REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR

Tracer Study of TVET Graduates

Name of the Purchaser

Save the Children International House No. CWN (A) 35, Road No. 43, Gulshan-2, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh

Contact Person

Sr. Manager Procurement & Supply Chain

Telephone: Fax: Email

880 -2-8828081 Ext. 1048 880-2-9886372 Kamruz.zaman@savethechildren.org

RFP Ref No: RFP/SC/BDCO/FY-14/20 Issued on: 13 July, 2014 Dead Line for Submission: On or before 07 August 2014 within 2.00 PM

2

CONTENTS

I. Proposal Data Sheet (PDS) II. Terms of Reference (ToR) III. Price Schedule IV. Contract V. Annexure – 1: Child Safeguarding Policy

Annexure – II: Certification Regarding Terrorism Annexure – III: Fraud, Bribery and Corruption Policy Annexure – IV: Prohibited Transactions and Money Laundering

3

I. Proposal Data Sheet (PDS)

The following specific data shall be provided by the proposers/organizations of the services for “Tracer study of TVET graduates”. This invitation is subject to the general terms and conditions set out below, Terms of Reference and acceptance of SCI Policies (Attached in Annexure).

A. GENERAL

Procuring Entity

Name of Purchaser: Save the Children International

Contact Person : Sr. Manager - Procurement & Supply Chain, Save the Children in Bangladesh Type of Service : Special Studies RFP Ref : RFP/SC/BDCO/FY-14/20

Eligibility Criteria

The Proposer shall possess the following qualification : Proposers/Organizations must provide information and documentary evidences to establish that they have:

a) The consultant/firm must have technical knowledge on TVET field, labor market and sufficient writing skills to carry out the tasks.

b) Minimum of 5 years relevant professional experience in research for any national international agencies

c) Knowledge and experience in vocational skills training programs d) Strong experience in conceptualizing and implementing tracer studies

within the context of TVET and preferably in the context of Bangladesh. e) Excellent communication and report writing skills.

Documents Required

a. Company profile b. Copy of the Trade License c. Up-to-date VAT and Tax certificate d. List of clients served e. A comprehensive plan including methodology and approaches f. Details of key persons who will be involved in the assignment

Proposal

Both financial & technical offer shall be separately in a sealed envelope.

The financial offer shall be Including of all related cost.

VAT & TAX shall be deducted at source as per applicable existing GoB rules.

4

Language The language of all correspondence and documents related to the bid shall be in English.

Payment Terms

The payment will be made according to the schedule as follows:

I. 30% after signing the contract and receiving the inception

report;

II. 70% after receiving the final report and having it accepted by

SCiB.

B. THE RFP DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE

Communication Sr. Manager Procurement & Supply Chain House No. CWN (A) 35, Road No. 43, Gulshan-2, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh Email : kamru.zaman@savethechildren.org

Note: RFP soft copy and further update please keep follow the link; http://118.179.221.10/PSM/

Technical Queries

Program Contact Person: If you have any technical query, please bring it at the time of pre-proposal meeting (highly appreciated). Moreover, Interested Bidder may also contact Shuburna Chodhuary, LIA Officer (TVET), Email: shuburna.chodhuary@savethechildren.org for technical queries before submission of proposal (if required).

C. SUBMISSION OF PROPOSAL

Notice for Submission

Proposal must be submitted in one original copy for both the technical and financial proposals in two separate envelopes. All the documents must be submitted in a single envelope in response to TOR and mentioned clearly the proposal name on the top of the envelop.

Pre-proposal meeting

Pre-proposal meeting time & date: on 16 July 2014 at 11:30 AM.

Dead Line for Submission

Deadline for proposal submission is: On or before 7 August 2014 within 2.00 PM

Address The address for proposal submission is; Sr. Manager Procurement & Supply Chain Save the Children in Bangladesh House No. CWN (A) 35, Road No. 43 Gulshan-2, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh

5

D. PROPOSAL DROPPING & OPENING

Dropping Time & Date

The proposer shall drop their proposal into the Bid Box -2 Kept at Save the Children reception On or before 07 August 2014 within 2.00 PM

Opening Time & Date

The proposal(s) shall be opened on 07 August 2014 at 2.30 PM at Save the Children Bangladesh.

