RFP#27: Human Centric Design Study on Bio-Metric Verification based Cash Withdrawals

RFP No. 27

Issue Date: June 23, 2017

Deadline for Questions: July 10, 2017

Deadline for Karandaaz Pakistan Responses: July 13, 2017

Deadline for Submission of Proposals: July 19, 2017

1. The purpose of this RFP is to solicit Proposals for: “Human Centric Design Study on Bio-Metric Verification based Cash Withdrawals”
2. Karandaaz Pakistan invites sealed proposals from interested and eligible organizations. More details on the Services required are provided in the Terms of Reference (Section 4 of RFP).
3. The company will be selected under competitive procedures, in accordance with the procurement policies and procedures of Karandaaz Pakistan.
4. Proposals must be submitted before 05:00 pm Pakistan Standard Time on July 19, 2017. A single sealed envelope with three separately sealed envelopes containing the pre-requisites package (one hard copy), technical proposal (three hard copies) and financial proposal (one hard copy), must be submitted to the attention of ‘The Procurement Department’ 1-E, Mezzanine Floor, Ali Plaza, D Chowk, Nazimudin Road, Blue Area, Islamabad. The Proposals must also be sent via email to procurement@karandaaz.com.pk.
5. Any bidder/potential contractor feeling aggrieved may lodge a written complaint at ProcComplaint@karandaaz.com.pk not later than fifteen (15) days after the completion of evaluation process; however mere fact of lodging a complaint shall not warrant suspension of the procurement/award process.

Yours sincerely,

The Procurement Department

Karandaaz Pakistan

SECTION 2. INSTRUCTIONS TO FIRMS

1. General

• Scope of Proposal

Karandaaz Pakistan issues this Request for Proposal (RFP) for the following services:

“Human Centric Design Study on Bio-Metric Verification based Cash Withdrawals”

Throughout this RFP:

1. The term “in writing” means communicated in written form (e.g., by mail, e-mail, fax)
2. “Day” means calendar day

• Fraud and Corruption

Firms shall comply with Karandaaz Pakistan’s policy regarding fraud and corruption given in Section 3 of the RFP

• Eligibility

The Prerequisites for this procurement are mentioned in Section 24 along with the evaluation criteria. The firm has an obligation to disclose to Karandaaz Pakistan any situation of actual or potential conflict that impacts its capacity to serve Karandaaz Pakistan’s best interests. Failure to disclose such situations may lead to the disqualification of the firm or the termination of its Contract. Karandaaz Pakistan’s policy with regard to conflict of interest is given Section 3 of the RFP. Firms shall provide such evidence of their continued eligibility satisfactory to Karandaaz Pakistan, upon request.

• One Proposal Per Firm

Each firm shall submit only one Proposal, either individually or as a partner in a joint venture. A firm that submits or participates in more than one Proposal shall cause all the Proposals with the firm’s participation to be disqualified.

• Cost of Preparation of Proposal

The firm shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of its Proposal. Karandaaz Pakistan shall not be responsible or liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the bidding process.

1. Request for Proposal

• Contents of the RFP

The RFP includes the documents listed below and any Addendum issued in pursuant to point 8 of this section ‘Amendment of RFP’.

Section 1 – Letter of Invitation

Section 2 – Instructions to firms

Section 3 – Procurement Policy – vendor conduct

Section 4 – Terms of Reference

Annexure A – Proposal Submission Form

• Clarification of RFP

All questions and/or clarifications regarding this RFP must be submitted via email to Procurement@karandaaz.com.pk no later than 5:00 pm local time on July 10, 2017. All correspondence and/or inquiries regarding this solicitation must reference the RFP number and name.  No phone calls or in-person inquiries will be entertained; all questions and inquiries must be in writing.

Questions and requests for clarification—and the responses thereto—will be circulated to all RFP recipients who have indicated an interest in bidding by 5:00 pm on July 13, 2017.

Only the written answers will be considered official and carry weight in the RFP process and subsequent evaluation. Any verbal information received from a Karandaaz Pakistan employee or other entity should not be considered as an official response to any questions regarding this RFP.

• Amendment of RFP

At any time prior to the deadline for submission of bids, Karandaaz Pakistan may amend the RFP by issuing an Addendum.

If any Addendum to this RFP is issued, it shall be shared with all the companies who are invited to submit proposals.

To give prospective firms reasonable time in which to take an Addendum into account in preparing their bids, Karandaaz Pakistan may, at its discretion, extend the deadline for the submission of bids, pursuant to point 17 ‘Deadline for Submission of Proposals’ of this section.

1. Preparation and Submission of Proposals

• Language of Proposal

All documents relating to the Proposal shall be written in the English language.

