Organisation: APCOM Foundation

             Title : Request for Proposals for a Consultancy Assignment on Consolidation of National Cost of           

                        Criminalisation Studies

      Deadline:  7 September 2018

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REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Reference No: 2018/04

A Consultancy Assignment on

Consolidation of National Cost of Criminalisation Studies

for APCOM based in Bangkok, Thailand

Under

The Sustainable HIV Financing in Transition (SHIFT) Program

Dear Sir/Madam,

APCOM hereby invites RFP from individual professionals or firms for a consultancy assignment to deliver a Consolidation of National Cost of Criminalisation Studies, under the Sustainable HIV Financing in Transition (SHIFT) Program.

The contract period is from 10^th September – 21^st September 2018 (COB). The recruited consultant is expected to consolidate the Cost of Criminalisation research study done in 4 SHIFT countries into one report. Country partners in the 4 SHIFT countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand have each conducted a study to cost the impact of criminalisation on key populations, with Indonesia focusing on MSM and Transgender communities, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand focusing on People who use drugs (PWID). The consultant will be synthesising the findings from these 4 studies into an overview for the 4 countries, as well as provide further recommendations and advocacy points to inform further work in this field.

In order to prepare a responsive proposal, interested consultants or firms are expected to examine in detail the RFP documents:

Annex 1. Proposal Instruction Sheet (PIS)

Annex 2. Terms of Reference (ToR)

Annex 3: Scoring

Annex 4: Technical Proposal template

Annex 5: Financial Proposal template

Annex 6: Contract Sample

This letter is not to be construed in any way as an offer of contract.  I look forward to your submission, and please do not hesitate to contact the program officer for further details.

Yours sincerely,

Kularb Khongtaisong

Senior Finance Officer                                        

APCOM Secretariat

 Annex 1:

1. 1. Proposal Instruction Sheet (PIS)

Annex 2: Term of Reference

TERMS OF REFERENCE

1. Background

The Sustainable HIV Financing in Transition (SHIFT) Program is a Global Fund-supported two-year regional advocacy program that aims to enable and empower civil society, including communities of HIV key populations, to advocate for sustainable HIV financing. Specifically, as countries transition from international donor support to domestic financing, significant gaps exist in the country’s funding mechanisms for government funding to be channeled to civil society.

The objectives of the SHIFT programme are:

• Objective 1: By the end of 2018, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in four transition countries effectively advocate for allocative efficiency, domestic spending on HIV, and increased fiscal space for CSO HIV programs by promoting greater political commitment, innovative streams of funding, CSO funding mechanisms and integration of HIV under universal health coverage (UHC).
• Objective 2: By the end of 2018, strengthen technical expertise and skills of CSOs in four transition countries to advocate for allocative efficiency, increased domestic spending on HIV, and increased fiscal space for CSO HIV programs.
• Objective 3: By the end of 2018, increase CSO access to and use of strategic information on HVI financing issues, including allocative efficiency, innovative CSO funding mechanism, and best practices for countries in transition via the regional Knowledge Management Hub.

In order for CSOs to fully participate and advocate for sustainable HIV and CSO financing, financing specific strategic information is needed to inform the advocacy agenda. Key gaps identified during initial grant making include a lack of strategic information on CSO financing mechanisms, CSO registration and good HIV financing practices. This assessment seeks to address these gaps, providing an overview of CSO financing and laws governing CSO formation and operation.

1. Purpose of Consultancy

The purpose of this consultancy is to consolidate the Cost of Criminalisation research study done in 4 SHIFT countries into one report. Country partners in the 4 SHIFT countries of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand have each conducted a study to cost the impact of criminalisation on key populations, with Indonesia focusing on MSM and Transgender communities, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand focusing on People who use drugs (PWID). The consultant will be synthesising the findings from these 4 studies into an overview for the 4 countries, as well as provide further recommendations and advocacy points to inform further work in this field.

III. Scope of Work

The workplan consists of synthesising the separate country studies into one report, in addition to providing key analysis and recommendations in the report.

Specifically, the consultant shall undertake the following activities:

1. Collate the 4 country Cost of Criminalisation report from country partners (with assistance of APCOM SHIFT team)
2. Undertake further desk review to contextualise the findings and identify key points of analysis
3. Identify examples of other Cost of Criminalisation work done in other settings, as points of reference/comparative angle to inform this consolidated report.
4. Develop the consolidated report with a focus on the following themes

1. Define what “costing” means in the context of quantifying the impact of criminalisation on key populations.
2. Describe what has been undertaken to “cost” the impact of criminalisation in the country studies, with a focus on a comparative angle of the different methodologies used.

                              III.            Analyse the findings of each country study, to develop a comparative analysis

1. Develop further recommendations to inform studies in the future, and advocacy messages for civil society/community.

1. Develop draft report in consultation with Strategic Information Officer.
2. Produce final Cost of Criminalisation Consolidated Report.

