Expression of Interest (EOI)
Consultancy Service for the Development of and SGBV information Chatbot in Rwanda
Cosoft No. 83415209
Background and introduction
The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a federally owned international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. GIZ has worked in Rwanda for over 30 years. The primary objectives between the Government of Rwanda and the Federal Republic of Germany are poverty reduction and promotion of sustainable development. To achieve these objectives, GIZ Rwanda is active in the sectors of Decentralization and Good Governance, Economic Development and Employment Promotion, Energy and ICT (Information and Communications Technology).

GIZ Rwanda’s Projects ‘Prevention of sexualised and gender-based violence’ (P-SGBV) and ‘Digital Solutions for Sustainable development’ (DSSD)
with a special focus on women and girls is a joint Rwandan-German Development cooperation project implemented by GIZ, commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The project works in close collaboration with its political and main implementation partner, the Ministry for Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF) as well as Civil Society Organisations.
The project aims at improving the range of prevention measures offered by governmental and non-governmental actors, which should be aligned with recognised quality standards and improved for persons affected by SGBV. This shall be achieved by strengthening the institutional and technical capacities for SGBV prevention within MIGEPROF, by improving the quality of medical, psychosocial and legal service provision for persons affected by SGBV and the dissemination of knowledge about SGBV throughout the country.

Due to the complexity and technicality of this project GIZ Rwanda’s Project ‘Prevention of sexualized and gender-based violence’ (P-SGBV) is jointly collaborating with GIZ Rwanda’s Digital Solutions for sustainable development program (DSSD) on this assignment. The DSSD program was established to support digital transformation in Rwanda through developing digital solutions from Africans for Africans. This process is accompanied by efforts to strengthen the tech ecosystem through ICT training and support to communities of practice. More and more people need to be included to reach Rwanda’s ambitious goal to become a digital and knowledge-based economy. That is why DSSD also supports the digital inclusion of vulnerable groups, such as the rural population, women, and people with disabilities.

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About the SGBV Chatbot
GIZ Rwanda’s Project Prevention of SGBV has a challenge of providing information and reaching out to a high number of people with regards Gender and SGBV related issues as well as sensitive related topics. Therefore, a USSD Solution will be developed to tackle the challenges caused by the sensitivity of the topic, the high number of people, especially women and girls directly and indirectly affected by SGBV and the need for information and knowledge about SGBV and support structures.
It is in this regard that the Projects P-SGBV and DSSD of GIZ Rwanda require a qualified company, which has extensive knowledge and extensive experience in the development of chatbot technologies.
The chatbot will enable citizens, especially women and girls to get information about SGBV in general, different forms of SGBV as well as support structures. The solution will build on existing structures in Rwanda as well as the fact that Rwandans are used to USSD solutions. Due to the fact that USSD solution are accessible via feature phones as well as smartphones a potentially very high number of the Rwandan population, especially those who cannot afford smartphones and internet connectivity, can be reached.
To ensure that the chatbot can make crucial information accessible to all Rwandans, it has some specific features:
• Localized content and language: Working closely civil society organizations (CSOs). The Project Prevention on SGBV will provide details on the CSOs to work with. The information will be tailored to the Rwandan context. The platform will operate in Kinyarwanda and English and information will be provided in simple language.
• Minimizing the need for human intervention: For enquiries which cannot be answered by the chatbot information on hotlines will be provided.
• Feedback from citizens: The chatbot will expand the scope from a one-way government to citizen approach to a transparent two-way solution where decision makers can learn from enquiries of the citizens and adapt where necessary.
• Integration: The core chatbot engine will be integrated with additional backend software to deliver the full customer journey
o Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system to ensure that citizen interaction can be tracked and followed up and to update the knowledge base
o Business Intelligence (BI) solution to identify hot topics and share them with decision makers.

The contractor shall provide the following work/service:
• Organise a telephone number/USSD short Code from RURA
• Map this USSD short Code on the respective infrastructure (contract with MTN/AIRTEL is needed, so that the USSD infrastructure can be used)
• Deployment of the infrastructure
• Enter the initial content
• Provision of the USSD short Code; including the entire organisation of processes as well as the processing itself with RURA and MTN
• Provision of the infrastructure
• Deployment of the entire infrastructure on the environment
• Configuration of the testing system and the production system
• Assessment of the code with a static code analysis tool.
• Code refactoring: The findings from static analysis should be removed.
• Implement a microservice routing service to route traffic from different USSD sources to various backend systems.
• Sharing a link to the repository, so that the vendor can analyse the code (link will be provided by the project)
• Infrastructure (costs for the server, Usage of USSD)
Tasks to be performed by the contractor
Against this background, the Project Prevention of SGBV is seeking a contractor to support with the development of the Chatbot. The tasks shall be performed in a maximum of 280 expert days.
In detail, the contractor is responsible for providing the following services:

User Journey mapping
• Define functional and non-functional requirements for the chatbot
• Development of at least 2 personas and user journeys
• Conduct user research adopting human centred design
• Design of user flows for the chatbot
• All assessments should consider target business processes as well as the “Principles for Digital Development”. These principles include inter alia the requirement to design with the user (see point 3) use Open Standards, Open Data (see point 1), Open Source (see point 5), and Open Innovation wherever possible.

