Procurement Notices

CFP-002-20: ACTIONS OF COMMUNITY GROUPS AT LOCAL LEVEL

Call for Proposals for Low Value Grants

INSTRUCTIONS

I.BACKGROUND

Experience from LADP II[1] has demonstrated that the CSOs in Iraq work through small grants mainly on activities related to environment, livelihoods, refugees and IDPs as well as culture and are actively engaged at the community level. The establishment of more structured mechanisms for the participation of the civil society is needed to allow the sector to function as key driver for local development and as a check on local government transparency and accountability.

1.The Local Civil Society Dialogue Grant Scheme (LCSD) – Part II

As part of the measures under the SRS-LD project, the LCSD Grant Scheme – Part II: Actions of Community Groups at Local Level is implemented in nine Iraqi governorates (Anbar, Basrah, Duhok, Erbil, Misan, Nineveh, Salah al-Din, Sulaimaniya, and Thi Qar) and aims at supporting financially proposals of grassroots organisations[2] focused on:

• Promoting and empowering the instrumental role of the civil society at local level in the development and monitoring of public policies of critical importance for the community, including but not limited to socioeconomic integration of youth, women and vulnerable groups;
• Supporting the authorised public institutions in the provision of urgent and efficient response to COVID-19 pandemic and its implications on the socioeconomic life in a comprehensive as well as equitable and inclusive way, so that no one is left out[3].

2.The Civil Society Support Team (CSST)

In parallel to the financial support under the LCSD Grant Scheme, a team of highly qualified professionals will provide:

1. To potential applicants:

• Capacity to introduce efficient methods and tools for sustaining the local cross-sectorial dialogue between civil society organisations and relevant public institutions,
• Knowledge about effective approaches in establishing beneficial for the community partnerships with local authorities, universities, media and other businesses,
• Consultations on CSO networking and support mobilisation for socially important causes and community initiatives at local level,
• Technical support in development of ready-to-submit project proposals (full applications);
  1. To awarded grand beneficiaries:
• Consultations on project management, implementation and reporting (narrative and financial),
• Assistance in secondary procurement of services and supplies for the action,
• Expert support in ensuring project visibility and promotion of the results achieved,
• Professional guidance in preparing and conducting advocacy and lobbing campaigns at local level.
  1. To the informal citizens’ groups invited to submit a full proposal:
• Consultations on preparing statutory documents of their newly established organisations (if any),
• Assistance in the process of legal registration according to the national/regional law.

II.OBJECTIVES AND PRIORITIES

The global objective of this CFP is to contribute to the stability and further socio-economic development of Iraq.

The specific objective of this CFP is to support the involvement of the CSOs in mobilising support for improving the living conditions at local level.

The priorities (P) of the CFP are:

P1:   Provision of quality public services accessible for everybody.

P2:   Socioeconomic integration of youth, women, and vulnerable groups (including through measures for increasing their functional literacy[4] and employability).

P3:   Advocacy, lobbying and development of strategies to influence positively the process of policy-making at local level.

P4:   Mobilisation of volunteers and broad community support in addressing issues of critical societal importance at local level.

P5:   Implementation of innovative ideas and alternative modalities complementing the measures of urgent response to COVID-19 pandemic and addressing its midterm and long-term consequences.

Preference will be given to applications considering two or more of the priorities of this call.

III.ELIGIBILITY & QUALIFICATION CRITERIA

The parameters that will determine whether an application is eligible to be considered by UNDP will be based on the Information provided in the Concept Note (CN) (Annex 2.1 to the CFP-Instructions).

Detailed description of the eligibility criteria for both the applicants and the proposals is provided in the ToR (Annex 1 to the CFP-Instructions).

IV.PROPOSALS

As provided in the ToR (Annex 1 to the CFP-Instructions), the application process under this CFP is organised in three stages: Stage 1: Concept Note, Stage 2: Full Application, and Stage 3: Verification of Eligibility.

1.Stage 1: Concept Note (CN)

At this stage, using the format in Annex 2.1: CN to this CFP, the applicants shall describe their project ideas by answering the following questions: What?, Where?, For whom?, In which way?, and Why? the project intervention is proposed:

a)Description of the project idea

The problem(s) identified, community(ies) addressed, target groups, and final beneficiaries

b)Proposed intervention strategy

Main activity groups, expected results and impact. Attitudes of the key stakeholders contacted

c)Reasons to initiate the project idea and justification of proposed partnership

d)Risk-prevention approach

Potential risks identified, preventive mitigation measures planned

e)Project budget

Overall budget (in USD), financial support requested (amount and percentage of the eligible costs accepted).

f)Project duration

Indicative project duration (in months).

