REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR A MARKET & VALUE CHAIN ASSESSMENT OF DIGITAL/ONLINE AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES AND CREDIT RISK ASSESSMENTS IN KENYA.

Contract title:**

Market & Value Chain Assessment of digital/online agricultural extension services and credit risk assessment in Kenya.

Sir/Madam,

The Service is required for The Market & Value Chain Assessment of digital/online agricultural extension services and credit risk assessment in Kenya

Please find enclosed the following documents, which constitute the Request for Proposal:

A – Instructions

B – Draft Contract including annexes

Annex 1: Terms of Reference

Annex 2: Organisation and Methodology Form (to be completed by the Candidate)

Annex 3: Proposal Submission Form (to be completed by the Candidate)

Annex 4: General Terms and Conditions for Service Contracts – Ver2 2012

Annex 5: Code of Conduct for Contractors

If this document is a PDF format, upon request, a complete copy of the above documents can be forwarded in a WORD format for electronic completion. It is forbidden to make alterations to the text.

We should be grateful if you would inform us by email of your intention to submit or not a proposal: [email protected]

A. Instructions

In submitting a proposal, the Candidate accepts in full and without restriction the special and general conditions including annexes governing this Contract as the sole basis of this procedure, whatever his own conditions of services may be, which the Candidate hereby waives. The Candidates are expected to examine carefully and comply with all instructions, forms, contract provisions and specifications contained in this Request for Proposal.

A.1. Scope of services

The Services required by the Contracting Authority are described in the Terms of Reference in Annex 1.

The Candidate shall offer the totality of the Services described in the Terms of Reference. Candidates offering only part of the required Services will be rejected.

A.2. Cost of proposal

The Candidate shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of his proposal and the Contracting Authority is not responsible or liable for these costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the process.

A.3. Eligibility and qualification requirements

Candidates are not eligible to participate in this procedure if they are in one of the situations listed in article 33 of the General Terms and Conditions for Service Contracts – Ver2 2012.

Candidates shall in the Proposal Submission Form attest that they meet the above eligibility criteria. If required by the Contracting Authority, the Candidate whose proposal is accepted shall further provide evidence satisfactory to the Contracting Authority of its eligibility.

As a rule, the arrival of a proposal in due time is always the candidate’s responsibility. Late proposals refer to any proposal arriving after the Closing date for submitting proposals, and any proposals arriving late due to a delay, for instance, in the delivery of mail or due to a technical problem related to electronic data transmission.

Candidates are also requested to certify that they comply with the Code of Conduct for Contractors.

A.4. Exclusion from award of contracts

Contracts may not be awarded to Candidates who, during this procedure:

(a) are subject to conflict of interest

(b) are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the Contracting Authority as a condition of participation in the Contract procedure or fail to supply this information

A.5. Documents comprising the Request for Proposal

The Candidate shall complete and submit the following documents with his proposal:

1. Proposal Submission Form (Annex 3) duly completed and signed by the Candidate
2. Organisation and Methodology using the structure in Annex 2
3. CV. highlighting the Candidate’s experience in the specific field of the Services and his/her specific experience in the country/region where the Services are to be performed;

The proposal and all correspondence and documents related to the Request for Proposal exchanged by the Candidate and the Contracting Authority must be written in the language of the procedure, which is English.

A.6. Financial proposal

The Financial Proposal shall be presented as an amount in USD in the Proposal Submission Form in Annex 3. The remuneration of the Candidate under the Contract shall be determined as follows:

Fee/time-based price: In consideration for his/her services, the Contractor shall receive a remuneration to be determined based on a daily fee rate. This remuneration shall be determined based on time actually spent by the Contractor in the performance of the services fees for a period of 15 working days constitute a ceiling amount, above which the Contractor’s extra work shall be deemed covered by his/her remuneration. The fee rate is deemed to remunerate all the activities of the Contractor in the performance of the services and to cover all expenses and costs incurred by the Contractor who is not included in the agreed reimbursable costs. The fee rate covers the Contractor’s overhead, profit, sick leave, overtime and holiday pay, taxes and social charges.

VAT and/or any sales tax applicable to the purchase of services shall be indicated separately in the proposal.

