Request For Proposal (RFP) to Conduct Hydrogeological

Survey under the Advancing Quality Access through Resilient Infrastructure, System and Engagement (AQUARISE)

RFP No: 2008359

Issue date: February 26, 2026

Issuing organization: Catholic Relief Services, Liberia Program

Closing date: March 16, 2026, at 4.00 PM GMT

Submission method: Sealed envelope

Type of agreement: Service Contract

Section I: Request for Quotation

1. Introduction/Background

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Liberia is implementing a 2-year Urban water supply project in Montserrado and Margibi Counties. This project is financed by CRS Private Resources and seeks to provide targeted beneficiaries access to basic water services by constructing a mini stand-alone water supply system in one community each within Montserrado and Margibi Counties. The overarching goal of the project is to transform water service delivery and urban agriculture in Montserrado and Margibi counties by piloting an integrated digital governance model and climate-smart irrigation system. Leveraging CRS’ proven HELPS II water infrastructure, this investment will:

• Increase operational efficiency and transparency through real-time data collection.
• Boost cost recovery and reduce nonrevenue water via mobile-enabled billing and leak detection.
• Use wastewater from the water systems as a reliable irrigation source, enhancing urban food security, and
• Increase water access in the Jacob Town Rehab and Weala communities.

Purpose:

This contract engages the services of an experienced company to conduct a hydrogeological survey to determine the quantity of groundwater within the targeted area for the construction of a water supply system. The hydrogeological survey is a key requirement for the selection of spots for the construction of boreholes which will supply water to the water storage facilities in Margibi and Montserrado counties. This study will be done to confirm the availability of sufficient groundwater to supply the water storage facility.

Scope of Work:

The scope of work is focused on the conduct of a hydrogeological survey to determine the quantity of groundwater at a particular location before selection for the construction of a water supply system. This activity is very important as it paves the way for site selection to construct the water supply system. The hydrologist will supervise the drilling/construction of two boreholes to supply water to the storage facility/tower.

Deliverables/Expectations:

• Conduct a hydrogeological survey in project-targeted communities in Montserrado and Margibi counties to determine groundwater available in specific locations (3 locations each in 2 communities).
• Present a detailed report and findings of the hydrogeological survey and provide recommendations for borehole site selection based on the results of the survey.
• Based on the land topography, soil formation, and results from the survey, advise CRS on what is technically feasible/workable to achieve stable groundwater supply.
• Develop the technical specifications of the boreholes for drilling.
• Supervise the drilling of the three boreholes for the CRS water supply systems in Margibi and Montserrado counties.
• Develop and submit a borehole completion report.

Timeline/Work schedule:

Hydrogeological Investigation

It is expected that this activity will take no more than 5 days to complete, tentatively from March 23 – 27, 2026. 2-days to conduct the hydrogeological survey and three days to develop and present the report/findings to CRS.

Supervision of Borehole Drilling

The supervision of borehole drilling in both Margibi and Montserrado is expected to be completed in 5 days, with the exact start and end dates to be determined by CRS and the consultancy firm at a later date.

Locations:

The hydrogeological investigation (survey) will be conducted in Jacob Town Rehab Community, Montserrado County and Weala Community in Margibi County.

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: CRS Head of Programming, Program Quality Manager, Construction and WASH Specialist.

Period of Performance

The total period of performance for the work to be accomplished under this SoW will be for 10 days. CRS and the firm will determine the exact timeline for the full completion of activities under this consultancy. The consultancy firm will receive full payment upon completion of the assignment and contingent upon the satisfactory acceptance of all deliverables by the AQUARISE Project Team/CRS.

