Request for Information WFP Global Cash-Based Transfer Service Provider World Food Programme - HQ Rome, Italy, 30 th April 2015 Ref. Number: HQ15NF166-RFI Page 1 of 10
Contents ABOUT WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME... 3 1.1. Overview of the Organization... 3 1.2. Legal Status of WFP... 3 1.3. Organization and Activities of WFP... 3 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION... 4 2.1. General Background... 4 2.2. Scope and objectives of the RFI... 5 2.3. CBT Delivery Mechanism and Processes... 8 2.4. RFI Key Evaluation Criteria... 9 2.5. Procedures... 9 ANNEX I... 10 SERVICE PROVIDER REQUIREMENTS... 10 SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS... 10 ANNEX II... 10 COUNTRY INFORMATION & GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE... 10 ANNEX III... 10 TERMINOLOGY & DEFINITIONS... 10 ANNEX IV... 10 UN GENERAL TERMS & CONDITIONS... 10 Page 2 of 10
ABOUT WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME 1.1. Overview of the Organization The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. Formed in 1961, from its Headquarter (HQ) in Rome and its offices in more than 81 countries, WFP pursues a vision of the world in which everyone has access at all times to the food needed for an active and healthy life. Each year, on average, WFP feeds more than 90 million people worldwide. WFP is voluntarily funded, the donations coming from governments, corporations and individuals. 1.2. Legal Status of WFP WFP is an autonomous subsidiary programme jointly established by the United Nations and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations and has juridical personality. WFP, its officials and its property and assets enjoy privileges and immunities, which include, among others, immunity from every form of legal process, inviolability of WFP s premises and archives, as well as certain tax exemptions. In order to safeguard said privileges and immunities, WFP requires its contractual arrangements to contain WFP s standard provisions, including, but not limited to, those on non-waiver of privileges and immunities, arbitration and taxes. Standard UN and WFP General Terms and Conditions constitute an integral part of this Request for Information (RFI) and will be included in any solicitation and contractual document that may derive from this process. 1.3. Organization and Activities of WFP Responding to humanitarian emergencies is a primary focus of WFP. It helps to save lives and protect livelihoods in emergencies by taking timely action to meet urgent food and nutrition needs. With its deep field presence WFP is often one of the most significant actors following shocks and crises. It meets food and nutrition needs while helping to lay the early foundation for resilience and self-reliance of beneficiaries. WFP uses food and/or cash-based assistance to address the needs of affected population. The choice of the assistance modality (food or cash-based assistance) is based on contextual feasibility and comparative advantage these modalities offer. WFP brings food to places where markets are disrupted and food availability is a problem, while cash-based assistance is preferred in places where there is good availability of food in the marketplace but where people cannot afford to buy it. WFP project durations typically vary from 3 to 24 months. The value of assistance also varies based on the beneficiary needs and project objectives and can range from as low as 10 US$ per household/month to about 150 US$/household/month. The assistance may be provided on regular basis for several months or as one-off transfer only. Page 3 of 10
WFP is organized in 6 Regional Bureaux (RB) (located in Panama, Bangkok, Cairo, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Dakar) which each are responsible for a number of country offices (CO) (in total there are 81 country offices, see Annex II). WFP COs autonomously manage their operations and are responsible for the full project cycle, starting from needs assessment and contextual analysis to response, implementation and evaluation. Most of the COs have had, have or are planning to have different scales of cash-based food assistance programmes. At current status WFP partners with different regional and/or local (financial) service providers (SP), ranging from postal offices, security firms and technology firms to traditional banks or other licenced financial service providers (FSP) including mobile network operations (MNO), moneytransfer or card schemes companies, to enable cash-based transfers (CBT). The partners selected vary from country to country as does the specific CBT delivery mechanism. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION 2.1. General Background Since 2005, WFP provides cash-based assistance to hungry people to buy food for themselves. Cash-based assistance is provided either as unrestricted or as restricted. Unrestricted CBTs allow recipients to freely spend their entitlements (electronically or physical cash) according to their needs and priorities, while with restricted CBT recipients can spend their entitlements only at participating retailers contracted by WFP or restricted merchant categories (MC). In 2014, WFP transferred cash-based assistance (restricted & unrestricted) to almost 9 million people in 58 countries, continuing the upward trend of market-based approaches within WFP s operations. Therefore WFP s CBT budget has grown to almost US$1.49 billion in 2014, representing approx. 21 percent of WFP s total food assistance portfolio. Especially WFP s emergency operations have benefitted from the organization s growing experience in the implementation of CBT. They accounted for 75 percent of all mechanisms that included monetary transfers to beneficiaries in 2014. The total CBT budget is expected to reach up to US$1.75 billion in 2015 and growing. CBT delivery mechanisms vary widely and range from physical cash delivery at community level, to cash collection points, paying cash into bank accounts, to card based solutions such as scratch cards, prepaidcards or smart cards representing electronic wallets and/or stored value accounts. Since e-money based on mobile money transfers have reached high level of acceptance and are nowadays commonly used in unbanked communities, like Africa, Latin America and parts of Asia, mobile solutions are also part of the CBT delivery portfolio. Page 4 of 10