A.7. Candidate’s proposed personnel

In the Organisation and Methodology Form, Annex 2, the Candidate shall include a detailed description of the role and duties of each of the key experts or other non-key experts, which the Candidate proposes to use for the performance of the Services. The key experts are those whose involvement is considered instrumental in the achievement of the contract objectives. The CV of each key expert shall be provided highlighting his/her experience in the specific field of the Services and his/her specific experience in the country/region where the Services are to be performed. The Candidate whose proposal is accepted shall provide, if so requested by the Contracting Authority, copies of diplomas and employers’ certificates or references proving the key experts’ education, professional experience and language proficiency.

In the Proposal Submission Form, Annex 3, the Candidate shall provide detailed information about key experts’ actual availability for the performance of the Contract.

If, before the signing of the Contract, a key expert proposed in the proposal is no longer available the Candidate shall inform the Contracting Authority immediately and the proposal will in such case be considered invalid.

A.8. Validity

Proposals shall remain valid and open for acceptance for 60 days after the closing date.

A.9. Submission of proposals and closing date

Proposals must be received at the address mentioned on the front-page email not later than the closing date and time specified on the front page.

A.10. Evaluation of Proposals

The evaluation method will be the quality and cost-based selection. A two-stage procedure shall be utilised in evaluating the Proposals; a technical evaluation and a financial evaluation.

Proposals will be ranked according to their combined technical (St) and financial (Sf) scores using the weights of 75% for the Technical Proposal; and 25% for the offered price. Each proposal’s overall score shall therefore be: St X 75% + Sf X 25%.

Technical evaluation

For the evaluation of the technical proposals, the Contracting Authority shall take the following criteria into consideration, with the indicated weights:The Contracting Authority reserves the right to call to interview the Candidates having submitted proposals determined to be substantially responsive.

Financial evaluation

Each proposal shall be given a financial score. The lowest Financial Proposal (Fm) will be given a financial score (Sf) of 100 points. The formula for determining the financial scores shall be the following:

Sf = 100 x Fm/F, in which

Sf is the financial score

Fm is the lowest price and

F is the price of the proposal under evaluation

Negotiations

The Contracting Authority reserves the right to contact the Candidates having submitted proposals determined to be substantially and technically responsive, in order to propose a negotiation of the terms of such proposals. Negotiations will not entail any substantial deviation to the terms and conditions of the Request for Proposal, but shall have the purpose of obtaining from the Candidates better conditions in terms of technical quality, implementation periods, payment conditions, etc.

Negotiations may however have the purpose of reducing the scope of the services or revising other terms of the Contract in order to reduce the proposed remuneration when the proposed remunerations exceed the available budget.

A.11. Award Criteria

The Contracting Authority will award the Contract to the Candidate whose proposal has been determined to be substantially responsive to the documents of the Request for Proposal and which has obtained the highest overall score.

A.12. Signature and entry into force of the Contract

Prior to the expiration of the period of the validity of the proposal, the Contracting Authority will inform the successful Candidate in writing that its proposal has been accepted and inform the unsuccessful Candidates in writing about the result of the evaluation process.

Within 5 days of receipt of the Contract, not yet signed by the Contracting Authority, the successful Candidate must sign and date the Contract and return it to the Contracting Authority. On signing the Contract, the successful Candidate will become the Contractor and the Contract will enter into force once signed by the Contracting Authority.

If the successful Candidate fails to sign and return the Contract within the days stipulated, the Contracting Authority may consider the acceptance of the proposal to be cancelled without prejudice to the Contracting Authority’s right to claim compensation or pursue any other remedy in respect of such failure, and the successful Candidate will have no claim whatsoever on the Contracting Authority.

A.13. Cancellation for convenience

The Contracting Authority may for its own convenience and without charge or liability cancel the procedure at any stage.Annex 1: Terms of reference

Market & Value Chain Assessment of digital/online agricultural extension services and credit risk and opportunity assessment in Kenya

No.: 1010375-14.

