Expression of Interest (EOI) – Re-advertised

Consultancy to Design, Develop and Implement a Public Service Requests Portal (PSRP)

Reference Number: 83439780

1. Introduction

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is a federally owned international cooperation enterprise for sustainable development with worldwide operations. The GIZ Office in Kigali covers GIZ’s portfolio in Rwanda and Burundi. GIZ Rwanda/Burundi implements projects on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Union and other commissioning authorities in the following priority areas: Sustainable Economic Development, Good Governance, Climate and Energy, Digitalization, Extractive Governance and Peace and Security in the Great Lakes Region. 

1.1  Background

MIFOTRA is one of the Ministries of the Government of Rwanda. They oversee developing, disseminating, and coordinating public service and labour policies, strategies and programs as well as overseeing the providing administrative services in public institutions.
Among other activities, MIFOTRA is responsible for the following:

• To develop, disseminate and coordinate the implementation of policies, strategies, and programs.
• To initiate laws that regulate the public service sector and related sub-sectors.
• To build institutional and human resources capacity in the sector.
• To monitor and evaluate the implementation of policies, strategies and programs related to the management of public servants.
• To oversee the institutions under its supervision.
• To mobilize resources for the development of public institutions and the labour sector and related programs.
• To find and recruit competent employees in public institutions.
• Initiate strategies to promote work in the private sector.
• Training workers from both public and private sectors
• Strategies to increase productivity and fight for employees’ benefits.
• Update laws on employees and labour.
• To set up new politics on salaries and employees’ welfare.
• Training and reintegrating employees from exile.

MIFOTRA receives and processes requests for services from different public institutions and public servants. Once MIFOTRA receives any request, they must provide feedback to the requester of the service in each timeframe. Furthermore, in the spirit of customer care, MIFOTRA must allow service requesters to monitor the status of their requests.[1]

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 the 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).

Therefore, MIFOTRA in partnership with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) is seeking to hire a private company specialized in providing consultancy services for the development, testing and deployment of the Public Service Request Portal of MIFOTRA. In the perspective of addressing the challenges mentioned above, ToR document is elaborated.

1.2  Context

In its mandate, the Ministry of Public service and labour receives various requests from government institutions that need immediate attention and response. These requests are usually sent to the official MIFOTRA’s email. There is a dedicated team under the central secretariat tasked with the process of receiving and responding to these emails/requests. This team is also responsible for dispatching the received requests to various departments and implementing agencies in the ministry. Because this entire process is not automated, there are several challenges, including but not limited to limited visibility on the status of requests and minimal prioritization and tracking of requests.

Minimal visibility on the status of requests made to MIFOTRA is one of the greatest sources of inefficiency in processing requests. Reports show that about 30% of the requests made to MIFOTRA do not provide the requesters with any form of information regarding their status. Some requests may require further analysis from the departments concerned, while others may require supplementary documentation. The processing of these requests may take hours or days, depending on the nature of the request. The requesting institutions have minimum visibility of how far their request has reached and when to expect the final verdict.

Because only one main email is used for correspondence regarding the requests made, differentiating between the actual requests from informational communications is cumbersome. It is time-consuming for the central secretariat team to review each request received and properly designate it for dispatch to the appropriate department or implementing agency. Prioritization of requests and tracking requests becomes difficult due to many emails, some of which are “just information to the ministry.” Some of the requests are prioritized by the respective departments they are designated to, and some of the requests may be sent to the wrong departments due to difficulty in traceability.

Therefore, proper intervention to increase efficiency through effective and timely management of the requests made to the ministry is required. In addition, increasing visibility on requests made is expected to increase the productivity of the secretariat.

1.3  Project scope of work

MIFOTRA needs to have a portal that will assist in processing, managing, monitoring, and dispatching all service requests. The system's rationale is to enable the secretariat in charge of receiving these requests to manage, monitor, and track the request's status in the various departments and, in the long run, provide real-time status to the requesters.

The system is expected to digitize the service request process to address issues of handling, processing, tracking and management of service requests after they have been submitted and strengthen structures and linkages for requesters to increase efficiency.

This system feature will lessen the burden of manually managing processes required for processing service requests. As well as centralizing the entire process across the country. The System is expected to provide an interface that will be based on the current manual operations currently in use.

The system should be linked with all the MIFOTRA departments to enable automated data recording, reporting, and computing with extensive data extraction, collection, and processing functions.