2.2. Scope and objectives of the RFI This global RFI intends to identify qualified partners which are able to provide WFP with a comprehensive solution for an appropriate CBT to fulfil beneficiary s needs on a global basis. CBT related (financial and technical) solutions should provide comprehensive and low-cost access to cash. With respect to this RFI cash should have the meaning of both restricted and unrestricted cash, as described under point 2.1 above. The solution(s) WFP is looking for, should cover as many of the 81 countries WFP operates in as possible, as many as of its 90 million beneficiaries and wherever needed in case of emergency. However, if recipients to this RFI propose solutions which will only work in selected areas as listed in Annex II but do not operate on a global basis, these solutions will be taken into consideration and evaluation as well. Furthermore the solution(s) should be able to establish WFP as a facilitator for comparable CBT based services provided by Agencies, Governments and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). 2.2.1. Scope The solution asked for should cover the following (the scope of this RFI): CBT delivery mechanism, whereby a mechanism in this context should be considered as a (contractual) framework of financial, distribution and infrastructure SPs. A (contractual) framework in this context should be interpreted as either a fully-managed solution by one SP or, if not available, a multiple SP alliance which will become binding amongst them as soon as the overall CBT delivery mechanism terms, conditions, roles and responsibilities are agreed upon with WFP; CBT process including transfer, settlement and where applicable issuance of delivery instruments or mediums which carry, contain or embed financial instruments like mobile, cards, or financial wallets, and/or any other electronic financial solutions existing on the market. A financial instrument should have the meaning as defined by International Financial Reporting Standards (IAS 32). The process should also consider accounting and reporting functionalities; CBT data and infrastructure comprising available and ready to use technologies ranging from general CBT infrastructure solutions, general financial service infrastructure solutions like core banking and settlement systems, feature phone enabled and e-money based mobile money platforms, open and closed loop smart cards, point of sales and/or services terminals (incl. ATMs) to more advanced data transfer solutions like simless machine-to-machine communication, nearfield-communication (NFC), etc.. The proposed data and infrastructure needs to have offline and online capabilities considering that WFP operates in regions with no or very poor infrastructure and connectivity; CBT service and maintenance comprising infrastructure and software maintenance (including data security and privacy), data monitoring and archiving, help-desk (first-to-third level support), distribution and exchange of devices and terminals, fall back & system failure, etc.; Page 5 of 10
CBT regulatory compliance framework considering that all CBT processes, transfers and transactions and the underlying infrastructure need to be compliant with existing regulatory frameworks in various jurisdictions especially with regards to licensees granted by governments and/or authorities, taxation, Know Your Customer procedures (KYC), Anti-Money-Laundering (AML), Anti-Terror-Financing (ATF), Data and Privacy laws and mandatory security standards and/or requirements issued by various standard setters and bodies. Prior to any CBT, beneficiaries need to be registered and assigned to a specific CBT delivery mechanism (Beneficiary registry and enrolment process). The registry and assignment will be performed by either WFP COs or selected WFP partners (Agencies, Government, NGOs). For this purpose WFP has developed specific processes and automated solutions that are triggered and/or governed by a web-based beneficiary management platform. The platform supports registration of beneficiaries, benefits distribution planning with results feedback, and triggering and execution of transfers. With regards to the scope of this RFI the beneficiary registration process and CBT delivery mechanism assignment as such is deemed to be out of scope. However the solution asked for should include solutions and tools which enable and optimise the capture of beneficiary data at the point of registration (for example capture of beneficiary ID and biometric data where applicable). Moreover the solution needs to reflect that at some point along the CBT process chain the solution needs to be (technically) linked to the WFP beneficiary management platform. Page 6 of 10
2.2.2. Objectives of the RFI WFP wants to achieve the following objectives: Identification of an appropriate number of service providers which could provide services as an aggregator and which are able to (technically) link multiple SPs (i.e. platform providers) on a global or at least multi-national basis; establishment of long term (contractual and/or standby) arrangements and partnerships with qualified SPs; provision and deployment of beneficiary centric solutions which might also reflect local behaviours, habits, the degree of education and literacy, limitations to access of personal technology and/or limitations to reach technology (WFP often operates in remote areas) and to protect the security and privacy of beneficiaries; reduction of lead and set-up times for CBT delivery especially in case of emergencies. cost reduction (implementation, service and transaction costs); reduction and/or mitigation of risks especially regarding liability, compliance, counterparty and security. All solution should follow WFP s guiding solution principles: Beneficiary centricity, cost efficiency, scalability, security, realisation speed, validity, flexibility, transparency and auditing acceptability. Moreover an improved delivery solution should enable WFP beneficiaries to access their benefits within walking distance from their homes in a secure and efficient manner. Page 7 of 10
