b) Annex II: Proposal Submission Form, to be completed and returned with your proposal; and

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1 Dear Sir/Madam, Subject: Request for Proposals for Translation Services: Project no. Multiple Proposal Ref: RE-RFP/12/ The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is seeking qualified offers for the above-mentioned Translation services. Your company is kindly invited to submit your best technical and financial offer for the requested services. Your proposal could form the basis for a contract between your firm/institution and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). 2. To enable you to submit a proposal, please find enclosed: a) Annex I: Terms of Reference (TOR), containing a description of UNOPS requirements for which these services are being sought; b) Annex II: Proposal Submission Form, to be completed and returned with your proposal; and c) Annex III: A draft of the form of contract under which the services would be performed, including a link to the "General Conditions for UNOPS Contracts for Professional Services". This letter is not to be construed in any way as an offer to contract with your firm/institution. Manner of Submission 3. Your proposal shall be prepared in the English language. 4. Your proposal shall comprise the following documents: a) Proposal Submission Form; b) Technical Component; and c) Price Component. 5. Your proposal shall be prepared in duplicate with one marked "Original" and the other marked "Copy". In the event of any discrepancy between them, the original shall govern. The proposal shall be sealed in one outer and two inner envelopes, as detailed below. The outer envelope shall be addressed as follows: ATTN: PROPOSAL FOR TRANSLATION SERVICES RE-RFP/12/002 PROJECT # Multiple United Nations Office for Project Services Deir Ghbar, Al-Shakereen St. Building No.2 Tel: P.O.Box Amman, Fax: Fax: Jordan [email protected] IQOC/RFP/12/002 Page 1

2 Both inside envelopes shall indicate your firm's name and address. The first inner envelope shall be marked "Technical Proposal" and contain the Proposal Submission Form and Technical Component of your proposal. The second inner envelope shall be marked "Price Proposal" and include your financial cover letter (paragraph 15, below) and Price Component. 6. Proposals must be received by UNOPS at the above address on or before 17 Jun Any proposal received after this date may be rejected. UNOPS may, at its discretion, extend the deadline for the submission of proposals, by notifying all prospective proposers in writing. The extension of the deadline may accompany a modification of the solicitation documents prepared by UNOPS at its own initiative or in response to a clarification requested by a prospective proposer. 7. You are requested to hold your proposal valid for 90 days from the deadline for submission. UNOPS will make its best effort to select a firm/institution within this period. 8. Assuming that a contract can be satisfactorily concluded by May/2012, the assignment is expected to commence in June/ If you consider that your firm/institution does not have all the expertise for the assignment, there is no objection to your firm/institution associating with another firm/institution, particularly from a developing country, to enable a full range of expertise to be proposed. UNOPS strongly encourages association with a local firm/institution in the country of assignment. However, any invited firm/institution may not participate in more than one consolidated proposal. Similarly, a local firm/institution may associate with only one invited firm/institution that is making a proposal. 10. Please note that the cost of preparing a proposal and of negotiating a contract, including any related travel, is not reimbursable nor can it be included as a direct cost of the assignment. 11. Any requests for clarification should be referred to Name, Title, at the above address, [email protected], telephone: Any written reply to a particular question may be copied to all other invited firms/institutions, at the discretion of UNOPS. 12. UNOPS strongly encourages all Bidders to subscribe to the Tender Alert Service available on the United Nations Global Market Place ( This will allow Bidders to be notified automatically of all UNOPS business opportunities for the products and services for which they have registered. Instructions on how to subscribe to the Tender Alert Service can be found in the UNGM Interactive Guide for Suppliers. 13. We would appreciate you informing us by or fax as to: a) Your receipt of this letter request for competitive proposals. b) Whether or not you will be submitting a proposal. c) The date and mode of submission, in case you decide to submit a proposal. Fax: Jordan [email protected] IQOC/RFP/12/002 Page 2

