REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) – TERMS OF REFERENCE – IMPLEMENTATION OF BUDGETING PREPARATION & MANAGEMENT SOLUTION FOR AECF ,MARCH 2024

1. Background

The AECF, LLC (Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund) is a leading non-profit development organisation that supports innovative enterprises in the agribusiness and renewable energy sectors with the aim of reducing rural poverty, promoting climate resilient communities, and creating jobs.

We catalyze the private sector by surfacing and commercializing new ideas, business models and technologies designed to increase agricultural productivity, improve farmer incomes, expand clean energy access, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve resilience to the effects of climate change. We finance high risk businesses that struggle to access commercial funding; we are committed to working in frontier markets, fragile contexts, and high-risk economies where few mainstream financing institutions dare to go.

To date, we have supported over 400 businesses in 26 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, impacted more than 30 million lives, and created over 27,000 direct jobs.

2. Invitation

2.1 Through this request for proposals (“RFP”), AECF LLC is planning to implement a Budgeting Preparation & Management Solution and integrate it with the Finance System (ERP) I.e. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. The organization recognizes the importance of effective budget management to achieve its strategic objectives. To streamline and enhance the budgeting process, the implementation of a Budget Management Solution is deemed necessary. This tool aims to centralize budgeting activities, improve accuracy in forecasting, facilitate collaboration among departments, and provide real-time visibility into financial performance.

2.2 Proposals must be submitted to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org no later than 19th April 2024, 17:00 HRS East Africa Time

2.3 AECF LLC may, at its discretion, cancel the requirement in part or whole. It also reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal, annul the selection process, and reject all proposals at any time before selection, without thereby incurring any liability to proposers/firms.

2.4 Proposers may withdraw the proposal after submission provided that written notice of withdrawal is received by AECF LLC before the deadline prescribed for submission of proposals. No proposal may be modified after the deadline for submission of proposals. No proposal may be withdrawn in the interval between the deadline for submission of proposals and the expiration of the period of proposal validity.

2.5 All proposals shall remain valid and open for acceptance for a period of 180 calendar days after the date specified for receipt of proposals. A proposal valid for a shorter period may be rejected. In exceptional circumstances, AECF LLC may solicit the proposer’s consent to an extension of the period of validity. The request and the responses thereto shall be made in writing.

2.6 Effective with the release of this solicitation, all communications must be directed only to the Procurement department by email at aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org. Proposers must not communicate with any other person of AECF LLC regarding this RFP.

3. Request for Clarification of RFP documents

3.1 A prospective proposer requiring any clarification of the solicitation documents may notify AECF LLC in writing via the email address aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org by 05 April 2024. AECF LLC will respond in writing to any request for clarification of the solicitation documents that it receives by the due date.

4. Amendments to RFP Documents

4.1 At any time before the deadline for submission of proposals, AECF LLC may, for any reason, whether at its initiative or in response to a clarification requested by a prospective proposer, modify the RFP documents by amendment. All amendments will also be posted on the AECF LLC website.

5. Language of Proposals

5.1 The proposals prepared by the proposer and all correspondence and documents relating to the proposal exchanged by the proposer and the AECF, shall be written in English.

6. Submission of Proposals

6.1 Proposers shall submit their proposal in soft copy via email at aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org Technical and Financial proposals must be submitted in separate documents and with a clear subject description of the proposal (technical or financial) by the date and time stipulated.

6.2 Proposals must be sent ONLY to the address provided above. Proposals sent to any other addresses will be rejected.

6.3 The Financial proposals shall include all applicable taxes quoted separately. If taxes are not mentioned in the financial proposal, AECF LLC shall consider that they are included in the prices provided.

6.4 The financial proposal shall include implementation costs, license costs, and expected recurrent costs for at least the first 3 years.

7. Late proposals

7.1 Any proposals received by AECF LLC after the deadline for submission of proposals will be rejected.

8. Conflict of Interest

8.1 In their proposal, proposers must confirm that, based on their current best knowledge, there are no real or potential conflicts of interest involved in rendering Services to the AECF.

