RFP for Long Term Agreement - Global Infrastructure Services in English, Spanish, French, Russian, Ukrainian, Portuguese, and Arabic

New clarification added: Q24: Regarding the insurance requirements outlined in the tender documents (Professional Indemnity Insurance, Public Liability, etc.), could UNOPS please confirm if Offerors must possess these active policies at the time of proposal submission? Alternatively, is it acceptable for evaluation purposes to submit a formal commitment or a Letter of Intent from an insurance broker stating that the required policies will be secured upon contract award and prior to contract signature?A24: It is not necessary to have the final, active project-specific policies fully active at the time of proposal submission.For the evaluation stage, you must submit Schedule 4.8 [Insurance Details and Insurances] along with evidence of your firm's existing corporate insurance capacities or a formal Letter of Intent / Commitment Letter from an accredited insurance broker. This letter must explicitly confirm that your firm is fully insurable and that the required coverage limits will be successfully issued and activated upon contract award.If your firm is selected for an award, the complete, active insurance policies must be fully secured and certificates of insurance must be provided to UNOPS prior to contract signature or before the commencement of any services under individual Call-Off Orders 

New clarification added: Q23. Regarding Section II (Evaluation Method and Criteria) - 3. Qualification Criteria, under "Financial Capacity" (Annual Turnover and Liquidity Ratio):Could UNOPS please clarify the exact criteria or baseline standard required for the financial statements to be considered "audited"? Specifically, if an Offeror submits financial statements for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025 accompanied by an Independent Auditor's Report / Audit Opinion issued by an external, independent Certified Public Accounting firm (independent studio), does this fully satisfy the requirement for "audited financial statements" under this solicitation?A23: Financial statements accompanied by an Independent Auditor's Report or Audit Opinion issued by an external, independent Certified Public Accounting (CPA) firm fully satisfy the requirement. To be considered "audited" under this solicitation, the financial statements for the last three years (2023, 2024, and 2025) must be reviewed by an autonomous external professional body. Certified financial reports that include a formal, independent audit opinion confirming the statements fairly present the firm's financial position in accordance with applicable accounting frameworks meet the standard.

New amendment added #2: Amendment No. 2 The following amendments are hereby made to the Solicitation Document:The financials tab in the eSourcing - Financial offer details in vendor submission is changed from “Unit prices” to “Not required” The Particular tab - Additional information - under category 2 - The wording “Offerers may submit quotations for a minimum of two (2) disciplines under Category 2” is changed to “Offerers must submit quotations for a minimum of two (2) disciplines under Category 2” Document tab - The document “6. Consultant_Services_RFP_Section_IV_ReturnableSchedules - 4.1 Fees and Reimbursment” is replaced with “6. Consultant_Services_RFP_Section_IV_ReturnableSchedules - 4.1 Fees and Reimbursment - Amendment 1”.The change in the document is that the wording “Offerers may submit quotations for a minimum of two (2) disciplines under Category 2” is changed to “Offerers must submit quotations for a minimum of two (2) disciplines under Category 2” All other terms and conditions of the Solicitation Document shall remain unchanged and in full force and effect.

New clarification added: Q22. For suppliers bidding for multiple language Lots, could UNOPS clarify whether awards will result in:a) separate LTAs for each awarded Lot; orb) a single LTA covering all Lots awarded to that supplier?If (b) applies, could UNOPS also clarify:i. whether the LTA Director and LTA Coordinator are intended to be appointed separately for each Lot, or at supplier level across all Lots awarded to that supplier; andii. if appointed at supplier level, whether the LTA Director and LTA Coordinator would be expected to demonstrate proficiency in all awarded Lot languages, or whether proficiency in English alone would be sufficient for the overarching framework management roles, with language-specific capability provided through the relevant Lot Director/Coordinator and technical personnel.A22. Separate LTAs will be awarded for each language lot. The LTA Director and LTA Coordinator can be different across language lots, or the same individuals perform these functions for multiple language lots, as long as they meet the language requirements. For instance, an LTA Director who speaks English, French, and Spanish can serve in the function for the English, French, and Spanish language lots, but she would not be able to serve in the same function for the Arabic language lot.

