Invitation to Tender at Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

Posted by Future on Mon 09th Aug, 2021 - nigeriantenders.com

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) invites qualified and interested individuals to indicate interest by submitting tender documents for the following project:

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent, humanitarian, international Non-Governmental Organization that works to protect the rights of the displaced and vulnerable people during crisis. NRC provides assistance in the areas of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Education, Food Security and Livelihoods, Shelter, Information Counseling and Legal Assistance (ICLA) and Camp Management. NRC has been providing humanitarian assistance to the displaced population of North-East Nigeria since 2015.

Applications are invited for:

Title: Study on Existing Community Based-Dispute Resolution Structures in Plateau State Nigeria

Preamble

NRC invites submissions from interested and qualified individuals to participate in the tender for the provision of consultancy service:

Any request for clarification must be received by NRC in writing at least 4 working days before the deadline for submission of tenders. NRC will reply to bidders' questions at least 2 working days before the deadline for submission of documentation.
Costs incurred by the bidder in preparing and submitting the tender proposals will not be reimbursed.

Scope of Service

The Contracts eligible for bidding are:

41/NRC-NOT/NG/2021 / Nigeria / Study on the Existing Community-Based Dispute Resolution Structures in Plateau State- Nigeria.

Assessment Criteria

Award of the contract(s) will be based on the following:

Step 1: Administrative compliance check:

Bidders must provide evidence of the following for their bid to be considered compliant:
- Sections 5-8 completed, signed and stamped
- Bidder has included a copy of their valid business licence

Step 2: Technical Evaluation:

A Technical Evaluation of all bids received will be conducted to shortlisted bidders. Criteria that will be used to evaluate and score the bids are outlined in Section 3, Clause 2

Step 3: Financial Evaluation:

Price in comparison to NRC established expectation and in comparison to other bidders of comparable technical quality.

Eligible Bidders

A Bidder shall meet the following criteria to be eligible to participate in NRC procurement of Services:

The bidder, at the time of bid, is not:
- Insolvent;
- In receivership;
- Bankrupt; or
- Being wound up
The bidder’s business activities have not been suspended;
The bidder is not the subject of legal proceedings for any of the circumstances in (b); and
The bidder has fulfilled his or her obligations to pay taxes and social security contributions. In a case where VAT is included in a bid, a copy of the VAT certificate must accompany the bid. A Bidder, and all parties constituting the Bidder including sub-contractors, shall not have a conflict of interest. All Bidders found to have a conflict of interest shall be disqualified. A Bidder may be considered to have a conflict of interest with one or more parties in this bidding process, if they have a relationship with each other, directly or through common third parties, that puts them in a position to have access to information about or influence on the bid of another Bidder, or influence the decisions of the Norwegian Refugee Council regarding this bidding process.

A Bidder whose circumstances in relation to eligibility change during a procurement process or during the execution of a contract shall immediately inform the Norwegian Refugee Council.

NRC reserves the right to refuse a bid at any time if the bidder or one of its sub-contractors provided material support or resources to any individual or entity that commits, attempts to commit, advocates, facilitates, or participates or is found guilty of fraud, active corruption, collusion, coercive practice, bribery, involvement in a criminal organization or illegal activity, or immoral human resources practices, including but not limited to: child labour, non-discrimination, freedom of association, payment of the legal national minimum wage, and forced labour. Joint Ventures, Consortia, Association

Joint Ventures, Consortia and Association
Bids submitted by a joint venture, consortium or association of two or more firms as partners will only be accepted in exceptional circumstances.

Each Bidder shall submit only one Bid per contract. A Bidder who submits or participates in more than one bid per contract will cause all the bids with the Bidder’s participation to be rejected.
The Bidder shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of his Bid, and the Norwegian Refugee Council shall not be responsible or liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the bidding process.
NRC is obliged to ensure that its procurement decisions are clearly justified and documented and keeping within the Donors mandatory principles. In that regard, full and on-the-spot access must be granted to representatives of NRC, the Donor or any organization or person mandated by it, to premises belonging to NRC or its contractors. The right to access shall include all documents and information necessary to assess, or audit the implementation of the contract

Obtaining and Completing of Bidding Documents

Bidders who did not obtain the Bidding Document directly from the Norwegian Refugee Council will be rejected during evaluation. Where a Bidding Document is obtained from the Norwegian Refugee Council on a Bidder’s behalf, the Bidder’s name must be registered with the Norwegian Refugee Council at the time of issue.
The Bidder is expected to examine all instructions, forms, terms, and specifications in the Bidding Document. Failure to furnish all information or documentation required by the Bidding Document may result in the rejection of the bid.

