Development and maintenance of SEA:LEARN Online Platform

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarifications to your questions:Question: Regarding: Minimum requirements for the online platform. on page 3 Section III. Point 3 Minimum Requirements for the Online Platform, it is mentioned in point 2. Visual Editor integrated into the headless CMS and Direct edit and drag and drop of the page layout as it would appear on the published site. Would you elaborate more until what extend the visual editor can (re) arrange the appearance of the website? Can we just fixed the component and styling, and only change the layout position and/or content?If what you mean is adding/changing component and styling dynamically (like wordpress), which is need a lot of development work, what is the requirement? (only background and styling fonts or a full wysiwyg like Figma).Clarification (Please note that we combined the responses for some questions under this clarificaiton): The requirement for a visual editor focuses on ease of use for content managers and content-level flexibility, not dynamic, full-scale design changes.The visual editor should primarily allow content managers to manipulate the content within the pre-defined templates and components. This includes being able to add and edit content (text, images, media), the ability to select fixed font styles (e.g., Header 1, Header 2, Normal text) and to rearrange accompanying images and media relative to the text within a content block are desired.We require fixed templates and component styling. We do not require a dynamic, full-featured Figma-like WYSIWYG editor that allows content managers to dynamically add new components, change the platform's core styling, or drastically rearrange the fixed layout of pages.Rationale (Metadata Catalogue): Since SEA:LEARN functions as a metadata catalogue, fixed templates are necessary to ensure consistency for easy content management and, critically, for streamlined content syndication with our various partner platforms. Question: Do you have any system preference and example website?Clarification: No. As outlined in previous responses to similar questions (refer to Answer 1 in the previous Q&A), we do not have a preferred technology stack or example website. Proponents must propose and fully justify the best technological framework based on our requirements for interoperability, scalability, flexibility, and security. A sample website of the metadata catalogue function of SEA:LEARN is https://iwlearn.net/iw-projects. Thanks and regardsProcurement Team

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarification to your question: In the Section II - Evaluation Criteria, Point 1.3, it is specified "The provider must commit to ongoing hosting and maintenance through 2028."Does that mean that we have to include in the financial proposal this cost?Clarification: Yes, the cost for hosting and maintenance through 2028 should be included in the financial proposal.Thanks and regardsProcurement Team

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarifications to your questions:Question: The official financial reports are in an another language than English. Can we submit them this way?Clarification:  Please provide the original documents with English translations.Thanks and regardsProcurement Team

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarifications to your questions:Question 1: Considering that the proposal must be submitted in English and expressed in U.S. dollars, should the financial statements also be presented in U.S. dollars, or is it acceptable to submit them in Colombian pesos (COP)?Clarification:  Financial statements can be provided in Colombian pesos (COP) that we will convert with UN rate to USD while calculation.Question 2: Regarding the certificates of experience issued by our clients, is it required to provide translated versions in English, or may we attach the original documents in Spanish?Clarification: Please provide the original documents with English translations.Thanks and regardsProcurement Team

New amendment added #4: Tender deadline prolongation

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarifications to your question:Request for Submission Extension - Due to the nature and complexity of the project, and given the multiple components and technical aspects that need to be thoroughly considered, we kindly request an extension to the submission deadline. This will allow us to ensure that our proposal is comprehensive and fully aligned with the project’s objectives and requirements. We would greatly appreciate it if an extension could be granted.Clarification: We understand the complexity of the project, and considering it we defined 3 week for proposal preparation and submission. We will discuss internally. In case we make an extension decision, you will receive notification.Thanks and regardsProcurement TeamBorn Interactive 

