Request for Proposal (RFP) to conduct Skills based assessment of service providers who have received a nutrition specific competency based training in 26 districts of Bangladesh.

Request for Proposal (LRPS No. 2016-9125153) to conduct Skills based assessment of service providers who have received a nutrition specific competency based training in 26 districts of Bangladesh.

BACKGROUND

In the multi-year Government of Bangladesh-UNICEF Joint Work Plan for Maternal and Child Nutrition, UNICEF committed to strengthening human resource capacity in nutrition at district level and below with a specific focus on the competencies required to deliver quality nutrition services at the facility.

On 21 January 2015, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) and UNICEF signed a three-year agreement with two primary objectives, one of which is to address the lack of health worker skills in nutrition. According to the project proposal, CIFF is expecting UNICEF to introduce an innovative payment for results training methodology for nutrition to improve the skills and competencies of managers, supervisors and service providers to deliver nutrition interventions as their roles and job descriptions require, along with integrated supportive supervision and periodic skills assessment post-training. This investment will introduce and test an innovative new strategy for delivering effective training using a payment for results design. Payment for results has never previously been used for training in health or nutrition in Bangladesh; this will be the first demonstration of this approach.

UNICEF contracted an international agency and later an international consultant to develop, in partnership with the National Nutrition Services (NNS)/Institute of Public Health Nutrition (IPHN), a competency-based nutrition curriculum as well as job aids, monitoring and supervision tools and checklists.

The National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM) and Institute of Child and Mother Health (ICMH) were identified as the two government institutions to implement the competency based training (CBT) in 26 districts. The international agency and consultant trained 25 resource persons from IPHN, NIPSOM and ICMH who will in turn will train four district trainers per district (104 in total). Once trained, the four district trainers will be based in each district and will implement all training batches for their respective districts.

Approximately 40,000 health and family planning service providers will be trained over an 18 month period in the 26 districts. The database of people trained will be shared with the third party agency selected to conduct the skills assessment.

All training participants will receive Travel Allowance (TA) and Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) upon completion of training. As part of monitoring and reporting, NIPSOM and ICMH will be responsible for maintaining a common database with the names and contact information of every person trained.

After training, IPHN will ensure that managers and supervisors will conduct two quarters (6 months) of post-training supportive supervision, mentoring and monitoring using standardized observation checklists. There are three categories of district and sub-district level supervisors for post training supervision:

• First line: Health Inspector, Assistant Health Inspector and Family Planning Inspector
• Second line: Sub-District Health and Family Planning Officer, Sub-District Family Planning Officer, Medical Officer – Maternal Child Health, Medical Officer – Public Health Nutrition
• Third line: Civil Surgeon, Deputy Civil Surgeon, Deputy Director Family Planning, Assistant Director Family Planning/Asst. Director-CC, Medical Officer-Civil Surgeon Office, Public Health Nurse, Senior and Junior Health Education Officer.

For each district, the post training supportive supervision will continue for 6 months according to the following schedule:

• First line supervisors will visit 100% of facilities each quarter.
• Second line supervisors will visit 30% of facilities each quarter.
• Third line supervisors will visit 10% of facilities each quarter.

Travel Allowance (TA) and Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) will be reimbursed to first, second and third line supervisors by IPHN only after they submit their checklists and quarterly reports to IPHN.

UNICEF is contracting a third party agency to conduct an independent skills assessment of the service providers trained on nutrition-specific competency based training. Based on the third party assessment of skills transferred an incentive will be paid to ICMH, NIPSOM, and the top performing districts for completion of tasks of the highest quality.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:  

This RFP is being issued to select and contract a reputable agency with experience in conducting independent third party assessment. The contracted agency will be responsible to do this assessment during the period 4-6 months post training completion using the training database, monitoring reports and independent observation covering following points:

1. Assess and verify that trainings have taken place.
2. Assess and verify post-supportive supervision, mentoring and monitoring has taken place.
3. Assess and verify at least 60% or more of trained service providers demonstrate the skills covered in the CBT curriculum
4. Develop a tool to analyze barriers to skills adoption by the trained service providers.
5. Based on assessment, recommend who should receive incentives

If the third party agency finds that overall 60% or more of trained service providers pass a skills based assessment, then the following incentives will be paid:

• NIPSOM and ICHM would receive a performance based institutional incentive equivalent to 10% of the total expenditure of the CBT budget.
• A performance based individual incentive equivalent to one month’s salary would be paid to District Trainers of highest-performing districts
• The highest-performing districts and/or sub-districts to be recognized.

