| Name of Signature Program: | Naija Unlock |
| Agresso Work order: | NG1001 |
| Country: | Nigeria |
| RFP No. |
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL
Funded by:
Heifer International
| RFP Release Date: | October 31st 2024 |
| Question/ Inquiry Submission Deadline: | November 18th 2024 |
| Proposal Submission Deadline: | November 20th 2024 |
| Performance Period: | December 16th, 2024 – November 15th 2025 |
| Electronic submission to the attention of: | [email protected] |
| Contact information for inquiries about this RFP: | [email protected] |
Terms of Reference
I. General Information
This document is being issued to solicit applications from a consulting firm with key technical expertise in Incident Reporting Systems. Heifer International is looking for a reliable and consistent security alert systems provider in Nigeria that can provide timely security incident alerts nationwide and respond to emergencies.
II. Background
About Heifer International
Heifer International is a global non-profit organization on a mission to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way. Since 1944, Heifer International through its work in 21 countries (in Africa, Asia, and the Americas) has supported more than 39 million people around the world to end hunger and poverty in a sustainable way, and millions more now on a pathway to living incomes. Working with rural communities across Africa for 48 years, Heifer International supports farmers and local food producers to strengthen local economies and build secure livelihoods that provide a living income. Heifer’s foundation was built on the belief that ending hunger begins with giving people the means to feed themselves, generate income and achieve sustainable livelihoods for their households. Heifer’s global vision for 2020 – 2030 is to close the living income gap for an additional 10 million families. This vision is a focused approach for the African continent to support at least 6 million smallholder farmers in Africa to reach sustainable living income. As a part of this commitment, Heifer has expanded its presence in Africa to include Nigeria, with a goal of supporting at least two million households to achieve sustainable living income through (a) strategic private and public sector partnerships, (b) unlocking demand and market opportunities, (c) investing in priority value chains, and (d) leveraging innovation and emerging agricultural technologies to reach transformational scale. More information about Heifer is available at: www.heifer.org
Heifer Nigeria Country Program
Heifer International established its Nigeria Country Program in 2021, and its Signature Program for Nigeria, named “Naija Unlock”, was designed and launched. Naija Unlock program’s aim is to support the unlocking of the potential in Nigeria’s agricultural sector to achieve food self-sufficiency by working with smallholder farmers and local value chain actors to increase their productivity to meet local demand for food and raw material while closing the living income gap for families in the rice, tomato, and poultry value chains, with plans to add cattle, and small ruminant value chains. Naija Unlock is an evidence-based Signature Program designed to close the living income gap of smallholder farmers at scale with permanence of impact. The goal is to assist more than one million households to achieve sustainable living income by 2025, and scale to two million households by 2030, through strategic private and public sector partnerships to (a) build the social capital of smallholder farmers, (b) unlock farmers’ access to innovative financing, (c) unlock demand and market opportunities, (d) increase farmers access to mechanization and emerging agricultural innovations, and (e) increase farmers knowledge and adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices. Naija Unlock program activities are being implemented currently in five (5) states in Nigeria (Ogun, Edo, Nasarawa, Benue, and Lagos States) with plans to scale to other states with the potential to make an impact at a transformational scale.
III. Description of Expected Professional Services
Objectives: The security alert system aims to enhance situational awareness and responsiveness to security incidents across Nigeria. It should be designed to provide timely and accurate information for Heifer International Nigeria’s operations nationwide for an informed decision. These include:
- Timely dissemination of Safety and Security-related information/intelligence.
- Rapid response to emergencies.
- Historical Nigerian security-related incidents for risk analysis.
- A specially designed dashboard for Heifer-Nigeria to filter incidents by categories, locations, threat actors, casualties, etc.
- Access to a Customized dashboard for infographics and visualizations.
- Establish a system for collecting, analyzing, and verifying security–related data from various sources.
- Provide tools for real-time data monitoring and trend analysis.
- Weekly/monthly security trend analysis.
The system must be comprehensive enough to handle all types of security-related incidents, such as criminal activities, civil unrest, natural disasters, and terrorism, at the national, state, and local levels. It should also consider incidents that affect farmers, including military and non-military operations. Data Privacy and Security
Address concerns related to data privacy and security. Outline measures to ensure that sensitive information is handled appropriately, and that the system complies with relevant data protection regulations.
- Deliverables: The expected deliverables of this request for proposal are as follows:
(.i) Reporting and Evaluation
Establish reporting mechanisms for safety and security incidents and the performance of the alert system. Define how feedback and lessons learned will be incorporated to improve the system.
(ii) Legal and Ethical Considerations
Highlight any legal or ethical considerations associated with the security alert system, including compliance with national and international laws.
(iii) Budget and Resources
Provide an estimate of the budget required for developing, implementing, and maintaining the security alert system per month. Mention all the various packages entail.
(iv) Timeline
Outline the timeline for the various phases of the security alert system, including development, testing, deployment, and ongoing maintenance.
(v ) Review and Amendment
Specify a process for regularly reviewing the terms of reference and the security alert system. Include provisions for amendments based on evolving security needs.