New clarification added: Q21. In "TABLE 1. Infrastructure Sectors for LTA Services" of "Section II. Terms of Reference", there is a list of sectors for which the services will be requested.Will Offerors be required to provide services for the totality of sectors of TABLE 1 in order to qualify? Are Offerors allowed to bid for specific sectors only?In the same line of thought, "Section II. Terms of Reference" identifies the following scopes for services:●       Infrastructure design services: Encompassing all stages of design, from preliminary concepts to detailed technical documentation.●       Infrastructure design review services: Providing third-party review and verification of existing infrastructure designs.●       Other engineering services: Feasibility studies, social and environmental assessments, construction supervision, strategic infrastructure planning, and other technical tasks related to engineering and infrastructure projects.Will Offerors be allowed to bid for a selection of the scopes described above, or will they be required to offer for the whole range?A21.There are three categories are listed in the document “6. Consultant_Services_RFP_Section_IV_ReturnableSchedules - 4.1 Fees and Reimbursment - Amendment 1.xlsx “. Please refer to the notes/instruction of the document. To summarize:All mandatory disciplines (category 1) must be bid for.Two preferred disciplines (category 2) must be bid for.No optional disciplines (category 3) must be bid for, but we encourage consultants to bid for as many disciplines as they are able to provide.  For every discipline that a Consultant bids for, it warrants that it is able to provide design, design review, and other services related to the discipline. 

New clarification added: Q20. The Schedule of Requirements states that "all key personnel must be proficient in the language of the relevant language lot". Could UNOPS please clarify what is meant by "key personnel" for the purposes of this requirement? Specifically, does this requirement apply to:a) all personnel nominated in the proposal for the relevant lot; orb) only the LTA Director, LTA Coordinator and required discipline leads identified in the qualification criteria?Alternatively, if a different definition of "key personnel" is intended, could UNOPS please clarify which proposed personnel must demonstrate proficiency in the relevant lot language?A20. All personnel in the proposal must be able to provide services in the language lot. For instance, for the Portuguese language lot, all personnel in the proposal must be proficient in Portuguese. Additionally, the LTA Director, the LTA Coordinator, and at least one Expert Level 3 (15+ years of experience) per discipline must be proficient in English. For the Portuguese language lot, then, the LTA Director, the LTA Coordinator, and at least one Expert Level 3 in all of the mandatory disciplines—structural; mechanical; electrical; civil engineering; architecture; cost estimation—plus two preferred disciplines must be proficient in English as well as Portuguese.  

New clarification added: Q19.a) The RFP states that the seven Lots differ only by language requirements and that the scope of services is otherwise identical. Could UNOPS please clarify how future Call-Off Orders will be assigned to a particular language Lot? Specifically:Is the language Lot selection based primarily on the language required for service delivery and stakeholder engagement, or is it also intended to reflect the geography of the assignment?b) For assignments in countries where multiple languages may be relevant, or where international expertise is required, can Call-Off Orders be competed among LTA holders from more than one language Lot?c). Would suppliers that are not appointed to a particular language Lot potentially be excluded from opportunities in countries where that language is commonly used?d). To assist bidders in determining the appropriate language Lots to pursue, can UNOPS provide any indication of the expected or historical distribution of assignments across the seven language Lots?A19.a)The selection of a specific language Lot for a Call-Off Order (COO) is based primarily on the language required for service delivery, contractual deliverables, and local stakeholder engagement. While the geographic setting often influences this (e.g., a project in Latin America requiring Spanish deliverables), the binding mechanism is the language specified by the requesting project unit, not the geographical boundaries themselves. b). For projects where multiple operational languages are relevant or where global, multi-lingual coordination is required, UNOPS project teams have the flexibility to look across appropriate lots. For design services projects with an estimated value exceeding USD 100,000, a mandatory secondary bidding process is conducted among the LTA holders. If the requesting unit determines that multiple languages are required for delivery, qualifying LTA holders from more than one language Lot may be invited to competec). If a supplier is not appointed to a specific language Lot, they will only be excluded from assignments that strictly mandate deliverables and technical leads fluent in that language. For example, a supplier holding an LTA only in the English Lot can still bid on assignments in any country globally, provided the specific project's Employer’s Requirements specify English as the language of delivery and communication. Bidders are strongly encouraged to apply for all Lots where they possess the verified language and technical lead capacity to maximize their opportunity pool. d).UNOPS makes no structural commitments regarding the definitive volume or precise percentage distribution of assignments across the seven individual language Lots, as all call-offs are generated dynamically on a rapid, as-needed basis by decentralized country portfolios