Set up the environment and implement a multi-tenancy system
• Set up the cloud environment, preferably using infrastructure as code, and ensure you have the necessary requirements from those environments
• Create the CI/CD pipelines that shall be used through the project
• Implement a multi-tenancy system for the USSD
Implement the GBV USSD chatbot and integrate with telco companies
• Re-adjust the existing code to fit the GBV solutions based on the functional and non-functional requirements
• Remove code-smells and ensure the code pass the code review test using code analytics
• Set up the knowledge base and input the relevant information
• Integrate the USSD application with the knowledge base
• Acquire the USSD code from RURA, and create contracts with MNO (Mobile Network Operators) (Airtel and MTN)
• Work with cloud providers, and MNO technicians Integrate the USSD with both MTN and Airtel system
System test and user test
• Conduct the technical test based on the NFR requirements, the test should include load test, security test, and availability test
• Conduct user tests and present the results to the consortium
Knowledge transfer and handover
• Provide all the necessary documentation for the handover
• Provide content training about the knowledge base, how to create, update and maintain the knowledge base
• Provide training on how to use, maintain and monitor the system
The contractor executes all tasks in close coordination with the GIZ project consortium and regularly reports to GIZ and the project manager.
Certain milestones, as laid out in the table below, are to be achieved by certain dates during the contract term, and at particular locations:

Milestone Deadline/place/person responsible Duration
User journey personas documentation Week 1 to week 2 15 expert days
Infrastructure ready Week 1 to week 4 15 expert days
Multi-tenancy and USSD setup Week 2 to 6 45 expert days
Deploy to system to testing environment Week 2 to week 10 155 expert days
Deploy system to production and product launch Week 10 to week 13 30 expert days
Knowledge transfer training with the solution owner Week 14 19 expert days
Final report Week 14 1 expert days
Specific milestones will be agreed upon by the project consortium per iteration and will need to be respected. For each of the iterations above, a threshold of user satisfaction will be defined in advance. This user satisfaction will be measured through the user testing (task 3). The threshold and will then be considered a requirement for successfully passing the respective milestone.
Period of assignment: From 01.09.2022 until 31.12.2022.

Concept and project management of the contractor
The bidder is required to present the actors relevant for the services for which it is responsible and describe the cooperation with them.
The bidder is required to present and explain its approach to steering the measures with the project partners and its contribution to the results-based monitoring system.
The bidder is required to describe the key processes for the services for which it is responsible and create a schedule that describes how the services according to Chapter 2 are to be provided. In particular, the bidder is required to describe the necessary work steps and, if applicable, take account of the milestones and contributions of other actors in accordance with Chapter 2.

Other specific requirements
• Not applicable -
Project management of the contractor
• The contractor is responsible for selecting, preparing, training, and steering the experts (international and national, short, and long term, etc should there be any) assigned to perform this assignment.
• The contractor manages costs and expenditures, accounting processes, and invoicing in line with the requirements of GIZ.
The bidder is required to draw up a personnel assignment plan with explanatory notes that lists all the experts proposed in the bid; the plan includes information on assignment dates (duration and expert days) and locations of the individual members of the team complete with the allocation of work steps as set out in the schedule.

The bidder is required to describe its backstopping concept. The following services are part of the standard backstopping package, which (like ancillary personnel costs) must be factored into the fee schedules of the staff listed in the bid in accordance with section 5.4 of the AVB:
• Service-delivery control
• Managing adaptations to changing conditions
• Ensuring the flow of information between stakeholders
• Process-oriented technical-conceptual steering of the consultancy inputs
• Securing the administrative conclusion of the project
• Ensuring compliance with reporting requirements
• Providing specialist support for the on-site team by staff at company headquarters
• Sharing the lessons learned by the contractor and leveraging the value of lessons learned on-site
Personnel concept
The bidder is required to provide personnel who are suited to filling the positions described, based on their CVs (see Chapter 7), the range of tasks involved and the required qualifications.
The below-specified qualifications represent the requirements to reach the maximum number of points.