- Alert Levels
Define different alert levels based on the severity of security incidents. Specify the criteria for escalating or de-escalating alert levels.
These terms of reference establish a framework for developing, implementing, and maintaining Nigeria’s robust security alert system. Regular reviews and updates will ensure the system’s effectiveness in addressing evolving security challenges.
Duration: The implementation period for the Incident Alert System is for one year from the date of contract award.
(vii) Application Process
Consulting Firm Submission Requirements: All interested individuals or firms will submit their organization’s profile with the following information:
- Technical expertise as outlined in the objective and deliverables.
- Financial Proposal (in Naira)
- Itemized budget
- Narrative explanations of line items
Interested firms legally eligible to implement this assignment in Nigeria are requested to submit a proposal. Please include the name of the person in your organization who will be negotiating the contract, as well as your telephone and email contact information. Submissions must be in English and typed single-spaced using Times New Roman font size 12, with a complete set of appendices/attachments as applicable. All pages must be numbered and include the SOW reference number on the cover page and the name of the organization at the bottom of each page.
The successful consulting firm will be required to produce the following documents before entering into an Independent Contractor Agreement (ICA) with Heifer:
- Certificate of Incorporation or Business Registration Certificate.
- A Partnership Deed if you are running a partnership business.
- Letter of reference for similar work done in the past.
- Tax Compliance Certificate.
- Physical location, including town, building, room number, and postal address.
- Trade reference and clientele list, including their respective contacts.
The technical and financial proposals should be submitted by 20th November 2024 through [email protected]. Please quote “INCIDENT ALERT REPORTING SYSTEM” in the subject line.
Heifer retains the right to terminate this RFP or modify the requirements upon notification to the Offerors.
VII. Selection Criteria
Submitted proposals must clearly demonstrate alignment with the scope of work outlined above and with the appropriate level of detail. Heifer’s goal is to ultimately sign on with the Offeror whose proposal best follows the instructions in this RFP, includes the strong evaluation team, and is most cost-effective. Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
| Proposal evaluation focus | Percentage |
| Accuracy and relevance of the proposed technical approach and methodology | 15% |
| Completeness of proposal according to the RFP (general information/profile, firms’ expertise, etc.) | 15% |
| Documentations: registrations with the relevant Nigerian government agencies, Certifications/recognitions in the security industry (home and abroad), and similar projects completed/ongoing. | 15% |
| Ability to dedicate customized digital data for the incident analysis page for Heifer International in the incident datasheet. And the ability to customized risk profiling and send alerts based on Heifer’s International needs. | 35% |
| Budget justification and costs realism | 20% |
The selection committee will evaluate the technical proposal based upon the criteria listed above, and they will evaluate the financial proposal based on cost reasonableness and cost-effectiveness in the budget.
VIII. Validity of Proposals
Proposals submitted shall remain open for acceptance for 14 days from the last date specified for receipt of the proposal. This includes, but is not limited to, pricing, terms and conditions, service levels, and all other information. If your organization is selected, all information in this document and the negotiation process are contractually binding.
IX. Award Process and Contract Mechanism
| No. | Activity | Due date |
| 1. | Proposal reception | November 20th 2024 |
| 2. | Selection Committee review | November 25th 2024 |
| 3. | Notification of award | December 9th 2024 |
| 4. | Award agreement negotiation | December 9th 2024 |
| 5. | Signing award | December 16th 2024 |
Heifer will issue a fixed award agreement based on the submission and Heifer’s acceptance of deliverables. Once an award is issued, it will include the payment schedule with the deliverables specified above.
X. Limitations
This Request for Proposal does not represent a commitment to award a contract, to pay any costs incurred in the preparation of a response to this RFP, or to procure or contract for services or supplies. Heifer reserves the right to fund any or none of the applications submitted and reserves the right to accept or reject in its entirety and absolute discretion any proposal received in response to the RFP.
XI. Intellectual Property
- Ownership Generally.
Any intellectual property (including but not limited to copyrights, trademarks, service marks, and patents), intellectual property rights, deliverables, manuals, works, ideas, discoveries, inventions, products, writings, photographs, videos, drawings, lists, data, strategies, materials, processes, procedures, systems, programs, devices, operations, or information developed in whole or in part by or on behalf of Contractor or its employees or agents in connection with the Services and/or Goods (collectively, the “Work Product”) shall be the exclusive property of Heifer International. Upon request, the Contractor shall sign all documents and take any actions necessary to confirm or perfect Heifer’s exclusive ownership of the Work Product.
- Prior-Owned Intellectual Property.
Any intellectual property owned by a Party before the Effective Date (“Prior-Owned IP”) shall remain that Party’s sole and exclusive property. Regarding any of Contractor’s Prior-Owned IP included in the Work Product, the Contractor shall retain ownership and hereby grants Heifer a permanent, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, irrevocable right and license to use, copy, reproduce, publicly display, edit, revise, perform, and distribute said intellectual property, in any format or any medium, as part of the Work Product.
