REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Professional Conference Organizer for Mobile World Congress Kigali 2024

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.
• The contractor is expected to have practical experience in communication and public relations, events/conference organization and management, and vendor management.
• 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: “Professional Conference Organizer for Mobile World Congress Kigali 2024” and submitted by August 23, 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;
• 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.
• Not to have a conflict of interest in relation to this procurement requirement; Not be already contractually involved in the Mobile World Congress Kigali 2024.

 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

General Context

Established in 2011, Rwanda ICT Chamber is a member-based organization of the Private Sector Federation that represents the interest of private tech companies in Rwanda. The ICT Chamber brings together ICT Associations, businesses, groups, and individuals into a community where they can share ideas on how to promote and develop Rwanda’s ICT and ICT-enabled Industries. Currently, the ICT Chamber has a membership base of more than 400 companies including both paying and nonpaying members.

The ICT Chamber promotes the growth of the ICT industry by offering a platform for networking, advocacy, and collaboration. The chamber actively engages with the Government of Rwanda and other entities to promote ICT development through policy and regulatory instruments. It also focuses on capacity building; providing training and development opportunities for ICT professionals and businesses, enhancing their skills and market competitiveness. The ICT Chamber fosters innovation and business growth within Rwanda, aiding its members in accessing new markets and business opportunities. The chamber is instrumental in supporting startups and entrepreneurs, encouraging the development of new technologies and innovations.

In collaboration with the Ministry of ICT and Innovation (MINICT), the ICT Chamber is supporting the Government of Rwanda to host the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) Kigali. The congress convenes senior policymakers and the mobile sector to drive digital inclusion, economic growth and environmental transformation. This years’ MWC Kigali will welcome leaders from cross cutting digital industries such as finance, health, agriculture, entertainment, and the telecoms ecosystem. It will host discussions that shape society's interaction with technology, showcasing cutting-edge technology demos that push the limits of what is possible.

MWC Kigali 2024 is expected to take place at the Kigali Convention Centre from 29 - 31 October 2024. It is in this regard that the ICT Chamber is soliciting qualified firms to procure professional conference organizer services.

REQUESTED SERVICES

Timeframe: These services are expected to start on the September 10, 2024.

The professional conference organizer will be required to undertake the following:

• Develop an integrated and comprehensive work plan to deliver MWC Kigali (MWCK) 2024 on behalf of the MINICT as the client (MINICT).
• Ensure high quality execution of the assigned MWCK 2024 Activities.
• Provide, direct and oversee integrated logistics and quality delivery of the Conference proposition
• Ensure appropriate staffing and resources for the execution of the events.
• Develop, document and archive standard operating procedures, templates, etc for organizing the assigned MWCK 2024 activities and events.
• Development of collaterals.
• Manage project meetings, minutes, and follow up on key actions and commitments with the ICT Chamber and MINICT (weekly and ad hoc if necessary).

DELIVERABLES

Please refer to the table below on the technical requirements related to branding, furniture, transportation, accreditation, delivery of MINICT’s events and staffing for all rooms:

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

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 August 23, 2024 5PM.