9. Confidentiality

9.1 Information relating to the evaluation of proposals and recommendations concerning the selection of firms will not be disclosed to Firms that submitted proposals.

Statement of Work

1. AECF LLC is planning to implement a Budgeting Management Solution that will handle the end-to-end budgeting process i.e. collaborative preparation, management, and reporting.
2. The solution is required to meet among other features the following capabilities as per the budget life cycle:
   1. To streamline the budgeting process, ensuring efficiency and accuracy in budget creation, monitoring, and reporting.
   2. To support collaborative preparation of budgets as well as support for multiple budget preparation at the same time.
   3. To support the preparation & management of annual budgets as well as ad-hoc project proposal budgets.
   4. To enhance transparency and accountability in budget management across departments.
   5. To enable real-time access to budgets for informed decision-making.
   6. To establish clear guidelines and procedures for the use of the Budget Management Solution.
3. Other General Considerations
   1. Design required workflows on the system to allow end-to-end budgeting processes on the system. The system should have support for at least 8 dimensions for reporting purposes.
4. The system should have the ability to link project tasks, activities, Budget Lines, Donors, and Programs with the ability to track and reconcile General Ledger Account Codes/Budget Lines as per the chart of accounts used on ERP – Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
5. Ability to handle multi-currency entries based on set conversions or through integration with the ERP.
6. Ability to offer multi-lingual.
7. Include capabilities for tracking users, logs, approvals, and deletions.
8. Implement the approval process workflow onto the system and configure it to fit the AECF LLC governance structure. All budget amendments would need to go through an approval workflow.
9. System should allow for the addition of new approved program budgets/budget lines midyear with necessary approvals as per the set approval workflow.
10. The system must have document management capabilities for version control during budget revision exercises.
11. Configure the approval matrix onto the system to allow all approvals to be done on the system.
12. Integrate the Budgeting Management to different systems i.e. core financial system (ERP) – Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central as well as reporting tools like Power BI & Tableau etc.
13. Provide the licensing model for the software.
14. Ensure the system has provision for canned and ad-hoc reports. Reports should include a budget vs actuals report with data drawn from ERP via the integration.
15. Provide responsive and timely maintenance and support services for the platform over the duration of its use.

The general scope of work

The scope of work primarily consists of five elements as follows:

1. Identification of suitable Budgeting Management Solution considering the organization’s budgeting needs, scalability, and integration capabilities.
2. Configuration and customization of the Budgeting Management Solution to align with the organization’s budgeting structure, workflows, dimensions, and reporting requirements.
3. Data migration from existing budgeting systems or spreadsheets to the Budget Management Solution.
4. Development of user manuals, and training materials, and conducting training sessions for staff on how to use the Budgeting Management Solution effectively.
5. Establishment of access controls and permissions to ensure data security and integrity.
6. Integration of the Budgeting Management Solution with existing financial systems (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central) for seamless data exchange.
7. Implementation of monitoring mechanisms to track the effectiveness and usage of the Budget Management Solution.

The proposed project plan should cover the activities listed above.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities of the Implementor

The Implementor will be responsible for the following:

1. Responding to the RFP and executing the same if selected, describing the process to be followed for supply and implementation of the software.
2. Supply a suitable Budgeting process management solution indicating specific modules and justification concerning satisfying the functional and technical specifications laid down in this document.
3. Test the solution configured and provide quality assurance within the project.

The product proposed by the Implementor must comply with the mandatory criteria below.

1. It must be of the latest commercially available and acceptable version, at the time of

commencement of project implementation.

1. It must have all functions described in the statement of works as natively integrated applications on a single interoperable open platform and not the integration of multiple products and overlapping middleware.
2. Upgrade to new releases should not become mandatory for the next three years from

the date of installation.