The System should be layered but not limited to the following proposed components/processes:

• Users Management (user account expiration, disable Inactive users)
• Department Allocation
• Requests Receipt Management
• Processing requests
• Monitoring request status
• Keeping service request records as submitted by the requesters.
• Managing dispatched requests
• Reports management with Analytics, charts, graphs, maps, and mobile-friendly dashboards

1.4  Service request portal system requirements

Scalability: The architecture must support scalability to provide continuous growth to meet the growing demand for the requests for service from MIFOTRA. The system should also support vertical and horizontal scalability so that, depending on changing requirements from time to time, the system may be scaled upwards. There must not be any system-imposed restrictions on the upward scalability of the number of field devices. The main technological components requiring scalability are Storage, Bandwidth, Computing Performance (IT Infrastructure), and Software / Application performance.

Availability: The bidder must make provision for the high availability of the system and its resources. The application must provide an end-user interface (mobile, web and local interfaces) with a language module in English and Kinyarwanda.

Security: The architecture must adopt an end-to-end security model that protects data and the infrastructure from malicious attacks, theft, natural disasters etc. The successful bidder must make provisions for the security of field equipment as well as the protection of the software system from hackers and other threats.

The system must comply with national laws, strategies, policies, and directives relating to:

• Law protection of personal data and privacy
• Data revolution policy
• Directives on cyber security for network and information systems for all public information systems 

Manageability: Ease of configuration, source code management, ongoing health monitoring, and failure detection are vital to the goals of scalability, availability, and security and being able to match the growth of the environment.

• The system must be locally hosted.
• Access Controls must be provided to ensure that the system is not tampered with or modified by the system operators.
• Build a complete audit trail of all activities and operations using log reports so that errors in the system – intentional or otherwise –can be traced and corrected.

Interoperability: The system should be designed to streamline inputs in other third-party systems as per situational requirements, such as API (Application Programming Interface) or streaming data directly from sensors/gateway to another system/platform.

Open Standards: System, network protocols, and data modelling should be designed to use open standards and protocols to the extent possible without compromising on security.

2.   Tasks to be performed by the contractor.

DSSD is therefore looking for a qualified and experienced consultancy firm designing and building software solutions to build and implement a fully-fledged solution with functionalities as per the specifications below:

2.1   Specific tasks to be performed by the contractor.

This assignment aims to have a competent consulting firm or consultants with experience in designing and implementing software solutions to implement the service request portal. The consulting firm will perform the following tasks:

1. A review of all business processes related to all components of the Public Sector Service Request Portal (Attached to this ToR is business processes).
2. A collection of expounded diagrams of all the subcomponents under each Public Sector Service Request Portal component. For example, under physical inventory management (specify the subcomponents), Under commodity receipt management, specify the subcomponents, and so on for all components.
3. Provision of a revised list of channels to access the Public Sector Service Request Portal for the various business processes based on the required mode of operation.
4. In partnership with MIFOTRA and RISA, design iterations for the proposed building of all the Public Sector Service Request Portal components and their roll-out. The

The system will be designed with an agile approach with components deployed in iterations, all functionalities do not have to be operational for the system to be ready for deployment, therefore iterations must be designed for vertical integration.

1. Produce a revised system architecture with specific component detail and processes, like data management, flows, disaster and risk recovery, encryption modules, etc.
2. Design, build, test, iterate, improve, and deploy the PSRP with all components working seamlessly.
3. Conduct a risk assessment of each component of the PSRP and document a mitigation strategy for all identified risks for business continuity.
4. Ensure data protection and data security as well as privacy based on Rwandan data protection standards of the entire PSRP components.
5. Design APIs and integrate the entire PSRP to external interfaces of IPPIS, National ID database, and ILAS among others.

The services should be detailed as a subset of the above-mentioned general terms, including a further specification for each specific assignment.

2.1.1   Work package1: Review business processes and design iterations

A review of all business processes related to the PSRP (The business processes are attached in Annex 1 of this ToR).

The Consulting Firm will work with MIFOTRA and RISA to review iterations for the seamless rollout of the system.

2.1.2   Work package 2: Build, Test and Deploy System

Build, test, and deployment of the PSRP.

The Consulting Firm should design and follow a series of iterations (designed in work package 1) to build the system and follow the iterations in an agile manner that the product owner from MIFOTRA guides. All functionalities must not be operational for the system to be deployed. Therefore, iterations must be designed and deployed incrementally. 

