Consultancy to develop a 10-year Communications and Visibility Strategy for the Buzi, Pungwe, and Save Watercourses Commission (BUPUSACOM)

Consultancy to develop a 10-year Communications and Visibility Strategy for the Buzi, Pungwe, and Save Watercourses Commission (BUPUSACOM)

IUCN ESARO, Zimbabwe Country Office. Water and Wetlands Programme

RfP Reference: IUCN-10-2024 BUPUSACOM VISIBILITY

Welcome to this Procurement by IUCN. You are hereby invited to submit a Proposal. Please read the information and instructions carefully because non-compliance with the instructions may result in disqualification of your Proposal from this Procurement.

1. REQUIREMENTS

   1. A detailed description of the services and/or goods to be provided can be found in Attachment 1.

2. CONTACT DETAILS

   1. During the course of this procurement, i.e. from the publication of this RfP to the award of a contract, you may not discuss this procurement with any IUCN employee or representative other than the following contact. You must address all correspondence and questions to the contact, including your proposal.

IUCN Contact: [email protected]

1. PROCUREMENT TIMETABLE

DATE

ACTIVITY

24 October 2024

Publication of the Request for Proposals

26 October 2024

Deadline for confirmation of intention to bid

27 October 2024

Deadline for submission of questions

31 October 2024

Planned publication of responses to questions

30 October

Deadline for submission of proposals to IUCN (“Submission

Deadline”)

15 November 2024

Clarification of proposals

25 November 2024

Planned date for contract award

30 November 2024

Expected contract start date

15 April 2025

Submission of the final report/submission

1. This timetable is indicative and may be changed by IUCN at any time. If IUCN decides that changes to any of the deadlines are necessary, we will contact you.

2. Please email the IUCN contact to confirm whether or not you are intending to submit a proposal by the deadline stated below.

3. COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL

   1. Your Proposal must consist of the following three documents:

• Signed Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2)

• Technical Proposal (see Section 4.4 below)

• Financial Proposal (see Section 4.5 below)

Proposals must be prepared in English.

1. Your Proposal must be submitted by email to the IUCN Contact (see Section 2). The subject heading of the email shall be IUCN-10-2024 BUPUSACOM VISIBILITY – bidder name]. The bidder name is the name of the company/organisation on whose behalf you are submitting the proposal, or your own surname if you are bidding as a self-employed consultant. Your proposal must be submitted in PDF format. You may submit multiple emails suitably annotated, e.g. Email 1 of 3, if attached files are too large to suit a single email transmission. You may not submit your Proposal by uploading it to a file-sharing tool.

   IMPORTANT: Submitted documents must be password-protected so that they cannot be opened and read before the submission deadline. Please use the same password for all submitted documents. After the deadline has passed and within 12 hours, please send the password to the IUCN Contact. This will ensure a secure bid submission and opening process. Please DO NOT email the password before the deadline for Proposal submission.

   1. Eligibility

   2. Technical Proposal

   Not Applicable

   The technical proposal must address each of the criteria stated below explicitly and separately, quoting the relevant criteria reference number (left-hand column).

   Proposals in any other format will significantly increase the time it takes to evaluate, and such Proposals may therefore be rejected at IUCN’s discretion.

   Where CVs are requested, these must be of the individuals who will actually carry out the work specified. The individuals you put forward may only be substituted with IUCN’s approval.

   IUCN will evaluate technical proposals with regards to each of the following criteria and their relative importance:

1

Description

Information to provide

Relative weight

Understanding of the scope of work

45%

Clarity and completeness

Entire Proposal

15%

Approach

Proposed work approach and plan

10%

Proposed concepts and methods

Level of detail and the method of execution

20%

2

Expert Specialisation and Work experience

35%

Relevant Qualification and expertise

CVs and relevant qualification

20%

Experience in similar assignments

Reports/Final deliverables from previous projects

15%

3

Feasibility and sustainability

Evidence of their creativity and originality. Environmental, social, and economic impact

20%

TOTAL

100%

1. Financial Proposal

   1. The financial proposal must be a fixed and firm price for the provision of the goods/services stated in the RfP in their entirety.