1. It must have a product roadmap for the last 3 years and the next 3 years, demonstrating a vendor commitment to continuous investments and enhancements for the specific Budgeting Management Solution.
2. It must be upwards scalable in size, capacity, and functionality to meet changing business and technical requirements, thereby enabling AECF to be adaptable to change.

The vendors will be required to provide detailed documentation on the following in their technical response:

1. The Budgeting Management Solution, required customization if any, tools, database, network performance, and the related software being supplied to meet the functional and technical requirements set out in this document.
2. The process to be followed in the installation and configuration of the Budget Management Solution, tools, database, and related software.
3. The process to be followed for maintenance and upgrade of the Budget Management Solution, applying patches, tools, database, and the related software.
4. Specifications that are most suitable for running the solution provided to AECF comprising of administration tools, bandwidth requirements, firewalls, and any other item required for the proposed solution considering AECF’s cloud environment, with all current and future applications running on virtual machines in an external Cloud environment (Microsoft Azure).

Implementation services

The Implementor will be responsible for the following during the implementation.

1. Design and implementation of system architecture.
2. Project management, planning, and scheduling various phases of the implementation.
3. Verify and ensure the completeness of business requirements and their mapping against the capabilities of the Budget Management Solution
4. Conceptualizing, configuring, developing, customizing, validating, and implementing the solution, including developing and testing interfaces, custom applications, data conversion where required, training and change management, documentation etc.
5. Providing post-go-live support.

Each of the tasks is described in detail below. Some of these are also explained in detail further in this section.

Design and implementation of system architecture.

The implementor shall be entirely responsible for the architecture of the system implemented to satisfy all features, functions, and performance as described in this document. The system architecture description provided in this document is for guidance only. The vendor should validate the description as necessary to provide a complete solution.

The System architecture shall be developed with the following guidelines in mind:

General System Architecture Guidelines

1. The system architecture should be based on open and prevailing industry standards and protocols.
2. The system will be Cloud-based centrally deployed and accessed.
3. Role-based access shall be planned to ensure high granularity without compromising on the security needs of the application.
4. The system shall be designed to be scalable and extensible.

Application Design

1. The application design should be a services-based architecture for all environments.
2. All application components should have a browser-based user interface with a common look and feel.
3. All production applications must have high availability.
4. All systems must consider appropriate security, performance, efficiency, and maintainability issues.

Data Management

1. Data will be owned, shared, controlled, and protected as a corporate asset.
2. Shared data will have consistent formats and definitions and be independent of applications.
3. Data should only be accessed through applications/interfaces to create update and

delete.

1. The system must have an inbuilt data repository allowing data to sit and be accessed within the system.
2. Allow data import/export in business standard formats (e.g. PDF, Excel, CSV, Text) as and when required.

Infrastructure

1. The architecture should be designed for extensibility and scalability.
2. The system should be 100% cloud but can integrate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central – on-premises cloud (Ms Azure Platform)
3. The system must be designed in such a way that it supports all future enhancements, load balancing of the application, presentation, and data layers of the system.

Project management, planning, and scheduling.

Project Team

1. The implementor will form a team for the project consisting of the Project Manager, Functional Leaders, and other team members. The key team members should be professionally qualified/trained in their tasks and should have requisite Budgeting Management Solution implementation experience. Swapping of resources during the project will not be permitted without prior approval by AECF.
2. The implementor should specify the expected involvement of AECF employees within the project team structure. The implementor should further on describe the recommended composition and terms of reference of the Project team.
3. The implementor’s project plan should adequately account for User Acceptance testing, documentation related to Controls, Security, Segregation of Duties; and t implementation of controls identified in our budgeting processes.

Implementation Plan

The date of award of the contract to the Implementor will be considered as the start date of implementation.

Below are the guidelines to be adhered to;

1. The implementor should propose a suitable project plan in such a manner that overall timelines, as specified in this document, are adhered to. The implementor should provide a detailed schedule for all items as per the total scope of work matching with the implementation plan.
2. The Implementorwill further detail the project plan in the early stages of the project and get it validated by AECF. The project plan should include the following at the minimum:

– Activities making up the phases and sub-phases.

