REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL CONSULTANCY TO CONDUCT BOOT CAMP SERVICES TO HANGA PITCHFEST 2024 APPLICANTS

Contents

SECTION 1: INSTRUCTIONS TO PROSPECTIVE BIDDERS

Preparation of Proposals: You are requested to submit separate technical and financial proposals. You are advised to read the Request for Proposal carefully. An electronic copy (in PDF) of the Request for Proposals shall be considered the original version.

Technical Proposals: Technical proposals should contain the following documents and information:

• A brief description of the firm’s organization and an outline of recent experience on assignments of a similar nature. For each assignment, the outline should indicate among others, the profiles of the staff proposed for the duration of the assignment, and the firm’s involvement.
• Description of the methodology and work plan for performing the assignment.
• CVs of key staff;
• The contractor’s comments or suggestions on the TORs and appreciation of the assignment – the objectives, tasks, and deliverables

Financial Proposals: Financial proposals should contain the following documents and information:

A copy of the breakdown of Lump Sum Price showing all costs for the assignment, broken down into professional fees, and reimbursable costs. The costs associated with the assignment shall be in RWF for all bidding firms.

Validity of Proposals: Proposals must remain valid for 15 calendar days from proposal submission date.

Submission of Proposals: The technical and financial proposals should be submitted separately, both clearly marked with the Firm’s name, ICT Chamber, and either “Technical Proposal” or “Financial Proposal” as appropriate.

Proposals (both technical and financial) must be submitted electronically to: bids@ict.rw with a clear subject line: “consultancy to conduct boot camp services to hanga pitchfest 2024 applicants” and submitted by September 30, 2024 at 5:00 pm Central African Time (CAT).

Proposals must be submitted in PDF format and as attachments to the email, any proposal submitted as a link or after the specified deadline will not be considered.

Language of the tender and mode of communication

The communication medium shall be in writing. The bid, as well as all correspondence and documents relating to the bid exchanged by the Bidder and the ICT Chamber, shall be written in English.

Amendment to the tender document

At any time prior to the deadline for submission of bids, the ICT Chamber may amend the tender document by issuing an addendum. Any addendum issued shall be part of the tender document and shall be communicated in writing through email from the ICT Chamber, and it will be published on the platform where the original tender document will be posted.

To give prospective Bidders reasonable time in which to take an addendum into account in preparing their bids, the ICT Chamber may, at its discretion, extend the deadline for the submission of bids; in which case, all rights and obligations of the Chamber and Bidders previously subject to the deadline shall thereafter be subject to the deadline as extended.

Late bids

The ICT Chamber shall not consider any bid that arrives after the deadline for submission of bids. Any bid received by the ICT Chamber after the deadline for submission of bids shall be declared late, rejected, and returned unopened to the Bidder.

SECTION 2: ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Eligibility Criteria: You are required to meet the following criteria to be eligible to participate in the procurement exercise:

• Have the legal capacity to enter into a contract;
• Being a locally registered company
• Not be insolvent, in receivership, bankrupt, or being wound up or subject to legal proceedings for any of these circumstances; The bidder must submit a copy of certificate of non-bankruptcy as a proof.
• Not have had your business activities suspended;
• Have fulfilled your obligations to pay taxes and social security contributions; the bidder must submit a copy of tax clearance certificate and social security contributions certificate.

 NOTE: Failure to submit the above-required documents will lead to disqualification from Technical and Financial evaluation

Financial Criteria:

Pricing information should not appear in any other section of the proposal other than the financial proposal. Financial scores shall be determined by awarding a maximum of 30 points to the lowest priced proposal that has passed the minimal technical score and giving all other proposals a score that is proportionate to this.

Total scores: Total scores shall be determined using a weighting of 70% for technical proposals and a weighting of 30% for financial proposals.

Best Evaluated Bid: The best-evaluated bid shall be the firm with the highest combined score and shall be recommended for the award of the contract.