      1. Prices include all costs

      2. Applicable Goods and Services Taxes

      3. Currency of proposed rates and prices

      4. Breakdown of rates and prices

      Submitted rates and prices are deemed to include all costs, insurances, taxes (except VAT, see below), fees, expenses, liabilities, obligations, risk and other things necessary for the performance of the Terms of Reference or Specification of Requirements. IUCN will not accept charges beyond those clearly stated in the Financial Proposal. This includes applicable withholding taxes and similar. It is your responsibility to determine whether such taxes apply to your organisation and to include them in your financial offer.

      Proposal rates and prices shall be exclusive of Value Added Tax.

      All rates and prices submitted by Proposers shall be in USD currency.

   2. Additional information not requested by IUCN should not be included in your Proposal and will not be considered in the evaluation.

   3. Your proposal must remain valid and capable of acceptance by IUCN for a period of 90 calendar days following the submission deadline.

   4. Withdrawals and Changes

   You may freely withdraw or change your proposal at any time prior to the submission deadline by written notice to the IUCN Contact. However, in order to reduce the risk of fraud, no changes or withdrawals will be accepted after the submission deadline.

2. EVALUATION of PROPOSALS

   1. Completeness

   2. Technical Evaluation

      1. Scoring Method

   IUCN will firstly check your proposal for completeness. Incomplete proposals will not be considered further.

Your proposal will be assigned a score from 0 to 10 for each of the technical evaluation criteria, such that ‘0’ is low and ‘10’ is high.

1. Minimum Quality Thresholds

Proposals that receive a score of ‘0’ for any of the criteria will not be considered further.

1. Technical Score

Your score for each technical evaluation criterion will be multiplied with the respective relative weight (see Section 4.4) and these weighted scores added together to give your proposal’s overall technical score.

1. Total Score

   Your proposal’s total score will be calculated as the weighted sum of your technical score and your financial score.

   The relative weights will be:

   Technical: 70%

   Financial: 30%

   Thus, for example, if your technical score is 83% and your financial score is 77%, you will receive a total score of 83 * 70% + 77 * 30% = 58.1% + 23.1% = 81.2%.

Subject to the requirements in Sections 4 and 7, IUCN will award the contract to the bidder whose proposal achieves the highest total score.

1. Explanation of procurement procedure

   1. IUCN is using the Invitation Procedure for this procurement. This means that only invited bidders may submit a proposal. IUCN typically invites from four to six bidders to submit a proposal.

   2. You are welcome to ask questions or seek clarification regarding this procurement. Please email the IUCN Contact (see Section 2), taking note of the deadline for submission of questions in Section 3.1.

   3. All proposals must be received by the submission deadline in Section 3.1 above. Late proposals will not be considered. All proposals received by the submission deadline will be evaluated by a team of two or more evaluators in accordance with the evaluation criteria stated in in this RfP. No other criteria will be used to evaluate proposals. The contract will be awarded to the bidder whose proposal received the highest Total Score. IUCN does, however, reserve the right to cancel the procurement and not award a contract at all.

   4. IUCN will contact the bidder with the highest-scoring proposal to finalise the contract. We will contact unsuccessful bidders after the contract has been awarded and provide detailed feedback. The timetable in Section 3.1 gives an estimate of when we expect to have completed the contract award, but this date may change depending on how long the evaluation of proposals takes.

2. Conditions for participation in this procurement

   1. To participate in this procurement, you are required to submit a proposal, which fully complies with the instructions in this RfP and the Attachments.

      1. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have submitted a complete and fully compliant proposal.

      2. Any incomplete or incorrectly completed proposal submission may be deemed non-compliant, and as a result you may be unable to proceed further in the procurement process.