E. PROPOSAL EVALUATION

The Proposal Evaluation shall be carried out based on the following criteria: Evaluation (Technical & Financial)

1) Proposal evaluation committee (PEC) or Procurement committee (PC) will review the technical as well as financial proposal as per advertised Eligibility/Qualification and Technical criteria (enclosed TOR)

2) Technical proposal will carry 80% weight; and financial proposal will carry 20% weight ( Technical Pass Mark is 60% )

Technical Criteria

As specified in the ToR

F. TECHNICAL PROPOSAL SUBMISSION FORMAT

(Including description of approach, methodology, work plan, etc. for performing the assignment) (Proposers are required to abide by page limits and formats described below. All attached forms must be completed and submitted with the proposals. Organizations are also required to submit their Tech proposals in English (Font – Garamond, size 12, page margins – 1” on all sides, A4 page). a). Assignment Title : Tracer study of TVET graduates b). Summary of the Assignment (maximum 10 lines)

c). Justification of the proposed Methodology: Maximum 1 page d). Technical Approach and Methodology (maximum 5 pages) : Here you should explain your

understanding of the objectives of the assignment, approach to the services, methodology for carrying out the activities and obtaining the expected output.

You should also explain the methodologies you propose to adopt and highlight the compatibility of those methodologies with the proposed approach. The methods of sampling, data collection, data analysis, data management should be stated.

e). Detailed Description of Activities (maximum 3 pages) Provide detailed descriptions of key

activities mentioned above which are critical for the methodology and approach to be

6

successful. f). Assumptions and Risks (maximum 1 page) Describe assumptions which are necessary for

the survey to be implemented. Describe any risk/threats which could potentially threaten implementation of the activities and what is or will be done to mitigate these risks.

h). Work Plan (maximum 2 pages). Here you should propose the main activities of the

assignment, their content and duration, phasing and interrelations, milestones (including interim approvals by the Client), and delivery dates of the reports. The proposed work plan should be consistent with the technical approach and methodology, showing understanding of the TOR and ability to translate them into a feasible working plan. A list of the final documents, including reports, drawings, and tables to be delivered as final output, should be included here. The work plan should be consistent with the Work schedule.

i). Organization and Staffing (maximum 3 pages) In this section you should propose the

structure and composition of your team. You should list the main disciplines of the assignment, the key expert responsible, and proposed technical and support staff. The roles and responsibilities of professional staff should be summarized. In case of association, this chapter will indicate how the duties and responsibilities will be shared. The organizations and staffing will be reflected in the Team Composition and Task Assignments.

Others

I. Save the Children reserves the right to accept or reject any /all bids or part thereof without assigning any reason whatsoever.

II. Certification Regarding Terrorism: The Organization/Firm hereby certifies that it has not provided and will not provide material support or resources to any individual or organization that it knows, has reason to know, is an individual or organization that advocates, plans, sponsors, engages in, or has engaged in an act of terrorism.

III. The consulting firm should comply with Policies of SCI (Attached in Annexure)

IV. Penalty Clause: On the event of delivery failure within stipulated time Save the Children

reserves the right to deduct bill @ 1% of the total contract value for each week of delayed of stipulated assignment.

V. Termination: The client, by notice sent to the firm/organization, may terminate the

contract, in whole or in part, at any time for its convenience. The notice of termination shall specify that termination is for the client convenience, the extent to which performance of the firm/organization under the contract is terminated, and the date upon which such termination becomes effective.