• Documents Comprising the Proposal

Prerequisites/Qualifying Packet (to be submitted in a separate sealed envelope):

• Name, address, website and contact information of applying entity(ies)
• Registration certificate
• Tax registration number (NTN) along with GST information/status
• Audited financial statement for last year

NOTE: In case of a consortium, these prerequisites will apply to all partners. A lead should be clearly specified. Consortium partnerships will be exclusive i.e., applicants can only apply as part of a single proposal.

Technical Proposal (to be submitted in a separate sealed envelope):

• Company Profile (organogram, team, governance, mission and vision)
• Profiles for proposed team (academic and professional qualifications, experience and proposed role in project, level of effort or percentage of engagement of each team member)
• Past performance on relevant/similar projects undertaken by applicant(s)
• Project (Technical) Proposal (methodology, proposed work plan including schedule, milestones, deliverables)

NOTE: In case of a consortium, the role and relevant experience of each consortium partner should be clearly specified.

Financial Proposal (to be submitted in a separate sealed envelope)

• Financial Proposal

Detailed budget outlining the cost for each services mentioned in the Scope of Work.

• Currencies of Bid and Payment

Firms may express the price only in PKR.

• Proposal Validity

Proposal shall remain valid for ninety (90) days after the Proposal submission deadline date established by Karandaaz Pakistan. A Proposal valid for a shorter period shall be rejected as non-responsive.

In exceptional circumstances, prior to the expiration of the Proposal validity period, Karandaaz Pakistan may request all firms who submitted their Proposals to extend the period of validity of their Proposal for a specified additional period. The request and the responses shall be made in writing. If the firm agrees to extend the validity of its Proposal, it shall be done without any change in the original Proposal and with the confirmation of the availability of the key experts. The firm has the right to refuse to extend the validity of its Proposal in which case such Proposal will not be further evaluated.

• Proposal Security

In this procurement, a bid security is not required.

• Alternative Proposals

Alternative Proposals shall not be considered.

• Format, Signing, and Submission of Proposals of Proposal

The firm shall prepare and email a scanned copy of the documents comprising the Proposal as described in point 10 on official company letterhead. Each document shall be signed by a person duly authorized to sign on behalf of the firm.

The Proposal shall contain no alterations or additions, except those to comply with instructions issued by Karandaaz Pakistan, or as necessary to correct errors made by the firm, in which case such corrections shall be initialled by the person or persons signing the Proposal.

• Deadline for Submission of Proposals

Proposals must be received by Karandaaz Pakistan no later than 05:00 pm Pakistan Standard Time on July 19, 2017.Karandaaz Pakistan may extend the deadline for submission of Proposals by issuing an amendment in accordance with point 8 ‘Amendment of RFP’, in which case all rights and obligations of Karandaaz Pakistan and the firms previously subject to the original deadline shall then be subject to the new deadline.

• Late Proposals

Any Proposal received late by Karandaaz Pakistan will be considered only at the discretion of the evaluation team.

• Withdrawal, Substitution, and Modification of Proposals

Firms may withdraw, substitute or modify their Proposals by giving notice in writing before the deadline for submission of Proposals prescribed in point 16 ‘Deadline for Submission of Proposal’ of this section.

Each firm’s withdrawal, substitution or modification notice shall be prepared, sealed, marked, and delivered in accordance with point 15 ‘Format, Signing, and Submission of Proposals of Proposal’, with the subject line as: Responding to RFP for “Human Centric Design Study on Bio-Metric Verification based Cash Withdrawals” – “WITHDRAWAL,” SUBSTITUTION” or “MODIFICATION” as appropriate. No Proposal may be substituted or modified after the deadline for submission of Proposals.

1. Proposal Opening and Evaluation

• Proposal Opening

Karandaaz Pakistan shall open the Proposals, including modifications made pursuant to point 18, within 5 working days after the deadline.

• Confidentiality

Information relating to the examination, evaluation, comparison, and post-qualification of Proposals, and recommendation of contract award, shall not be disclosed to firms or any other persons not officially concerned with such process until publication of the contract award. Any effort by a firm to influence Karandaaz Pakistan in the examination, evaluation, comparison, and post-qualification of the Proposals or contract award decisions may result in the rejection of its Proposal. Notwithstanding the above, from the time of Proposal opening to the time of contract award, if any firm wishes to contact Karandaaz Pakistan on any matter related to the bidding process, it should do so in writing at the address indicated in point 7 ‘Clarification of RFP’.