Scope of this Assignment:

The assessment findings to be captured in the final report should aim to answer the following key questions:

• Assess and verify the trainings have taken place.
• Assess and verify post-supportive supervision, mentoring and monitoring has taken place.
• Assess and verify at least 60% or more of trained service providers demonstrate the skills covered in the CBT curriculum
• Of the skills transferred, which of the key skills have been adopted by trained health workers?
• Are there differences between the cadres of health service providers?
• What aspects of supportive supervision, mentoring and monitoring are contributing to skills transfer?
• Which district trainers are most effective in transferring skills?
• What are some key constraints in adopting the new skills?

Methodology:

Given the large numbers of health providers to be trained, the agency will need to propose a sampling approach and methodology that can adequately assess the skills transferred, at least at district level, and provide periodic reports so that adjustments can be made and overall quality can be enhanced. The primary method of data collection to determine the percentage of service providers who can demonstrate the skills covered in the CBT curriculum will be observation through the standardized observation checklist used by supervisors for supportive supervision. Based on the data collected through the observation checklists, the agency will be expected to conduct quantitative analysis to identify trends and highest-performing districts.

In addition to the overall approach and sampling methodology, the agency should also propose tools to analyze barriers to skills adoption by the trained service providers. They can also propose revisions to the standardized observation checklists mentioned above. This is to improve data quality and assess if skills transfer occurred as part of the competency based training, the post-training supportive supervision, and if health service providers are practicing the skills that they have acquired.

To participate in this RFP please note the following points:

(1) UNICEF Bangladesh is inviting for the above mentioned services as per the attached RFP and Terms of Reference, Terms and Conditions, Special Terms and Conditions. The RFP submission deadline is Wednesday, 25 May 2016 local time 15:00 hours (GMT+6 hours). To submit the RFP response local and international bidders should carefully follow the instruction provided below:

=== LOCAL Bidders must submit separate Technical and Financial proposals in the following manner:

Should provide three (3) copies of technical proposal and one (1) copy of financial proposals. Technical proposals and financial proposals should be packed in separate envelopes and marked with markings (RFP/Bid No., title, proposal type, no. of copies etc.). These two (2) packages should be over packed in one bigger envelope, sealed and marked with proper information i.e., RFP/Bid No., title and addressed to the Chief/OIC, Supply & Procurement  Section, UNICEF-BCO, BSL Office Complex, 1 Minto Road, Dhaka-1000. The representative of the bidder will report to the UNICEF Reception Desk on the 4th Floor of BSL Office Complex for recording the bid arrival related information and will be responsible to drop the Bid package in the Bid Box.

=== INTERNATIONAL Bidders must send this two packages proposals in the following manner:

Technical and Financial proposals should be sent in separate PDF files, indicating clearly RFP No., title, proposal type, etc. These two files should be sent to the attention of  Chief/OIC, Supply & Procurement  Section, UNICEF-BCO, BSL Office Complex, 1 Minto Road, Dhaka-1000 by email (add: abtadesse@unicef.org; pmandal@unicef.org;).

(2)  If required, Bidders are requested to forward their request for additional information or clarification in writing to the email addresses: nhaque@unicef.org; by 15 May 2016.

(3) Please acknowledge receipt of this RFP and confirm your interest to submit a proposal within five working days from the issuance date of this RFP.

(4) Please note no RFP will be accepted after the stipulated closing date: Wednesday, 25 May 2016 local time 15:00 hours (GMT+6 hours).

(5) The technical proposal will be evaluated using the evaluation criteria indicated under Section 6 of the attached document. Bidders are advised to devote chapters of their submissions to demonstrate each of the criteria and be consistent with the tasks detailed in the TOR under Section 3. Bidders are advised to avoid submitting brochures and pamphlets that have no direct bearing on the requirements under this RFP. Similarly the financial proposal should be prepared following the template and instruction provided under Section 17 of the RFP. Any information related to the financial offer should not be mentioned or presented in the technical proposal as it will make the bid response invalid.

(6) Any Contract resulting from this RFP shall be governed by UNICEF's General Terms and Conditions and any other Specific Terms and Conditions detailed in this bid document.

(7) In all correspondence the bidder must refer to: LRPS No. 2016-9125153.