Application Closing Date

5:00pm 20th August, 2021.

Submission of Documents

Please submit your bids in accordance with the requirements.Complete bid documents shall be sent by email to: ng.tenders@nrc. Only submission made via this email address will be acceptable and eligible for review.

Clarification of Bidding Documents

A prospective Bidder requiring any clarification of the Bidding Document shall contact the Norwegian Refugee Council in writing as mentioned above, through the given email address: Jennifer.ismail@nrc.no , charles.awici@nrc.no and ng.procurement@nrc.no.
The Norwegian Refugee Council will respond in writing to any request for clarification before the deadline for clarification of bids.
The Norwegian Refugee Council shall forward copies of its response to all Bidders who have acquired the Bidding Document, including a description of the inquiry but without identifying its source.

Amendment of Bidding Documents:

At any time prior and until 48 hours prior to the deadline for submission of bids, the Norwegian Refugee Council may amend or cancel the Bidding Document by informing the bidders in writing.
To give prospective Bidders reasonable time in which to take an amendment or cancellation into account in preparing their bids, the Norwegian Refugee Council can, at his discretion, extend the deadline for the submission of bids.

Language of Bid:

The bid, as well as all correspondence and documents relating to the bid shall be written in English.
Supporting documents and printed literature that are part of the bid may be in another language provided they are accompanied by an accurate translation of the relevant passages in English, in which case, for purposes of interpretation of the Bid, such translation shall govern. All translations should be certified by the translator, with name and contact details.

Documents Comprising the Bid

The bid submitted by the Bidder shall comprise the following:
- Signed and stamped Consultancy’s Biding form
- Any other information and documents requested
- Timetable provision Schedule
- Consultancy Profile and Previous experience, including Curriculum Vital of personnel to be included
- Service Description, Scope of Method to carry out the survey and Pricing Proposal
- Signed and stamped Supplier Ethical Standards Declaration
All forms must be completed without any alterations to the format, and no substitutes shall be accepted.
Proof of registration (business registration documents and/or VAT or company tax registration. If the consultant is a sole-trade (self-employed) a confirmation of the status from a certified accountant or the tax authorities is mandatory. For any self-employed person based in European country, a sole-trade certificate/registration document is required. If the sole trade consultant is from the US, a certificate from his/her registered account is sufficient.
All blank spaces shall be filled in with the information requested.

Bid Price for Consultancy Contract:

Submitted prices are for complete contracts. Contracts cannot be subdivided into pieces. Where a bid is submitted, all relevant services must be offered, with no request for advance payment.
One financial offer (Excel) detailing the budget in NGN or USD only
Services for which no rate or price is entered by the Bidder will be considered as not quoted.
Unless otherwise specified in Section 2 - the Bid Data Sheet, all duties, taxes and other levies payable by the bidder under the contract, shall be included in the total bid price submitted by the bidder.
For bidder subject to VAT, VAT should be mentioned in the offers
For Bidder subject to social benefits to respective authorities, such as and not limited to social insurance, travel insurance, vacation payments, these should not be mentioned, these are the absolute responsibility of the bidder.
The prices submitted by any Bidder shall be checked for arithmetical errors and for what might be considered unreasonable rates during the evaluation. Where errors are identified one or more of the following steps may be taken:
- If any rates are considered to be unrealistic or unreasonable they may be altered by mutual agreement, provided that no alteration shall be made in the amount of the Bid.
- If any arithmetical errors are detected in an otherwise acceptable bid, and the Bidder, on being so notified, is prepared to confirm his bid and if the Bidder is subsequently awarded the contract, then the Bid shall be altered to reflect the difference.
- Bidders are reminded that it is entirely their responsibility to ensure the accuracy of their bids. No alteration will be made to the bid after its submission on the grounds of any arithmetical errors subsequently discovered except as provided above.

Currencies of Bid and Payment:

All prices shall be quoted by the Bidder in either Nigeria Naira (NGN) orUS Dollars (USD), unless otherwise stated. For consultant based in Nigeria, payment will be made in Nigeria Naira while consultant who are not based in Nigeria will be paid in US Dollars (USD).