Proposed Budget Breakdown

The consulting firm will provide a detailed, realistic and itemized budget to produce the expected outputs. The payment will be made in trenches based on key deliverables

Requirements:

• Demonstrated experience in conducting hydrogeological investigations, groundwater modeling, aquifer characterization, and urban water system assessments in similar context.
• Availability of certified/experienced geologists, geophysicists, hydrologists, GIS specialists, and water engineers with at least 5 years of relevant field experience.
• Prior work in Liberia or comparable West African hydrogeological conditions, with a good understanding of local aquifer systems, geology, and regulatory requirements.
• Capability to deploy modern geophysical equipment (e.g., electrical resistivity imaging, borehole logging tools), GPS/GIS tools, and data analysis software necessary for reliable survey results.
• Evidence of past assignments with high-quality reports, clear data interpretation, actionable recommendations, and adherence to international standards (e.g., WHO, UNICEF WASH guidelines).
• Business registration and legal authorization to operate in Liberia, compliance with environmental and safety standards, and absence of any history of poor performance or contractual breaches.
• Demonstrated capacity to complete fieldwork, analysis, and reporting within CRS’ required timelines without compromising quality.
• Competitive pricing that reflects fair market costs, transparency in budgeting, and demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality outputs within budget.

Application Submission Procedure:

Interested firms are required to submit the following documentations:

• Detailed technical proposal outlining proposed hydrogeological investigation approach, techniques, tools and data analysis methods along with workplan and implementation schedule with key milestones.
• Detailed cost breakdown (professional fees, equipment, field expenses, reporting, etc.) All prices should be quoted in USD and valid for a minimum of 60 days.

• Company profile including overview of the firm, years of operation, areas of specialization, and organizational structure.
• Names and qualifications of key technical staff (hydrogeologists, geophysicists, GIS experts, etc. along with their CVs demonstrating relevant experience in similar assignments.
• Description of equipment and technology to be used (e.g., resistivity meters, GPS, borehole logging tools).
• Confirmation of the firm’s ability to undertake and complete the assignment within the specified timeline.
• Evidence of legal registration and authorization to operate in Liberia
• List of at least three similar hydrogeological or water resource assessment projects completed in the last 3 years. Contact details for client references for verification.
• Proof of ownership or access to required geophysical survey equipment.
• Valid business registration, tax clearance, and relevant sector licenses (where applicable).

2. Instructions to Bidders

Bidders are required to submit their proposals in two separate sealed envelopes (technical and financial proposals) enclosed with an outer sealed envelope with the reference number addressed to:

Catholic Relief Services, Liberia Program

16^th Street Gardner Avenue

Seaside, C-140 Building,

Sinkor Monrovia, Liberia

Subject: RFP No: 2008359

Bids must be received no later than March 16, 2026, at 4.00 PM GMT

Failure to comply with these instructions may result in disqualification.

Expected delivery time: The duration of this consultancy is 5 days after contract signing

Softcopy of this RFP, additional information or request for clarification can be requested at liberiarfq@crs.org.

3. Eligibility Criteria (Administrative evaluation)

Bidders must meet the following eligibility criteria to be considered:

• Submit bids no later than March 16, 2026, at 4.00 PM GMT

Eligibility criteria

Admin Pass Mark is a pass or Fail

• Submit a valid business registration
• Submit a valid tax clearance
• Submit a signed quotation submission form (Annex I)
• Submit a signed experience form (Annex II)
• Company profile including overview of the firm, years of operation, areas of specialization, and organizational structure.

4. Material vs Non-material Deviations Errors and Clarification

a. Material Deviations (Non-Responsive)

A Bid shall be considered materially deficient and non-responsive if it contains a deviation that:

• ​Affects the scope, quality, or performance of the research.
• Missing signature: A bid that is not signed by an authorized representative is legally invalid and cannot be rectified.
• Missing Financial Proposal: omission of the price component is material deficiency.

b. Consequence

Any Bid deemed materially deficient shall be rejected and disqualified.

c. Non-Material Deviations

CRS reserves the right to seek clarification for minor clerical omissions that do not constitute a material deviation.

