Foreign economic-aid-related services

Tender description

This is a prior information notice published to advertise an early market engagement event. A call for competition will be made later, following business case approval. This research programme intends to improve the evidence base on forms, drivers, and experiences of harmful children’s work, and effective ways to enable children to flourish in the context of increasing commercialisation of African agri-food systems. This is a prior information notice (PIN) only: publication and call for competition will be conducted once the scope of work is fully defined and approved. Subject to funding approval, the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) will be seeking a supplier(s) to provide a research programme consortium to deliver a new programme titled “Researching children’s harmful work in African agri-food systems”. It will focus on operationally-relevant research on the forms of work children do in different agri-food systems in Africa, the extent to which this work is harmful, and assess interventions to create conditions for children to flourish. The new contract will run for 5 years (2019-2024), subject to satisfactory supplier performance. It is expected that the contract will involve three interlinked work areas, requiring effective coordination across each — and with DFID country offices and centrally managed programmes — to ensure seamless and effective delivery. All elements are critical to overall success: 1) Researching the forms of work children do in African agri-food systems, and the extent to which this is harmful. 2) Investigating and assessing the impacts of interventions to provide opportunities for children to flourish e.g. social protection and education interventions. 3) Working with agri-businesses to disseminate research learnings, and improve capabilities to promote decent work in agri-food value chains and create conditions that enable children to flourish. It is anticipated that the contract will be worth 10 000 000 GBP over its lifespan. DFID will be hosting an Early Market Engagement Event to provide potential suppliers with an opportunity to learn about the proposed programme, provide feedback, and network with the aim of forming consortiums. This event will be held on Wednesday 22nd August at 14:00-17:00 in DFID’s headquarters at 22 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2EG. There will be a facility to dial in to this event if necessary (contact details to follow). During the EME representatives from DFID will: i) Present further details on the requirements; ii) Provide an update on the procurement process; and iii) Provide an opportunity for attendees to ask questions and provide feedback. In addition, there will be an opportunity for networking, with an attendee list circulated after the event. Registration In order to register your attendance you must register your interest on the DFID Supplier Portal (https://supplierportal.dfid.gov.uk/selfservice/) and complete the details requested in the Survey Monkey link that will be available on the DFID Supplier Portal. The series of questions will be available via Survey Monkey. Due to limited capacity, attendance is restricted to two representatives per organisation. Places may be reserved on a first come first served basis and when capacity is reached the Survey Monkey may close and no further registration will be accepted. Interested companies should register by 12:00 (noon — BST) on Monday 13th August. Please note that only Companies that pre-register will have security clearance to attend the event. The “Dialogue/Clarification” function on the DFID Supplier Portal will be the main communication channel moving forward. We are happy to receive questions, comments and suggestions in advance, which we will respond to at the event, and we will not disclose the source of these when responding. Important Note The PIN which has been published is not a call for competition or tender at this time, it is an information notice to highlight the intent to have an Early Market Engagement event on 22.8.2018. The programme will be advertised for competitive tender at a later stage through the DFID Supplier Portal in Autumn/Winter 2018.