3 Content of Proposal Technical Component 14. The technical component of your proposal should be concisely presented and structured in the following order to include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following information: a) Description of the Firm and the Firm's Qualifications A brief description of your firm/institution and an outline of recent experience on projects of a similar nature, including experience in the country and language concerned. You should also provide information that will facilitate our evaluation of your firm/institution's substantive reliability and financial and managerial capacity to provide the services. b) Understanding of the Requirements for Services, including Assumptions Include any assumptions as well as comments on the data, support services and facilities to be provided by the Government as indicated in the TOR, or as you may otherwise believe to be necessary. c) Proposed Team Structure with their updated CVs. The composition of the team which you would propose to provide in the country of assignment and/or at the home office, and the work tasks (including supervisory) which would be assigned to each. An organogram illustrating the reporting lines, together with a description of such organization of the team structure, should support your proposal. Price Component 15. Your separate price component must contain an overall quotation in a single currency, which may be either in US Dollars or in any convertible currency. If you opt for the latter, and for evaluation purposes only, your proposal will be converted into US dollars using the United Nations rate of exchange in effect on the date submissions are due. 16. The price component shall have a cover letter wherein your firm/institution's authorized representative affirms the following: a) a summary of the price; and b) The period of its validity. In preparing your proposal, please note carefully from Annex III the various contract provisions regarding UNOPS policies on limitations on advance payments, retention, performance bonds, etc. Payment Provisions Fax: Jordan [email protected] IQOC/RFP/12/002 Page 3

4 17. UNOPS' general policy is to pay for the performance of contractual services rendered or to effect payment upon the achievement of specific milestones described in the contract. Please refer to section 3.4 of the Model Contract for Services1 that is enclosed as Annex III. Evaluation of Proposals 18. A two-stage procedure will be utilized in evaluating the proposals, with evaluation of the technical component being completed prior to any price component being opened and compared. The Price Component will be opened only for those firms/institutions whose Technical Component meets the requirements for the assignment. The total number of points which a firm/institution may obtain for both components is [120]. 19. The technical component, which has a total possible value of [100] points, will be evaluated using the following criteria: a) the firm/institution's general reliability as well as experience and capacity in the specific field of the assignment ( 40 points); b) the approach in responding to the TOR and the detailed work plan ( 20 points); and c) the qualifications and competence of the personnel proposed for the assignment for a total of ( 40 points). The personnel will be rated in accordance with: i. their general qualifications (20 points); ii. suitability for the assignment ( 50 points); and iii. their language qualifications and experience in the region ( 30 the country of assignment would be particularly advantageous. points). Experience in 20. a) The Price Component of any proposal will only be evaluated if the Technical Component of that proposal achieves a minimum of 70 points. Proposals failing to obtain this minimum threshold will not be eligible for further consideration. b) The maximum number of points for the Price Component is 20 points This maximum number of points will be allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals will receive points in inverse proportion according to the following formula: Points for the Price Component of a proposal being evaluated = [Maximum number of points for the Price Component] x [Lowest price] [Price of proposal being evaluated] 21. Please note that the UNOPS is not bound to select any of the firms/institutions submitting proposals. Furthermore, since a contract will be awarded in respect of the proposal which is Fax: Jordan [email protected] IQOC/RFP/12/002 Page 4