2.1.3   Work package 3: Integrations

The consulting team must consolidate all source code and user knowledge about the PSRP and ensure the interoperability of all components with the existing government of Rwanda, such as IPPIS, among others.

• Ensure and prepare the PSRP to connect with IPPIS, NIDA database, and any other systems as required by the product owner (MIFOTRA).
• Ensure the overall data protection and privacy is implemented with grade encryption.

and data is segregated based on user base cases and team requirement standards. 

2.1.4   Work package 4: Training and Capacity building

Training and capacity building of the MIFOTRA and RISA teams on using the systems.

• Documentation of all modules of the PSRP
• Risk, disaster, and recovery measures, as well as a business continuity plan for the PSRP
• Detailed definition of the target group and their needs for training
• Define formats of the training/ of the training sessions
• The curriculum includes the training objectives and content used during the training.
• Design of training materials and exercises
• Timeline of the training.

2.2    Organization and Supervision Arrangements

The Consulting Firm/Consultants will work daily with MIFOTRA, RISA, and GIZ Technical Team under the direct supervision of the CDO at MIFOTRA. They will be guided by the project Technical Steering committee. 

2.3   Reporting Requirements

The Consulting Firm/Consultant must report directly to the CDO at MIFOTRA and provide a briefing to other stakeholders at RISA and GIZ.

The following reports shall be submitted in English:

2.3.1    Inception Report

This report shall be given two (2) weeks after the commencement of the assignment detailing but not limited to the approach and methodology, a proposed work plan for undertaking the assignment, and implementation timeline scheduling of the assignment. It should be submitted in three (2) copies to the assigned Project Manager. 

2.3.2   The Phases Completion Reports

This report shall constitute a summary of the accomplished work for each phase and shall reveal in detail the milestone achieved and the work plan for the coming phase. The report shall also identify the problems encountered during the implementation of previous phases and the suggested measures and needed help from the Client to facilitate the next phase of work. This report should be submitted after each phase.

2.3.3   Training Report

The Training Report will contain all the details about the training conducted to the designated technical team with specific topic done under the Consulting Firm/Consultants Supervision. The report will also contain all the related materials, diagrams and manuals used in the training and for future reference.

2.3.4   The Draft Final Report

This report will elaborate on all activities undertaken during assignment execution including all project documentation. This will include all the system and software development documentation and manuals.

2.3.5  The Final Report

The final report shall incorporate comments/ feedback from MIFOTRA, RISA, and GIZ on the draft report.

2.4     Milestones

The contractor is requested to provide an implementation plan for the project including the following milestones:

2.5    Duration and location of the assignment

Period of assignment: From Contract signature until 30 November 2023.

Place of service provision: contractor’s business place and Kigali, Rwanda.

3.      Concept

In the bid, the bidder is required to show how the objectives defined in Chapter 2.1 are to be achieved, if applicable, under consideration of further specific method-related requirements (technical-methodological concept). In addition, the bidder must describe the project management system for service provision.

3.1   Technical-methodological concept

Strategy (1.1): The tenderer is required to consider the tasks to be performed with reference to the objectives of the services put out to tender (see Chapter 1 Context) (1.1.1). Following this, the tenderer presents and justifies the explicit strategy with which it intends to provide the services for which it is responsible (see Chapter 2 Tasks to be performed) (1.1.2).

The tenderer must present and explain its approach to steering the measures with the project partners (1.3.1)

The tenderer must describe the key processes for the services for which it is responsible and create an operational plan or schedule (1.4.1) that describes how the services, according to Chapter 2 (Tasks to be performed by the contractor), are to be provided. In particular, the tenderer is required to describe the necessary work steps.

3.2   Project management of the contractor (1.6)

The bidder is required to explain its approach to coordination (1.6.1) with the GIZ project. GIZ will provide one contact person for the contractor. The explanations of the bidder shall consider the following minimum standards to be met by the contractor:

• The provision of at least one contact person for GIZ
• The existence of substitution management
• Daily availability by email and or phone (on workdays)
• The response to emails within 24 hours
• Weekly availability for a physical or virtual meeting
• Weekly progress reporting (written)
• The submission of quality-assured deliverables at least three workdays before the approval are due to be made (all deliverables need approval from GIZ)
• The selection, preparation, training and steering of the experts assigned to perform the advisory tasks.

The management of costs and expenditures, accounting processes and invoicing in line with the requirements of GIZ.