Conditional Qualification: A Bidder may be conditionally qualified for the next stage (Technical Evaluation) if they have substantially met all mandatory criteria but have minor, non-material deficiencies. This applies specifically to:

• Missing stamp or formatting: minor administrative oversight (missing company stamp e.g.)
• Pre-existing Documentary evidence: if a bidder fails to submit documents (e.g. a tax clearance, business registration) that legally existed prior to the bid deadline, the committee may request its submission within a strict 24-hour window.

Clarification request SHALL NOT be used to allow a bidder to alter the substance of their technical solution or change their bid price.

Section II: Proposals Content

The following documents must be submitted for the submission to be considered:

5. Technical proposal envelope

Bid submission Form (Annex I)

Submit a signed experience form (Annex II).

Valid Business registration & Tax Clearance.

Company profile including overview of the firm, years of operation, areas of specialization, and organizational structure.

CV of key staff (Annex III).

Cover Letter (Maximum one page). The cover letter MUST NOT contain any financial proposal information.

Technical and financial proposals with a focus on addressing the assignment’s purpose and objectives, methodology to be used.

Workplan based on the methodology outlined

Contracts for similar hydrogeological or water resource assessment projects completed in the last 3 years. Contact details for client references for verification.

6. Financial Proposal envelopes

Detailed, realistic and itemized budget to produce the expected outputs including detailed cost breakdown of professional fees, equipment, field expenses, reporting, etc. The budget must comply with the terms of references provided.

Section III: Proposals Submission

7. Submission instructions

Bids are to be delivered to CRS office before 4:00 PM GMT, no later than March 16, 2026.

Envelopes Labeling:

• Technical Proposal: Hydrogeological Survey under the Advancing Quality Access through Resilient Infrastructure, System and Engagement (AQUARISE).
• Financial Proposal: Hydrogeological Survey under the Advancing Quality Access through Resilient Infrastructure, System and Engagement (AQUARISE).

Both envelopes should be enclosed in an outer sealed envelope labeled with:

RFP Number: 2008359

RFQ Name: Hydrogeological Survey under the Advancing Quality Access through Resilient Infrastructure, System and Engagement (AQUARISE).

Bidder’s Name and Contact Information:

8. Important Notes

• Late submission is defined as:
  • Any proposal that arrives at the designated submission address after the exact time and date specified above, regardless of the reason for delay (e.g. courier issues, traffic, misrouting, or administrative errors).
• CRS reserves the right to consider or reject Late submission.
• Incomplete or improperly labeled submissions may result in disqualification.
• Bidders may be required to provide additional information or participate in a clarification meeting.
• CRS reserves the right to accept or reject any quotation and annul the bidding process and reject all quotations at any time prior to the award of the contract, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

Section IV: Selection Process

CRS will review received proposals within the deadline through a three-step process:

• Determination of eligibility.
• Technical review of eligible proposals.
• Scoring and ranking of the eligible proposals based on the assessment criteria outlined in the Evaluation Methodology section to identify the highest-ranking proposal.

Section V: Evaluation Methodology

The methodology of evaluation will be based on “Quality and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS)” as follow:

• Technical quality and cost are both considered.
• Weighting is applied to quality and cost scores to determine the overall score.
• The proposal with the highest combined score is selected.

Section VI: Evaluation Criteria

• Only submission that meets the eligibility criteria (administrative evaluation) will be considered for technical and financial evaluation.

9. Technical Evaluation – Weight: Tech Weight is 60%

Technical Pass mark is 70 points

10. Financial Evaluation – Weight: Fin Weight is 40%

Arithmetical errors will be rectified on the following basis:

• If there is a discrepancy between the unit price and the total price that is obtained by multiplying the unit price and quantity, the unit price shall prevail and the total price shall be corrected.
• If the Supplier/Vendor does not accept the correction of errors, its quote will be rejected.
• If there is a discrepancy between words and figures, the amount in words will prevail.

Offers that are found technically compliant shall be evaluated based on the lowest offer.