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6 ANNEX I: TERMS OF REFERENCES A. General Background:- UNOPS Iraq Operation Center IQOC is planning to implement three projects in Iraq on civil society. I. Project Iraqi Civil Society Empowerment, funded by the EU, Government of Finland and other donors via the Iraq Trust Fund (ITF), applies a multi-sectorial approach to supporting empowerment of civil society as a reliable partner for the public authorities able to address needs faced by the Iraqi citizens. The project has focused, among other issues, on successful support for developing and implementation of regulatory frameworks for NGOs, increasing citizens participation in the local government, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and peace building activities as well as on capacity building of state institutions responsible for cooperation with civil society. Currently one of the greatest needs is the development of a national fund to support civil society organizations. UNOPS is currently supporting creation of a similar fund in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and would like to initiate more streamlined discussions on this issue at the federal level, in the Iraqi Parliament in particular. This intervention will constitute part of UNOPS support to implementation of the NGO law no. 12, which in one of its goals stipulates support to NGOs growth, development and independence. II. With the framework of an 18-month project Compact for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, funded by the Government of Denmark, UNOPS will support Iraqi civil society in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to build and formalize its relationship with public authorities, based on the principles on of mutual recognition, participation, and accountability. To support this aim, the project will support the preparation and passing of a Kurdistan Region Policy Document on Cooperation (PDC or compact) between the Kurdistan Parliament in Iraq (KPI), the Kurdistan NGOs Department and civil society. This document will establish the basis for a proper relationship between public authorities and civil society in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. A regional Compact will give civic organizations a means to increase support for their work and thereby expand their activities in the interest of all Iraqis. For the government, the agreement can help ensure more complete performance of governmental tasks. III. Project Building partnership between Iraqi Civil Society and Public Authorities, to be funded by the EU, will improve the relationship between Iraqi public authorities and civil society through support to drafting federal Compact between the Iraqi Council of Representatives (CoR) and civil society, as well as by the way of developing the institutional capacities of the NGOs Directorate. These three important projects are planned to be implemented in coordination with Iraqi counterparts from the federal government of Iraq represented by NGO Directorate which is housed by Iraqi CoMSec in Baghdad. Also from the regional government of Kurdistan represented by NGOs Department in Erbil. Other counterparts are the civil society committee in the Iraqi council of representatives and civil society committee in the national assembly of Kurdistan. One additional and important counterpart is the Iraqi civil society organizations Iraqi wide. B. Purpose and Scope of Assignment:- The United Nations Office for Project Services, represented by Iraq Operation Center IQOC, located in Amman, regularly requests translations of documents and interpretation in respect of its interventions in Iraq. UNOPS desires to enter into Contract agreement for translation services for a period of 12 months. In brief the services required are: C. Written Translation: The contractor will be required to provide written translation as per the below preference:- Fax: Jordan [email protected] IQOC/RFP/12/002 Page 6

7 i) Standard Documents Translation Arabic English and Vice Versa ii) Technical Documents Translation Arabic- English and Vice Versa iii) Standard Documents Translation Kurdish English and Vice Versa iv) Technical Documents Translation Kurdish- English and Vice Versa v) Technical Document Translation Kurdish- Arabic and Vice Versa vi) Standard Document Translation Kurdish- Arabic and Vice Versa The Contractor shall upon request and receipt of duly authorized instructions from UNOPS Iraq, start the translation and confirm the availability of the interpreter for the events together with its equipments that might be required to facilitate his/her job. It is preferred that the translators providing translation are from Iraq whether Kurd or Arab so that they give the impression that is well understood by Iraqi counterparts especially when translating from English to Arabic or to Kurdish. The translation company will serve as a communication channel between different groups with different languages; the company has to make sure that the translators that will be used during this project are well acquainted with the all aspects of the projects. They will have to read and understand background materials given by UNOPS to the translation company. The Contractor shall perform the Services as follows: i) Efficiently translate materials from English to Arabic or Arabic to English, from Kurdish to English or English to Kurdish and from Arabic to Kurdish or from Kurdish to Arabic. ii) Insure confidentiality of the translated materials. iii) The standard time frame for the translation delivery shall be as follows (from the date of submission by UNOPS): Translation Volume Time Frame (Page) days days days 101 and above As per the above time benchmarks iv) Whenever possible, the Contractor shall render emergency assistance worldwide to UNOPS Iraq. v) The output page consists of 250 words. vi) The frequency of requirements will be five a month. vii) The translated material must be signed and certified by the translator as well as the reviewer prior to the submission to UNOPS. viii) The material to be translated will mainly be: (a) Standard Documents: Programme related content, i.e educational presentations and concept papers, cultural materials, human rights, social and human sciences. (b) Technical Documents: laws and regulations, elections, civil society, documents, procurement, etc D. Simultaneous Interpretation: legal documents, tender i) Provide necessary translators and necessary equipment to undertake simultaneous translation during meetings, workshops:- Fax: Jordan [email protected] IQOC/RFP/12/002 Page 7