Background Information and Rationale

DCA Kenya in consortium with commercial partners Ingemann and Juhudi Kilimo has secured project funding from the Danida Market Development Partnerships funding modality 2020. The project aims to increase agricultural production and access to financing for smallholder farmers in Kenya facing climate change effects by introducing innovative, digital, climate resilience platforms for agricultural advisory services and credit risk assessment. The development objective is to increase employment opportunities and financial inclusion for 4,000 smallholder farmers (thus contributing to SDG target 8.4 and 8.5). The commercial objective is to catalyse local market development through commercialization of digital agri-tech platforms, which improve agricultural productivity and access to micro credit services for local producers and business enterprises (contributing to SDG targets 8.2 and 8.10).

The project is implemented together with the Danish company Ingemann and Kenyan microfinance institution Juhudi Kilimo, as well as other potential commercial partners.

As part of the project preparatory phase, the consortium partners wish to assess and strengthen the commercial viability of the suggested solutions – Agroclimatica and Bioclimatica – seen from the perspectives of the private sector as well as that of small-holder farmers.

Purpose of the assessment

The purpose of the assessment is to:

1. Assess the commercial viability of digital/online climate-adjusted agricultural advisory services (eg. Bioclimatica) from the perspective of a) the service provider, b) smallholder farmers, c) off-takers, d) MFIs and e) government through a market assessment and provide recommendations to strengthen the value chain for all the market actors involved.
2. Assess the commercial viability of digital/online climate-adjusted credit risk assessment platform (eg. Agroclimatica) from the perspective of a) the service provider, b) MFIs and c) the smallholder farmer/loan taker through a market assessment and provide recommendations to strengthen the value chain for all the market actors involved.

Detailed Assessment Questions

1. Commercial viability of digital/online climate-regulated agricultural advisory services per key market actor:
2. Map existing online agricultural advisory and extension services that incorporates climate features.
3. Assess the barriers and drivers for using of digital/online climate-regulated agricultural advisory and extension services
4. Assess the regulatory framework and county government role in the provision of agricultural advisory and extension services.
5. Identify and document the local, county, national and regional markets for online agricultural advisory and extension services that incorporates climate features
6. Assess the regulatory framework for provision of agricultural advisory and extension services.
7. Assess the potential impact of using digital climate-regulated agricultural advisory and extension services on quality and quantity of agricultural production (with an emphasis on vegetable and chia seed production)
8. Assess the expected level of increase in net income for the various intended users of digital, climate-adjusted agric advisory services, and its expected impact on job creation
9. Analyse the value proposition, through detailed business case calculations, in the short term and longer term per key market actors, notably the service provider, smallholder farmers, off-takers, MFIs and government.
10. Commercial viability of digital/online climate-regulated credit risk assessment platform per key market actor:
11. Map existing financial products available to smallholder farmers
12. Assess the barriers and drivers/opportunities for access to finance for smallholder farmers, and its importance for investment into production
13. Map existing tools that identifies and quantifies the risks & opportunities associated to agricultural credits & investments – applied by governments, out-growers and farmers for planning, and by MFIs to do credit risk assessment of smallholder farmers
14. Assess the regulatory framework for MFIs in provision of credits and other financial products.
15. Identify and document the local, county, national and regional markets for online credit risk and opportunity assessments tools (that incorporates climate-adjustments).
16. Assess the potential impact of using digital climate-adjusted credit risk assessments on repayment rates of loan takers
17. Analyse the value proposition, through detailed business case calculations, in the short term and longer term per key market actors, notably the service provider, smallholder farmers, off-takers, MFIs and government.

Intended users of the assessment

The following are the key intended users of the assessment:

Organization

Focal Person

Contact Details

Remarks/Possible Interest

DCA and other NGOs

Program Officer Mark Abaha

[email protected]

Assessment Findings in general

Ingemann and other similar services providers of digital tools

Lars Saquero Møller

[email protected]

Value Proposition and proposed commercialization pathways

Juhudi Kilimo and other MFIs

Samwel Tobiko

[email protected]

Value Proposition and proposed commercialization pathways

East African Growers and Momentum Trust and other large off-takers

Value Proposition and proposed commercialization pathways

Aberdare Fresh Produce Cooperative and other farm groups

Value Proposition and proposed commercialization pathways

Approach and Methodology

The assessment approach shall be utilization focused. As such, the consultant should arrange individual meetings with individual intended users during the assessment.