Only the CN-forms (Annex 2.1: CN to this CFP) will be evaluated. It is therefore of utmost importance that this document contains ALL relevant information concerning the project idea. No additional annexes should be sent.

Applicants pre-selected at the CN-stage will be invited to submit full applications.

2.Stage 2: Full Application (FA)

Following the pre-selection of their project ideas, the proposers invited to submit a full application might participate at this second stage. In preparing their proposals, the invited applicants may use the online-consultations provided by the Civil Society Support Team (Section I.B.2), then should keep strictly to the FA-format in Annex 2.2: FA (for the technical proposals) and Annex 2.3: Budget (for the financial offer) and fill in the paragraphs and pages in order:

a)Detailed description of the action

Relevance to the project objectives, priorities, sectors/themes, and to the needs/constraints of targeted region/territory. Relevance to the needs/constraints of identified target groups/final beneficiaries. Analysis of key stakeholders’ attitudes and capacities. Intervention logic proposed including assumptions and risks identified. Activity groups and their relevance to the results expected. Justification of modification(s) (if any) of the information in the CN.

b)Implementation approach

Management structure and key personnel (by function). Justification of individual roles of those involved. Monitoring arrangements. Activities planned to insure visibility of the action and the UNDP support.

c)Action plan and project timeline

Time sequence of main activity groups and distribution of individual responsibilities (Action plan format).

d)Budget of the action

Detailed breakdown, support requested, other sources, and in kind contribution (if any).

e)Relevant previous experience

Voluntary initiatives and actions implemented during the last three years.

V.EVALUATION CRITERIA & METHODOLOGY

1.Evaluation criteria for submitted Concept Notes (CN):

a)Administrative compliance check of the CN

Technical compliance of the proposal (language, format, completeness, size of budget), eligibility of the proposer(s), the project idea, and the amount of support requested;

The concept notes that pass this check will be further evaluated on their relevance and design.

b)Relevance of the project idea

To the objectives and priorities of the CFP, to the needs/constraints of the target group(s) and direct/final beneficiaries identified;

c)Overall design of the proposed intervention strategy

Coherence of the overall design (activities-results-effect), feasibility of activities planned and results expected, innovation and creativity in proposed implementing modalities, integration of crosscutting elements in the proposed strategy.

Detailed sub-criteria are provided in Annex 2.1: CN

2.Evaluation criteria for submitted Full Applications (FA):

a)Administrative compliance check of the FA

Language, format, completeness, size of the budget.

The full applications that pass this check will be further evaluated on their quality, including the budget.

b)Technical and operational capacity of the applicant(s)

Management capacity, professional competencies and qualifications required to complete the proposal.

c)Relevance of the proposal

Score transferred from the Concept Note evaluation result.

d)Design of the proposed intervention

Appropriateness of proposed activities and their consistency with expected results. Analysis of the problems and stakeholders’ capacities. Alternative and innovative modalities in risk-prevention.

e)Implementation approach

Feasibility of the proposed activities and project timeline, effectiveness and efficiency of the monitoring system, co-applicants’ level of involvement[5].

f)Sustainability of expected results

Expected impact on the target group(s), multiplier potential of the action.

g)Budget and cost-effectiveness

Coherence between technical and financial offers (the activities are reflected in the budget). Efficiency of proposed action (all costs refer to concrete activities planned).

Detailed sub-criteria are provided in Annex 2.2: FA

3.Evaluation methodology: Quality Based under Fixed Budget Selection (QB-FBS)

The QB-FBS methodology (divided in two stages) implies that all proposals have the same maximum overall price (which cannot exceed a known fixed budget amount), focusing the selection on the quality of the proposal and the CSO/ NGO proposed approach and methodology.

At both stages (CN and FA), the evaluation of submitted proposals shall be carried out in accordance with below outlined evaluation criteria.

Proposals have to translate community needs into implementable activities by the NGOs/CSOs. Under QB-FBS, assessment focuses on maximising transfer of value to the beneficiary user within a given budget.