– Key milestones and deliverables along with their dates.

– Start date and end date for each activity.

– The dependencies among activities.

– Resources / Consultants to be assigned to each activity.

– Resources (core team, business team, and process owners) expected from AECF

for each activity.

Project Reporting

1. The Implementor should describe the proposed project reporting methodology. As a minimum, a progress report to AECF is expected each fortnight. The frequency may be increased during critical phases of the project. Additionally, the Implementor shall report continuously, project risks, mitigation, exceptions, and issues that require the immediate attention of AECF.
2. AECF LLC will nominate an internal focal point, to ensure seamless coordination between parties.
3. The Implementor will via its Project Manager be responsible for attending meetings of the Project Steering Committee, informing the membership about progress and status, discussing potential options ahead, and seeking clearance for potential change requests.

Developing, configuring, and testing the solution

The implementor will also be responsible for the following.

1. Develop and customize the solution based on the budgeting processes, proposed improvements and satisfying the budgeting and reporting requirements of AECF; Configuring the solution including the development of necessary interfaces with external data sources and basic platform applications.
2. Ensuring that the necessary controls and security are configured in line with AECF’s policies and controls and are acceptably automated to the extent possible.
3. Conducting Unit Tests, System Integration Tests, User Acceptance Tests, Stress Tests, and such other tests and making necessary changes to configuration/setup based on the test results, implementation of pre-go live audit recommendations etc.;
4. Training and change management.
5. Data conversion and migration.

Providing post-go-live support

Below are the guidelines for post-go-live support.

a. The Implementor will provide post-implementation support for six months from the go-live of all implemented modules from the final go-live date.

b. The Implementor will provide guidelines in setting up and managing the Budgeting Management Solution customer support regime including the processes to be followed in logging requests for assistance, assigning requests to specific individuals, escalating calls to technical, business or vendor actors, recording resolution and tracking overall time frame from logging a call to its resolution.

c. The Implementor will provide a meaningful Budgeting Management Solution Service Level Agreement that helps in managing expectations and roles between users and internal/external Budgeting Management Solution service providers.

d. In addition to the above-mentioned post-go-live support, the Implementor may be requested by AECF to provide additional support for problem resolution, enhancements etc.

e. The Implementor will describe its team for post-implementation support along with their roles, job descriptions, and profiles of key individuals. If such additional support is expected to be charged separately, then the Implementor will propose time and material rates for this as mentioned in the price bid separately.

1. The Implementor shall co-operate with AECF in the conduct of any post-implementation audit (by a party other than the Implementor), if so desired to be conducted by AECF, during the period of post-go-live support. The Implementor shall also be responsible for implementing the audit recommendations without any additional charge. Also, in the event of AECF conducting an independent pre-go-live audit, the Implementor shall render all necessary support for the audit, including implementing the changes/improvements if any are recommended, free of additional charges whatsoever.

Functional scope

The new system should be a centralized, Cloud-ready Budgeting Management Solution maintaining all the data under a single database.

Technical scope

The features that characterize the system shall include, but not be limited to the following:

a. User Interface

Below are the guidelines for the user interface.

1. The end-user interfaces could be web interface or Graphic User Interface (GUI) based.
2. The Implementor should account for access from remote locations with weak internet connections.
3. Most Budgeting Management Solution user interactions should also be feasible via mobile devices running on Android, Apple iOS, and Windows.
4. Wherever possible, data should be available for entry from a drop-down list. There

should be field-level validation of the data being entered. In case of an error in data type, the error message should be customized to AECF specification.

1. It should be possible for the system administrator to restrict certain values for entry to specific users. It should also be possible for the users to retrieve data entered incorrectly and change the same subject to a defined security procedure.
   1. The system should be capable of reusing the data once captured, to ensure the integrity of data.

b. Single Point Data Entry

Below are the guidelines for data entry.