Financial scores are assigned to each proposal based on the cost evaluation, using the following formula: the lowest cost proposal receives the highest score PointLowestFin, and other proposals are scored relative to the lowest cost. The supplier with the lowest total price will receive a score of 100

Illustration: X and Y represent the lower offer and the offer for which the score needs to be calculated, respectively: Score = (X/Y)* 100

11. Combining Score Calculation

The total score for each bidder will be the sum of the weighted technical score and weighted price.

• Technical score and financial score are combined using the predetermined weights.
• Combined Score = (Technical Score x Tech Weight) + (Financial Score x FinWeight).

Section VII: Post-qualification Actions

• Verification of accuracy, correctness and authenticity of the information provided by the bidder on the administrative, technical, and financial documents submitted.
• Inquiry and reference checking with the entity that may have done business with the bidder.
• Inquiry and reference checking with other previous clients on the quality of performance of ongoing or previous contracts completed.
• Physical inspection of the bidder’s branches or other places where business transpires, with or without notice to the bidder.

Section VIII: Terms and Conditions

• Delivery Location: Catholic Relief Services – 16th street Sinkor and Gardiner Avenue, Seaside, C-140 Building
• Latest Delivery Date: As per contract.
• Payment terms: N30.
• Currency: USD.

12. Withholding Tax

In accordance with the tax laws of the Republic of Liberia, CRS shall withhold applicable taxes from all payments made under this contract. The current withholding tax rate is:

• 10% for services provided by resident entities
• 20% for services provided by non-resident entities

The withheld amount shall be remitted directly to the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA), and evidence of tax paid shall be issued to the Contractor upon request.

It is the responsibility of the Contractor to ensure compliance with all applicable tax obligations in Liberia. CRS shall not be liable for any tax liabilities arising from the Contractor’s failure to comply with national tax laws.

Tax will be applied to the following:

• Level of Effort
• Training/knowledge transfer
• Maintenance and Technical support.

13. Contractual Obligation and Future Disqualification

• The selected service provider will be contractually obligated to deliver the services as per the provided terms of references within the required timeframe.
• Failure to meet this obligation without written notice may result in penalties and contract termination.

14. Advance Payment Terms

If the selected bidder wishes to request an advance payment of ten percent (10%) of the contract price, s/he must provide a valid advance payment guarantee using the CRS template.

Section IX: Award Criteria

The contract will be awarded to the bidder with the highest combined score, calculated based on the weighted technical score and the financial score. The evaluation committee will consider both technical and financial criteria to determine the bidder that offers the best overall value for money, ensuring the required technical specifications are met while achieving cost-effectiveness.

Section X: Rejection of Award

CRS may reject any quote that is not substantively responsive to the terms and conditions of the RFQ.

CRS is not bound to accept the lowest or any quote and reserves the right to accept any quote in whole or in part and to reject any or all quotes without assigning any reason therefore and to Contract on any of the terms offered or on different terms.

CRS will send a Notice of Award to the winning bidder. The winning bidder agrees to acknowledge the purchase order or contract by email upon award within one (1) business day under the terms and conditions stated herein.

Section XI: Cost of Providing Quotes

Bidders shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of the quote, and CRS will not be liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the solicitation.

Section XII: Clarification and Amendments of Request for Quotation

To assist in the examination, evaluation and comparison of Quotes, CRS may, at its discretion, ask the Supplier/Vendor for clarification of its Quote. The request for clarification and the response shall be in writing and no change in price or substance of the Quote shall be sought, offered, or permitted.

CRS may, for any reason, whether at its own initiative or in response to a clarification requested by a prospective supplier/vendor, amend the Request for Quotation. To afford prospective suppliers/vendors reasonable time to consider the amendments in preparing their offers, CRS may extend the deadline for the submission of quotes. Any amendments will be published in the same manner as the present tender.

Section XIII: Important Additional Information

General terms and conditions of CRS applicable to goods and services can be downloaded at the following address: http://CRS.org/vendor-terms/vendor-terms.pdf or obtained upon request from the CRS’ office and are applicable within the national legal context.