4.Funds available, financial contribution and duration

a)Funds available

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is USD 1,500,000.

b)UNDP contribution

Any grant requested must fall between the following:

• minimum USD 5,000 and maximum USD 30,000 (amount of UNDP contribution)[6], and
• minimum 90% and maximum 100% of the total eligible costs accepted (percentage of UNDP contribution).

c)Indicative project duration

The project duration should be at least 3 months and may not exceed 12 months, as of the date on which both parties have signed the Low Value Grant Agreement (Annex 5: LVGA to this CFP).

VI.SELECTION PROCESS

The UNDP will review proposals through a five-step evaluation process organised in three stages:

A.Stage 1: Concept Note (CN)

1. determination of the eligibility and administrative compliance of submitted project ideas;
2. pre-selection of the best eligible project ideas based on the assessment criteria outlined in the previous section (until funds available);

B.Stage 2: Full Application (FA)

1. determination of the administrative compliance of submitted full applications;
2. scoring and pre-selection of the best administratively compliant FAs based on the assessment criteria outlined in the previous section to identify best project proposals (until funds available);

C.Stage 3: Verification of Eligibility (VOE)

1. eligibility verification of proposers pre-selected at the FA-stage based on the documentary proofs submitted in reply to the Request of Information (Annex 3: RFI to this CFP);

VII.SUBMISSION PROCESS

Applications must be submitted in accordance with the instructions provided in the CN/FA-template (Annex 2.1/2.2 to these CFP-Instructions). In preparing their CNs, applicants may use either English or Arabic or Kurdish. The FAs must be submitted in English.

Applicants must submit their CNs/FAs to the following email address: civil.society.lot2@undp.org.

The subject of the submission-email must bear the title of the call for proposals in English: LCSD-2: Actions of Community Groups at Local Level.

In the body text of the submission-email, the applicants shall specify the title of the proposed project idea, as well as the full name and address of the lead applicant, all of them written in English.

Where applicants submit several proposals, they shall send a separate submission-email for each one of them.

The following documents (e-copies) must be attached to the submission-email in order for the submission to be considered by the UNDP:

A.Stage 1: Concept Note (CN)

• Concept Note form (Annex 2.1: CN to this CFP)
• Checklist for the CN (Section 2 of Annex 2.1 to this CFP)
• [signed and stamped] Declaration by the Lead Applicant for the CN (Section 3 of Annex 2.1 to this CFP)

B.Stage 2: Full Application (FA)

• Full Application form (Annex 2.2 to this CFP)
• [signed and stamped] Mandate(s) of Co-Applicant(s) (if any) (Section 4 of Annex 2.2 to this CFP)
• Checklist for the FA (Section 6 of Annex 2.2 to this CFP)
• [signed and stamped] Declaration by the Lead Applicant for the FA (Section 7 of Annex 2.2 to this CFP)
• Budget of the action (Annex 2.3 to this CFP)

C.Stage 3: Verification of Eligibility

Documentation requested with the Request for Information (RFI) (filled in, signed and stamped)

Once the application is complete and submitted, revised versions of proposal documents will not be accepted.

Applicants shall bear all costs related to proposal preparation and submission.

Submission Deadline

Proposers may submit their Concept Notes every Thursday, by 14:00 hrs, until funds available.

Potential applicants should refer to the “Frequently Asked Questions” posted on the UNDP’s website: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=68244.

For additional questions about these CFP-Instructions, please e-mail to mohammed.abbas@undp.org.

Note: UNDP reserves the right not to fund any proposals arising from this Call for Proposals.

VIII.IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

UNDP implements a policy of zero tolerance on proscribed practices, including fraud, corruption, collusion, unethical practices, and obstruction. UNDP is committed to preventing, identifying and addressing all acts of fraud and corrupt practices against UNDP as well as third parties involved in UNDP activities. (See http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Transparency/UNDP_Anti_Fraud_Policy_English_FINAL_june_2011.pdf and http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/operations/procurement/protestandsanctions/ for full description of the policies).