New clarification added: Q18. Relationship Between Generic LTA Qualification Levels and Call-off Order-Specific Personnel RequirementsThe LTA qualification criteria define Expert Levels 1-3 solely by years of experience, a Bachelor's degree "in the area of technical specialty," and, for Level 3, a professional licence/certification in the relevant engineering/architecture discipline. By contrast, the Call-off Order template's Schedule 3.7 [Key Personnel Requirements] includes "Required qualification" and "Area of experience required" fields that may specify a narrower or more detailed technical standard per assignment than the generic Level 1-3 criteria (solely by years of experience) used to qualify the LTA.Since the Terms of Reference confirm that Employer's Requirements, including personnel requirements, are developed and issued by the requesting unit at the time of each Call-off Order (Section 8, "Typical process for engaging LTA holders"), the Consultant may nominate different personnel for each Call-off Order rather than only those named at LTA proposal stage. The risk, therefore, is not that a specific named individual is later found non-compliant, but that the qualification standard itself, as defined per Call-off Order, may be narrower or more specialized than the generic Level 1-3/discipline categories against which daily rates were fixed as ceiling rates for three years in Schedule 4.1. Could UNOPS clarify:(a) whether the "Required qualification" and "Area of experience required" fields in a specific Call-off Order's Employer's Requirements may impose a narrower technical standard than the generic Level 1-3 criteria (solely by years of experience) used to qualify the LTA, and if so, how the Consultant is expected to demonstrate compliance where no candidate within its available pool meets both the narrower criteria and the fixed ceiling rate for that Level/discipline;(b) whether the Consultant may decline a Call-off Order, particularly one valued below USD 100,000 and directly engaged without secondary bidding, where the Employer's Requirements demand a level of specialization not reflected in the generic Level 1-3 definitions (solely by years of experience) used for the financial evaluation, without this affecting the Consultant's ranking or standing for future direct engagements; and(c) whether any mechanism exists for a rate adjustment or additional negotiation where a specific Call-off Order's personnel requirements materially exceed the generic Level 1-3 definitions (solely by years of experience) used for the financial evaluation?A18. (a) Yes, an individual call-off order may require a more specific set of key personnel requirements than is being required at this stage of the RFP. The RFP seeks to establish generally qualified companies to provide engineering services; the call-off orders may be very specific in the requirements for a particular task. If an LTA holder cannot satisfy the key personnel requirements of a particular call-off order, such an offer would be considered non-compliant with the requirements of that specific call-off order.(b) For opportunities below USD 100,000, UNOPS may engage LTA holders through secondary bidding or directly based on the ranking that has been established during cumulative evaluation of the bids (first offering the opportunity to the top-ranked vendor). By signing the overarching LTA framework, the Contractor formally represents that it has the requisite experience, expertise, and resources to perform the infrastructure design and review services within the sectors it has priced. Entering into the agreement represents a formal commitment to perform services as and when requested by UNOPS. While UNOPS does not generally exercise this right when the Consultant is—for whatever reason—not able to meet a request for services, UNOPS does reserve its right to do so under the terms of the LTA. (c) The rates in a call-off order may not exceed the maximum daily rates set out in the consultant’s submitted Schedule of Rates.