Vendors must not be associated or have been associated in the past directly or indirectly with a firm or any of its affiliates which have been engaged by CRS to provide services for the preparation of the design, specifications, and other documents to be used for the procurement of the goods under this request for quotation.

Bidders, Suppliers and Service Providers, while conducting their activities, are expected to comply with the following policies and regulations:

• CRS Terms and Conditions: http://CRS.org/vendor-terms/vendor-terms.pdf.
• CRS Suppliers and Service Provider Code of Conduct: https://www.CRS.org/sites/default/files/supplier_code_of_conduct.pdf.
• Global Fund Code of conduct for supplier: https://www.theglobalfund.org/media/3275/corporate_codeofconductforsuppliers_policy_en.pdf.

Annex I. Quotation Submission Form RFP No. 2008359

The following document is part of this request for quotation and must be completed and returned with your offer.

Quotations must be completed according to the instructions in this request. Quotations must be completed in English, signed, and returned to CRS before the specified deadline. CRS’s terms and conditions applicable to goods and services are provided in Section XII: Important Additional Information.

I, the undersigned, having read CRS’s terms and conditions applicable to goods and services for the request for proposal No. 2008359, as stated in the attached document, hereby offer to provide the goods and services specified in this request for quotation at the price or prices indicated, in accordance with all specified specifications, and subject to CRS’s terms and conditions applicable to goods and services established or specified in the document.

I, the undersigned, declare that:

1. Our company and our personnel have no conflicts of interest in any activities that could represent, if we are selected, a conflict of interest with CRS.
2. Our company confirms that the bidder or subcontractors have not been associated, or in any way involved, directly or indirectly, in the preparation of the project, specifications, and/or other documents used in this tender.
3. Our company, its affiliates, or subsidiaries (including subcontractors or suppliers of any part of the contract) have not been declared ineligible by CRS in accordance with Section I. 3: Eligibility Criteria.
4. We have not offered and will not offer any gift and/or favor of any kind in exchange for this request for quotation and will never do so during the execution of any awarded contract.

I, ____________________________________ (Name of authorized signatory) , certify that I am the_____________________________(position) _____________________of (legal name of the company)________________; by signing this request for quotation for and on behalf of (legal name of the company) _______________________________, I certify that all information contained in this document is accurate and true and that signing this offer falls within my authority.

Annex II. Past Experience Form for RFP No. 2008359

Purchases orders or contracts signed by both parties must be provided for each experience.

Annex III. Key personnel (format of Biodata)

Give the detailed information of the key personnel who are scheduled to be assigned as full-time field staff for the project. Fill up a form for each key personnel.

– Authorized Managing Officer / Representative

– Sustained Technical Employee

1. Name : ____________________________________________
2. Date of Birth : ____________________________________________
3. Nationality : ____________________________________________
4. Education and Degrees :_______________________________________
5. Specialty : ____________________________________________
6. Registration : ____________________________________________
7. Length of Service with the Firm :___ Year from___ (months) _____ (year) To ____ (months) _____ (year)
8. Years of Experience : ____________________________________________
9. Languages : ____________________________________________

Supporting Documents for each key personnel

1. Copy of degree (bachelor or master)
2. CV

Note: For key personnel to be validated, Bidder MUST fill out ANNEX III AND provide (a), and (b). This is a PASS/FAIL to have the point.

Company Name: ______________________

Name of Key Personnel: ____________________

Role in the Proposal: _____________________________

Signature of Key Personnel: ____________________________

Date: _______________________________

Annex IV. Submission Checklist for Bidders

Bid submission Form.

☐Price Quote which complies with the specifications/TOR provided

☐Signed Quotation Submission Form (Annex I)

☐Reference list- Past Experience Form (Annex II)

☐Key personnel Form (Annex III)

☐Business registration, Tax Clearance, PPCC certificate and any required license (if any)

☐Business Brochure/Profile including names of management team/partners