1. The system should be able to automatically capture data from other retained legacy/process control systems through integration. E.g dimensions
2. There should be a single set of data which once created should be available for use by all users, thereby eliminating the need for multiple data entries and ensuring data consistency across the system. This applies not only to the transaction-level data but also to all master data, which may be shared across functions.

c. Centralized / Common Master Data

Below are the guidelines for master data capture and storage.

1. The solution envisaged by AECF assumes a centralized master data repository to be shared by all the units based on their requirements.
2. Centralized/Common master data repository means that there would be only one set of master data across the organization capable of maintenance from any or all units with centralized approval workflow.
3. The master will have data common to all units as well as data specific to a unit.
4. While managing data, the system must provide adequate control and security for addition, modification, deletion, and validity. The values will be assigned to individual units based on their requirements.
   1. The Implementormust ensure that the Budgeting Management Solution proposed by them has extensive functionality concerning maintaining an audit trail. The system shall be able to define audit trails, audit logs, and transaction logging requirements. It shall enable audit trails online, and tailor audit requirements by modules.

d. Audit Trail

Below are the guidelines for the system audit trail;

1. Any addition, deletion, or modification to an existing record, whether master or

transaction must bear the date and time stamp, the name of the log-in user who made the change, and the terminal from which the change was made. It should also be possible to maintain details of the original record and subsequent changes to the record. Standard audit-related reports should also be available.

e. Scalability

The Budgeting Management Solution being proposed by the Implementor must be scalable both in terms of the budget rules, volume of transaction and master data but also in terms of defining new entities and structure.

f. Reports

Below are the guidelines for reporting needs;

1. It is expected that all the out-of-the-box reports will be reformatted as per AECF LLC’s

requirements and fields could be replaced/removed if required.

1. It is expected that custom reports may need to be developed if the standard reports available in the Budgeting Management Solution do not meet AECF-specific requirements. These reports would include those, which would extract and present information already in the database in a specified format or could require some intelligence/calculations built into them.
2. The Implementorshall explain how AECF’s need for agility and flexibility in reporting will be addressed without costly custom development work. A brief description of the methodology should be included in the response to the RFP.
   1. Describe the approach and tentative plan for training AECFs core

In addition, the Implementor is required to train AECF Core/Technical Team members on the methodology of building custom reports, so that AECF can take up the additional development on a need basis.

g. Training Scope

AECF believes that the key to successful Budgeting Management Solution implementation will be the Implementor’s ability to train AECF in operating the proposed budgeting solution. In this context, the Implementor is expected to:

team members and end-users along with the tentative time frame.

1. Include the training budget in the proposal.
2. Provide a description of the training hand-outs and/or operating manuals to be provided to the core team members and the end-users.

Training programs will have to be organized for separate categories of users based on functions, roles, responsibilities, and geographic locations. The Implementor will be responsible for the preparation of the training material and end-user manuals. End-user manuals should cover “how to use” concepts for all Budgeting Management Solution modules to be implemented.

h. Change Management Workshops

In addition to the above, the Implementor will create a change management approach and workstream to identify issues anticipated in the change management process and propose solutions to overcome these. The Implementor is expected to conduct the change management programs on a one-on-one individual basis or in groups and at different locations.

The goal of change management in the context of AECF would be:

– Collaborative working – shared sense of purpose and ownership.

– Technology adoption as a means of efficient service delivery; operations of submissions and approvals in a workflow environment.

– Adoption of Business Intelligence tools for analysis and supporting decision-making.

– To create a knowledge-sharing culture in the organization.

– Self-initiated view of learning and readiness to learn from each other.

– The overall climate of trust and involvement.

– Partnering mindsets and capabilities.

Change Management will be a key milestone in the project and will be subject to acceptance.

Technical Proposal

1. The Technical Proposal must be submitted separately and clearly marked on the document and email subject “Technical Proposal”. No details of a financial nature whatsoever should be included in this Technical Proposal. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in disqualification.