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarifications to your questions:Question 1: Annex 1. SEA_LEARN Concept Note.pdfSince SEA:LEARN will provide direct access to the SYMPHONY and MCSAV tools via iFrame/embed, is any deeper integration or access to the APIs of these tools anticipated, beyond simple embedding, for the Decision Support functionality?Clarification: While simple embedding (iFrame) may be the baseline for visualization, deeper integration (via APIs) is highly desirable to enhance the Decision Support functionality, when achievable within the timeline and resources available and if these tools are ready for such integration.Deeper integration would allow SEA:LEARN to feed data into the tools or retrieve and display key outputs/summaries within the SEA:LEARN interface, rather than just linking out.The service provider is expected to investigate the available APIs for SYMPHONY and MCSAV during the scoping phase and propose the optimal integration level that enhances decision support while managing technical complexity. The SCS SAP PCU will facilitate discussions with both organizations and their developers.Question 2: Presentation -Pre-bid Meeting_RFP_2025_59532.pdfWhat is the estimated volume (number of documents) of historical documents in image PDF format that the Service Provider will need to digitize to ensure their searchability and utilization by the AI functionality?Clarification: As stated in in one of the Q&As, our priority materials for the pilot launch are already digitized. The work is primarily focused on metadata extraction and optimization for existing digital content.A definitive volume of image-only PDFs requiring full Optical Character Recognition (OCR) or other digitization is not provided in the current scope.The Service Provider should plan for a reasonable amount of document processing to ensure existing PDFs are text-searchable (OCR) for optimal AI functionality, and we can discuss a specific volume cap during work plan negotiation and scopingQuestion 3: Annex 1. SEA_LEARN Concept Note.pdfHas the location been determined for the one mandatory in-person workshop intended for training regional specialists and building their capacity?Clarification: Yes, the location has been determined. Please refer to answers provided to similar questions (under the section about Training) from the previous Q&As:Preferred location: Bangkok, Thailand.Venue: SCS SAP Project Office at Kasetsart University, or another appropriate venue in Bangkok arranged by the service providerQuestion 4: RFP-2025-59532_Section IV - Returnable forms. Form D: Technical Proposal Form.Please clarify if CV should be included in the table of form D?And does the 20-page limit apply to CVs as well?Clarification: The CVs should not be included in the table of form D. They should be provided separately per personnel proposed. 20-page limit only implies the technical proposal.Thanks and regardsProcurement Team

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarifications to your questions:1. Content Integration: We understand that our role involves integrating the content provided to us into the web platform. Could you please confirm whether we are also expected to handle any content creation or collection in coordination with other parties? If yes, kindly elaborate on the specific responsibilities foreseen under this scope.Clarifications: The service provider's primary role regarding content is integration, structuring, and optimization of existing digital materials (as noted in Answer 7, under Question 6).However, the scope explicitly includes responsibilities that involve content coordination and collection with collaborators:The service provider will be expected to lead technical scoping discussions with collaborators to define data/content sharing protocols.The service provider is responsible for hiring, training, and managing local IT support within collaborator offices, whose role is to help execute the SEA:LEARN workplan and facilitate content/data integration from the collaborators' side.Your team will be responsible for extracting, standardizing, and optimizing metadata for the digitized materials to ensure searchability and proper cataloguing.No original content writing (e.g., authoring reports or articles) is expected.2. Learning CenterCould you please provide additional details on the Learning Center requirements? Should it include listings and descriptions of online learning courses and resources, and will it involve functionalities such as online courses, payments, or registrations?Clarifications: The Learning Center is primarily intended to act as a metadata catalogue and gateway for educational resources.It should include listings and descriptions (plus other metadata) of external online learning courses and resources, linking users to the authoritative source platforms.Scope of this contract does NOT include functionalities such as hosting, managing, or delivering full online courses, processing payments, or handling user registrations/LMS functionalities.The focus is on aggregating and presenting the relevant learning materials available elsewhere to improve discoverability.3. Intelligent Coastal & Marine Ecosystem Management ToolsPlease clarify whether these tools are intended to be external links or if additional integration or data connection functionalities are required within the platform.Clarifications: The general approach is to provide direct access and external links to these specialized tools (e.g., modeling, analysis). However, this may require API or embed integrations to provide a seamless user experience, depending on the tool, and reports that can be generated by these tools, but it should be within the overall scope of the contract.The system must be designed to aggregate and present metadata related to these tools.Any necessary integration or data connection functionalities must be scoped out during the discovery and technical discussion phase led by the service provider. 4. AI FeaturesCould you please elaborate on the AI-related features required and the specific use cases where AI integration is expected?Clarifications: The core AI-related requirements are focused on enhancing searchability, discoverability, and content analysis across the platform's metadata catalogue. Specific use cases include:Semantic search/Intelligent search: Utilizing AI/NLP techniques to move beyond simple keyword matching and allow users to search using more natural language queries, yielding more relevant results.Metadata enhancement: Automatically suggesting keywords, themes, and geographical tags for uploaded content/metadata records to improve cataloguing efficiency and completeness.Summarization/extraction: Using AI tools to process content abstracts or full texts to provide users with quick, concise summaries of documents.These features are also desired for use by content managers of SEA:LEARN (authenticated users).5. Open-Source AIWhen referring to “open-source AI,” does this imply that the use of OpenAI web APIs or similar proprietary solutions is not permitted?Clarifications: The requirement for using "open-source AI" strongly prefers and prioritizes open-source models and frameworks (e.g., open-source LLMs or NLP libraries) for integration. This is due to considerations around cost-control, long-term sustainability, and avoiding vendor lock-in for a publicly funded platform.While the primary focus is open-source, the use of proprietary web APIs (like OpenAI or similar) must be justified in your proposal as a best-fit solution that meets a critical need that open-source alternatives cannot, and you must clearly detail the recurrent costs, data security implications, and a strategy for potential future migration to an open-source alternative. 6. Platform LinkagesCould you please clarify the exact scope and nature of the required platform linkages, including whether these involve API integrations, data exchanges, or other connection types?Clarifications: The required platform linkages are multi-faceted and will involve various connection types:Primary nature: API integrations and data exchanges are the intended scope.Mechanism: The preferred, non-invasive method is data syndication (e.g., through REST APIs, RSS/Atom feeds, or other structured data formats) to exchange metadata and/or subset data. Direct, full database integration is not the initial focus and may not be achievable given the diversity of systems used by collaborators and other potential sources of data and information.Scope: The exact nature and protocol (e.g., the specific API endpoints) will be defined during the technical scoping phase, which the Service Provider will lead in coordination with collaborators.7. RFP Forms SubmissionIn the vendor submission section titled “Supplier Forms,” it is mentioned that a total of 64 forms are included; however, only seven are currently available. Could you please advise whether this discrepancy may affect our submission, and if there are any additional forms we should account for or complete?Clarifications: The bidders are requested to submit all forms identified in RFP-2025-59532_Section IV - Returnable formsThanks and regardsProcurement Team 

