H. Duration of the assignment 

The selected consulting firm must carry out the project within Six (06) months from the date of signing the contract unless extended by agreement of both parties with an addendum to the contract.

The indicative timetable is as follows :

T : Time when the contract is signed

I. Firm profile and experience

The ideal firm must meet the following minimum requirements to be considered during the evaluation:

• Must have and demonstrate technical, economic, and regulatory expertise and experience for the development and implementation of ICT related policy frameworks especially in internet governance issues ;
• Have conducted ICT policy development research relating to internet governance in the last five (5) years.
• Demonstrate the ability to design user-friendly, intuitive deliverables blueprints, ;
• Demonstrate a strong understanding of the internet governance ecosystem in Africa;
• Firms should submit signed recommendation letters from previous clients of similar projects (in the field of policy formulation in internet governance or related) with the same magnitude and complexity.
• Ability to work in French and English.

The work shall be carried out by a firm with a lead team of at least (04) four highly qualified consultants/experts with a master’s degree or above in the requested specialties, namely:

Lead Consultant (Expert in Connectivity Infrastructure Policy/Regulation)with the following minimum requirements to be considered for evaluation :

• At least 10 years of experience in formulating connectivity infrastructure regulation policies with masters in computer engineering, ICT, data science and other related fields.
• Demonstrate experience working with regional organizations, including but not limited to ICANN, Internet Society, ITU, AFRINIC, AFTLD, UNECA, IGF, etc., and a comprehensive knowledge of actors in the internet governance ecosystem in Africa.
• Demonstrate active involvement in working groups addressing internet governance challenges.
• Show involvement in managing bilateral or multilateral partnerships related to internet governance issues in Africa.
• Experience working in Africa is essential.
• Proficiency in French and/or English.
• Successfully participated in at least two (2) projects of similar or higher complexity in the last 5 years.

Legal Expert specializing in ICT, and with the minimum requirements below to be considered for the evaluation:

• A Master’s degree in law specializing in internet governance subjects and specifically infrastructure regulation, internet governance, or related fields ;
• Extensive experience in the design, development, implementation of digital transformation policies and strategies ;
• Good knowledge on data regulation ;
• Having participated successfully in at least two (2) projects of similar or higher level of complexity in the last 5 years. ;
• Experience working in Africa.

Digital Transformation Expertwith the minimum requirements below to be considered for evaluation:

• A Master's degree in computer engineering, ICT, data science and other related fields.
• A minimum of five (5) years of in-depth experience in developing digital governance strategies in the African continent.
• Possess excellent knowledge of the internet governance ecosystem in Africa specially on IP Adresses, DNS, DNSSEC, IXP, etc..
• Have a strong understanding of internet governance bodies through participation in dedicated working groups, forums, etc.
• Have good knowledge of the technical architecture of critical infrastructure supporting internet governance.
• Experience in planning, analysis, design, and the creation of projects tailored to the continent.
• Successfully participated in at least two (2) projects of similar or higher complexity in the last 5 years.
• Experience working in Africa.Africa.

Qualified Information Systems Security Expert with the minimum requirements below to be considered for evaluation:

• A Master's degree in cybersecurity or data protection, or related fields.
• A minimum of five (5) years of in-depth experience in developing cybersecurity strategies in the African continent.
• Possess excellent knowledge of the internet governance ecosystem in Africa specially on IP Adresses, DNS, DNSSEC, IXP, etc..
• Have a strong understanding of internet governance bodies through participation in cybersecurity working groups.
• Have good knowledge of regulations and personal data protection.
• Successfully participated in at least two (2) projects of similar or higher complexity in the last 5 years.
• Experience working in Africa.

The consulting firm shall propose additional staff as part of the consulting team as necessary with adequate justification towards the realization of study objectives with dedicated roles/positions for evaluation explicitly detailed. The related financial quotation should be included for additional staff.

J.Evaluation Criteria

The following model will be used to evaluate all respondents and proposals submitted:

Technical Evaluation Criteria

The financial proposal of only those firms which secure a minimum score of 70/100 in the technical evaluation will be opened.

St= Score for the Technical Evaluation

Financial Criteria

Once the technical criteria have been evaluated, the costs of all bids will be listed from low to high. Computing the cost criteria score will be accomplished by use of the following formula:     

The Applicant getting maximum marks on 70-30 weightage (70% for technical and 30% for financial) will be selected as Consultants for the Client. The weights given to the Technical (T) and Financial Proposals (F) are T = 0.70 and F = 0.30

The Final Score (S) is calculated as follows: S = St*T + Sf*F

K. Submission requirements for technical and financial proposals

All technical and financial proposals must be submitted in English

Mandatory Administrative Documents

• Company Registration Certificate.
• Tax Clearance Certificates/Equivalence
• Joint Venture agreement where applicable.

Technical Requirements

• Firms corporate profile/Executive summary.
• Detailed description of Methodology Approach, plan, and understanding of this assignment.
• Team composition and specific responsibilities per staff/experts.
• Consultancy services performed with references and contacts.
• Detailed updated Curriculum Vitae for the proposed staffs/experts.
• Recommendation letters or certificate of completion from previous assignments. Letters should be provided with the letterhead of the recommending client and must be signed.

Financial Requirements

• Summarized Total Cost VAT Inclusive (Value of tax indicated on final cost)
• Breakdown of a remuneration package
• Breakdown of reimbursable expenses
• Miscellaneous Expenses if any

Notes:

• Indicate your preferred payment terms under financial proposal
• A withholding tax of 15% will be deducted from payments for Firms not VAT-registered with Rwanda Tax Administration (RRA) and 18% VAT will be applicable for registered firms in Rwanda.
• All Financial Proposals/offers should be password protected and Smart Africa will request for it for bidders who have been qualified in the technical evaluation
• All Financial Offers should be quoted and submitted in USD Currency.

Submission process

Soft copies of both Technical and financial proposals must be submitted via email in pdf format showing each the nature of the offer concerned (technical or financial offer); The proposals must be sent to the email: procurement@smartafrica.org  not later than 29^th September 2024 at, 05:00 pm local time (Kigali-Rwanda).

Kindly note that late submissions will be automatically disqualified.

M.Rights Reserved  

• This RFP does not obligate the Smart Africa Secretariat (SAS) to complete the RFP process.
• SAS reserves the right to amend any segment of the RFP prior to the announcement of a selected firm.
• SAS also reserves the right to remove one or more of the services from consideration for this contract should the evaluation show that it is in SAS’s best interest to do so.
• SAS also may, at its discretion, issue a separate contract for any service or groups of services included in this RFP. SAS may negotiate a compensation package and additional provisions to the contract awarded under this RFP. 
• The Smart Africa reserves the right to debrief the applicants after the completion of the process due to expected high volume of applications and avoiding the compromise of the process.

N.Enquiries 

Any enquiries will only be received and addressed Five (5) days or more prior to the bid submission deadline. Prospective respondents who may have questions regarding this RFP may submit their enquiries to tenderenquiries@smartafrica.org

O.Anti-corruption  

Smart Africa is committed to preventing and not tolerating any act of corruption and other malpractices and expects that all bidders will adhere to the same ethical principles.