2. Proposers are requested to submit a Technical Proposal that demonstrates the capability to deliver requested services

3. To facilitate a faster evaluation and comparative analysis of the proposals, we recommend that the proposals be structured in the following manner:

a. Expertise of Firm/Organization – This section should provide details regarding the management structure of the organization, organizational capability/resources, and experience of the organization/firm, the list of projects/contracts (both completed and

on-going, both domestic and international) which are related or similar in nature to the requirements of the RFP.

b. Proposed Methodology, Approach, and Implementation Plan – This section should demonstrate the implementor’s response to the RFP/scope of services by identifying the specific components proposed, how the requirements shall be addressed, as specified, point by point; providing a detailed description of the essential

performance characteristics proposed; identifying the works/portions of the work that will be subcontracted; and demonstrating how the proposed methodology meets or exceeds the specificationswhile ensuring the appropriateness of the approach to the local conditions and the rest of the project operating environment.

c. Management Structure and Key Personnel – This section should include the comprehensive curriculum vitae (CVs) of key personnel that will be assigned to support the implementation of the proposed methodology, clearly defining the roles and responsibilities vis-à-vis the proposed methodology. CVs should establish competence and demonstrate qualifications in areas relevant to the TOR.

In complying with this section, the implementor assures and confirms to AECF that the personnel being nominated are available for the Contract on the dates proposed. If any of the key personnel later becomes unavailable, except for unavoidable reasons such as death or medical incapacity, AECF reserves the right to render the proposal non-responsive. Any substitution of personnel arising from unavoidable reasons shall be made only with the approval of AECF.

d. Other Information that may be relevant to the Proposal – The Technical Proposal shall not include any financial information. A Technical Proposal containing any form of financial information that could lead to the determination of the price offer may be declared non-compliant.

Financial Proposal

Pricing Information

1. The Financial Proposal should include pricing information covering the requirements covered in this document.

2. The Financial Proposal document must be marked “Financial Proposal” as well as the email subject. NO details of a financial nature whatsoever must be included in the Technical Proposal. Failure to comply with this requirement will result in disqualification.

1. The financial component shall include the following:
2. Fee structure and pricing details in US dollars including all expenses and applicable taxes.
3. A financial methodology that explains the rationale of the financial component and how it offers best value.
4. A financial plan that clearly links all costs to activities and outputs detailed in the work plan with associated payment mechanisms.
5. Unit rates
6. Total Lump sum Contract amount

Financial proposals that do not have the above details will be disqualified.

4. The implementor shall include and clearly show all expected taxes in the financial component.

5. AECF LLC reserves the right to give preference to the most appropriate baseline in terms of expected economies of scale for the AECF.

6. The financial proposal shall be a fixed price and not based on Time and material. The bidder must provide a total lump sum fixed price for determining the financial score and contract value. The financial proposal should provide the financial total contract price as well.

Company Profile Form

Company details – vendor’s name:

Name:

General Information

Prior experience with international organizations

List contracts undertakenin the last three years with a similar scope.

BRIEFLY listrecent clients for whom you producedsimilar deliverables as well as values: Attach additional sheets ifnecessary.

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2

3

4

Contract disputes

List any disputes your company has been involved in over the last three years

References

List suitable reference projects and contacts.

What options would there be for a site visit to a reference project and/or the vendor’s site?

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2

3

Partners

If this is apart bid, list relevant recent experience of working with partners.

Are there already formal or informal preferredpartnership agreements in place?

1

2

3

Conflict of Interest

Are there any likely circumstances or contracts in place that may introduce a conflict of interest with the parties to this contract? If so, explain how this will be mitigated.

1

2

Evaluation Criteria

A. Evaluation and Comparison of Proposals

The proposals will be evaluated in a staged procedure, with the evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any financial proposal being opened and evaluated. The financial proposal will be considered only for submissions that fulfill the minimum technical requirements.