7

II. Terms of Reference (TOR)

to Tracer Study

Project / Program: TVET for Young People in Informal Economy in Bangladesh Program Background Save the children implement a project titled “TVET for Young People in Informal Economy in Bangladesh” funded by European Union. The project started in January 2011 and runs to December 2014. The project was designed to meet the challenge Bangladesh faces in creation of employment for (i) new entrants to the labour force and (i) the great many who are currently under-employed. The labour force is growing, at almost twice the rate at which the population is growing. To meet the country’s employment needs, Bangladesh needs to create 2.25 million jobs every year. Characteristic of the labour force which are considered at all stages of the project cycle, includes nearly 51% of people who have no schooling and only a small fraction (0.4%) have received vocational / technical / skills development training. A labour force with low levels of education and skills is obviously a principal cause of low productivity in multiple sectors, including the urban informal sector. The provision of education, training and skills development for the labour force can increase the productivity, economic growth and increase the wages of labourers. Supporting young people in development of appropriate skills is an important intervention under this project, aimed at increasing the productivity of the workforce currently employed in the informal sector. The biggest disadvantage of the informal economy is that activities generally do not constitute ‘good jobs’ and these mostly involve low levels of productivity and low earnings. The project therefore engages in work at the policy and strategy level to improve the quality and effectiveness in TVET Policy and Programmes so that the productivity and income generating potential of the workers in the informal economy is strengthened. The overall objective of the project is to provide demand driven and flexible TVET for 5000 young people in the informal economy through direct service delivery and strengthened TVET systems, thereby improving young people’s employability and income-generating capacity in informal economy in 6 districts of Bangladesh. This overall objective will be achieved through the following specific objectives:

(1) Develop demand-driven, flexible and employment effective TVET programs for the informal sector through a participatory needs assessment;

(2) Provide TVET programs for 5000 young people in the informal economy and provide job placements;

8

(3) Establish systemic linkages between the informal economy and the formal TVET system through scaling up of demand driven and flexible technical and vocational training programs.

Starting in January 2011, the project has been implementing, in partnership with a national NGO namely Underprivileged Children’s Educational Program (UCEP) in seven divisional cities in Bangladesh. A new implementing partner NGO, Karmajibi Kallyan Sangstha (KKS) was added in 2013 to extend the geographic scope to Goalanda under Rajbari district. Rational of the study: The project has completed three and half years and will be wrapping up in December 2014. To date, the project has fulfilled most of the planned input and outputs. The project already reached 5,258 young people of 15 years and above, of which approximately 40% are girls who dropped out of school before grade 8 in formal education and are whom are working in the formal or informal economy. Of the 5258 who have participated, 5,046 young people have graduated, and 4,198 (83%) of which gained jobs in the formal or informal sector. The project trained 99 instructors on TVET pedagogy; developed and published 12 curricula; developed 7 handbooks; and produced a Vocational Pedagogy Training Manual. The project has also conducted research including: (1) the TVET Stakeholders Mapping and Needs Assessment, (2) the Documentation of Best Practices, and (3) the follow up survey of TVET graduates. In addition, the project reached 650 formal companies, 546 informal companies and 15 employers committee. These are supporting the TVET graduates to gain jobs. As part of the project initiatives, an agreement was signed between Save the Children and the National Skills Development Councils (NSDC) to implement the National Skills Development Policy through organising divisional consultative workshop and form divisional committees. Under this agreement four divisional and national level workshops. This led to the formation of four divisional ‘Skills Development Consultative Committees’ (DSDCC). A Terms of Reference for this work has been agreed. This ToR guides all DSDCC to provide quality TVET to the training institutions in terms of monitoring, coordination among service providers etc. Through these initiatives the project reaches 11 TVET institutions, including both government and non-government TVET institutions, and around 25,000 poor family members of the targeted young people.

