ITC EOI Exam Management Centre

CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI)

Important: The purpose of this call for EOI is to identify appropriate suppliers who can potentially fulfil the requirements. The present call for EOI does not constitute an invitation to tender. Only suppliers deemed qualified by ITC will receive the invitation to tender.

THIS EOI REPLACES EOI 19 APRIL 2012 THAT IS HEREBY NULL AND VOID

Reference:  Request for Proposal RFQ 2012_55/AMC for the provision of Exam management Services for ITC’s Modular Learning System in Supply Chain Management (MLS-SCMè) programme.

Date of this Call for Expression of Interest (EOI): 05 November 2012

Closing Date for Receipt of EOI at ITC/PS:  13 November 2012

Terms of Reference (summary):

The Modular Learning System in Supply Chain Management (MLS-SCM) programme consists of a series of training modules on supply chain management together with a professional certification programme. It is delivered in more than 50 countries by local partner institutions (LPIs). Over 1,500 trainers attached to LPIs are involved in training on the programme and more than 25,000 professionals have benefited from this programme since 2001.

The MLS-SCM programme is based on the following three pillars:

1- High quality training materials provided by ITC;

2- A professional certification programme provided by ITC leading to 3 levels of certification;

3- ITC support to the network (training of trainers, course design, marketing of the courses, etc.).

Exams are taken in the home country, with the LPIs in charge of handling all local arrangements. The exams themselves are developed and marked by international experts. Paper-based exams are organized twice a year and online exams take place regularly at fixed dates throughout the year and are managed by LPIs. Online exams are run on ITC’s Moodle e-learning platform; Moodle exam module has been improved in order to meet some of our specific requirements stated below.

Examinee registration (for paper-based and online exams) is currently done online through the MLS-SCM Web portal, namely LearningNet, where further information concerning the programme could also be found: http://moodle.ipscm-learningnet.net/mod/timetable/link/?sr=1. Once exam registrations are closed and approved by both the LPI and ITC, the LPI starts preparing the logistics for the exams.

The programme has now gone through a major strategic reassessment, moving towards full online exams and aiming at outsourcing Pillar 2 (Professional certification). This project has three objectives:

 
1- Cost-effectiveness of managing the delivery of exams for ITC and LPIs;

 2- Independence of LPIs in order to avoid potential conflicts of interest;

 3- Flexibility for candidates to schedule exams at any time.

Tasks to be fulfilled by the vendor:

ITC aims to implement the exam delivery process below, which implies using the vendor’s examination system. ITC is aiming at outsourcing steps 2 to 5 of this process:

 1- Approval of examinees – Before examinees are able to schedule an exam for a specific module, their LPI approves them in LearningNet, in that they should 1) have attended the relevant training modules (2 to 3) related to the exam and 2) have paid the LPI for the exam they wish to take.

2- Exam scheduling – Examinees are then allowed to schedule this particular module exam at any time from the supplier’s platform. ITC and the relevant LPI are automatically notified (or the information is accessible from the supplier’s platform) of any registration/scheduling made/change.

3- Exam delivery – Once in the test centre, examinees authenticate themselves physically and electronically on the supplier’s system before taking the exam. The supplier is expected to deliver the exam from their online platform with a high level of reliability and security to avoid cheating.

4- Marking and results – The supplier’s system automatically marks exams, although results are delivered to examinees after ITC and the LPI validate them, especially for essay-based exams or requiring special care. Then ITC or the supplier notifies the examinees by email of their results.

5- Reporting and notification – For each exam, the supplier shall report (or make available online) to ITC and the relevant LPI on attendance, results and any irregularities that might have arisen during exams. Likewise for general statistics, trends, etc. on a periodic basis.

Interested vendors may send their Expression of Interest to:

Procurement Services,

International Trade Centre

Palais des Nations

1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Email: cano@intracen.org

Telefax: +41 22-730 0537

Please indicate your vendor ID number and the reference of this EOI in your response. If not registered with ITC/UNOG or UNGM, please follow the Procedure for Registration as Potential Vendor at www.ungm.org as soon as possible.

ITC reserves the right to change or cancel this requirement at any time during the EOI and/or solicitation process.

Please note that only those companies considered qualified by ITC for this project will be invited to participate in this procurement exercise.

For any further information on ITC, please consult our website: www.intracen.org