Tender Notice – Communication Consultant

Tender Notice – Communication Consultant

International IDEA – The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance

Tender Reference No: 2024-04-054
Assignment Name: Communication Consultant
Project Name: Inter Pares

Deadline for Submissions: Proposals must be submitted on or before 23:59 (CET), 14 June 2024. Late submissions will not be considered for evaluation.

Address for Submissions: E-mail: [email protected]

This email address is set up with auto-response to acknowledge emails received. In the event that you did not receive an autoreply, please send a text message prior to the submission deadline (NO CALLS, CALLS WILL NOT BE ANSWERED) to this number +46725375735. In your text message, please provide the following:

• Tender reference no. and title;
• Email address you used for submission;
• Date and Time, you sent your submission (e.g. 01 December 2021, 12:30 CET).

Please also forward the above details to [email protected] prior to the submission deadline.

Format for Submissions: Proposals must be submitted by email. Technical and Financial proposals must be submitted in separate files and marked accordingly. Price should not be mentioned in the Technical Proposal.

The following text should be put in the subject field of the email: Tender No. 2024-04-054 Technical and Financial Proposals – Do not open before 23:59 (CET), 14 June 2024

Email Address for Clarifications: E-mail: [email protected]

Clarifications may be requested via e-mail no later than 5 June 2024 at the above email address. Note a response to a request for clarifications will be issued to all tenderers on our website http://www.idea.int/. Therefore, tenderers are advised to check the website regularly during the process.

Note: there are two different email addresses as outlined above, one to be used for Submission of your final proposal and the second one to be used for clarifications and other related correspondence.  

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Section 1 General Information

1.1 The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organization established in 1995, with member states across all continents, which aims to support sustainable democracy world-wide and assist in the development of institutions and the culture of democracy. At the interface between research, fieldwork and the donor community, IDEA provides a forum for dialogue, builds networks of experts, develops training materials and provides strategic advice at international, regional and national level, cooperating with a range of organizations.

1.2 International IDEA now invites proposals from qualified individual consultants. The services include a) support to communications and visibility for the INTER PARES project, b) to support the communication strategy of the AGORA Portal for Parliamentary Development and its Community of Practice. A detailed description of the assignment is provided in the Terms of Reference attached to this Request for Proposals.

1.3 Tentative timeframe: It is anticipated that the services will commence on 01 July 2024 and will continue till 31 Dec 2025.

Section 2 Preparation of Proposals

Essential Requirements:

2.1 Language: The official language for the proposal, contract, reports, and any other documents in relation to the assignment is English.

2.2 Estimated input: 15 days per month.

2.3 Required experience: Graduate degree in a Communications related discipline.

2.4 The proposal should provide the following information:

1. Experience in a communications support role including content development for websites, social media, online and in person events;
2. Experience working with an international organization or similar organization an advantage;
3. Experience with working with print, digital, video, and social media including content development for production;
4. Demonstrated experience in the field of democracy (democratic governance and/or parliamentary strengthening programmes);
5. Ability to work independently in a multi-cultural and multi-task environment;
6. A completed and signed declaration of honour form:

a) Please leave the following section (see below excerpt for ease of reference) in the Form blank if you are a natural person (not a legal person/firm/organization):

Situations of exclusion concerning natural persons with power of representation, decision-making or control over the legal person	YES	NO
Situation (c) above (grave professional misconduct)
Situation (d) above (fraud, corruption or other criminal offence)
Situation (e) above (significant deficiencies in performance of a contract)
Situation (f) above (irregularity)

b) Please note that in Section 3 of the Form (please see below excerpt for ease of reference), in the absence of conflict of interest, this section should be marked Yes.