8 1. Arabic to English and vice versa 2. Arabic to Kurdish and vice versa 3. Kurdish to English and vice versa. ii) Workshops may last 1-10 days iii) The task per day may last 2-10 hours iv) Scope of workshops will cover programme-related content, i.e. civil society education, legislation, culture, human rights, social and human sciences. v) Ensure that any other services such as interpreters, additional electronic and audio-visual equipment, will be satisfactorily provided, and electronic equipment is fully functional, as shall be defined and agreed upon by UNOPS and the Contractor (c) Payments shall be based on the certification of Translation Services by UNOPS Programme Manager. (d) The Contractor shall deliver translated material by or hard copies in, typed in Word file, to the UNOPS Iraq focal point at its Amman premises of UNOPS Iraq during business hours. E. Reporting: The Contractor shall provide UNOPS Iraq with management information reports consisting, at a minimum, of the following: (a) A quarterly summary within 15 days of the end of the quarter. Reports should identify problems, if any, and recommend solutions, suggestions to enhance service. F. Service Standards. The Contractor shall provide polite, responsive and efficient service at all times to fulfill UNOPS Iraq requirements. As a service objective, telephone calls should be answered promptly. When it is necessary to place calls on hold, they should not be kept on hold for more than a few minutes and call back, when necessary, should be made within one hour. G. Quality Control for the Services: (a) The Contractor shall establish and operate to monitor on a regular and continual basis the quality of translation provided to UNOPS Iraq, and shall sign and certify each document prior to submit them to UNOPS. To carry out such practice, the Contractor shall assign an internal translation reviewer to make sure quality of translation. (b) UNOPS Iraq reserves the right to conduct its own quality control surveys any time during the year. (c) The Contractor warrants that the additional personnel assigned to handle UNOPS Iraq translation shall have a strong experience and shall constantly be trained to be kept up to date. H. Personnel Required. (a) When additional translators are required, the Contractor shall assign adequate personnel to service satisfactorily the volume of work and to fulfill its obligations under the Contract with UNOPS Iraq. The Contractor shall assign the relevant personnel according to their technical know-how and reliability. (b) The Contractor shall notify UNOPS in case of any changes or resignations of proficient translators (c) The Contractor shall ensure availability of personnel during the high demand periods and provide a rate for emergency high priority translation when requested by UNOPS. (d) The Service Provider s employees shall perform their functions in a highly efficient and professional manner. Fax: Jordan [email protected] IQOC/RFP/12/002 Page 8

9 I. Qualifications and Experience of translators:- 1. Education Master or equivalent from College of Arts or College of Languages. 2. Work Experience Minimum 10 years of experience in interpretation and translation; Relevant experience with other UN agencies and international organizations;. 3. Key Competencies Fluency in both Arabic, Kurdish and English, written and spoken; Knowledge of the Middle East region in general and Iraq in particular is an asset; Capable of working in multicultural environment; Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; Good team player. Fax: Jordan [email protected] IQOC/RFP/12/002 Page 9

10 Project No. Multiple ANNEX II: PROPOSAL SUBMISSION FORM TO: United Nations Office for Project Services Deir Ghbar, Al-Shakereen St. Building No.2 Tel: P.O.Box Amman, Fax: Dear Sir/Madam: Having examined the Solicitation Documents, the receipt of which is hereby duly acknowledged, we the undersigned, offer to supply the required services for the sum as may be ascertained in accordance with the Price Component attached herewith and made part of this proposal. We undertake, if our proposal is accepted, to commence and complete delivery of all items in the contract within the time frame stipulated. We understand that you are not bound to accept any proposal you may receive and that a binding contract would result only after final negotiations are concluded on the basis of the Technical and Price Components proposed. Dated this day of 20. Duly authorized to sign proposal for and on behalf of: Financial Offer: Signature (In the Capacity of) Item Ser. Translation language 1 Standard Documents Translation Arabic English and Vice Versa Cost per page (which is equal to 250 words) 2 Standard Documents Translation Kurdish English and Vice Versa 3 Standard Document Translation Kurdish - Arabic and Vice Versa 4 Technical/Legal Documents Translation Arabic - English and Vice Versa 5 Technical/Legal Document Translation Kurdish - Arabic and Vice Versa 6 Technical/Legal Documents Translation Kurdish - English and Vice Versa - Please mention the currency of your submitted price Fax: Jordan [email protected] IQOC/RFP/12/002 Page 10

11 ANNEX III: DRAFT OF CONTRACT FORM In the event of a contract the UNOPS General Conditions for Contracts for Professional Services will apply. They are available at: Fax: Jordan [email protected] IQOC/RFP/12/002 Page 11