      3. IUCN will query any obvious clerical errors in your proposal and may, at IUCN’s sole discretion, allow you to correct these, but only if doing so could not be perceived as giving you an unfair advantage.

   2. In order to participate in this procurement, you must meet the following conditions:

• Free of conflicts of interest
• Registered on the relevant professional or trade register of the country in which you are established (or resident, if self-employed)
• In full compliance with your obligations relating to payment of social security contributions and of all applicable taxes
• Not been convicted of failing to comply with environmental regulatory requirements or other legal requirements relating to sustainability and environmental protection
• Not bankrupt or being wound up
• Never been guilty of an offence concerning your professional conduct
• Not involved in fraud, corruption, a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism, or any other illegal activity.

  1. You must complete and sign the Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2)

  2. If you are participating in this procurement as a member of a joint venture, or are using sub-contractors, submit a separate Declaration of Undertaking for each member of the joint venture and sub-contractor, and be clear in your proposal which parts of the goods/services are provided by each partner or sub-contractor.

  3. Each bidder shall submit only one proposal, either individually or as a partner in a joint venture. In case of joint venture, one company shall not be allowed to participate in two different joint ventures in the same procurement nor shall a company be allowed to submit a proposal both on its behalf and as part of a joint venture for the same procurement. A bidder who submits or participates in more than one proposal (other than as a subcontractor or in cases of alternatives that have been permitted or requested) shall cause all the proposals with the bidder’s participation to be disqualified.

  4. By taking part in this procurement, you accept the conditions set out in this RfP, including the following:

• It is unacceptable to give or offer any gift or consideration to an employee or other representative of IUCN as a reward or inducement in relation to the awarding of a contract. Such action will give IUCN the right to exclude you from this and any future procurements, and to terminate any contract that may have been signed with you.
• Any attempt to obtain information from an employee or other representative of IUCN concerning another bidder will result in disqualification.
• Any price fixing or collusion with other bidders in relation to this procurement shall give IUCN the right to exclude you and any other involved bidder(s) from this and any future procurements and may constitute a criminal offence.

1. Confidentiality and data protection

   1. IUCN follows the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The information you submit to IUCN as part of this procurement will be treated as confidential and shared only as required to evaluate your proposal in line with the procedure explained in this RfP, and for the maintenance of a clear audit trail. For audit purposes, IUCN is required to retain your proposal in its entirety for 10 years after the end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when requested.

   2. In the Declaration of Undertaking (Attachment 2) you need to give IUCN express permission to use the information you submit in this way, including personal data that forms part of your proposal. Where you include personal data of your employees (e.g. CVs) in your proposal, you need to have written permission from those individuals to share this information with IUCN, and for IUCN to use this information as indicated in 8.1. Without these permissions, IUCN will not be able to consider your proposal.

2. Complaints procedure

If you have a complaint or concern regarding the propriety of how a competitive process is or has been executed, then please contact [email protected]. Such complaints or concerns will be treated as confidential and are not considered in breach of the above restrictions on communication (Section 2.1).

1. Contract

The contract will be based on IUCN’s template in Attachment 3, the terms of which are not negotiable. They may, however, be amended by IUCN to reflect particular requirements from the donor funding this particular procurement.

1. ATTACHMENTS

Attachment 1 Specification of Requirements / Terms of Reference

Attachment 2 Declaration of Undertaking (2a for self-employed and 2b for companies-as applicable to you).

Terms of Reference for IUCN Consultancy

Title: Consultancy to develop a 10-year Communications and Visibility Strategy for the Buzi, Pungwe, and Save Watercourses Commission (BUPUSACOM)

Objective of the Consultancy

The primary objective of this consultancy is to engage a consultant who will develop a 10-year Communications and Visibility Strategy for the Buzi, Pungwe, and Save Watercourses Commission (BUPUSACOM)

Specific Objectives

The successful consultant will be expected to undertake the following objective(s):

1. To develop a 10 -year Communication Strategy for BUPUSACOM
2. To develop a detailed communication plan for the first 2 years
3. To outline key communication activities to be conducted by the Commission
4. To segment the target audiences for the Commission and guide the development of messages, tools, and communication channels.