Right to Reject: the ICT Chamber reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal or to cancel the procurement process and reject all proposals at any time prior to contract signature and issue by the Chamber, without incurring any liability to Consultants.

The ICT Chamber reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to reject all proposals received and seek fresh proposals, to negotiate further with one or more of the bidders, to defer the award of a contract, or cancel the competition and make no contract award, if appropriate.

All costs incurred in the preparation of a quotation responding to this RFP will be the responsibility of the bidder and will not be reimbursed by the ICT Chamber.

SECTION 3: TERMS OF REFERENCE

CONSULTANCY TO CONDUCT BOOT CAMP SERVICES TO HANGA PITCHFEST 2024 APPLICANTS

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Government of Rwanda led by the Ministry of ICT and Innovation and Rwanda Development Board, and the United Nation Development Program organize the Hanga Pitchfest 2024. Hanga PitchFest aims to provide a unique platform to showcase tech-entrepreneurs and creative talents from all over the country and promote the use of technology and innovation in the Rwandan market.

Above this, Hanga PitchFest will provide an opportunity to match selected startups to potential investors such as Angel and venture capital investors, Technology company founders and co-founders as well as Private Sector business leaders.

Top startups are to be identified through a call for applications, a national roadshow “Hanga on the Road” and bootcamps to identify the top 5 startups pitching for Frw 110,000,000 worth of grant money and additional non-cash prizes at the final festival to be held during December 2024.

Hanga Pitchfest festival is an all-day event and includes innovators’ showcases, masterclasses for entrepreneurs, live music performances, and a live pitching competition for the top 5 startups.

One of the key achievements of the Hanga Pitchfest event is the Entrepreneurship bootcamp, a series of business coaching sessions to be delivered to the top 25 final startups. The entrepreneurs are trained for 1 month by the successful consulting firm in various entrepreneurship skills.

OBJECTIVE, SCOPE OF WORK AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Objective

The consultancy firm will be responsible for:

Providing the bootcamp services to Hanga Pitchfest 2024 top 25 startups.

Scope:

The bootcamp will contribute to enhancing the capacities of young entrepreneurs in developing business plans, accessing funds, developing/improving their marketing strategies, pitching, effective communication, storytelling, and many more. In addition, the bootcamp will leave the startups with enough skills to improve their profitability, scale up their projects, and create connections with market investors.

It is within that framework that the support is needed to provide the bootcamp services to the Hanga Pitch Fest beneficiaries to support the development of their businesses.

A successful firm will provide bootcamp services to a maximum of 25 startups of Hanga Pitch Fest beneficiaries with both technical and strategic support to ensure the growth of their businesses by providing services including training, guidance, coaching, business online presence, storytelling, Market access, market-creating innovations, etc.

Responsibilities

More specifically, the consultancy assignment should consist of the following main tasks:

• Provide equipped space for the bootcamp with facilities including high-speed connectivity and other basic facilities. (A maximum of 4 weeks intensive, in-person bootcamp).
• Conduct detailed individual need assessments of beneficiaries at the beginning of the program and develop a toolkit to support startups according to their needs.

Provide the startups with Capacity building in:

• Market opportunities and research
• Business modeling, planning
• Product development and Value Chain management
• Source of finance
• Resources management,
• Understanding of target market
• Marketing management, marketing strategy, product branding,
• Access to market strategy
• Access to finance
• Leadership development
• Online presence.
• Storytelling
• Fundraising strategies.
• Investment readiness
• Assist beneficiaries during the bootcamp and beyond to develop their business plan, setting up milestones as well as preparing their pitch decks.
• Provide both remote and live business mentorship.

Notice: It is the responsibility of the contracted consulting firm to provide all required expertise in-house or/and with the support of external partners during the execution of this assignment.