4.    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.

4.1  Team leader: Architect / Team Lead

Tasks

• Overall responsibility for the advisory packages of the contractor
• Coordinating and ensuring communication with GIZ, partners and stakeholders
• Personnel management, identifying the need for short-term assignments within the available budget, as well as planning and steering assignments and supporting local and international short-term experts.
• Regular reporting in accordance with deadlines
• Perform tasks within the scope stated in section 2 (the specific tasks will be defined depending on the requirements of each individual project)

Qualifications

• Education/training (2.1.1): University qualification (Master or equivalent) in computer science, IT or relevant field
• General professional experience (2.1.3): 10 years of professional experience in ICT sector
• Specific professional experience (2.1.4): 6 years in data analytics and architecture; experience in designing complex IT architectures
• Leadership/management experience (2.1.5): 3 years of management/leadership experience as a project team leader or manager in a company
• Regional experience (2.1.6): 4 years of experience in projects in Africa (region), of which 3 years in projects in Rwanda (country)
• Other (2.1.8): Knowledge and experience in the fields of Configuration management for business workflow tools web-based applications with documented evidence in their CV from previous roles

4.2  Experts 1 and 2: Front-end developers (2 Developers)

Tasks:

• Handle the general appearance of the PRSP as required.
• Ensuring that the PRSP appearance conforms to mobile compatibility.
• Help back-end developers with integration between the front and back end.
• Harmonizing the connectivity between the front and the back-end interfaces

Qualifications for expert 1

•  Education/training (2.2.1): University qualification (Master or equivalent) in computer science, IT or relevant field
• General professional experience (2.2.3): 5 years of professional experience in the ICT sector
• Specific professional experience (2.2.4): 3 years inthe development of business intelligence dashboards, including web applications
• Other (2.2.8): Knowledge and experience in the fields of UX design and front-end application development with documented evidence in their CV from previous roles

Qualifications for expert 2

• Education/training (2.3.1): University qualification (Master or equivalent) in computer science, IT or relevant field
• General professional experience (2.3.3): 5 years of professional experience in the ICT sector
• Specific professional experience (2.3.4): 3 years inthe development of business intelligence dashboards, including web applications
• Other (2.3.8): Knowledge and experience in the fields of UX design and front-end application development with documented evidence in their CV from previous roles

4.3  Expert 3: Back-end Developer

Tasks:

• Be involved and participate in the overall application lifecycle.
• The focus is on coding, debugging, and ensuring the application is bug-free.
• Collaborating with the front-end developers and other team members to establish objectives and design more functional, cohesive codes to enhance the user experience.
• Build high-quality reusable code that conforms to scalability demands.

Qualifications

• Education/training (2.4.1): University qualification (Master or equivalent) in computer science, IT or relevant field
• General professional experience (2.4.3): 5 years of professional experience in the ICT sector
• Specific professional experience (2.4.4): 3 years in back-end software development
• Other (2.4.8): Knowledge and experience in the fields of development of business applications and electronic document workflows with documented evidence in their CV from previous roles

4.4  Expert 4: Tester (ETL specialist)

Tasks:

• Write test data scripts based on ETL mappings.
• Execute data scripts and detailed analysis of the scripts.
• Create strategies and test cases for applications that use ETL components.
• Data mining and detailed data analysis on data warehousing systems
• Execute formal test plans to ensure the delivery of data-related requests.
• Provide input and support big data testing initiatives.
• Define and track quality assurance metrics such as defects, defect counts, test results and test status.

Qualifications

• Education/training (2.5.1): University qualification (Master/Bachelor or equivalent) in computer science, IT or relevant field
• General professional experience (2.5.3): 4 years of professional experience in the ICT sector
• Specific professional experience (2.5.4): 3 years in data warehouse development
• Other (2.5.8): Knowledge and experience in the fields of of data modeling, ETL development, data cleansing, OLAP design, application development, production automation, system and database administration with documented evidence in their CV from previous roles

4.5  Expert 5: DevOps engineer

Tasks:

• Assessing current systems and processes and developing ways to improve them based on current technologies.
• Proposing, building, and setting up new development tools and infrastructure
• Translating the needs of stakeholders and conveying this to the front-end and back-end developers
• Oversee code releases.
• Identifying technical problems and developing software updates and ‘fixes.’

