The applications should be submitted on procurement.mu@undp.org Addendum to the RFP attached. Reply to Queries document is attached. Project: 00121827 JSB COVID PREP project Proposal for A market assessment for the trading of perishable goods and Development and implementation of an e-Commerce Marketplace Platform for the agricultural sector under the JSB COVID PREP project Background In Mauritius, over 110,000 tonnes of fresh vegetables and fruits, amounting to an estimated value of some 2.5 billion rupees, are produced and consumed annually. Trade of fresh vegetables and fruits are carried out daily and involves the farmer, auctioneers, intermediaries, transformers, retailers and consumers at the end of the chain. Given the highly perishable nature of fresh vegetables and fruits, all produce harvested have to be marketed or disposed within a very short period of time. The market benefits and turnovers at different stage of marketing of agricultural produce are quite significant. However, farmers quite often do not get the best return from their investment due to various factors and due to poor marketing practices. Reduced revenue of farmers, faced by other constraints of production and changing climatic conditions, is forcing traditional farmers to retire from their activities while youngsters are not attracted with such low benefits. As per the Food and Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (FAREI), opinion surveys and feedback from farmers has shown that marketing constraints is equivalent to production issues and farmers do not get the best price for their produce. Using an e-Commerce Marketplace platform for the commercialisation of perishable goods provides both a number of tangible and intangible benefits to players in the marketing process and ultimately a better service to consumers at reasonable prices. e-Commerce already exists in Mauritius and is gaining momentum as an increasing number of people are using this means of trading for commodities at different levels. Several local e-Commerce services are currently available while international platforms are constantly accessed for purchase of goods. The rise of e-Commerce results in new opportunities for participation in trade, but also presents new challenges to farmers and institutions in upgrading to e-Commerce competitiveness. Objective of the Assignment The main objectives of this assignment are split into two phases: 1. A market assessment of the trading of fresh vegetables and fruits in the local context and detailed design of an e-Commerce Marketplace platform; 2. Development and Implementation of an e-Commerce Marketplace platform for facilitating trade of perishable goods Scope of Work The selected service provider shall consult all the relevant stakeholders and shall have the entire responsibility to undertake the following services to achieve all the objectives of this assignment (main objective and specific objectives) together with the deliverables expected within the timeframe required. The selected service provider should adopt an iterative/agile methodology which is focused on addressing user needs in iterations through active user and stakeholder engagement for executing all phases of the assignment. Deliverables - Project Charter Document or Inception Report covering both Phases I and II
- Approved Report on Market Systems Assessment (Phase 1)
- Approved Detailed Design Document including detailed architecture of the e-Commerce Marketplace Platform (Phase 1)
- Approved Report on Development of e-Commerce Marketplace Platform including approved demos of working versions/iterations of the web platform (Phase 2)
- Draft version of the full-fledged e-Commerce Marketplace Platform deployed on hosting infrastructure and submission of an approved report on the successful deployment and security audit of the system (Phase 2)
- Approved UAT Sign-Off document which testifies all user comments and feedback have been incorporated, all bugs have been corrected and security vulnerabilities and non-conformities have been fixed (Phase 2)
- Final Version of the full-fledged e-Commerce Marketplace Platform deployed on hosting infrastructure and submission of an approved report on the successful security audit of the system (Phase 2)
- Submission of 3 SSD hard disk drives (1 Government, 1 UNDP, 1 backup) containing the source code and user manuals for the e-Commerce Marketplace Platform as well as full online access to the server on which the source code for the e-Commerce Marketplace platform will be located (Phase 2)
- Approved report on the training, including the training plan, training materials for users and administrators, and training sign-off (Phase 2)
- Commissioning report confirming e-Commerce Marketplace Platform is free from vulnerabilities, fully operational and has gone-live (Phase 2)
- Knowledge Transfer and handing over of complete system to Ministry of Agro Industry and Food Security/FAREI (Phase 2) (see note below)
Duration Target start Date: 01 April 2021 Latest Completion Date: 30 June 2021 Duty Station During the field-based part of the assignment, the service provider may be based at the FAREI or Ministry of Agro Industry institutions identified for this assignment. The service provider should note that normal office hours of work are from 8.45 a.m. to 4 p.m. during weekdays. The service provider may have to work during weekends and holidays to abide by the deadlines set in this RFP Submission of Application Applications should be sent through email : procurement.mu@undp.org on or before Sunday 28th February 2021 - 16:00 hours Mauritius time (GMT+4) | 