The following should be observed:

· Attention should be given to collect information from all types of stakeholders, with special attention to women and youth from among small-holder vegetable farmers in Nyandarua and Nakuru counties, and small-holder chia seed farmers in Busia and Siaya counties.

· Initial findings and recommendations made as a result of the assessment must be fed back to DCA and partners and rights holders in a meaningful way, so they have an opportunity to discuss the recommendations before they are finalised.

Methodology.

· The Consultant is expected to respond to this call with a detailed proposed methodology and itinerary which upon successful contracting will be discussed during the inception meeting.

· The consultant is expected to refer to and use existing research and assessment, while relevant documents and information specific to the DCA project and the platforms Agroclimatica and Bioclimatica will be made available to the consultant during the inception meeting.

· As the assessment is market and end-user oriented with a special focus on commercial viability, meetings with following are expected: DCA and other NGOs, Ingemann and other service providers of similar tools, Juhudi Kilimo and other MFIs, East African Growers, Momentum Trust and other off-takers, Aberdare Fresh Produce Cooperative and other organised groups of farmer, as well as other stakeholders engaged in the value chains, stakeholders in the business enabling environment, and stakeholders with a support function to the value chains; which should include but are not limited to Horticultural Association of Kenya, Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya, Healthy U, Nordic Microfinance Initiative, MSPT, KCIC etc.

Required qualifications

· Academic:

o Advanced university degree in marketing, economics, socio-economic development, development planning, financial management or other related fields.

· Professional Experience:

o Minimum of five years’ experience in livelihood study, value chain study, market study, policy review and development research, financial inclusion and credits, digital tools or similar

o Proven assessment experiences from similar assignments including participatory assessment methodologies, appreciative enquiry methods, focus group interviews, climate-based agricultural advisory services etc.

o Demonstrable experience of engaging with and networks amongst the private sector in Kenya including the financial sector

o Proven experience from NGO-based development assistance in the HoA and Kenya in particular is an added advantage.

Deliverables and Schedule

Suggested timeline

The envisaged assessment period is 15 days during the month of January 2020 distributed around time for preparation, start-up meeting with intended user, field work, travel, and report writing.

Reports

The final assessment report shall follow a specified format to be shared with the successful bidder. Failure to comply with this format is considered breach of these Terms of Reference.

Throughout the assessment process, intended users should be adequately updated on progress. A progress report can take the form of an email of half a page, supplemented by field notes as relevant.

General Terms and Conditions of Consultancy

· Professional fee: The consultant(s) will be paid professional fees in accordance with this TOR and within DCA’s approved rates, which will cover all costs of the consultant including travels, food, accommodation, etc.

· 5% withholding income tax payable to the Government of Kenya (GoK) shall be deducted from the consultants’ fees during payment when relevant.

· A contract will be signed by the consultant(s) prior to commencement of this consultancy which will detail additional terms and conditions of service, aspects on inputs and deliverables.

· Full term of consultancy: document review, field work and report writing should not exceed 20 days.

Other specifics on who makes decisions on what and what resources does DCA mobilise to support the assessment, e.g. logistical support will be contained in the consultancy contract.

Budget and Payment

· The consultant(s) will receive remuneration under the following terms of payment, which will be based on the output of the work and not on the duration that it might take:

· This task is projected to fall within 15 consultancy days

· 30 % of the total consultancy value (including withholding tax) shall be paid upon signing of the contractual agreement.

· The remaining 70% (including withholding tax) shall be paid after a final satisfactory report and other outputs are submitted and satisfactorily signed off by DCA.

Expression of Interest and Proposal

All expressions of interest should include:

Technical Proposal:

Brief explanation about the consultants (s) with evidence of previous experience in this kind of work; profile of the consultancy firm to be involved in undertaking the consultancy; understanding of the TOR, the task to be accomplished as well as draft consultancy framework and plan and at least three referees.

Financial Proposal:

The financial proposal should provide cost estimates for services rendered including daily consultancy fees related to the consultants excluding accommodation and living costs; transport cost, stationeries, and supplies needed for data collection; costs related to persons that will participate from partners and government officers.