B. Acceptance of Submissions

All proposers are expected to adhere to the requirements for submitting a proposal.

Any proposals that fail to comply will be disqualified from further consideration as part of this evaluation. In particular:

1. Full compliance with the formal requirements for submitting a proposal.
2. Submission of all requested documentation

The Technical Proposal shall include information to demonstrate the current soundness and financial position of the submitting organization:

1. Organizational: a brief description, including ownership details, date, and place of incorporation of the firm, objectives of the firm, partnerships, qualifications and certificates, etc.
2. Statement of Satisfactory Performance of similar services fromthe firm’s top 3 (three) Clients in terms of Contract Value the past 3 (three) years. Contact details of the mentioned clients must be provided.
3. Listing of proposed personnel, experience, and qualifications
4. Comments on the RFP and how the firm will address the requirements.
5. Methodology and approach

C. Evaluation of Technical Proposal

An evaluation committee shall be established to evaluate each technical proposal. The committee will comprise of evaluation and technical specialists. The technical proposal is evaluated individually based on its responsiveness to the technical requirements and will be assessed and scored according to the evaluation criteria.

Technical proposals that score at least 75 points out of 100 will be considered as qualified for the review of financial proposal. Any proposal less than that will be disqualified from proceeding to the next step and its financial proposal shall be reviewed.

The Technical Proposal will account for 70% (weight of 0.70) of the evaluation score.

D. Evaluation of Financial Proposal

The financial proposal of all offerors, which have attained the minimum score in the technical evaluation, will be evaluated subsequently.

The lowest evaluated Financial Proposal will be given the maximum financial score.

The Financial Proposal will account for 30% (weight of 0.30) of the evaluation score.

E. Consolidated evaluation

The total score of 100 points will consist of 70 points weighed from the technical evaluation and 30 weighted points from the financial evaluation. The firm achieving the highest combined technical and financial score will be invited for contract negotiations.

F. Award

The Award will be made to the responsive implementor who achieves the highest combined technical and financial score, following the negotiation of an acceptable contract. AECF reserves the right to conduct negotiations with the implementor regarding the contents of their offer. The award will be in effect only after acceptance by the selected proposer of the terms and conditions and the technical requirements.

Expected Evaluation Method

Submitted proposals will be evaluated against a detailed evaluation criterion. Below is the indicative evaluation sheet. AECF reserves the right to use an updated evaluation criterion at the time of actual evaluation of proposals/systems.

1. Instructions

1.1 Completion of this document

Please complete each part of this Annex 1 (unless otherwise indicated) or provide a brief explanation where this is not possible using the space available. The vendors are asked to

respond by addressing the following:

Does your proposed solution meet the requirements as stated?

If the solution fully meets the requirement, please answer “Yes” under the Fully Available column. If the solution meets the requirement partially, please indicate the percentage of the requirement under Partial (%) column and address the difference percentage under Gap (%) column. If the solution does not meet the requirement at all, please answer “Yes” under N/A column.

If the answer is “Partly” in the Partial (%) and Gap (%) column, please address the impact of the gap under Gap Impact column and the mechanisms or functionalities which will be used to address the gap under Gap Addressing Mechanism column. The vendors are also welcome to make suggestions or comments in the comment/Observation column.

Annex 1 Evaluation Criterion

Requirements

Vendor

ID

Short Name

Description

Priority

Fully Available

Partially Available (%)

N/A

Gap Impact

Gap Addressing Mechanisms

Comment/Observation

1.

AECF Template

Customization

The Budgeting Management Solution has the capability for users to create templates, add columns, period(s), cost centers, dimensions, grouped rows, etc.,

High

2.

Template Modification

Ease of Template modifications

-Vendor needs to specify whether the form modification needs to be done by them or it can be modified by AECF

High

3.

Data Transfer

Data Transfer between & and among contributors (Activities, budget, budget notes)

High

4.