• Clarification of Bids

To assist in the examination, evaluation, and comparison of Proposals, Karandaaz Pakistan may, at its discretion, ask any firm for clarification of the firm’s Proposal. The request for clarification and the response shall be in writing, but no change in the price or substance of the Proposal shall be sought, offered, or permitted except as required to confirm the correction of arithmetic errors discovered by Karandaaz Pakistan in the evaluation of the Proposals in accordance with point 25 ‘Correction of Errors’.

• Preliminary Examination of Proposals

Prior to the detailed evaluation of Proposals, Karandaaz Pakistan shall first review each Proposal and check the power of attorney or any other form demonstrating that the representative has been duly authorized to sign the Proposal etc.

• Determination of Firm’s Eligibility and Qualifications

Karandaaz Pakistan shall determine whether the firm meets the eligibility and qualification requirements (Prerequisites) of the bidding documents. Firms failing to comply with the eligibility criteria indicated in point 3 ‘Eligibility’ shall be disqualified

Further, Karandaaz Pakistan shall determine whether the proposal is substantially responsive to the requirements of the bidding documents. The companies meeting the minimum qualification criteria will be evaluation on the criteria mentioned in the Section No. 27.

Karandaaz Pakistan’s determination of a Proposal’s responsiveness is to be based on the contents of the Proposal itself. A substantially responsive Proposal is one, which conforms to all the terms, conditions, and specifications of the RFP, without material deviation or reservation. A material deviation or reservation is one (a) which affects in any substantial way the scope, quality, or performance of the service; (b) which limits in any substantial way, inconsistent with the RFP, Karandaaz Pakistan’s rights or firm’s obligations under the contract; or (c) whose rectification would affect unfairly the competitive position of other firms presenting substantially responsive Proposals.

• Evaluation of Technical Proposals

Prerequisites:

• Officially registered
• Has an NTN/ tax registration details
• Audited financials
• Company website with complete list of projects
• Ability to travel to and work across Pakistan

A firm that does not meet the prerequisites for application will be excluded from the RFP process. Please note that firms must submit the above-mentioned documents in a separate envelope to the Procurement department at Karandaaz Pakistan. Only companies fulfilling the prerequisites will be evaluated on the following criteria:

Evaluation Criteria:

Technical Score (80%)

Project proposal

1. Company Profile (geographic presence, organogram and governance structure, existing network, complimentary skills in the case of consortium) – 20%
2. Proposed methodology and work plan – 20%
3. Past experience (Have developed HCD based approaches for various financial institutions preferably) – 20%
4. Proposed field team and project manager (highly recommended to be inclusive of resources who will combine skills of project management, data collection, data entry, data verification, data analysis, and reporting– 20

The firm that receives 65% (52 marks out of 80) will proceed to the financial evaluation stage

Financial Score (20%)

Detailed budget outlining the cost of each of the services mentioned in the Scope of Work/TOR.

• Correction of Errors

Proposals determined to be substantially responsive shall be checked by Karandaaz Pakistan for any arithmetic errors. Errors shall be corrected by Karandaaz Pakistan as follows:

Where there is a discrepancy between the amounts in figures and in words, the amount in words shall govern.

The amount stated in the Proposal shall be adjusted by Karandaaz Pakistan in accordance with the above procedure for the correction of errors and, with the concurrence of the firm, shall be considered as binding upon the firm. If the firm does not accept the corrected amount, the Proposal shall be rejected.

• Currency for Price Evaluation

PKR only.

• Evaluation of Proposal Price and ranking:

Financial Score (20 marks)

• Detailed budget outlining the cost of each of the services mentioned in the Scope of Work/TOR

20 points will be awarded to the lowest responsive bidder while rest of the bids will be allocated points according to following formula:

Points of a Bidder = (P1/ P2)* 20

Where:

P1= Price of Lowest Responsive Bidder

P2= Price of the Bidder

1. Award of Contract

• Award Criteria

Subject to 31 below, Karandaaz Pakistan shall award the contract to a responsible firm with a complete financial and technical Proposal

• Karandaaz Pakistan’s right to accept any Proposal and to reject any or all Proposals

Notwithstanding point 28 above, Karandaaz Pakistan reserves the right to accept or reject any Proposal, and to cancel the bidding process and reject all bids, at any time prior to the award of contract, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected firm or firms or any obligation to inform the affected firm or firms of the grounds for Karandaaz Pakistan’s action.

• Notification of Award and Signing of Agreement

The firm whose Proposal has been accepted shall be notified of the award by Karandaaz Pakistan prior to expiration of the Proposal validity period in writing.