New clarification added: Q17. eSourcing Portal — Mandatory “Unit Price” Field on the Financial Offer Details TabThe eSourcing portal’s Financial Offer Details tab requires a single mandatory “Unit price” entry and a mandatory “Currency” selection per Lot before submission, in addition to the separate mandatory upload of Schedule 4.1.A [Breakdown of the Fees and Reimbursable Cost] under Financial envelope documents.Could UNOPS clarify what value offerors are expected to enter in the portal’s mandatory “Unit price” field for each Lot, given that the substantive financial evaluation will be conducted on the basis of the uploaded Schedule 4.1.A rather than this single portal field?A17. Bidders do not need to enter a value in the Financial Offer Details tab of the eSourcing portal. This will be amended within the eSourcing platform.

New clarification added: Q16. Site Office Support and Local Ground Transportation for Supervision Assignments. The Terms of Reference state that reimbursable expenses will be “agreed in advance and outlined in the Call Off Order” and may include “travel costs based on actual reimbursement” and “general daily expenses not exceeding UN standard DSA rates,” but do not specify whether this covers local ground transportation for repeated site-supervision travel (for example, site visits in the 30–100 km range from a base location) or whether any site office or facility is provided by UNOPS or the requesting unit for construction-supervision or design-review assignments requiring a physical presence. Could UNOPS confirm:(a) whether local/in-country ground transportation for site supervision is reimbursable under the Call-off Order mechanism described above, or is expected to be covered within the Consultant’s daily rate; and(b) whether any site office, workspace, or facility is provided by UNOPS/the requesting unit for supervision assignments, or whether this must be established and funded by the Consultant?A16: (a) Call-off orders include two aspects of the price: the fee for engineering services and reimbursable costs. Reimbursable costs are those costs that are necessary to complete the services but which are not certain at the outset. In this RFP, please provide the daily rates for the fee for services only. The daily fees should not include reimbursable costs. Applicable reimbursable costs are specified at the time of the call-off order.(b) Any necessary provisions of this nature are specific to individual opportunities and will be detailed in individual call-off orders.

New clarification added: Q13. UNGM Registration for Joint Venture Partners: Schedule 0.2 and Article 32 refer to UNGM registration requirements for “the offeror” in the singular. For a proposal submitted as a Joint Venture, could UNOPS confirm whether every individual Joint Venture partner must hold their own UNGM registration (at proposal stage and/or prior to Contract signature), or whether registration of the lead/authorized signatory partner alone is sufficient for the Joint Venture as a whole?A13. Every individual member of a Joint Venture must hold their own registration on the United Nations Global Marketplace (UNGM).  Proposal Stage: It is highly desired that all partners complete their registration on the UNGM website and provide their registration numbers in their submission documents prior to the deadline.  Prior to Contract Signature: If the Joint Venture is selected for the contract award, each individual member must be successfully registered on UNGM before the final Contract can be signed. Registration of the lead partner alone is not sufficient. Q14. Local Registration for Call-off Orders in Countries Outside the Consultant’s/Joint Venture’s Registered Jurisdictions: Given the Lots are global in scope (“Beneficiary Country: All countries”) and Call-off Orders may be issued in countries where neither the lead offeror nor its Joint Venture partners are legally registered, could UNOPS confirm whether local/in-country registration is a precondition for executing a Call-off Order in a given beneficiary country, or whether the Consultant Services Contract for Works framework operates without such a requirement?A14. Services are often carried out remotely and do not require legal registration in the ultimate beneficiary country. Where local presence is necessary for the services, this requirement will be specified in the employer’s requirements of an individual call-off order before it is offered to LTA holders for secondary bidding. Q15. Field Presence / High-Risk or Conflict-Affected Duty Stations: The Site visit/inspection field in the Tender Particulars indicates “Not applicable” for this solicitation, we understand this refers to the proposal stage only. Could UNOPS confirm whether any Call-off Orders under this LTA (for example, in conflict-affected or high-risk contexts) are expected to require in-person site visits, field presence, or on-site supervision by the Consultant’s personnel during implementation, and if so, what security, insurance, or duty-of-care provisions would apply at that stage?A15. Where local presence is necessary for the services, including in conflict-affected areas, this requirement will be specified in the employer’s requirements of an individual call-off order before it is offered to LTA holders for secondary bidding. All relevant considerations, including those related to security, will be specific to the project and supplied by the project team seeking the services at the time of the call-off order.