In responding to this Call for Proposals, UNDP requires all Proposers to conduct themselves in a professional, objective and impartial manner, and they must at all times hold UNDP’s interests paramount. Proposers must strictly avoid conflicts with other assignments or their own interests, and act without consideration for future work. All Proposers found to have a conflict of interest[7] shall be disqualified. Without limitation on the generality of the above, Proposers and their project partners (if any), shall be considered to have a conflict of interest with one or more parties in this solicitation process, if they:

• Are or have been associated in the past, with a firm or any of its affiliates which have been engaged UNDP to provide services for the preparation of the design, Terms of Reference, cost analysis/estimation, and other documents to be used in this competitive selection process;
• Were involved in the preparation and/or design of the programme/project related to the services requested under this Call for Proposals; or
• Are found to be in conflict for any other reason, as may be established by, or at the discretion of, UNDP.
• In the event of any uncertainty in the interpretation of what is potentially a conflict of interest, proposers must disclose the condition to UNDP and seek UNDP’s confirmation on whether or not such conflict exists.

IX.APPLICATION DOCUMENTS

A.Documents to apply with

1.At Stage 1: CN (Concept Note)

Please, prepare and submit in separate files the documents listed in this section.

a)Concept Note (Section 1 of Annex 2.1)

Please, be as detailed as possible in providing the information requested.

b)Checklist for the CN (Section 2 of Annex 2.1)

Please, tick-off all correct answers.

c)Declaration (CN) by the Lead Applicant (Section 3 of Annex 2.1)

Please, carefully read, fill in, print, sign, stamp and scan.

2.At Stage 2: FA (Full Application)

ONLY for those invited in writing. Please prepare and submit in separate files the documents listed in this section.

a)Full Application (Section 1 and Section 2 of Annex 2.2)

Please, be as detailed as possible in providing the information requested.

b)Identity of the Lead Applicant (Section 3 of Annex 2.2)

c)Identity and Mandate by the Co-applicant(s), if any (Section 4 of Annex 2.2)

Please, fill in, print, sign, stamp and scan.

d)Identity of the Associate(s), if any (Section 5 of Annex 2.2)

e)Checklist for the FA (Section 6 of Annex 2.2)

Please, tick-off all correct answers.

f)Declaration (FA) by the Lead Applicant (Section 7 of Annex 2.2)

Please, carefully read, fill in, print, sign, stamp and scan.

g)Budget of the FA (Annex 2.3)

Please, fill in carefully all three worksheets: 1. Budget, 2. Justification, and 3. Expected Sources of Funding.

3.At Stage 3: VoE (Verification of Eligibility)

ONLY for those invited in writing. Please prepare and submit in separate files the documents listed in this section.

a)Documentary proofs listed in the RFI (Annex 3)

Please, prepare and verify (signature and stamp) all documentary proofs requested with the RFI.

b)Declaration of Honour (Annex 4)

Please, carefully read, fill in, print, sign, stamp and scan.

B.List of Annexes to the CFP-Instructions

1.Documents for application

2.Documents for information

[1]  The Local Area Development Programme (LADP II) of the UNDP Iraq concluded in mid-2018 after providing strategic planning and capacity building support to twelve governorates across Iraq.

[2]  ‘Grassroots organisations are primarily made up of civilians advocating a cause to spur change at local, national, or international levels’ (UNHCR). ‘These are people who are drawn together by something that they have in common that has both personal and community consequences, and grant themselves the authority to solve the problem they are facing or create the future that they desire’ (J. F. Richardson’s blog, 2009). These groups are locally based, are focused on the needs of people. The tasks of the group are done by the people in it who usually volunteer.

[3]  The UNDP Global Response to COVID-19.

[4]  UNESCO-definition: ‘A person who can engage in all those activities in which literacy is required for effective function of his or her group and community and also for enabling him or her to continue to use reading, writing and calculation for his or her own and the community’s development’.

[5]  Where no co-applicants involved, the score for this sub-criterion should be at the minimum.

[6]  The same grantee can receive multiple grants up to a maximum of USD 300,000 in a programme period. To receive multiple grants, the grant recipient organisation must have produced the results agreed to in the prior grant agreement, and a new low-value grant agreement must be approved by the project board (A3. Select Responsible Parties and Grantee, Art.28.i.).

[7]  Any situation where an individual or organisation can exploit a professional or official role for financial or personal interest or where they have competing loyalties is defined as a conflict of interest (see the UNDP Code of Ethics). A conflict of interest exists where the impartial and objective exercise of the functions of a financial actor or other person is compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other direct or indirect personal interest (Glossary of Terms, Practical Guide).