Karandaaz Pakistan will also promptly notify in writing each unsuccessful firm. After publication of the award. Also, Karandaaz Pakistan shall entertain a complaint from any firm that claims to have suffered or that may suffer, loss or injury due to a breach of a duty by the company in the conduct of this bidding process. Any bidder/potential contractor feeling aggrieved may lodge a written complaint at ProcComplaint@karandaaz.com.pk not later than fifteen (15) days after the completion of evaluation process; however mere fact of lodging a complaint shall not warrant suspension of the procurement/award process.

SECTION 3. PROCUREMENT POLICY – VENDOR CONDUCT

• Corrupt or fraudulent practices

Bidders, suppliers, contractors and their agents (whether declared or not), contractors, sub-consultants, firms or suppliers, and any personnel thereof, shall observe the highest standard of ethics during the procurement and execution of contracts.

Karandaaz Pakistan shall not award contract if it is determined that the bidder, or any of its personnel, or its agents, or its consultants, sub-contractors, firms, suppliers and/or their employees, has, directly or indirectly, engaged in corrupt, fraudulent, collusive, coercive, or obstructive practices in competing for the contract in question. As part of bidding/ solicitation documents, Karandaaz Pakistan will seek declaration of ‘Non collusive non corrupt practices’ from each bidder. Format for such declaration is prescribed in section 3 of the standard bidding document. In pursuance of this policy, following terms are defined as follows:

1. “Corrupt practice” is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting, directly or indirectly, of anything of value to influence improperly the actions of another party;
2. “Fraudulent practice” is any act or omission, including a misrepresentation, that knowingly or recklessly misleads, or attempts to mislead, a party to obtain a financial or other benefit or to avoid an obligation;
3. “Collusive practice” is an arrangement between two or more parties designed to achieve an improper purpose, including to influence improperly the actions of another party;
4. “Coercive practice” is impairing or harming, or threatening to impair or harm, directly or indirectly, any party or the property of the party to influence improperly the actions of a party;
5. “Obstructive practice” is deliberately destroying, falsifying, altering, or concealing of evidence material to the investigation or making false statements to investigators in order to materially impede investigation into allegations of a corrupt, fraudulent, coercive or collusive practice; and/or threatening, harassing or intimidating any party to prevent it from disclosing its knowledge of matters relevant to the investigation or from pursuing the investigation.

• Avoidance of conflict of interest

Any firm participating in the procurement process should disclose any actual or perceived conflict of interest situation/condition. Any firm found to have a conflict of interest shall be ineligible for award of a contract.

A firm shall be considered to have a conflict of interest in a procurement process if:

1. Such firm is providing goods, works, or non-consulting services resulting from or directly related to consulting services for the preparation or implementation of a project that it provided or were provided by any affiliate that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with that firm; or
2. Such firm submits more than one bid, either individually or as a joint venture partner in another bid, except for permitted alternative bids. This will result in the disqualification of all bids in which the bidder is involved. However, this does not limit the inclusion of a firm as a sub-contractor in more than one bid. Only for certain types of procurement, the participation of a bidder as a sub-contractor in another bid may be permitted subject to the company’s no objection and as allowed by the standard bidding documents applicable to such types of procurement; or
3. Such firm (including its personnel) has a close business or family relationship with a professional staff of the company who: (i) are directly or indirectly involved in the preparation of the bidding documents or specifications of the contract, and/or the bid evaluation process of such contract; or (ii) would be involved in the implementation or supervision of such contract unless the conflict stemming from such relationship has been resolved in a manner acceptable to the company throughout the procurement process and execution of the contract; or
4. Such firm does not comply with any other conflict of interest situation as specified in the standard bidding documents relevant to the specific procurement process.

• Duty of care

The supplier in performance of services for Karandaaz Pakistan shall exercise duty of care. Duty of care holds the supplier responsible for the safety and well-being of its personnel and any third party affected by its activities.

TERMS OF REFERENCE       

Thematic Area:                      Digital Financial Services (DFS)

Project Title:                           Human Centric Design Study on Bio-Metric Verification based Cash Withdrawals

Expected Start Date:           August 2017

End Date:                                November 2017

Task Manager:                       Senior Manager Innovation DFS, Karandaaz

About Karandaaz Pakistan

KARANDAAZ PAKISTAN, established in August 2014, promotes access to finance for small businesses through a commercially directed investment platform, and financial inclusion for individuals by employing technology enabled digital solutions. The company has financial and institutional support from leading international development finance institutions; principally the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Karandaaz Pakistan has three core work streams:

• Corporate Investment and Credit (CIC) focuses on providing credit and capital to high impact small and medium-size businesses, and business models that have potential to generate sustainable employment and offer attractive risk-adjusted financial returns.
• Digital Financial Services (DFS) focuses on expanding the poor’s access to digital financial services in Pakistan by working across the ecosystem of local actors – policy-makers, regulators, government departments, businesses, researchers and academics. The DFS team facilitates digitization of government and other payment streams, encourages experimentation with businesses, and provides support to innovative DFS start-ups.
• Knowledge Management and Communications (KMC) focuses on developing and disseminating credible insights to inform the core themes of the Company, including DFS innovation, women’s empowerment and youth employment.