Bid Validity:

Bids shall remain valid for a period of 90 calendar days after the date of the bid submission deadline as prescribed by Norwegian Refugee Council. A bid valid for a shorter period shall be rejected as non-compliant.
In exceptional circumstances, prior to the expiration of the bid validity period, the Norwegian Refugee Council may request Bidders in writing to extend the period of validity of their bids. A Bidder must confirm in writing his acceptance of the extension. In case of extension, modification of the bid is not permitted.

Alternative Bids:

Bidders shall submit offers that comply with the requirements of the bidding documents, including the basic scope of method.
Alternative bids shall not be considered unless otherwise indicated in Section 2 – the Bid Data Sheet.

Format and Signing off Bid:

The Bidder shall prepare one set of bid documents per contract that he wishes to bid for. The bidder should hold a copy of the documents for reference purposes.
The Norwegian Refugee Council shall not consider any bid that arrives after the deadline for submission as stipulated in Section 2 –the Bid Data Sheet. Any bid received by the Norwegian Refugee Council after the deadline for submission of bids shall be declared late and rejected.
A Bidder may withdraw its bid after it has been submitted at any time before the deadline for submission of bids by sending a written notice, signed by an authorized representative. Any corresponding replacement of the bid must accompany the respective written notice.

Confidentiality:

Information relating to the examination, evaluation, comparison, and post-qualification of bids, and recommendation of contract award, shall not be disclosed to bidders or any other persons not officially concerned with such process.
Any effort by a Bidder to influence the Norwegian Refugee Council in the examination, evaluation, comparison, and post-qualification of the bids or contract award decisions may result in the rejection of its bid.
From the time of bid opening to the time of Contract award, if any Bidder wishes to contact the Norwegian Refugee Council on any matter related to the bidding process, it should do through the given email account NG.Procurement@nrc.no

Clarification of Bids:

Norwegian Refugee Council may, at its discretion, ask any Bidder for a clarification of its Bid. The Norwegian Refugee Council’s request for clarification and the response shall be in writing. Any clarification submitted by a Bidder that is not in response to a request by the Norwegian Refugee Council shall not be considered. All requests for clarifications shall be copied to all bidders for information purposes. No change in the price or substance of the bid shall be permitted, except to confirm the correction of errors.

Bids Validation:

The Norwegian Refugee Council’s determination of a Bid’s validity is to be based on the contents of the bid itself, which cannot be corrected if determined to be invalid
A valid bid is one that complies with all the terms, conditions, and specifications of the Bidding Document, without deviation or omission, which affects, or could affect;
- the scope, quality, or performance of the services specified in the Contract; or
- limits in any substantial way, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s rights or the Bidder’s obligations under the Contract

Evaluation of Bids

The Norwegian Refugee Council shall examine the legal documentation and other information submitted by Bidders to verify eligibility, and then will review and score bids according to the following criteria:professional competencies, expertise and qualification for the tasks described above (50%), Previous experience (30%), Technical quality of submitted work samples (10%), Financial offer (10%).
Anti-money laundering, anti-bribery, anti-corruption and anti-terrorism legislation applicable in some jurisdictions will require NRC to verify the identity of the bidder prior to financial transactions. NRC reserves the right to use online screening tools to check the bidder’s record with regards to their possible involvement in illegal or unethical practices. This is without exception. All records will be kept strictly confidential.
The Norwegian Refugee Council reserves the right to reject all bids, and re-tender if no satisfactory bids are submitted

Award Procedure:

The Norwegian Refugee Council shall award the Contract in writing, with an award letter, to the Bidder whose offer has been determined to be the best, before the end of the bid validity period
Any bidder who has not been awarded a contract, will be notified in writing
Until a formal contract is prepared and executed, the Award Letter shall constitute a binding agreement between the bidder and NRC.
The Award Letter will state the sum that the Norwegian Refugee Council will pay the Consultancy Company in consideration of the Services as prescribed in the Contract, and in accordance with the Bid.
The Bidder is thereafter required to submit a Letter of Acceptance, confirming their wish to proceed with a contract.

Signing of Contract:

Upon receipt of the Letter of Acceptance, the Norwegian Refugee Council shall call the successful Bidder to sign the Contract.
Within an agreed time-frame, the successful Bidder shall sign, date, and return the Contract to the Norwegian Refugee Council.
The signing of the contract does not mean the start of the stated activity, but an agreement that an activity has to be undertaken.

For more clarification / enquiry(es) on this invitation to tender, please Click here (Ms Word)