DELIVERABLES

• Implementation plan to be delivered after signing a contract of assignment.
• Bootcamp curriculum.
• Conduct the bootcamp
• Top 25 startups' business plan with key milestones.
• Regular evaluation of milestones and achievements of top 5 startups until the end of assignment/contract.
• Final report: The final report will provide some detailed information on the activities implemented during the agreed timeline of the bootcamp. In addition, the report will include detailed achievements, challenges, lessons learned as well as recommendations.

DURATION, TIMING

The assignment is scheduled to be undertaken by a local consultancy firm. The consultancy will run for 10 months starting from October 2024.

DUTY STATION

• Kigali

HANGA PITCHFEST 2024 TIMELINES

EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF PROPOSALS

Evaluation of Proposals: The evaluation of Proposals will use the quality cost based methodology as detailed below:

• Preliminary examination to determine eligibility (as defined below) and administrative compliance to this request for quotation;
• Detailed technical evaluation will contribute 70%;
• Financial scores will be allocated 30% to determine the best evaluated bid.

Proposals failing any stage will be eliminated and not considered in subsequent stages.

• Currency: Proposals should be priced in Rwandan Francs inclusive of all taxes.
• Best Evaluated Bid: The best-evaluated bid shall be the firm with the highest combined score and shall be recommended for the award of the contract.
• Right to Reject: the ICT Chamber reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal or to cancel the procurement process and reject all proposals at any time prior to contract signature and issue by the Chamber, without incurring any liability to Consultants. The ICT Chamber reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to reject all proposals received and seek fresh proposals, to negotiate further with one or more of the bidders, to defer the award of a contract, or cancel the competition and make no contract award, if appropriate.

CONFIDENTIALITY

Please note that the contents of this RFP and any information (whether written, oral or marked confidential) disclosed by ICT Chamber to a potential supplier receiving this RFP (a “Recipient”) in connection with the RFP process and the underlying project described herein is confidential information belonging to ICT Chamber (the “Confidential Information”).

The Recipient may not use or disclose to any third party any Confidential Information, except as may be authorized in writing by ICT Chamber, and will put in place any and all security procedures to prevent any unauthorized use or disclosure. The Recipient may disclose confidential information to its employees on a need-to-know basis, provided that such employees are obligated to comply with the terms of this confidentiality statement. The recipient shall be liable to ICT Chamber for any breach of this confidentiality statement by the foregoing authorized employees and/or third parties.

In the event that the recipient elects not to respond to this RFP, the recipient must promptly destroy this RFP, and provide ICT Chamber with written certification of such destruction. Within ten (10) days following receipt of a written request from ICT Chamber, or recipient’s withdrawal or elimination from the RFP process, the recipient shall deliver all tangible confidential Information to ICT Chamber and purge all electronic materials containing or embodying the confidential information, and certify the same to ICT Chamber in writing. The confidentiality obligations shall remain in full force and effect in perpetuity.

• These restrictions shall not apply with respect to information that has become generally and lawfully available to the public other than as a result of the disclosure by the Recipient in violation of this Agreement, information available to the Recipient on a non-confidential and lawful basis prior to its disclosure, information that becomes available to the Recipient from a source not, to the best knowledge of such party, subject to any prohibition against disclosure and information which is required to be disclosed either pursuant to the operation of law or due to transaction obligations.

Evaluation Criteria

Scoring Model

• 0 points: No information provided or highly inadequate response.
• 1-3 points: Weak demonstration of capability with gaps in experience or understanding.
• 4-6 points: Adequate but lacks compelling evidence or details in some areas.
• 7-9 points: Strong response with well-documented experience and clear understanding of requirements.
• 10 points: Exceptional response, highly detailed and directly aligned with the ToRs, with proven experience and methodologies.

Reporting Language

The consultant will report to Rwanda ICT Chamber CEO and the MINICT Project Lead for the event. All reports/documents shall be presented in English.

Format of Bids

Technical and financial proposals should be submitted in PDF format via email bids@ict.rw by September 30, 2024 5PM.