Background

Project Reference: PO3694

Donor reference: OES: Global Partnership for building sustainable cooperation on shared waters

About IUCN

IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development, and nature conservation to take place together.

Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,400 Member organisations and around 15,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments, and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools, and international standards.

IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous people’s organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.

Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems, and improve people’s well-being.

www.iucn.org

https://twitter.com/IUCN/

About the Project

The Buzi, Pungwe, and Save Watercourses Commission (BUPUSACOM)was established in Harare, Zimbabwe on 17 May 2023 under cooperation agreements aligned with the SADC Revised Protocol on Shared Watercourses of 2000. The Commission was subsequently launched in Beira Mozambique on 19 July the same year. The agreements are as follows:

1. The Buzi Water Sharing Agreement, signed in Mutare, Zimbabwe in July 2019
2. The Pungwe Water Sharing Agreement signed in 2016
3. The Save Water Sharing Agreement signed in Harare, Zimbabwe, in May 2023
4. The BUPUSA Hosting Agreement, signed in Harare, Zimbabwe, in May 2023
5. The BUPUSA Establishment Agreement, signed in Harare, Zimbabwe, in May 2023

The Commission oversees the planning, development, and management of the water resources within the Buzi, Pungwe, and Save (BUPUSA) River Basins. The Commissions is responsible for spearheading a united response to the challenges that have been intensified by climate change and resource mismanagement in the BUPUSA Tri Basin**.** The Commission is set to strengthen the cooperation and the social and economic ties that already exist between Mozambique and Zimbabwe. The Commissions is also a platform for dialogue between the two countries on the management of the three basins.

1. IUCN has been supporting the BUPUSA tri-basin since 2012 and was instrumental in the negotiations that led to the finalisation of the agreement leading to the establishment of the Commission. IUCN continues to support the tri basin through strengthen the institutional capacity of the recently launched BUPUSACOM.

Description of the Assignment

• Development of the BUPUSACOM Communications and Visibility Strategy
• Developing a detailed Communications Implementation plan highlighting initiatives, activities, timelines, and budgets to implement the above Communications and Visibility Strategy.
• Development of a detailed annual social media plan
• Outline of recommendations on amplifying the Commission through the website, social media channels. The strategy should have recommendations on how these channels can be optimised to maximise visibility of the Commission.

Duration of the Assignment

From 30 November 2024 to 15 April 2025

Deliverables and Activities

The consultant will provide the following deliverables and conduct the following activities:

Deliverable/Activity

Description

Deadline

Deliverable 1

Submission of inception report

5 December 2024

1.a Activity 1A

An inception report detailing how the assignment will be conducted. This should detail the activities to be conducted on each stage of the consultancy

5 December 2024

2. Deliverable 2

Situation analysis of the tri-basin

10 February 2025

2.a Activity 2A

A detailed situation analysis which outlines the socioeconomic and environmental issues within the basins in both countries. The analysis should also outline the demographics of the target population. The analysis should also detail interventions that have been adopted to remedy the issues in the basin including projects that are ongoing or have been implemented to remedy the issues. The analysis should also point out the communication dynamics within the basins in the two countries as a basis for selection of tools and channels to use when implementing the communication strategy and plans.

05 February 2025

Deliverable 3

BUPUSA Visibility and Communications Strategy

15 March 2025

3a. Activity A

A detailed strategy to raise awareness of key messaging and narratives for the next ten years. It should outline the issues in the Tri-basin, and tools and mechanisms to reach out to potential target audiences, including potential funding agencies for projects for implementing the BUPUSA Roadmap and Strategic Action Program, policy makers, government departments in the two member states and other stakeholders in water and related sector. The Strategy should also highlight key thematic issues/narratives embedded pertinent to the tri-basin.