Team leader and product owner
Qualifications of team leader
• Education/training (2.2.1): University degree in computer science, international trade or similar
• Language (2.2.2): Good business language skills in English. Fluency in Kinyarwanda.
• General professional experience (2.2.3): 4 years of professional experience
• Specific professional experience (2.2.4): 3 years of experience in the area of digital innovation
• Good understanding of the Scrum framework and principles
• Experience as a business analyst
• experience in management of technical projects, as project manager or team lead
• Experienced in developing product roadmaps and user stories
• At least 2 years of experience of product ownership
• Experience managing relationships with Telcos and regulators
• Leadership/management experience (2.2.5): 3 years of experience in managing teams
• Regional experience (2.2.6): 4 years of experience in Rwanda
• Development Cooperation (DC) experience (2.2.7): 2 years of experience working with Development cooperation partners
• Other (2.2.8): 1 year of experience in managing chatbot projects
• More than 1 year of experience in Government of Rwanda IT projects

Expert 1: USSD developer
Qualifications of data and content lead
• Education/training (2.2.1): bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, or similar
• Language (2.2.2): Good business language skills in English. Fluency in Kinyarwanda.
• General professional experience (2.2.3): 10 years of professional experience in developing digital technologies
• Specific professional experience (2.2.4): 5 years of experience in developing production ready, critical USSD applications
• Experience with Spring boot programming, and experience with SQL databases
• experience in management of technical projects, as senior software engineer
• At least 4 years of experience with Database technologies (MySQL, PostgreSQL)
• Good experience with software development practices and methodologies
• Good experience with the DevOps practices
• Experience writing and presenting technical documentation
• Leadership/management experience (2.2.5): 3 years of experience in managing software projects
• Regional experience (2.2.6): -
• Development Cooperation (DC) experience (2.2.7): -
• Other (2.2.8): 2 years of experience in Government of Rwanda IT projects

Expert 2: DevOps Engineer
Qualifications of DevOps
• Education/training (2.2.1): University degree in computer engineering, or similar
• Language (2.2.2): Good business language skills in English.
• General professional experience (2.2.3): 3 years of professional experience in software engineering
• Specific professional experience (2.2.4):
• 2 years of production experience in DevOps for small & medium-sized applications
• Experience with Docker and Docker Swarm
• Good experience with infrastructure management
• Experience with Linux, bash, and building automation tools
• Experience with at least one major CI/CD platforms
• Good understanding of the Software Development processes
• Understanding security concerns of infrastructure
• Experience setting up and using code quality and security tools
• Experience using monitoring tools and integrating them with software solutions
• Leadership/management experience (2.2.5): 3 years of experience in managing software projects
• Regional experience (2.2.6): -
• Development Cooperation (DC) experience (2.2.7): -
• Other (2.2.8): 2 years of experience in Government of Rwanda IT projects
Expert 3: Quality Assurance tester

Qualifications of QA test
• Education/training (2.2.1): bachelor’s degree in computer science, business administration or similar
• Language (2.2.2): Good business language skills in English. Fluency in Kinyarwanda
• General professional experience (2.2.3): 3 years of professional experience
• Specific professional experience (2.2.4): 2 years of experience in automated QA test
• QA certification
• Experience running QA on USSD applications
• Leadership/management experience (2.2.5): 3 years of experience in managing projects and/or business operations
• Regional experience (2.2.6): 5 years of experience in Rwanda
• Development Cooperation (DC) experience (2.2.7): -
• Other (2.2.8): -

Soft skills for all team members
In addition to the specialist qualifications, the following qualifications are required:
• Team skills
• Initiative
• Communication skills
• Sociocultural competence
• Efficient, partner- and client-focused working methods
• Interdisciplinary thinking

Costing requirements
Assignment of personnel
The following number of days shall be allocated to each of the tasks specified under Chapter 2 “Tasks to be performed by the contractor”:
Task 1: 30 expert days
Task 2: 45 expert days
Task 3: 155 expert days
Task 4: 30 expert days
Task 5: 20 expert days
Total number of 280 expert days
Please note that the number of days is the maximum number of days required. The contractor can only invoice the number of days actually worked.
Travel
N/A
Workshops, training
N/A
Other costs
N/A
Requirements on the format of the bid
The structure of the bid must correspond to the structure of the ToRs. In particular, the detailed structure of the concept (Chapter 3) is to be organised in accordance with the positively weighted criteria in the assessment grid (not with zero). It must be legible (font size 11 or larger) and clearly formulated. The bid is drawn up in English.