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarification to your question: Could you please clarify which services require onsite presence and for what duration?Clarification: The in-person training workshop will require onsite presence with a possibility of the need for a service provider representative to join either the SEA:LEARN launch or an important preparatory meeting (2-3 days).Thanks and regardsProcurement Team

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarifications to your questions:Question 1: Do you have a preferred technology stack for this project? Are you open to suggestions like Laravel and VueJS?Clarification: No, we do not have a preferred technology stack and are open to suggestions like Laravel (PHP) with VueJS (JavaScript framework) or alternatives like Django (Python) with a modern frontend framework.The bidders are expected to provide a detailed description of the proposed system framework and why it is the best fit for these priorities.Question 2: Will you require the developed system to be integrated with other 3rd-party systems? If yes, are the integration documents readily available?Clarification: Yes, integration with third-party systems is critical to SEA:LEARN's mission of content syndication and knowledge aggregation.·  Integration strategy: We require the platform to be built with an API-first architecture capable of securely and non-invasively syndicating content from external sources (e.g., through feeds, REST APIs, or OGC-compliant services). Your proposal should detail your approach to secure third-party integration, prioritizing methods that respect the collaborator's data security.·  Documentation: Integration documents are not yet available. The service provider will be expected to eventually lead the technical discussions with collaborators to understand their system architectures and define the specific integration protocols. We expect the successful bidder to advise on the necessary documentation needed from our collaboratorsQuestion 3: How many systems are we integrating with? Can you name them all?Clarification: We cannot name all future systems, as technical discussions with potential collaborators are pending. The successful service provider will be expected to eventually lead these scoping discussions.For this initial pilot phase, the platform must be designed to eventually link with and/or aggregate metadata from the following public online platforms:·  ASEAN Biodiversity Dashboard: https://dashboard.aseanbiodiversity.org·  PEMSEA Sea Knowledge Bank: https://seaknowledgebank.net·  PEMSEA: https://pemsea.org·  SCS SAP Project Website: https://scssap.org (New version launching soon)Question 4: Regarding the training, do you have an estimated number of attendees for the on-site training? Will the vendor cover the cost for the training venue and food? Is there a preferred country for hosting?Clarification: ·  Attendees: Plan for 6-8 sponsored participants from collaborator organizations (possibly 2 sponsored participants from each of the 3-4 pilot collaborators, typically a technical IT support person and a content/project coordinator, if these are different persons). Additionally, expect attendance from approximately 2-3 SCS SAP PCU members. Participants will come from the region (high possibility from Philippines and Indonesia).·  Duration: The on-site training will be an intensive, two-day event.·  Logistics & cost:o    The service provider is required to cover all associated costs for the sponsored participants, including travel arrangements, accommodation, and Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA), based on the service provider's company rules.o    The service provider should also plan for and cover the costs of the training venue (if outside the SCS SAP Project office in Kasetsart University campus), food, and all necessary training materials.o    PCU members, being based in Bangkok, will not require travel or accommodation support.Location: The preferred location for the in-person training is Bangkok, Thailand. The venue can be at the SCS SAP Project Office at Kasetsart University or another appropriate Bangkok venue arranged by the service providerQuestion 5: Will we get access to frameworks/systems in advance?Clarification: SEA:LEARN will be developed entirely from scratch, so there are NO existing frameworks or systems to provide access to at the onsetQuestion 6: Can you let us know what type of reports need to be created?Clarification: SEA:LEARN is primarily envisioned as an online metadata catalogue and knowledge gateway. The main reports will be the dynamically generated results of user queries.·  Search Results/Reports·  Required Metadata Fields (Minimum)·  AnalyticsQuestion 7: Can we be given a ballpark figure for how many materials will be digitized?Clarification: For the planned pilot launch, our priority materials are already digitized. The work will focus on optimizing these digital materials for the SEA:LEARN platform, which will involve tasks such as:·  Metadata extraction and standardization.·  Data normalization for interoperability.·  Content organization and structuring within the chosen CMS Potential adaptation for StoryMaps and data visualizations.Question 8: Can you share the number of expected users for the system?Clarification: We differentiate between internal users (PCU/Collaborators managing the platform) and public users (the target audience).·  Internal Users (System Access/CMS Accounts): Plan for a small team of internal users requiring varying levels of access:o    1 Administrator access (full control).o    1 Advanced Non-Administrator access (high-level management/oversight).o    4–5 Content Editor accounts (day-to-day content entry and updates).·  Public Users (Platform Visitors): The system must be built to scale for ten thousands of visits annually, growing over time. The platform's success will be measured partly by its ability to attract a large audience, including decision-makers, practitioners, and researchers from the region and globally.Thanks and regardsProcurement Team