New clarification added: Q11. Can the same individual be proposed for the same role across multiple language lots, provided that the individual meets the language, experience and availability requirements for each lot?A11. Yes, the same individual can serve multiple functions (including across language lots), as long as they meet the specific requirements per lot.Q12. The RFP states that, to effectively provide the required services, all Key Personnel must be proficient in the language of the relevant lot: English, Spanish, French, Russian, Ukrainian, Portuguese or Arabic, depending on the lot. Could UNOPS confirm whether Optional Personnel may be proposed without proficiency in the relevant lot language, provided that all client-facing communication, coordination, and deliverables are managed, reviewed and validated by the LTA Director, LTA Coordinator, Project Leader and/or Mandatory Personnel leads who are proficient in the relevant lot language?A12. Optional personnel must be proficient in the language of service delivery within a lot.

New clarification added: Q10: We would appreciate your clarification regarding the submission of corporate references for bidders applying for more than one language lot. If an Offeror submits proposals for multiple language lots, may the same corporate project references and performance references be used across all selected language lots, provided they satisfy the qualification and evaluation requirements? Or does UNOPS expect or prefer that the references submitted for each language lot demonstrate experience specifically related to the respective language or geographic context?A10: Yes, you may use the same corporate project references and performance references across all selected language lots, provided they satisfy the technical evaluation and qualification requirements. No specific language or geographic alignment is required for the corporate references. UNOPS evaluates the firm's baseline capacity and project history uniformly across all lots.

New clarification added: Q9: The Financial Proposal Schedule requires bidders to provide rates for Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 for each mandatory core discipline. At the same time, the Qualification Criteria explicitly refer to the LTA Director, LTA Coordinator and the Level 3 Technical Leads, while the Key Personnel Schedule includes Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 personnel.Could you kindly confirm whether bidders are expected to:provide financial rates for all three experience levels (Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3) for each mandatory core discipline; andnominate personnel and submit CVs for all three experience levels for each mandatory core discipline at proposal submission, or only for the LTA Director, LTA Coordinator and the Level 3 Technical Leads, with Level 1 and Level 2 personnel to be proposed at a later stage (e.g. contract award or individual Call-Off Orders)?A9: The Financial Proposal Schedule is strictly designed to price the maximum daily fees for Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 technical personnel who will directly execute task orders.  The roles of the LTA Director and LTA Coordinator are primarily dedicated to overarching LTA-level management, coordination, and reporting. Their administrative time is not priced as separate line items in the Financial Proposal Schedule. Instead, any corporate or operational costs associated with these two roles must be treated as an organizational indirect/overhead cost and embedded across the proposed daily unit rates of the technical consultants. Once individual Call-Off Orders (COOs) are placed, the LTA Director and LTA Coordinator are not required for day-to-day contract management or project-specific communication. A dedicated Project Leader will be identified for each specific assignment to manage the actual services under that localized agreement.  Both the LTA Director and LTA Coordinator must be proficient in English and the language of service delivery.  

New clarification added: Q8: Technical issue with the returnable schedule "6_5.1._Consultant_Services_RFP_Section_IV_ReturnableSchedules-0.4_Capacity_and_Experience".The drop-down menus within the workbook do not appear to be functioning, which prevents us from selecting the required options in the relevant fields.Could you kindly verify whether there is an issue with the file and, if necessary, provide a corrected version of the workbookA8: The dropdown box of the file is disabled. For the submissionType the lot number in the row 4 and provide project details from row 6 onwardsIf you are submitting proposal more than 1 lot, make a copy of this file and mention lot number and do separate submissions.

New clarification added: Q7: Must all members of a joint venture have more than 5 years of existence?A7: No, not all members of a joint venture are required individually to have more than 5 years of existence. According to the evaluation rules for this RFP, all joint venture members combined must meet the criteria, except for Vendor Ineligibility, Suspension Status, and Conflict of Interest, Eligibility and formal criteria and any other insurance requirements (which apply to each member individually). Therefore, the 5-year legal registration and operational requirement (continuous business registered in 2021 or earlier) will be assessed on a cumulative/combined basis across the members of the Joint Venture.