About the Project

A government social safety net programme has implemented a Bio-metric verification (BVS) based cash withdrawal system in partnership with a local bank. Few vulnerabilities have been observed in the process of cash withdrawal from the perspective of beneficiaries while interacting with the BVS and the project is about collaborating/changing the cash withdrawal process to suit the need of the beneficiaries.

Scope of Work

Karandaaz see an opportunity to support the government social safety  net programme  by designing a research based on human centric design for BVS based cash withdrawals according to which the recommendations can be built around appropriating the process that beneficiary follows at the BVS agent for cash withdrawal.  The research will involve going to the field and studying cash withdrawal process in granularity, beneficiary behaviour and qualification in adoption of that process. The idea of the study is to identify gaps and propose changes that can be implemented to provide a better seamless process of withdrawal to the beneficiary.

The HCD Study will involve field visits by personnel of the Consultant for studying the cash withdrawal process and behavioural patterns of the Partner Bank agents and Beneficiaries and their rationale for adoption of BVS method of payment. Estimated number of field visits and interviews for the HCD Study are given below:

Outcome of the HCD Study: The outcome of the study will be the recommendations proposed for changing or sequencing the activities in the process of cash withdrawal and the identification of right channels or medium of communication with beneficiaries for their better awareness. The bank may use those recommendations in order to mitigate the issues highlighted above for the good of beneficiaries.

Reporting, Timeline, Deliverables and Location

The duration of the study is expected to be up to 4 months with the provision of extension if needed.

Expected Start Date: August 2017

Expected End Date:  November 2017

The consultant who will be hired will be directly reporting to the Director DFS. A designated contact person will be attached with the consultant for timely reporting and coordination. Payment will be made on a quarterly basis on the submission of all monthly and quarterly deliverables for each quarter.  The schedule of deliverables is provided below:

The ideal firm or partnership would bring to bear the following key elements:

• The primary core competency will be a specialized skill and track record in successfully developing Human Centred Design approaches for social development projects;
• The firm must be able to provide resources who have experience of working with, Social safety net programmes, banks, telcos, and public sector entities and are familiar with the data management environments in these industries; the resources must be able to assist the banks, telcos, and public sector entities seamlessly without adding any additional reporting burden on these entities, and be equally able to collect and verify data directly from individuals. Familiarity with these environments will be a key determining factor in selection.
• The firm should have a proven approach and experienced staff to deploy who have prior experience in designing monitoring tools and conducting surveys, focus group discussions etc.

Firms may wish to make proposals as consortia that bring together complementary skills and experience for this assignment

Documents to be submitted

All applicants should submit a:

• Qualifying Packet (with all relevant official documents bound in report form)
• Technical Proposal – no more than 20 pages (additional 10 pages for Annexes)
• Financial Proposal – no more than 5 pages, complete with budget narrative

Document specifications: Font Calibri, Font Size 11.

Late proposals or those that exceed the page limit will not be entertained.

Each document will be separately sealed and then included in one sealed package. Soft copy and hard copies must be mailed to the following office and email addresses no later than July 19, 2017:

Office Address: 1 E, Ali Plaza, Nazim ud din Road, D-Chowk, Islamabad

Email: procurement@karandaaz.com.pk

Envelops should be marked:  “Human Centric Design Study on Bio-Metric Verification based Cash Withdrawals”.

Annex – A

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION FORM

Dear Sir/Madam,

Having examined the Solicitation Documents, the receipt of which is hereby duly acknowledged, “THE FIRM NAME” undersigned, offer to provide consulting for “INSERT REFERENCE NUMBER” to Karandaaz Pakistan in accordance with the Price Schedule attached herewith and made part of this Proposal. “THE FIRM NAME” undertake, if our Proposal is accepted, to commence and complete delivery of all services specified in the contract within the time frame stipulated.

“THE FIRM NAME” agree to abide by this Proposal for a period of 90 days from date fixed for opening of Proposal in the invitation for Proposal, and it shall remain binding upon us and may be accepted at any time before the expiration of that period.

We understand that you are not bound to accept any Proposal you may receive.

Dated: this——day of ——-2017

Name, Designation and Signature of the “firm Representative”