In total 4,198 graduates have been supported in gaining employment in different industries and establishments within Bangladesh. A long term follow-up of the graduates is required to find out the improvements in the lives of these young people over a longer period of time. We also wish to understand the impact of the project on both the graduates’ families and the wider community. Purpose of the Study This tracer study aims to assess graduates employment and income status following their involvement in the TVET project. It will specifically identify whether they were able to continue

9

formal employment or whether they relapsed back to their previous informal work. It will also analyze the economic and social impact of vocational training on the graduates and their families. More specifically the project seeks to answer the following five questions:

1. What was the employment and income status of the graduates prior to their participation in the TVET project?

2. What is the current employment and income status of TVET graduates?

3. Are TVET graduates meeting the knowledge, skill, and attitude expectations of employers?

4. What are the social and economic (i) enablers and (ii) barriers facing graduates in

securing valued employment?

5. What is the perceived social and economic impact of the project on graduates’ families and the wider community?

Scope of study The ‘scope of study’ given below are indicative but not exhaustive.

1. Trace graduates 2. Evaluate financial and employment status of the graduates, with special focus on female

graduates 3. Assess factors affecting the efficiency, relevance and quality of the program provided by

two partner NGOs. 4. Determine factors inhibiting unemployed graduates 5. Evaluate socio-economic changes of the graduates and their families 6. Provide data-informed recommendations for improving employment opportunities and

competitiveness of TVET graduates

Methodology Sample: The tracer study sample will include students who graduated from the TVET project of UCEP and KKS. The study will cover seven divisional cities and two districts (Gazipur and Rajbari) where the EU TVET project is implemented. The study will include students who attended the TVET programmes between January 2011 and July 2014. During the period, a total of 5,014 students graduated from 12 specific trades, of which 4,198 were supported for employment in different industries and establishments. Out of the employed graduated students, the study sample should include 30% from each technical trade. The consultant(s) will be assisted by the Employment Support Service (ESS) component of UCEP and KKS to trace out the graduates. Primary data collection: Data is to be collected through interviews with employed graduates, their families and employer(s) during field visits. Other relevant information will also be collected through

10

interviews with stakeholders, such as the 15 employers’ committee of UCEP, instructors, community members, and through field observation. The interviewers will visit work places and homes of the graduates. Secondary data collection: The Tracer study will include a desk-based review of relevant documentations, including but not limited to the project document (proposal) and reports; Past Tracer Study reports (from UCEP if any); Labor Market Survey reports; Local Economic Development reports; Employment Promotion Services report; and TVET Policy Documents. Deliverables The consultant(s) will submit the following outputs in English language. 1. A detailed methodology submitted to SCI prior to data collection 2. Draft and final report to include, but not limited to:

-Executive summary (2-pages) -Methodology -Results -Conclusions -Recommendations

(3) All data and other collected information:

-Evaluation tools/questionnaires, sample, and stakeholders for the Tracer study as agreed during the preparation period -Final data file including raw data entry, cleaned data, and data analysis -All pictures/photos.

(4) A one-day ‘initial findings workshop’ with all stakeholders (or two half day workshops in

different locations) (5) A transferable power-point presentation of key findings for use by Save the Children staff

and other partners (6) A young-person friendly one-page report (using appropriate language) to be given to all

participant graduates and other stakeholders

Justification for Hiring Consultant/firm: This assignment is a technical work and needs intensive support from the external resource person(s) to have deliverables on time and to a high standard. The consultant(s) will provide a professional service for a specified period of time. This consultancy work will also help validate current practice and will offer professional solution to specific challenges and situations. This technical and professional consultant(s) will facilitate, create and implement methodologies and systems that will enhance efficiency of the organization and staff. The TVET team of SCI will ensure that quality is upheld while supporting the technical aspects of the pilot program.