New clarification added: Q2: We would to enquire about the expected volume of services under this LTA over the 3 years period or on an annual basis (either as engineering services or equivalent construction cost). This is important to determine our financial strategy and dedicated resources to be planned.A2: UNOPS can make no commitments about the volume of services to be offered under the LTA. The LTAs are made available to project teams, which may or may not elect to employ them. However, for reference, over the preceding 3 years, current LTA holders have provided services in excess of $8M USD.Q3: Regarding the evaluation criteria below, would it be possible to share a breakdown of points to better understand the marking and ensure transparency and fairness of the process:20 Points: Technical capacity, expertise, and experience for the required sectors - This section evaluates the firm's demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality infrastructure services across a range of technical and strategic domains. Bidders will be assessed on the quality of evidence provided, not just claims of experience17 Points: Key personnel - This section evaluates the team that will be assigned to service the framework agreement. The evaluation will focus on the qualifications and relevant experience of the individuals and the scope of services provided.A3: For a detailed breakdown of the scoring of the technical criteria, please see document 4. Consultant_Services_RFP_Section_II - 4. TECHNICAL CRITERIA - Detailed Criteria.Q4: We understand the financial evaluation will be based on: Average price  =  [( average price of category 1+ average price of category 2) ] /2. Under Cat2, Offerors can submit 2 or more disciplines. Will the evaluation be based on the lowest 2 disciplines quoted ? We suggest to specify the minimum 2 disciplines (for example: Geotechnical Engineer and Bridge Engineer) and that the evaluation is limited to these 2 disciplines to ensure that offers are compared based on the same criteria.A4: No, the evaluation will not be based on the lowest two disciplines quoted, nor will it be limited to specific pre-defined disciplines. The financial evaluation is done on the basis of the average price for services under Category 1 and the average price for services under Category 2. As stated in the tender documents, offerors must quote for all disciplines under Category 1 and must quote for a minimum of two (2) up to all seven (7) disciplines listed under Category 2. The Category 2 Average Price will be calculated as the mean of all the disciplines that the offeror chooses to quote within that category. This Category 2 average will then be combined with the Category 1 average to determine the final evaluated price using the formula.Q5: Based on the qualification criteria, it appears that this RFP will attract regional and national level companies while the scope is global. We would like to enquire about the expected number of companies to be awarded under this RFP.A5: UNOPS intends to establish non-exclusive Long Term Agreements (LTAs) with more than one vendor per Lot. A maximum of 7 LTAs will be awarded per Lot. Since the RFP consists of 7 distinct Lots divided by language requirements, a maximum of 7 vendors will be selected to hold an LTA for each individual Lot.Q6: Based on the global scope, we would like to kindly suggest to increase the minimum financial requirements and to increase the 20 points allocated for Technical capacity, expertise and experience.A6: The qualification criteria, including the minimum annual turnover of USD 500,000 and the liquidity ratio/working capital requirement, are set as strict, objective Pass/Fail criteria to establish baseline eligibility across all lots. These criteria cannot be altered for individual submissions. The allocation of 20 points for Technical capacity, expertise, and experience for the required sectors is fixed as part of the evaluation framework established for this tender.

New clarification added: Q1: However, considering the scope, details, and technical requirements of the Project, we notice that the deadline is quite limited to submit a complete and highest-quality proposal. In order to prepare the most appropriate and comprehensive proposal for the project, we request a 3-week extension of the current submission deadline.A1: The tender closing deadline was extended to 07 August 2026. Please also refer to the revised clarification deadline and pre-bid meeting date in the eSourcing

New amendment added #1: Amendment No. 1 The following amendments are hereby made to the Solicitation Document:Solicitation DeadlineChanged from 14 July 2026, 10:00 UTC to 07 August 2026, 10:00 UTC.Deadline for Submission of Clarification RequestsChanged from 08 July 2026, 10:00 UTC to 30 July 2026, 10:00 UTC.Pre-Bid MeetingChanged from 01 July 2026, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. to 20 July 2026, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.All other terms and conditions of the Solicitation Document shall remain unchanged and in full force and effect.