1. Deliverables with Suggested Timelines

1. Collation and desk review (14^th September)
2. Draft consolidated report (19^th September)
3. Submission of final report (21^st September)

1. Knowledge and Skill Requirement

Education: Master’s degree in Social Policy, Human Rights, Law or similar

Professional Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of professional working experience in providing consultancy services specifically for health, HIV or NGO fields
• Experience working with key populations, human rights, health economics and community capacity building is a plus.

Functional / Technical Knowledge:

• Demonstrated expertise and understanding of epidemiological data, programmatic analysis and legal reviews
• Ability to analyse and consolidate information from multiple sources
• Excellent written communication skills in English

1. Reporting and Communication

The recruited consultant will work closely with APCOM’s Strategic Information Officer.

For more information, please contact Min Fuh Teh, APCOM Strategic Information Officer at minfuhteh@apcom.org

ANNEX 3. Evaluation Methodology and Criteria

Evaluation Methodology: Combined Technical and Financial Proposal

The weight of Technical Proposal is 80 percent with 750 maximum points. Any technical proposal with a score below 65% is rejected, and the financial file will remain unopened at the end of the selection process.

The Technical Proposal calculation is as follow: (80 (% technical proposal weight) x Company total points) / 100 (maximum points) = X%

The weight of Financial proposal is 20% with a maximum of 200 points

The Financial Proposal calculation is as follow:

Lowest bid proposed = maximum points = 200

Other bids are calculated as follow: (200 (maximum points) x lowest price evaluated) / price under consideration = number of point

The Proposals will be ranked according to their Combined Technical and Financial Proposal scores.

The Company achieving the highest combined score will be invited for Negotiation and Contract Award.

Evaluation of technical proposal:

The quality of each technical proposal will be evaluated in accordance with the following technical evaluation criteria and the associated weighting (total possible value of 800 points):

A proposal shall be rejected at this stage if it fails to achieve the minimum technical threshold of 65% or 195 points of the obtainable score of a maximum of 300 points for the technical proposal. 

ANNEX 4. Format of Technical Proposal

Proposals not submitted in this format may be rejected. The Technical Proposal should include the following details,

Covering Letter (use the sample provided, please submit signed copy with organization seal)

To:                                                                                                                   Date:

Kularb Khongtaisong, Senior Finance Officer                                                  

APCOM Secretariat

66/1 Sukhumvit 2,

Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110

Thailand

We, the undersigned, hereby are pleased to submit the Technical Proposal in response to the RFP Reference number (XXX).

We, the undersigned, declare that we have read and understood the Terms of Reference, evaluation method, sample contract. We at this moment declare that all the information and statements made in this Proposal are true and accept that any misinterpretation contained in it may lead to our disqualification.

We have followed the Proposal Instruction Sheet and accordingly prepared our submission. We understand that you are not bound to accept the lowest evaluated proposal or any other proposal that you may receive.

Signed: _______ [insert date of signing]

Name: _____ [insert complete name]

Position:

Technical Proposal

1. A) The proposer is requested to include a one-page value statement indicating why he/she/consulting firm is the most suitable to carry out the assignment.

1. B) Past and ongoing assignment/project details with results (relevant to the proposed assignment)

1. C) Technical Proposal

1. D) Proposed detailed timeline and Quality Assurance

o    Detail the timeline for project

o    Strategy/steps for quality control and check

1. F) Detailed firm’s CV (Detail any specialized knowledge that may be applied to performance of the TOR. Include experiences in the region)

Important submissions

• Link of previous work: research report, written work, articles

ANNEX 5:  Format of Financial Proposal

Finance Proposal

The Financial Proposal must be prepared and submitted as a separate PDF file from the rest of the RFP response as indicated in (Annex 1). The components comprising the total price must provide sufficient detail to allow APCOM to determine compliance of proposal with requirements as per TOR of this RFP.

Instructions:

• Use the most recent daily consultancy rate (attach evidence, recent contract)
• Operation cost is considered only when the proposal proves the need of these activities. Vendor should leave this part blank if no operation cost is needed. In case of traveling cost, please ensure the following instructions are followed:

o    Include airfare round trip (only economy) and daily stay and allowance estimated cost.

o    Include any other ground travel or incidentals expected expenses based on your experience

• Please provide explanation/notes for each line item for clarity during evaluation
• Include any tax (%) applicable to this assignment as per your country law.

Signature of Financial Proposal

____________________________

Signature/Stamp of Entity/Date

 Name and position:

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Your offer comprising the technical proposal and financial proposal must be entirely separated and submitted in two (2) different files with clear subject as [Financial Proposal: RFP Ref No: ] and [Technical Proposal: RFP Ref No: ]

Both the proposals should reach the following email address

Technical Proposal JoinUs@apcom.org

Finance Proposal operations@apcom.org