Qualifications

• Education/training (2.6.1): University qualification (‘Diploma’/Master/Bachelor or equivalent) in computer science, IT or relevant field
• General professional experience (2.6.3): 3 years of experience in software engineering design, architecture and implementation in total
• Specific professional experience (2.6.4): 3 years of experience in key integration platforms & pattern/ DevOps

Soft skills of team members

In addition to their specialist qualifications, the following qualifications are required of team members:

• Team skills
• Initiative
• Communication skills
• Socio-cultural skills
• Efficient, partner- and client-focused working methods
• Interdisciplinary thinking

5.     Costing requirements

5.1    Assignment of personnel and travel expenses

Team leader: Architect / Project lead:

Assignment in the country of assignment (Rwanda) for 100 expert days

Expert 1 and 2: Front-end developers (2 developers):   

Assignment in the country of assignment (Rwanda) for 200 expert days

Expert 3: Back-end developer:      

Assignment in the country of assignment (Rwanda) for 100 expert days

Expert 4: Tester ETL specialist:     

Assignment in the country of assignment (Rwanda) for 70 expert days

Expert 5: DevOps engineer:           

Assignment in the country of assignment (Rwanda) for 70 expert days

Total Number of expert days: 540

5.2    Travel

Travel expenses budget: This is not applicable because this is a local assignment.

5.3    Other costs

• Local Hosting infrastructure (servers, all data must be hosted locally)
• SMS integrations and other plugins
• Other system integration costs

6.      Inputs of GIZ or other actors

GIZ and/or other actors are expected to make the following available:

• Transportation on site with own project vehicle

7.     Requirements on the format of the tender

The structure of the tender must correspond to the structure of the ToRs. In particular, the detailed structure of the concept (Chapter 3) should be organized in accordance with the positively weighted criteria in the assessment grid (not with zero). The tender must be legible (font size 11 or larger) and clearly formulated. It must be drawn up in English  (language).

The complete tender must not exceed 35 pages (excluding CVs). If one of the maximum page lengths is exceeded, the content appearing after the cut-off point will not be included in the assessment. External content (e.g., links to websites) will also not be considered.

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 8 pages each. They 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 (language).

Please calculate your financial tender based exactly on the parameters specified in Chapter 5, Quantitative requirements. The contractor is not contractually entitled to use up the days, trips, workshops, or budgets in full. The number of days, trips, workshops, and budgets will be contractually agreed upon as maximum limits. The specifications for pricing are defined in the price schedule.

As the contract to be concluded is a contract for works, please offer a fixed lump sum price that covers all relevant costs (fees, travel expenses etc.). The price bid will be evaluated based on the specified lump sum price. In addition, please also provide the underlying daily rate. A breakdown of days is not required.

Evaluation criteria.

The technical proposals will be assesses based on the following criteria:

Attachments

• The assessment grid
• Self-declaration of eligibility form; the bidder will complete this form & submit it together with Technical proposal.

Submission of offer: The Expression of Interest should contain the following:

1. Technical Proposal:
   • A cover letter expressing your interest in this assignment
   • Technical proposal with a brief description of why you would be considered as the most suitable for the assignment, relevant expertise, and a detailed, clear methodology, on how will be your approach to complete the assignment
   • CVs of the expert proposed
   • Company registration certificate (RDB) in case of a company
   • VAT registration certificate
   • Latest tax clearance certificate
   • Proof of successful completion of related assignments.
2. Financial Proposal: indicates the all-inclusive total contract price, supported by a breakdown of all costs. The costs must be in RWF and VAT 

Please deposit your Expression of Interest in two copies in 2 separated envelops (technical & Financial offer), until latest 7^th June 2023 at 4:00PM, at the front desk of GIZ Office Rwanda / KN 41 St. / Nr.17, Kiyovu, P.O. Box 59, Kigali.  

Please you must write on each Envelop the following:

“83439780 -Technical/financial offer – PSRP 

GIZ reserves all rights

List of Abbreviation  

ToRs               Terms of reference

GoR                Government of Rwanda

RISA               Rwanda Information Society Authority

SDG              Sustainable Development Goals

SRMP           The Smart Rwanda 2020 Master Plan

BMZ              German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

DSSD            Digital Solutions for Sustainable Development

MIFOTRA     Ministry of Public Service and Labour

PSRP           Public Service Requests Portal

IPPIS             Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System

NIDA            National Id Agency

CDO             Chief Digital Officer

ILAS            Integrated Labour Administration System