11

The consultant/firm should have the following experience and expertise: Technical knowledge on TVET field; labor market understanding; and sufficient writing skills to carry out the tasks. The consultant(s) must be able to take a collaborative approach as they will work closely with project staff, partner staff, and other stakeholders throughout this process. Essential qualifications and expertise required:

f) Post-graduate degree in Social Sciences, Education, Economics, Statistics or related field

g) Minimum of 5 years relevant professional experience in research for any national international agencies

h) Knowledge and experience in vocational skills training programs

i) Strong experience in conceptualizing and implementing tracer studies within the context of TVET, and preferably in the context of Bangladesh.

j) Excellent communication and report writing skills.

k) Fluency in English

Mode of Payment

The payment will be made according to the schedule as follows:

I. 30% after signing the contract and receiving the inception report;

II. 70% after receiving the final report and having it accepted by SCiB.

Location: Seven divisions (Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi,Barisal, Sylhet, and Rangpur) and two districts – Gazipur and Goalondo Timeline: Maximum 30 days from awarding contract (August-September 2014). Reporting To: Project Director, EU TVET project of Save the Children under the guidance and supervision of Program Director-EYE, Save the Children Owner: Save the Children, UCEP and KKS

12

Evaluation Criteria

Proposal evaluation (technical and financial)

1. Proposal Evaluation Committee (PEC) will review the technical as well as financial proposals as per eligibility/qualification and technical criteria set in ToR

2. Technical proposal will carry 80% weight and financial proposal will carry 20% weight (technical pass mark is 60%)

Technical criteria

a. Technical evaluation criteria

Sl # Evaluation criteria for technical proposal Score

1 Post-graduate degree in Social Sciences, Education, Economics, Statistics or related field (Lead/Key Consultant)

10

2 Relevant professional experience in research for any national international agencies

15

3 Quality of proposed methodology/approach 15

4 Knowledge and experience in vocational skills training programs

25

5 Experience in conceptualizing and implementing tracer studies within the context of TVET, and preferably in the context of Bangladesh

25

6 Communication and report writing skills 10

Total 100

b. Evaluation of financial proposal A financial proposal should include summary of costs, breakdowns of staff remunerations, travel & DSAs, miscellaneous, overhead costs (if any). Interested firms are requested to submit proposals in light of the criteria mentioned above.

13

III. Financial Offer: Summary of Cost

Services/Assignment:

Ref No: RFP/SC/BDCO/FY-14/18

Name of the Proposer (Firms): __________________________

Sl. Description/ Line Item Cost (BDT)

Excluding VAT

Cost (BDT)

Including VAT

1

2

3

Total

Grand Total (including VAT)

N.B. May be added more Column & Row for detail information.

We understand you are not bound to accept any proposal you receive.

Signed

In the capacity of:

Duly authorized to sign the proposal on behalf of the applicant organizations/Firms

Date:

14

IV. Contract This CONTRACT (hereinafter called the “Contract”) is made the [insert day] day of the month of [insert month], [insert year], between, on the one hand, [insert name of client] (hereinafter called the “Client”) and, on the other hand, [insert name of organization] (hereinafter called the “organization”). WHEREAS

(a) the Client has requested the organization to provide “ ---------------“ services as defined in this Contract (hereinafter called the “Services”);

the organization, having represented to the Client that they have the required professional skills, and personnel and technical resources, have agreed to provide the Services on the terms and conditions set forth in this Contract; and

Offered price for the Services (hereinafter called the “Contact Price”) NOW THEREFORE the parties hereto hereby agree as follows: 1. The following documents forming the integral part of this Contract shall be interpreted

in the order of priority shown: (a) The Signed Contract; (b) Request for Proposal; (c) Terms of Reference (ToR); (d) Appendix: I, II , III & IV

2. The mutual rights and obligations of the Client and the organization shall be as set forth in the Contract, in particular: (a) the organizations shall carry out the Services in accordance with the provisions

of the Contract; and (b) the Client shall make payments to the organizations in accordance with the

provisions of the Contract. IN WITNESS, the Parties hereto have caused this Contract to be signed in their respective names as of the day and year first above written. For and on behalf of [name of Client] [Authorized Representative] For and on behalf of [name of organization] [Authorized Representative] For and on behalf of each of the Members of the organization [name of member] [Authorized Representative] [name of member] [Authorized Representative]