1. INTRODUCTION:

CRS began working in Liberia in 1957, with a permanent country program office opening in 1990 to provide life-saving relief in response to emergencies and to address issues of chronic poverty and injustice through innovative and sustainable development programs. CRS Liberia has since developed programs in peacebuilding, youth livelihoods, health systems strengthening, and urban water, sanitation, and hygiene. Key partners include the Catholic Church and local faith-based organizations.

CRS Liberia is seeking an independent institution/group, to conduct income-generating vocational skills training for HELINA IV project participants in Montserrado County, precisely Johnsonville and New Kru Town Communities.

Post-qualification Actions

• Verification of accuracy, correctness and authenticity of the information provided by the bidder on the legal, technical, and financial documents submitted.
• Inquiry and reference checking with 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.

Scope of Work

1. Background:

The Catholic Relief Services with support from The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints (LDS) is implementing the ‘Healthy Living through Integrated Nutrition Activities’ (HELINA) project. The project is in its fourth year of implementation from September 1, 2024, to August 30, 2025.

The goal of the project is to improve the nutrition of AGYW, and their children aged 0-23 months. This will be achieved through nutrition outreach education, and in-home counseling to AGYW (pregnant/ages 25 and under) in the WestPoint, New Kru Town, and Johnsonville Communities in Monrovia. The project has a livelihood component that is focus on providing participants with income generating activities and saving skills to improve their livelihood. This includes an activity that supports the establishment of kitchen gardens to increase nutritious food production and consumption in households with AGYW.

2. Purpose:

The purpose of this TOR is to engage the services of an experience institution/group specialized in delivering vocational skills to conduct training for 60 (sixty) HELINA IV project participants in New Kru Town and Johnsonville. The services required entails providing income-generating vocational skills training which includes, pastry making/catering, Cosmetology, hair braiding, and tailoring.

Key Activity

The activities to be carried out by the potential service provider includes:

• Basic vocational skills Training Programs for 60 (sixty) adolescent girls in Johnsonville and New Kru town (30 participants each in Johnsonville and New Kru town)
• Connect 30% (best performing participants) with on-the-job training to establish themselves independently/for job opportunities.
• Provide start up materials for each of the graduating participants to practice the skills they have acquired and generate income for their livelihood.

3. Methodology

The consultant is expected to propose a methodology that best executes the assignment. However, it is expected that the selected methodology will be a blend of several methods, including but not limited to the following

• Practical Demonstrations
• PowerPoint Presentations
• Hands-on Activities

4. List of Outputs / Deliverables:

5. Reporting Format

The final report is expected to be organized as follows:

1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction
3. Overview Training Program
4. Detailed activity summary
5. Training Outcomes/Achievements
6. Conclusion and Recommendations
7. References
8. Annexes:
   1. List of participants
   2. Training Evaluation
   3. Terms of Reference

Timeline:

Project Location: Johnsonville and New Kru Town Communities.

Qualifications and Experience required for the Team Leader and Key Staff:

• Team Leader: A minimum of a bachelor’s degree.
• Key Staff: A minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree.
• Previous experience in the conduct of similar vocational skills training (minimum of 3 of such assignments in the last 5 years). Evidence of conducting similar works with copies of award letters, interim payment certificates, completion certificates, and signed agreements. Include a list of related assignments completed with names of clients, period of the assignments, and contact details of the clients (official email addresses and phone numbers). CRS also reserves the right to demand copies of documents previously developed by the consultant for review.
• Familiarity with the beneficiary communities is an added advantage
• Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English are desired.

Applications

Interested consultant(s), organizations/institutions are requested to submit the following documentation to CRS by the deadline of January 6, 2025, at 4:00 pm. Late bids will automatically be rejected.