10 March 2025

Deliverable 4

BUPUSA Communications Implementation Plan

30 March 2025

4.a Activity 4A

The implementation plan should detail the communication activities to be implemented by the commission, the timing, the key messages, the tools, and channels to be used in raising awareness of the commission and tri-basin

15 March 2025

4.b Activity 4B

Detailed annual social media plan

15 March 2025

A detailed social media plan to be developed for the first year. The plan should detail key messages that can be applied throughout the year. Messages should be centred around issues in the tri basin, ongoing interventions and previous interventions by Partners who worked in the basins. The plan should detail the tools and channels to be used. Methods of optimising the channels for Maximum reach and visibility to be elaborated.

Payment Schedule

The Timetable below summarises the chronological order of deliverables and indicates milestones at which IUCN will pay the Consultant.

Deliverable

Milestone payment

Deliverable 1

30%

Deliverable 2:

20%

Deliverable 3:

40%

Deliverable 4:

10%

Skills and Experience

The consultant must have the following skills, education, and experience as a minimum:

• Minimum advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in communications, media or relevant field.
• A combination of a first university degree (bachelor’s or equivalent) with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the education requirements outlined above.
• Minimum 5 years of accumulated work experience in communications and outreach activities.
• Previous experience working on water, environment, biodiversity, climate change and development issues is an advantage.
• Demonstrated experience in the use of web-based management systems and IT tools.

Evaluation of Quotations/ Offer

The selection will be determined by capacity/experience, the ability to work within the

estimated timelines (30 November 2024 – 15 April 2025) and the economic offer.

You are cordially invited to respond (prepared in English) detailing the following (in a single

document or zipped folder):

• Copy of consultant’s Curriculum Vitae.
• Technical Proposal/Envisaged Approach (5 pages max, Arial/Calibri, 1.15 spacing)
• Three (3) examples showcasing previous work similar to this call (with references).
• Financial Proposal/Estimate Budget (USD)

To Procurement/Tenders [email protected] by 30 October 2024 (16h00 CAT). Contracting

is expected to be concluded by 30 November 2024.

Supervision and coordination

The consultant will report to and work under the supervision of Communications and Knowledge Management Officer.

Attachment 2: Declaration for Self-Employed Individuals (a) and Declaration for Companies/Organisations (b)

1. Declaration in relation to RfP Reference: IUCN-10-2024 BUPUSACOM VISIBILITY

I, the undersigned, hereby confirm that I am self-employed and able to provide the service independent of any organisation or other legal entity.

Full name (as in passport/national identification): _______________________________________________________________________________

Home or Office (please delete as appropriate) Address (incl. country): ________________________

I hereby authorise IUCN to store and use the information included in the attached Proposal for the purpose of evaluating Proposals and selecting the Proposal IUCN deems the most favourable, including Personal Data as defined by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). I acknowledge that IUCN is required to retain my Proposal in its entirety for 10 years after the end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when reasonably requested.

I further confirm that the following statements are correct:

1. I am legally registered as self-employed in accordance with all applicable laws.
2. I am fully compliant with all my tax and social security obligations.
3. I am free of any real or perceived conflicts of interest with regards to IUCN and its Mission.
4. I agree to declare to IUCN any real or perceived emerging conflicts of interests I may have concerning IUCN. I acknowledge that IUCN may terminate any contracts with me that would, in IUCN sole discretion, be negatively affected by such conflicts of interests.
5. I have never been convicted of grave professional misconduct or any other offence concerning my professional conduct.
6. I have never been convicted of fraud, corruption, money laundering, supporting terrorism or involvement in a criminal organisation.
7. I acknowledge that engagement in fraud, corruption, money laundering, supporting terrorism or involvement in a criminal organisation will entitle IUCN to terminate any and all contracts with me with immediate effect.
8. I am not included in the UN Security Council Sanctions List, EU Sanctions Map, US Office of Foreign Assets Control Sanctions List, or the World Bank listing of ineligible firms and individuals. I agree that I will not provide direct or indirect support to firms and individuals included in these lists.
9. I have not been, am not, and will not be involved or implicated in any violations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, or injustice or abuse of human rights related to other groups or individuals, including forced evictions, violation of fundamental rights of workers as defined by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, child labour, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment.

