EXPRESSION OF INTEREST – State Department of Livestock

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, LIVESTOCK, FISHERIES AND COOPERATIVES TENDER 2020 

(CONSULTING SERVICES – CONSULTANT QUALIFICATION SELECTION)

1. The Government of Kenya has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the Regional Pastoral Livelihood Resil­ience Project (RPLRP), and intends to apply part of the proceeds toward payments for Consultancy Services for Development of Bulk Short Message Services (SMSes) Management Information System (BSMIS) for Drought Early Warning System in Kenya. RPLRP seeks to strengthen the existing drought early warning system managed by National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) by developing a BSMIS to facilitate dissemination of appropriate, relevant and timely drought risk management and early warning information to communities and other stakeholders. The system will also provide communities with an effective and easily accessible feedback mechanism thereby strengthen internal complaints handling process.
2. The scope of the assignment will include but not limited to:
3.             Developing and deploying a centralized database management system that is accessible over disparate locations and through a web based GUI and that will be the focal point of interaction with the BSMIS. The developed Management Information System (MIS) should be capable of supporting the sending of bulk SMSes and the receiving of SMSes from drought monitoring and management stakeholders with emphasis on livestock early warning dissemination templates.
4.             Delivering an MIS that is capable of scheduling bulk or individual recipient SMSes whose delivery is based on assessment of predetermined conditions like time or some given set of preconditions.

      iii.            Incorporating a county focus in the BSMIS thereby making 23 ASAL counties the focal point of the early warning informa­tion management and dissemination system.

1.             Delivering a system that is secure, easy to deploy, is configurable and that has an audit trail for accountability and trans­parency in its usage.
2.             Delivering an MIS system that should integrate or have the ability to be integrated with existing and future systems to provide a global view of the NDMA operations.
3. The BSMIS system must have the following features;
4.             Work flow engine to allow for dynamic creation of work-flow processes and approvals based on user accounts and inte­grate the same on the SMS messaging component.
5.             Well-defined approval process before SMSes are dispersed to respective distribution lists. Such an approval process will be implemented both though messaging and through the Gill.

      iii.            Allow for creation of address groups (distribution lists) and classification of numbers into these groups. The MIS should allow for importing of numbers/contacts into the systems and grouping the same into distribution lists.

1.             Provide mapping and spatial reports based on the messaging alerts sent and action taken based on the messages sent back to the MIS.
2.             User management and access control component for managing security in the system. The component is expected to; provide different levels of access to the information generate audit trails on user actions, track the login history and the IP addresses.
3.             Allow for generation of analytical reports:

• SMS credit usage
• User Credit load intervals
• Sent SMS, by phone book category

   vii.            Credit Management – Allow users to manage credit for sending SMS, Order Credit through the system. It should also allow users to manage credit usage and manage top up intervals(Full featured control panel)

  viii.            Documentation of the final BSMIS both from a technical and a usage perspective.

4. BSMIS technical design

The system will be expected to operate off a centralized database and will have a web-enabled end that will handle all the incoming and out-going messages. The messages will be subjected to an approval process defined for each category of communication that is delivered through the system.

The following is the outline of the required system functionalities/ specifications;

1.             Development and customization of the Bulk SMS communications platform that includes the online-application that is used to manage the contacts, workflows and reporting of the SMS communications received.
2.             Setup and configuration of a dedicated two way 5 digit SMS short code for the dominant mobile service provider in Kenya. This will come with the support for the availability of a limitless number of keywords. This service will be provided for 1 year with the cost as part of this assignment.

      iii.            Provision of one year non-expiring SMS of at least 250,000 SMSes and the proposal of a competitive rate for future purchase for SMS units.

1.             The management system must have the capability to provide for the ability to audit the messages sent and account for the traffic paid for as part of this assignment. The cost of test messaging will not be counted as part of the offering for the SMSes.
2. RPLRP now invites eligible consulting firms (Consultants) to indicate their interest in providing the Consultancy services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The short-listing criteria for the Consultants is as follows:
3.             General experience of at least five (5) years in developing successful Bulk Short Message Service (SMS) Management Information System (BSMIS) for organizations or institutions.
4.             Demonstrate having the competencies and expertise in undertaking the assignment which must include having exper­tise in the fields of Project management with a bias in managing of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) projects and also having personnel in the fields of software systems development.

      iii.            Having experience working in the Arid and Semi-Arid counties in Kenya will be an added advantage.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the consultant qualification selection (CQS) method set out in the Consultant Guidelines. The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to paragraph 1.9 of the World Bank’s Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants [under IBRD loans and IDA Credits & Grants] by World Bank Borrowers of January 2011 and revised in July 2014 (“Consultant Guidelines”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. Consultants may associate with other firms in the form of a joint venture or a sub-consultancy to enhance their qualifications.

Further information can be obtained from the Regional Pastoral Livelihoods Resilience Project Procurement Office sit­uated at Hill Plaza, 10th Floor, Room 1002, Ngong Road, Nairobi from Monday to Friday excluding weekends and public holidays from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. Expressions of interest in a written form in English language should be addressed to the

Principal Secretary,

State Department of Livestock;

P.O. Box 34188-00100

Nairobi

 And be deposited in the Tender box clearly marked ‘State Department for Livestock located at Kilimo House Main reception; Ground floor, Cathedral road, Nairobi on or before 14th August 2020 at 10.00 a.m. East African Time. Consultants intending to send their Expressions of interest via e-mail should send to: ptl.reslience@gmail.com & rplrpprocurement@gmail.com on or before 14th August 2020 at 10.00 a.m. East African Time. Submitted documents should be clearly marked ‘Consultancy Services For Development of Bulk Short Message Service (SMSes) Management Information System (BSMIS) for Drought Early Warning System in Kenya.’

HEAD, SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT SERVICES FOR: PRINCIPAL SECRETARY STATE DEPARTMENT FOR LIVESTOCK