Foreign economic-aid-related services

Tender description

The Independent Commission on Aid Impact (ICAI) is an advisory Non-Departmental Public Body (aNDPB) of the Department for International Development (DFID). ICAI carries out independent reviews of aid programmes and of issues affecting the delivery of UK aid. ICAI is supported in undertaking its reviews by a service provider (“the Supplier”). The Supplier for 2019-2023 will produce 8-10 relevant, high quality, independent, rigorous, evidence based reviews of the UK government’s ODA spending and activities, per annum, as directed by ICAI. This will include undertaking background research, supporting the development by ICAI of individual review terms of reference, gathering evidence, including undertaking country visits to fragile and non- fragile states, producing final reviews including the copy-edit and design of the reviews according to ICAI’s house style, supporting the secretariat with the publication of ICAI reviews and participation at Parliamentary hearings on ICAI reviews. DFID sought a Supplier to deliver a 54 month contract of up to 11 000 000 GBP until end June 2023 for the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) service provider for 2019-2023 Programme. The timeframe may be extended to end June 2025 subject to satisfactory performance of the supplier, continuing need and availability of funding, and the agreement of the Supplier, ICAI and DFID, utilising a negotiated procedure. There is also provision to increase the financial limit by up to a further 50 % (5 500 000 GBP) subject to satisfactory performance of the Supplier, continuing need and availability of funding, and the agreement of the Supplier, ICAI and DFID, utilising a negotiated procedure. The estimated value includes all applicable taxes, and tenderers included all applicable taxes in their tenders. Please note that the estimated value of 16 500 000 GBP, inclusive of all extension options, represents a maximum, and DFID received competitive tenders based on the full Terms of Reference (Volume 3 of the ITT Pack) at a lower level. The recipient of the service is the ICAI Board of Commissioners led by the Chief Commissioner. The ICAI Secretariat acts on the instructions of the Board of Commissioners in managing the contract with the supplier and in delivering the ICAI work programme. Delivery will require visits to both fragile and non-fragile countries with the supplier responsible for the Duty of Care for their staff and any third party contractors. A payment by results model will be used for effective implementation of the ICAI Service Provider 2019-2023 programme and link to achievement of agreed KPI’s and milestones. Key performance indicators link delivery of targets to an agreed payment schedule. A DFID Standard Service Contract was awarded. Scale up/down is provided for in the ToR and contract clauses to allow flexibility to respond to emerging needs. To ensure cohesion and consistency across the reviews, maximise VfM through economies of scale and reduced management costs and ensure that the higher need/higher risk reviews are not left behind, the tender was not split into lots. It is imperative to preserve ICAI's independence, impartiality and integrity. As such, suppliers were rigorously tested on their ability to identify, manage and mitigate potential actual and perceived conflicts of interest. The supplier will play a crucial role in ensuring that there are no COI's which could potentially damage ICAI's reputation and undermine public confidence in ICAI's role as a scrutiny body. The supplier is willing to adhere to and demonstrated ability to avoid any action that gives rise to an actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest in respect of any ICAI review on which they are engaged, adhere to a robust COI policy process, maintain COI registers and regularly check the COI of staff and supply chain partners, put in place and maintain robust ethical walls, support regular testing of the ethical walls and incorporate any feedback from DFID/ICAI to strengthen the ethical walls where needed, grant DFID/ICAI the right to access and review the Ethical Walls and COI processes at any time, and maintain COI policy and robust ethical walls for 1 year beyond the end of the contract.