Rework/Escalation

Every reviewer should be able to revert the process to earlier touchpoints with provision for comments and direct re-route option for non-material changes, and different routing conditions for different amendments

High

5.

Workflows

The application should provide out-of-the-box workflows to allow custom configuration of approval processes on the system

High

6.

Integration requirements

The Budgeting Management tool allows for integration with Microsoft 365 Business Central (on-premise – Azure Cloud), Self-Service BI reporting tools (e.g. Power BI, Tableau, Excel)

High

7

Budget Allocation & Forecasting

The System features allow for shared costs, fixed costs, time restriction & Rolling Forecasting

High

8.

Budget Consolidation

The Budget Management solution allows for multi-budget-line, department, program, country-level, and final high-level corporate level consolidation

High

9.

User collaboration

Ease of multi-user, multi-tenant collaboration & and user access levels e.g. view only/read-only users, full access users.

High

10.

User Administration

Allow for admins only and sub-admin access, user creation, archiving, and restriction

High

11.

Reporting & Sharing

Users can generate custom reports by function, dimension, and other granularity as and when required

High

12.

General Ledger mapping

Budget tool allows for General Ledger Mapping for Budget vs actuals tracking & reporting

High

13.

Filter/Search

Function

Budgeting Management Tool allows for search/filter function

High

14.

Currency

Allow for multi-currency inter/intra-conversion

High

15.

User Activity log

All user activityshould be traceable by the system administrator (audit log of which file has been accessed by whom and when)

High

16.

Email Notification

The solution is required to allow AECF to send email notifications – e.g.acknowledgement email, reminder notification, late notification, etc. – to user at various points in the process and auto business processes based onthe workflow rule settings.

High

17.

Third-party API Integration

Budgeting Management Tool API integration to rates, flights, and hotel rates

High

18.

Budget Versioning

Allow budget revisions and snap shots, Quarterly, Mid-term revisions

High

19.

User Training

Provides user training in person or remotely

High

20.

Drill Down

System must allow have drill down functionality to get details from a field

High

Key Areas for Evaluation/ Assessment

Weighted Award

(A) TECHNICAL PROPOSAL

70

i) An understanding of the consultancy requirements;

10

ii) Methodology and work plan that will deliver the best value on the assignment:

30

iii) Relevant services undertaken by the bidder in past engagements:

20

• Demonstrate relevant experience in providing automation solutions, in particular budget preparation and management software.
• The software should have capabilities such as but not limited to multi-user capability, scalable, ease of integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, and is user friendly.

iv) Detailed reference list indicating the scope and magnitude of similar assignments and at least 2 Letters of reference from past customers or associates to the firm

10

(B) FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

30

• Clarity, relevance, and reality to market value/ value for money of cost for the assignment (inclusive of any applicable tax)

Application details

To be considered, your proposal reference IMPLEMENTATION OF BUDGETING MANAGEMENT SOLUTION” must be addressed to aecfprocurement@aecfafrica.org by 1700Hrs (EAT), 19th April2024.

How to apply

Timelines

1. AECF LLC will follow the timeline below for this RFP. Any changes to this timeline will be posted on AECF LLC website. Please note that the target dates and may be adjusted.

Event

Responsible Party

Date (and time, EAT*)

1

Posting of RFP

AECF

25 March 2024;

2

Last date for requests for clarification of the RFP

Vendor

05 April 2024; 17.00HRS

3

Last date to reply to questions received/ Last date for amendment

AECF

10 April 2024; 17.00HRS

4

Last date for submission of the proposal

Vendor

19 April 2024; 17.00HRS

*EAT: East Africa Time (Nairobi)

Disclaimer

AECF reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice and reserves the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party.

The AECF does not charge an application fee for participation in the tender process and has not appointed any agents or intermediaries to facilitate applications. Applicants are advised to reach out directly to the AECF.

For more information please visit our website as per the link below

Request for Proposal: TOR for implementation of budgeting preparation and management solution for AECF – AECF (aecfafrica.org)