______________________________________________________

1. DECLARATION OF UNDERTAKING in relation to RfP Reference: IUCN-10-2024 BUPUSACOM VISIBILITY

I, the undersigned, hereby confirm that I am an authorised representative of the following organisation:

Registered Name of Organisation (the “Organisation”): _______________________

Registered Address (incl. country): _______________________________________

Year of Registration: __________________________________________________

I hereby authorise IUCN to store and use the information included in the attached Proposal for the purpose of evaluating Proposals and selecting the Proposal IUCN deems the most favourable. I acknowledge that IUCN is required to retain the Proposal in its entirety for 10 years after then end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when reasonably requested.

Where the Proposal includes Personal Data as defined by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), I confirm that the Organisation has been authorised by each Data Subject to share this Data with IUCN for the purposes stated above.

I further confirm that the following statements are correct:

1. The Organisation is duly registered in accordance with all applicable laws.
2. The Organisation is fully compliant with all its tax and social security obligations.
3. The Organisation and its staff and representatives are free of any real or perceived conflicts of interest with regards to IUCN and its Mission.
4. The Organisation agrees to declare to IUCN any real or perceived emerging conflicts of interests it or any of its staff and representatives may have concerning IUCN. The Organisation acknowledges that IUCN may terminate any contracts with the Organisation that would, in IUCN sole discretion, be negatively affected by such conflicts of interests.
5. None of the Organisation’s staff has ever been convicted of grave professional misconduct or any other offence concerning their professional conduct.
6. Neither the Organisation nor any of its staff and representatives have ever been convicted of fraud, corruption, money laundering, supporting terrorism or involvement in a criminal organisation.
7. The Organisation acknowledges that engagement by itself or any of its staff in fraud, corruption, money laundering, supporting terrorism or involvement in a criminal organisation will entitle IUCN to terminate any and all contracts with the Organisation with immediate effect.
8. The Organisation is a going concern and is not bankrupt or being wound up, is not having its affairs administered by the courts, has not suspended business activities, is not the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations.
9. The Organisation complies with all applicable environmental regulatory requirements or other legal requirements relating to sustainability and environmental protection.
10. The Organisation is not included in the UN Security Council Sanctions List, EU Sanctions Map, US Office of Foreign Assets Control Sanctions List, or the World Bank listing of ineligible firms and individuals. The Organisation agrees that it will not provide direct or indirect support to firms and individuals included in these lists.
11. The Organisation has not been, is not, and will not be involved or implicated in any violations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, or injustice or abuse of human rights related to other groups or individuals, including forced evictions, violation of fundamental rights of workers as defined by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on the Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, child labour, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment.

______________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

< Name and position of authorised representative of the Proposer

How to apply

Step 1: Acquire Tender Documents
Obtain the relevant tender documents.

Step 2: Review Requirements
Thoroughly read the tender specifications, terms, and conditions.

Step 3: Prepare Proposal
Prepare your proposal as guided, ensuring all the required information is included.

Step 4: Submission
Submit your completed proposal by 30th, October, 2024 via the email [email protected]

Important Dates

• Tender Release Date: 24th, October,2024
• Submission Deadline: 30th, October,2024
• Opening Date: 4th, November,2024

Contact Information

For questions, please contact:
Jolly Chemutai,

Procurement Department,
[email protected]

0740085768