Request for Proposal (RFP) Ref. No. LRPS No. 2018-9137257 to conduct Baseline Survey for UNICEF/DFID Accelerated Water and Sanitation for All (ASWA II) Project.

BACKGROUND

Bangladesh benefitted from the DFID funded Accelerated Sanitation and Water for All (ASWA I) that was implemented in the country from 2014 to 2016. Based on the successful completion of the project, the country has been selected for the second phase of the project (ASWA II) which is to be implemented from November 2017 to December 2022. Bangladesh is among ten other countries (Niger, Nepal, Pakistan, Niger, Haiti, South Sudan, Eritrea, Cambodia and Myanmar) implementing this project with the aim of achieving the following global results;

• 3.75 million people gain sustainable access to basic sanitation;
• 500,000 people gain access to sustainable, basic and safe water supplies;
• 500 schools and 250 health care facilities have appropriate, effectively managed WASH facilities, with hygiene also being promoted;
• Strengthened national monitoring systems and reinforced capacity to improve the equity and sustainability of rural WASH services by participating countries;
• Third-party sustainability checks over the course of the project conducted, with appropriate follow-up actions agreed with and undertaken by community groups and/or government counterparts Participating countries complete three;
• Value for Money assessed annually by participating UNICEF country offices to drive project performance and improve delivery efficiency

ASWA II project in Bangladesh has been planned to contribute to improved health, nutrition and wellbeing of poor people in 13 targeted rural districts especially of women and girls through sustained use of safe water supplies, sanitation services and sustained adoption of hygiene practices. The following are the key results to be achieved by the project in Bangladesh;

• 450,000 people gain sustainable access to sanitation and hygiene
• 40,000 people have access to safe water
• 50 schools and 15 Health Care Facilities have access to basic WASH facilities
• National systems and capacity for rural WASH strengthened
• Third party sustainability checks conducted
• Value for Money for ASWA II project assessed annually     

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:  

The overall objective of this survey is to establish a coherent baseline to determine the existing WASH situations at the beginning of the project at output, outcome and impact level. Moreover, the baseline should serve as the basis for the design of an impact evaluation of the ASWA II project.

The contracted agency will be responsible to achieve following specific objectives:

• To measure baseline outcome indicators values and disaggregated as per log frame 
• Conduct qualitative assessment to complement survey data on the quality of women’s participation in decision making and the time saved by improved access to WASH. 
• Measure at national level through qualifying national surveys diarrheal disease and stunting levels
• Develop district wide WASH inventory and/or a Multiple Overlapping Deprivation Analysis (MODA) - if this has been focused on the project district(s) - to identify specific intervention sites, prioritizing poor and vulnerable communities.
• Produce an impact evaluation design based on the baseline findings. The design should allow to claim causality of the DFID funded interventions. The sample size definition of the baseline should take into account that treatment and control unions need to be included in the sample and that treatment unions will be randomly selected from the full universe of the unions in the sample.

The above objectives will pay attention to the situation of women, children and other vulnerable groups including disabled and elderly, and their specific conditions and needs.

The study aims to establish a coherent, quality baseline data and process for impact, outcome and output indicators.

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. Mailed bids covering Technical and Financial proposals should be sent in separate PDF files, indicating clearly the RFP No., title, proposal type, etc. These two files should be sent to the attention of OIC, Supply & Procurement Section, UNICEF-BCO, BSL Office Complex, 1 Minto Road, Dhaka-1000 by email add: abtadesse@unicef.org; with copy to ajahan@unicef.org; by the RFP submission deadline on or before Thursday, 01 February 2018 local time 14:00 hours (GMT+6 hours).

NOTE: Please send the signed PDF version of the Technical & Financial Proposal as separate file. Also share the same Financial Proposal as Excel version.

2. Bidders are requested to forward their request for additional information/clarification including interest to participate in this RFP in writing by Thursday, 25 January 2018 through email to add: nhaque@unicef.org;

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: Thursday, 01 February 2018 local time 14:00 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. 2018-9137257.