Provision of Professional Services to Conduct Evaluations and Other Related Services for OCHA, O ...

The United Nations (UN) is seeking to establish systems contracts for the Provision of Professional Services to Conduct Evaluations and Other Related Services for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) and the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO). The services include: (1) humanitarian evaluations, (2) evaluations of peacekeeping operations, (3) peacebuilding evaluations, (4) inception and scoping exercises (5) evaluability assessments (6) population surveys and qualitative data collection, and (7) evaluation syntheses. This EOI will be followed by a Request for Proposals to create separate systems contracts for these seven types of services. Seven different rosters of pre-approved vendors will be established of companies to conduct these services. A company may express an interest for, apply to, and become part of more than one roster simultaneously. This is a reposting of the EOIMI12637 from 20 June 2016. Companies that submitted responses to the prior posting will be considered and do NOT need to resubmit another expression of interest. The UN intends to create a roster of contractors able to provide the services upon request over a 5-year period for an initial period of three years with optional two additional one-year extensions. OIOS is the internal oversight body of the United Nations Secretariat and has an Inspection and Evaluation Division (IED) based in New York which conducts independent thematic and programmatic evaluations of the United Nations Secretariat Offices, Programmes, Departments and Peacekeeping Operations. Evaluations are conducted by teams of OIOS-IED staff members under the overall supervision of a Chief of Section with review by advisory panels, as necessary. The evaluations involve as part of their methodology, the collection, compilation, analysis and presentation of data from a variety of qualitative and quantitative sources. Final evaluation reports are publically available. OCHA is the part of the United Nations Secretariat responsible for bringing together humanitarian actors to ensure a coherent response to emergencies. OCHA undertakes internal evaluations (including thematic, field response, humanitarian financing, and strategic framework evaluations), as well as humanitarian system-wide evaluations, including Inter-Agency Humanitarian Evaluations (IAHE) and evaluations of issues of system-wide importance. In addition, OCHA commissions scoping and inception studies, evaluability assessments, evaluation synthesis, and meta-evaluations. Evaluations are managed by OCHA's Evaluation Unit and conducted by teams of independent experts, of which at least one is a national of a country or region in which the evaluation is taking place. An OCHA Evaluation Unit staff member may lead or be part of the evaluation team. OCHA evaluations and IAHEs are participatory and are typically supported by advisory or management group(s) comprised of key stakeholders. Methods of analyses used may include, among others: the review of various sources of information, including monitoring data; field visits; interviews with key stakeholders (affected people, UN, NGOs, donors, government representatives and civil society organizations); (gendered) focus groups and cross-validation of data. Final evaluation reports are publicly available. The PBSO supports the UN's broader peacebuilding objectives in countries emerging out of conflict or at risk of relapsing into conflict. It is intended to be a catalytic fund, driven by planning, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms tailored to support the peacebuilding strategies of in-country UN and Government leadership. The PBSO undertakes evaluations and evaluability assessments of peacebuilding programmes at the country-level. An evaluation is defined as an assessment, as systematic and impartial as possible, of an activity, project, programme, strategy, policy, topic, theme, sector, operational area, institutional performance, performance of the humanitarian system, etc. It analyses the level of achievement of both expected and unexpected results by examining the results chain, processes, contextual factors and causality using appropriate criteria such as relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of interventions and the contributions of various stakeholders. An evaluation should provide credible, useful evidence-based information that enables the timely incorporation of its findings, recommendations and lessons into the decision-making processes of organizations and stakeholders. Evaluations produced as services resulting from this tender will result in a report that presents main findings and recommendations, as well as presentations to key stakeholders. The evaluation report should provide concise and actionable recommendations on how to modify activities in the specific area being evaluated to improve relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and impact. Evaluability assessments are often undertaken at the early stages of a programme design or implementation to determine the extent to which it will be ready for a final outcome evaluation and the changes needed to increase its readiness. Objectives include clarifying programme design from the viewpoints of programme officers and stakeholders and assessing the plausibility of programme objectives and feasibility of performance measures. Evaluability assessments typically review programme design, early programme implementation, and monitoring and evaluation systems. Scoping and inception exercises are the first steps of an evaluation. The scoping phase results in a report that includes the evaluation Terms of Reference and defines the scope of the evaluation. For inception exercises, the scope of the evaluation has already been defined in an evaluation Terms of Reference. The objective of inception is to detail the evaluation approach and methods that will be applied in conducting an evaluation, and identify potential sources of data and information. The inception phase results in an Inception Report. Local population surveys and/or qualitative data collection and analysis indicated above (bullet 7) will involve the collecting and analysing of data from the local population and/or beneficiaries or key stakeholders in country-specific locations. All preliminary research, data collection methodologies, instruments, analysis and formulation of findings for a local population survey will be designed by the evaluation team and include specific background research for selected countries; drafting, piloting and refinement of any instruments in country-specific languages; determination of an appropriate sampling method and sample size; identification of sample lists; implementation of survey via enumerators who are appropriately trained and supervised; maintaining completed data collection records and data set; and providing a report of the overall findings from the survey in English. Evaluations syntheses are systematic and analytical reviews of evaluation reports, usually either conducted over a specific period of time, or on specific issues and/or humanitarian operations. Their main objectives are to (1) provide an overview of evaluation activities during a certain period; (2) summarize and analyze the results, findings and recommendations of individual internal, joint, and external evaluations conducted during that period; to (3) identify trends and (4) provide an evidence-based analysis of recurring issues, best practices and lessons learned, and their implications for OCHA and the humanitarian system, in order to support organizational and system-wide learning. They also serve as relevant inputs to policies and guidance, and other reviews. Evaluation syntheses should therefore highlight both the areas for improvement identified by evaluations, as well as positive findings, best practices and lessons. The detailed scope of requirements, including the technical specifications, will be provided within the UN's Request for Proposal (RFP), which will be sent out to all vendors responding to this EOI. No further detail can be made available prior to the issuance of the RFP solicitation. This EOI does not constitute a solicitation. The UN reserves the right to change or cancel the requirement at any time during the EOI and/or solicitation process.