERENCE Title: Website Development and Maintenance for the Caribbean Leadership Project Objective: To develop and maintain an attractive, high-quality, interactive, user-friendly website for the Caribbean Leadership Project Background: Project Overview The Caribbean Leadership Project (CLP) is a seven-year project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to support the leadership and economic development training needs of regional and national public sectors in twelve (12) CARICOM countries. The countries participating in the project are Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago. The CLP s executing agency is the Canada School of Public Service (CSPS) while the Regional Project Office (RPO) is hosted by the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD) in Barbados. The purpose of CLP is to strengthen the capacity of future leaders in the Caribbean to contribute more effectively to regional integration and economic growth and support gendersensitive public sector reform. In this context, CLP is composed of the following five components: 1. Leadership Development Program (LDP) 2. Enabling Environment 3. Research 4. Continuous Learning and Development Network 5. Communities of Practice Scope: The CLP is desirous of having a website that will serve as an effective organisational management tool as well as an efficient communication tool to disseminate information, extend knowledge and facilitate the exchange of ideas among its varied stakeholders. It is critical that the website have: a well-structured and robust Content Management System to support the large volume of documents and functionalities; an interface that is modern and sophisticated; and a navigation that is interactive and consistent. The website should also support the CLP s objective of maintaining a low carbon footprint by minimizing the need for users to print hard copies of documents and meet in person. In this regard, the consultant should explore ways in which the website may be capable of hosting video-meetings.

5 Target Audience: In developing the website, bear in the mind the CLP s varied audience: The Project Management Team (PMT) This includes the Project Director (based in Ottawa, Canada), Regional Project Manager (based in Barbados) and other technical and administrative staff who will need to share and work on confidential documents, communicate directly with each other on a frequent basis and monitor activities on the website The Donor - Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) - CIDA personnel will need to share and work on confidential documents with the Project Management Team and possibly other selected stakeholders National and regional public sector leaders, participating in its leadership development programmes -The first phase of the CLP will start with the comprehensive leadership development programme for senior public service executives who report directly to a Minister of Government. The second phase will target the learning needs and priorities for public officers (in the technical or administrative stream) who report to the senior public service executives. This target audience will need to access online learning modules, presentations and research material on the website. The Project Steering Committee (PSC) - This includes representatives across the Caribbean Region and Canada, which will oversee the broad governance environment and provide strategic direction and policy guidance to the Project Director. The website must be able to foster communication, interaction and collaboration among PSC The Technical Working Group (TWG) - This includes representatives across the Caribbean Region who will provide expert advice and feedback to the PSC. The website must be able to foster communication, interaction and collaboration among the TWG in an effort to enrich the development and implementation of the CLP through their collective knowledge-base and experience. The Alumni This includes national and regional public sector leaders who would have participated in the leadership programmes. The website must foster networking and communities of practice within this group. Private sector experts, regional and international universities and the general public - The website must serve as an effective marketing tool for the CLP by engaging these stakeholders and facilitating interaction and feedback. This is the only target group that would not require user profiles and passwords, therefore, mechanisms should be put in place for the Project Management Team to monitor their access to the website. Duration It is expected that an ongoing relationship will exist between the consultant and the CLP in designing, building, testing, launching and maintaining the website.

6 Tasks/Technical Specifications The consultant/firm must discuss and agree with the CLP team on the most appropriate sitemap and configuration (logical menu structure) for the website. Technical Specifications The website shall: (i) Be easy to find via all major search engines. It should also be compatible with all major web browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari etc. for the PC and MAC. It should be noted that the senior public service executives may be working with older versions of hardware and software. This should be taken in consideration in ensuring that users have full access to the website regardless of such limitations; (ii) Allow images and documents to open in a new window when clicked; (iii) Provide an -based interface for subscribing and posting to blogs and blog comments; (iv) Provide an -based interface for subscribing and posting to discussions; (v) Provide the capability to retain basic Microsoft Word formatting when copy/pasting content from a Microsoft Word document and html (links)- WYSISYG; (vi) Be presented in both English and French for all pages that do not require user login. All pages that require user login should only be in English; (vii) Provide the capability to spell-check content in English and French; (viii) Provide the capability to recommend content (including rating system: useful, extremely useful etc.); (ix) Provide calendar components used across the system for tracking date-based events. The calendars should be specific to the target group to highlight important dates/deadlines etc.; (x) Include an e-newsletter to be disseminated on a monthly basis to stakeholders; (xi) Include an up-to-date electronic database of CLP s stakeholders which will serve as a directory for project personnel as well as participants in the leadership development programmes. This will facilitate communication and networking; (xii) Provide the capability to full text search all system content and to search all system content by attribute (e.g. Last name, country, telephone number, learning cohort, title, etc); and (xiii) Display summary information for each search result but limit search results to content for which a user is authorize Types of Activities The website shall: (i) Facilitate communication and networking via , instant messaging and virtual meetings. The various target audiences will need user profiles, addresses, login names and passwords; (ii) Facilitate information exchange by providing and controlling access to research material and other documents; (iii) Facilitate e-learning via online modules, presentations and webinars

7 Other Considerations (i) The website shall be visually stimulating through the use of relevant and attractive photographs, videos, graphics, colours and fonts. The overall design of the website must complement the CLP s corporate identity. (ii) The website shall be able to load all content (including audiovisual material) at a quick pace. (iii) The website shall be developed in phases and it is critical for there to be an ongoing relationship between the CLP and the consultant to provide technical support and expertise to maintain and update the website and solve problems etc. (iv) The consultant shall be responsible for securing hosting and domain registration for the website. This must be reliable and secure. Client Support The client will work with consultant/firm to develop content for the website. The client will translate all text that has to be in both English and French on the CLP s website. Meetings The consultant/firm must meet with the CLP team to discuss concepts, the CLP s requirements, schedule and budget issues. This meeting will take place at CARICAD s office at a date and time to be agreed by the relevant parties. Deliverables Final technical proposal indicating deliverables against timelines Final financial proposal Presentation of first draft design of website E-newsletter to be mailed out on a monthly basis Electronic database of CLP s Contacts User profiles, addresses, login names and passwords for target audiences Secure hosting and domain registration for the website Final presentation of website Develop other features as required Manage and coordinate the website s content by uploading CLP s new content(documents and audiovisual material) on a fortnightly basis Maintain website

8 CONTACT INFORMATION Any questions regarding the Terms of Reference or contractual terms and conditions or proposal format must be directed to: Name Address Joan Underwood Project Manager CARRIBBEAN LEADERSHIP PROJECT CARIBBEAN CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION 1 St FLOOR, WEYMOUTH CORPORATE CENTRE ROEBUCK STREET BRIDGETOWN BARBADOS Telephone /36 Fax junderwood@caricad.net