New amendment added #3: Pre-bid meeting minutes upload

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarifications to your questions:Question: In reference to Section III – Schedule of Requirements and Form E (Key Personnel), could you please confirm whether a representative CV may be submitted for the Project Analyst (Key Expert 3) position, where the role will be filled by a qualified contract expert upon award of contract?Clarification:  The bidder is responsible to provide with the CVs of the proposed personnel for at least following key positions:Team LeaderLead Website, Platform, Tool Developer Project AnalystThe CV should be provided in the format shared by UNOPS. The qualification of the proposed candidates will be evaluated against the minimum qualification requirements identified in RFP-2025-59532 Section III -  Schedule of Requirements.Thanks and regardsProcurement Team

New amendment added #2: Concept Note to be uploaded

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarification to our question”Question: Could you please clarify how much work is expected to be done on-site/ in-person?Clarification: Please calculate work to be done on-site/ in-person considering the tasks described in TOR, especially consider the below:​Training: Provide a guidance document, capacity building, and training for the PCU and technical focal points identified by collaborators, consisting of at least four virtual workshops and one in-person workshop, to facilitate regional capacity to update the platform as needed.Thanks and regardsProcurement Team

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarification to your question:Question: Regarding the submission of client reference letters:As requested we will provide confirmation of past performance from public sector clients. Due to the internal processes of such public institutions, formal signed reference letters may take additional time.To facilitate timely submission and ensure full compliance, would UNOPS accept an official confirmation email from the client (from their institutional email address), together with a detailed reference statement describing the scope and satisfaction of the delivered work?We would appreciate your guidance on this matter.Clarification: It is important that the provided documents (e-mails, hand-overs, and reference letters) should prove the successful completion of similar scope and complexity projects in the last 5 years. If the provided document meets UNOPS requirement, UNOPS can accept it.Thanks and regardsProcurement Team

New amendment added #1: Update of the checklist

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarification to your question:Question: We are currently reviewing the RFP documentation for the UNOPS Tender RFP/2025/59532 and would appreciate your clarification regarding the Performance Security requirement. Specifically, we would like to confirm whether the submission of a Performance Security at the proposal stage is mandatory, or if it is acceptable to proceed with the proposal submission without providing the Performance Security upfront, with the understanding that it would be furnished upon contract award.Your guidance on this matter will help us ensure full compliance with the tender requirements.Clarification: Please be kindly informed that  the provision of Performance Security is not requested on the proposal submission level. Only the awarded supplier will be requested to provide the Performance security document.Thanks and regardsProcurement Team

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarification to your question:Question: The document Section 1- Instruction to Offerers when opened it starts with Section II instead and mentions to refer to Section I: RFP Particulars which is nowhere to be found in any of the documents. Please update.Clarification: Please note that the RFP Particulars is the separate section of the RFP. Please check it among the tender information sections. As for the provided document Section 1- Instruction to Offerers is correct.Thanks and regardsProcurement Team

New clarification added: Dear Bidder,Please find the below clarification regarding your question:Question: Could you please clarify the number of minimum references required to comply with your tender requirements?From the RFP-2025-59532  Section II - Evaluation Criteria document, it states that:At least two reference letters, previous contracts or similar documents / Hand-over documents proving the successful completion of similar scope and complexity projects in the last 5 years.However from the submission portal under the Document checklist from the Vendor Submission section it states: Copies of at least three reference letters / Hand-over documents proving the successful completion of similar scope and complexity projects in the last 5 years.Clarification: Sorry for misunderstanding. The requirements stated in Section II - Evaluation Criteria document should be considered. Document checklist from the Vendor Submission section will be updated accordingly.Thanks and regardsProcurement Team