2.3. CBT Delivery Mechanism and Processes Since the establishment of the CBT programme in 2005 WFP has successfully entered into partnerships and arrangements with various FSPs and SPs which supported CBT delivery mechanisms. Most of these delivery mechanisms work in-country, are closed loop and vary with regards to the underlying transfer mechanism (i.e. online, offline, physical and electronic) and the instruments in use (i.e. cash, cards, mobile money, etc.) and technology. In general the current CBT process can be illustrated as follows: CBT Solution to be provided (elements are indicative only, eventual solution could consist of different elements) Current CBT delivery mechanism can be differentiated as follows: Card based and enabled CBT delivery mechanisms whereby the card is issued on-behalf of WFP by selected SPs. Cards exist in form of either prepaid/reloadable cards loaded with pre-defined values in local currency or personalized smart cards specifically developed for WFP which are able to serve as electronic wallet containing both unrestricted cash and restricted cash. Smart cards also contain encrypted beneficiary ID (personalization) and can be topped-up. Some delivery mechanisms also enable cash withdrawals at various benefit redemption points (ATMs, POS, bank branches, retailers, etc.) Mobile enabled CBT delivery mechanisms, whereby e-money will be issued through a licensed SP and allocated to stored value accounts. Participants of mobile enabled CBT delivery mechanisms can transfer money and conduct payments through their mobile phones. A precondition to use mobile enabled CBT delivery is that all participants (beneficiaries, merchants, agents, etc.) are registered within the MNO network, have access to a telephone, a valid SIM card representing a valid telephone number and an associated (stored value) account (i.e. a mobile wallet) and last but not least GSM network availability (connectivity). Merchant or agent settlements are in general performed within the mobile money system operated by the MNO. Physical cash-in or cash-out can be done using a licensed or contracted agent or partly at the merchant or MNO benefit redemption points. Page 8 of 10
2.4. RFI Key Evaluation Criteria All interested potential partners that respond to the Expression of Interest by way of completing and submitting the duly completed Annex I (SP & SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS) and Annex II (COUNTRY INFORMATION & GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE), will be considered to constitute the long-list of potential partners for this project. WFPs evaluation of the responses submitted will result in a short-list of potential partners who according to WFP have met the minimum criteria and will then receive a competitive solicitation (Request for Proposal), should one be issued. 2.5. Procedures Any document received that does not comply with the following requirements will be considered invalid. 1 It is understood that this RFI is confidential and proprietary to WFP, and is communicated and received by you on the condition that no part thereof or any information concerning it may be copied, exhibited, or furnished to others without the prior written consent of WFP, for the purposes of your response to this RFI. Notwithstanding the other provisions of this RFI, recipients will be bound by the contents of this paragraph whether or not they submit a final response or response in any other way. 2 All costs incurred to prepare your response to the RFI have to be borne by you; WFP will not be liable to reimburse any or all of such cost. 3 Completed responses to the RFI should be submitted solely to HQ.cashtransfersolution@wfp.org and must not be copied to any other email address within WFP. Closing date and time for this RFI: 5 th June 2015 at 17:00 hrs Rome time Submissions after the said closing date and time will not be considered. In order to address questions that may arise from the RFI, WFP will hold an online meeting with all interested parties on 12 th May, 2015 at 14:00 hrs Rome time (details will be provided). If you are interested to participate, please register until 10 th May, 2015 by sending an email to HQ.cashtransfersolution@wfp.org. Please note that offers received in any other form other than as indicated above will not be accepted by WFP. Please note that this is not a Request for Proposal. Please refrain from including any reference to rates/prices. This Request for Information (RFI) does not bind the United Nations World Food Programme or any of its partner agencies to issue any tender or contract to the companies expressing their interest by responding to the RFI. Please note that any information provided by companies during this process will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. Page 9 of 10
ANNEX I SERVICE PROVIDER REQUIREMENTS 1. Contact & List of Documents 2. Corporate Profile 3. Core Skill and Experience Credentials 4. Implementation Experience 5. Acceptance of Terms & Conditions SOLUTION REQUIREMENTS 6. CBT Delivery Mechanism 7. CBT Process 8. CBT data & infrastructure 9. CBT service & maintenance 10. CBT regulatory framework ANNEX II COUNTRY INFORMATION & GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE ANNEX III TERMINOLOGY & DEFINITIONS ANNEX IV UN GENERAL TERMS & CONDITIONS Page 10 of 10