(3) declares that the above-mentioned person has no unresolved conflict of interest that may cause the impartiality the process of awarding the contract to be questioned, except as disclosed
SELECTION CRITERIA	YES	NO
(a) no person involved in the preparation of the bid is or was a Staff Member or Member of the Board of Advisers at International IDEA in the six months precedending the submission of the bid
(b) no person involved in the preparation of the bid is a family member of a Staff Member or Member of the Board of Advisers at International IDEA in the six months precedending the submission of the bid
(c) No Staff Member or Member of the Board of Advisers at International IDEA has a material financial interest in the bidder

Financial Proposal:

2.5 The price should be a daily rate in euro. The rate should be inclusive of VAT, sales tax, and incidental expenses, likely to incur.

2.6 International IDEA is not tax exempt and does not have VAT number. The Bidder must act in accordance with their country’s tax laws as it relates to providing services/goods to the customers/clients. The Bidder shall be responsible for their own tax obligations as per laws of the respective country.

2.7 The assessment of the financial offer will be based on the price indicated in the bidder’s proposal.

Section 3 Submission of Proposals

3.1 Proposals should be submitted in electronic format by e-mail. Technical and Financial Proposals must be submitted in separate files and marked accordingly. The full details on how to submit proposals is under Tender Notice at the beginning of this document.

3.2 Proposals must remain valid for at least 90 days following the deadline for their submission stated under the Tender Notice.

Section 4 Evaluation of Proposals

Technical Evaluation:

4.1 Candidates will be evaluated and scored against the following criteria with corresponding points:

Technical Criteria	Score
One page maximum cover letter	10
Technical/academic/work background in communications in the field of democracy assistance or a related field	15
Professional experience in communications	30
Demonstrated experience of uploading news and event items on websites, writing news articles, writing engaging social media posts, preparing communication plans, and managing google analytics – candidates are requested to share one news article, and between 2-5 social media posts either from previous work or from an imagined scenario that would fit the INTER PARES project	30
Fluency in English	15
Total for Technical Criteria	100

Only candidates scoring a minimum of 50 points under the technical criteria will be considered for financial evaluation.

Evaluation of Financial Proposals:

4.2 The financial scores (F) will be computed as follows:

4.3 The lowest evaluation price proposal (Em) will be given a financial score (Fm) of 100 points.

4.4 The financial scores of the other proposals will be computed applying the following formula:

F = 100 x E_m/E, where:

• E_m is the lowest evaluation price; and
• E is the evaluation price of the proposal under consideration;
• Final cumulative score will be the weighted score of the technical scores and financial scores.

Financial Evaluation:

4.5 The financial scores (F) will be computed as follows:

The lowest evaluation price proposal (E_m) will be given a financial score (F_m) of 100 points.

The financial scores of the other proposals will be computed applying the formula:

F = 100 x E_m/E, where:

• E_m is the lowest evaluation price; and
• E is the evaluation price of the proposal under consideration.

Consolidated Technical and Financial Score:

4.6 The final consolidated scores (S) will be computed by applying the formula:

S = t x T + f x F, where:

• t is the weight given to the technical score;
• f is the weight given to the financial score.

4.7 The weights given to the technical and financial scores are:

• t = 80%;
• f = 20%.

4.8 The consultant ranked highest will be invited to negotiate the contract and if negotiations are successful the selected consultant will be awarded the contract. Should the negotiations fail; the second ranked consultant will be invited to negotiations.

4.9 International IDEA reserves the right to directly award a follow up contract to the contractor selected for the tender to carry out potential future work related to this initial assignment. This will depend on satisfactory delivery of the tender assignment.

Section 5 Final Considerations

5.1. International IDEA will not be bound to select any of the proposals.

5.2 The following documents are enclosed with this Request for Proposals:

1. Terms of Reference;
2. Declaration of Honour;
3. General terms and conditions.

5.3 Further information on International IDEA may be found on our website http://www.idea.int/.

5.4 Complaints regarding any aspect of the tender process should be addressed in writing to both the Internal Auditor and the Executive Director at International IDEA. The address is [email protected].

The Request for Proposals, Terms of Reference, Declaration of Honour Form and Contract General Terms and Conditions are available at: https://www.idea.int/about-us/procurement-and-tenders.