Support Unitaid in Conducting An End of Project Evaluation for the ITPC Grant

Unitaid is seeking for a suitable service provider to conduct an end of project evaluation for the "Access to Treatment for People Living with HIV in Middle Income Countries" grant implemented by the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC). Individual consultants are encouraged to apply.

The tender document with our detailed requirements and the instructions on bid submission are attached in the "Documents" section.

The deadline for submission of proposal is 14 February 2018, 17h00 Geneva time.

All queries pertaining to the RFP should be addressed in writing to unitaid-proc@who.int .

Thank you for your attention and we look forward to receiving your proposal.

1) OBJECTIVES OF THE ITPC GRANT

This Unitaid-funded grant seeks to contribute to policy reform and to legal interventions in Argentina, Brazil, Thailand and Ukraine through the use of TRIPS flexibilities to facilitate generic competition thereby leading to a reduction in prices for ARV drugs. Reduced prices will allow target countries to buy previously unaffordable drugs, thereby contributing to a reduction in the current treatment gap and to treatment scale-up. ITPC is employing three strategies to achieve its goal of price reduction: 1) patent law/policy reform to adopt, strengthen and/or preserve public health safeguards; 2) patent oppositions or compulsory licensing/government use licenses for targeted ARVs; and 3) ensuring that strategies 1 and 2 are sustained by building technical resources and capacity to achieve widespread public and political support.

Goal: Increased access to more affordable formulations for targeted ARVs in 4 focus countries

Outcome: Reduction in ARV treatment costs in 4 focus countries by facilitating market entry of generic suppliers and/or catalyzing originator price reductions, specifically:

1. ARVs for which IP barriers have been challenged
2. Annual price reductions on targeted ARVs in focus countries resulting from IP interventions

Outputs

1. Inclusion of public health safeguards in draft patent law amendments;
2. Prevention of TRIPs plus provisions in patent laws;
3. Public health approaches to patent examination supported in beneficiary countries;
4. Pre-Grant oppositions/invalidation actions filed on priority ARVs;
5. Opportunities for Compulsory Licenses identified;
6. Functional information exchange platform to disseminate knowledge about Intellectual Property (IP).

2) OBJECTIVES OF THIS CONSULTANCY

The evaluator shall provide Unitaid with an assessment of the programmatic implementation of the project with a particular focus on the project’s overall health impact and the part it played in increasing access to more affordable ARVs as captured by the outputs and activities performed. This assessment will also highlight the critical challenges faced by the project in reaching its goals and attaining sustainability, in order to allow ITPC and Unitaid to address these challenges in the new project that ITPC is developing with Unitaid support.

For more details, please refer to the tender documents attached.