• Cover letter
• Institution profile (for firms)
• Technical Proposal (including methodology and detailed work plan)
• Proposed budget for the assignment (consultancy fee, logistics, reporting, etc.) in US Dollars.
• CV(s) of key personnels
• At least 2 examples of previous work undertaken within the last 3 years
• References
• Business Registration Certificate and tax clearance is required for firms/institutions

REQUIREMENTS & CONDITIONS

1. Delivery Location: Catholic Relief Services – 16^th street Sinkor and Gardiner Avenue, Seaside, C-140 Building
2. Bid validity: Quotes must be valid for 30 days from submission date.
3. Payment terms: N30
4. Currency: USD

QUOTE SUBMISSION: Quotes are to be hand delivered to CRS office before 4:00pm no later than the bid due date (extension requests must be received in advance of bid due date).

EVALUATION: quotes will be evaluated using a 3-stage process

Responsiveness [Pass/Fail]: Quote must be complete and compliant if it meets product specifications, is valid for at least 30 days, and is substantively responsive to the terms and conditions of the RFQ. Compliance with local and international standards and regulations such as Business registration and Tax clearance certificates. Submission before the set deadline

Technical Evaluation Weight 60%: The evaluation of technical specifications will be graded on a scale of 100 points breakdown as below:

Financial Evaluation weight 40%

Technical proposals will be evaluated according to the criteria outlined below.

The technical evaluation will weight 60% and the financial 40% of the total score

Any bidder who scores lower than 60 points out of the maximum 100 points allocated under technical evaluation shall not proceed to the financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation

Price: Responsive quotes will undergo Price Evaluation as follows:

Price Weight 40%: The supplier with the lowest total price will receive a score of 100. All other bidders’ scores will be calculated in inverse proportion to the lowest price using the following formula.

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

The price weight (%) will be applied to all scores.

Total Score Calculation

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

CRS will evaluate the proposals and award the assignment based on technical and financial feasibility. Subsequently, short-listed institutions MAY be invited for an interview. The Catholic Relief Services reserves the exclusive right to select the candidate it considers suitable for the assignment.

NB: A Proposal shall be eliminated if any false or deliberately misleading information is given in relation to the tenderer’s qualifications, capacity, current or past references, or in any of the documents submitted by the bidder in any lot.

Payment schedule

Payment to consultant under this assignment shall be made in three (3) separate tranches and subject to statutory deductions, such as withholding tax.

First tranche – 40% of the total contract sum shall be paid to the consultant after signing of contract, participation in an inception meeting, submission of an inception report and revised work plan to CRS.

Second tranche – 30% of the total contract sum shall be paid to the consultant after submission of the first draft of the training report to CRS which should contain accomplishments, lessons learned and recommendations to CRS.

Third tranche – 30% of the total contract sum shall be paid to the consultant as final payment after completion of assignment, successful graduation and placement of trainees in existing businesses as per the Scope of Work and submission of all final technical documents as listed in the deliverables to CRS.

Rejection of Award:

1. CRS may reject any quote that is not substantively responsive to the terms and conditions of the RFQ.
2. 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.
3. CRS will send a Notice of Award to the winning bidder. The winning bidder agrees to acknowledge the purchase order by email upon award within one (1) business day under the terms and conditions stated herein.

Eligibility:

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

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.

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.

Terms and Conditions

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.

Additional Information:

Vendors should indicate their anticipated delivery timeline in their quotation. Failure to deliver the by the timeline in the final contract may result in the contract being withdrawn and awarded to another vendor.

Minimum Criteria: A quotation will not be considered further if it does not meet the following minimum criteria:

• Submitting a complete quotation by the specified deadline.
• Ability to provide samples which meet all standard specifications and include all specific requirements.

Negotiations and Selection:

Award may be made with or without negotiations between the CRS and the selected vendor. Award may be made to a vendor that provided the lowest priced technically acceptable quotation, or to a vendor other than the one that provided the lowest priced quotation, should that vendor be determined to have provided the best value quotation to CRS taking technical and cost factors into account.

All vendors that submit quotations in response to this RFQ will be notified of the results.

Quotation Submission Form

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 X. Terms and Conditions.

I, the undersigned, having read CRS’s terms and conditions applicable to goods and services for the request for quotation No. FY2506, 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: A) 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. B) 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. C) 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 clause 9: Eligibility. D) 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 ____________________ (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.