The complete bid shall not exceed 10 pages (excluding CVs).
The CVs of the personnel proposed in accordance with Chapter 4 of the ToRs must be submitted using the format specified in the terms and conditions for application. The CVs shall not exceed 4 pages. The CVs must clearly show the position and job the proposed person held in the reference project and for how long. The CVs can also be submitted in English.
If one of the maximum page lengths is exceeded, the content appearing after the cut-off point will not be included in the assessment.
Please calculate your price bid based exactly on the aforementioned costing requirements. In the contract the contractor has no claim to fully exhaust the days/travel/workshops/ budgets. The number of days/travel/workshops and the budget amount shall be agreed in the contract as ‘up to’ amounts. The specifications for pricing are defined in the price schedule.

Option
• not applicable –
Submission of your EoI
The EoI should contain the following:
For Technical Proposal:
A Cover letter expressing interest in this assignment.
Technical Proposal
References and recommendations of similar works executed by the company in Rwanda or elsewhere outside of Rwanda.
Company registration certificate (RDB)
VAT registration certificate with RRA
Latest tax clearance certificate

For the Financial Proposal:
The Financial Proposal indicates the all-inclusive total contract price, supported by a breakdown of all costs. The cost must be in Rwf and VAT excluded.
Please submit electronically your EoI (technical & Financial offer) in 2 separated emails and should be in PDF files to this email: RW_Quotation@giz.de until latest 4th August 2022
Please you must write in your email subject this sentence:
EOI number 83415209- submission of technical& financial offer,
without this sentence, your offer may not be considered
Hard copies are not allowed this time
GIZ reserves all rights
List of abbreviations
AVB General Terms and Conditions of Contract (AVB) for supplying services and work 2018
BI Business Intelligence
BMZ German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
CRM Customer-Relationship-Management
GIZ Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
RURA Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority
ToRs Terms of reference

MNO Mobile Network Operator
QA Quality Insurance
Annexes
Annex 1: Pre-defined project deliverables
Annex 2: Tasks for service provider
Annex 1: Pre-defined project deliverables
Deliverable Description
Requirements assessment Gathering of functional and non-functional requirements for the solution
User journey Mapping step-by-step how users will interact with the solution
User research Conducting user research to identify key user needs and preferences, including channels, requirements and content
Design structure Content for GBV Designing a structure for content management and gather content for GBV
Training on the knowledge base usage Training the solution owner personnel on the knowledge base usage, update and maintenance
Implement the multi-tenant system Collecting relevant and quality Kinyarwanda voice data as a basis to train STT and TTS models
Implement the USSD chatbot system Training STT and TTS models in Kinyarwanda
Integration into knowledge base system Integration of chatbot engine for actions and knowledge base system
Integration with MNO operators Integrate the USSD chatbot system with MTN and Airtel
Knowledge transfer training Organize trainings for the usage and maintenance of the system and offer proper documentation to the solution owner
Annex 2: Tasks for service provider
Tasks for „Design, architecture and support for the GBV USSD chatbot “ Tasks for Project management for the Development of GBV USSD Chatbot”
• Develop and implement appropriate project management methodology
• Set up project management based on scrum framework (e.g. including iterations, sprints, retros, daily stand-ups)
Manage project scope, including:
• Manage the backlog and Work Breakdown Structure including work packages
Develop, implement and manage the project roadmap and work packages
• Develop detailed project roadmap based on solution architecture, work packages and pre-defined timeframes in cooperation with the team
• Regularly review with the team
• Define sprints and allocate tasks to team members, ensure timely completion of tasks
Stakeholder management and engagement, including:
• Conduct regular stakeholder assessments
• Effectively manage key stakeholders (including members of project consortium and government partners) to achieve project objectives in close coordination with GIZ
• Ensure smooth collaboration of members of project consortium and other stakeholders

Quality management, including:
• Ensure quality of all project deliverables
Risk management, including:
• Continuously assess project risks, and develop and implement mitigation measures where necessary
Documentation, including:
• Document all steps of project implementation and development
Monitoring and reporting progress, including:
• Set up a tool to monitor and evaluate project progress
• Regularly report to the project steering committee on progress in close coordination with GIZ
Budget and contract management support
• Monitor deliverables of external contractors according to contracts in close cooperation with GIZ
• Provide input to the development of Terms of Reference for external contractors
Resource management, including:
• Provide cost estimations for project activities
• Allocate work packages and tasks to members of consortium
• Allocate and manage other resources (e.g. computing power, licenses if needed etc.)
Communication management, including:
• Maintain an efficient communication according to project management standards with all stakeholders