This Request for Quotation is open to all legally-constituted companies that can provide the requested services and have the legal capacity to deliver in Ukraine, or through an authorized representative.
I. About UNFPA
UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund is an international development agency that works to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
UNFPA is the lead UN agency that expands the possibilities for women and young people to lead healthy sexual and reproductive lives. To read more about UNFPA, please visit: UNFPA about us
Terms of Reference (TOR)
II. Background and Programme Description
Since the beginning of the full-scale armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, UNFPA, UN Population Fund in Ukraine, together with the Government of Ukraine and under support of the governments of the UK, Canada, Estonia, Sweden and the EU has been developing and maintaining a network of specialized services to prevent and respond to domestic violence and GBV, including socio-psychological, medical and other related services for women and men in order to provide assistance to the affected Ukrainians in a holistic way.
One of the links of the assistance system is the online platform “Aurora’’ for providing specialized psychotherapeutic support to survivors of war-related violence, in particular sexual violence. Created by UNFPA at the end of May 2022 in response to the full-scale invasion, the Aurora platform aims to ensure the access of survivors to quality remote assistance in any corner of Ukraine, including in the territories temporarily beyond Ukraine’s control and abroad. It was created under the assistance of the Office of the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine and the Government Commissioner for Gender Policy, and with the support of the UK Government, as well as Aurora’s website avrora-help.org.ua was developed by SoftServe volunteers as part of the corporate pro bono program OpenTech.
On the platform, survivors can (1) receive comprehensive support from psychotherapists to overcome traumatic experiences, restore emotional balance and internal resources to rebuild their lives; (2) seek advice from medical specialists to resolve urgent health issues, including reproductive health, as well as (3) receive professional assistance from lawyers. The specifics of the work require building trust, therefore, the platform's work focuses on free assistance, sensitivity, confidentiality, anonymity, and compliance with high professional ethical standards. Users of the platform can choose a specialist who will provide long-term follow-up and case management to avoid re-traumatization and increase the effectiveness of the assistance provided.
It should be clarified that currently there is a need for targeted promotion of existing services for providing comprehensive guaranteed help and support, including through the Aurora platform, to raise survivors’ awareness about available help. Therefore, UNFPA intends to secure running of the avrora-help.org.ua website, which is the very heart of the Aurora’s ecosystem, in such a way that it better meets up-to-date technical requirements/standards and enables as many survivors as possible to use the services in the most convenient way, getting the best solution according to their own needs.
III. Methodology
Scope of work
UNFPA is inviting qualified service providers with a record of successful IT support, development, digital protection and search engine optimization (SEO) of websites. The anticipated contract with the selected service provider will cover the period until 31 March 2024. The Contractor will be managed by UNFPA Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Response Specialist (or other assigned specialist). While the goal is smooth functioning of the Aurora website, its protection and increased web visibility, the following objectives are envisaged:
1. Regular support of the aforesaid website, which includes solving technical issues if any.
2. Digital protection of the website to prevent any unauthorized access and keeping the data secured.
3. Improving the website's visual, including adding new sections and posting content.
4. SEO with the focus on websites’ main target group, i.e. those who suffered from war-related violence, particularly sexual violence.
Objectives, Methodology, and Timing
| № | Objectives | Activities and Methodology | Timing and Results |
| 1 | IT support, development and protection of the website avrora-help.org.ua |
- ensuring website’s sustainable operation, protection from unauthorized access; - anti-virus scanning of directories, eliminating weak spots; - scanning for malfunctions, errors and other drawbacks to fix them; - data backup and storage, protecting users’ personal information; - emergency response to server irregularities; - communication with hosting provider when needed, as well as solving technical issues related to service which allows to register new users (Twilio or similar), migration to other services if needed; - consulting UNFPA on website-related technical nuances; - upgrading the website (including its audit with recommendations, adjusting functionality, improving interface, adding new sections (if needed) and client’s feedback form), improving usability; - assistance with posting new content, authored by UNFPA |
On a continual basis during span of the contract with the following prioritization: to receive website’s codebase and inherit knowledge from the previous developer, and to deploy servers for further production and development/testing – within one month since contract is signed; conducting website’s audit – within one month since contract is signed; website’s sustainability and protection – regularly; fixing critical bugs and malfunctions – within two months since contract is signed; improving usability – within two months since contract is signed; content placement - regularly |
| 2 | SEO of the website avrora-help.org.ua |
- carrying out SEO audit and providing optimization strategy (in writing); - translating SEO improvements into reality, including optimization of title tags, meta descriptions, URLs, website’s structure, etc.; - monitoring analytics and reporting on web visibility, comparing to same-segment websites, and providing recommendations on ways to rank higher and get more organic traffic from users |
increasing organic traffic by at least 15%; appearing in the top-10 of search results based on at least 10 keywords (to be agreed with UNFPA); reporting on progress – monthly |
Deadlines for Service Delivery and Payment
| № | Deliverables/Services | Contract Amount (%) and Deadlines |
| 1 | Deploying servers, conducting audit of the website avrora-help.org.ua to find malfunctions, identifying ways to improve usability; conducting SEO audit and providing optimization strategy; drafting an action plan | 10% of the contract after UNFPA’s approval; no later than 1 month after contract is signed |
| 2 |
SEO of the website. Provisioning IT support and ensuring digital protection; improving usability, fixing malfunctions and bugs, ensuring content placement |
30% of the contract amount for each of the work periods: January 2024, February 2024, March 2024 |
Intellectual Property
All information pertaining to the Aurora platform (documentary, audio, visual, digital, cyber, project documents, etc.) and belonging to UNFPA, which the Contractor may come into contact with in the performance of the duties under this assignment, shall remain the property of UNFPA with the exclusive rights over their use. Except for purposes of this assignment, the information shall not be disclosed to the public nor used in whatever manner without written permission of UNFPA in line with the national and International Copyright Laws applicable.
Requirements and Qualification
UNFPA seeks a service provider with proven relevant experience in developing, supporting websites/platforms and public communications.
Bidders must:
- Be an officially registered organization in Ukraine.
- Have at least 3 years of proven experience in applications development, as well as have a strong mastery of the following frontend and backend tools: NodeJS platform, NestJS framework, and React.
- Have at least 3 years of proven experience in SEO.
- Demonstrate the ability to meet deadlines, work under pressure.
- Previous experience of collaboration with a UN agency or other international organization is an asset.
Questions
Questions or requests for clarifications should be submitted in writing to the contact person below – answers in writing will be provided at the earliest convenience. Interested bidders can also request an online briefing session to provide further clarifications. Deadline for questions: 17:00 Kyiv time on November 23, 2023.
Contact person at UNFPA:
Ольга Чуєва (Olga Chuyeva) - chuyeva@unfpa.org
IV. Content of Quotations
Quotations should be submitted in a single email with attachments. Quotations must contain:
Technical proposal including:
- Company’s presentation: history and a portfolio of completed projects (at least 3 developed/upgraded and protected websites with a brief scope of work done on each) and previous clients.
- Vision of how to improve Aurora’s functionality.
- Vision of SEO of the Aurora website (indicating measures/tools to be employed) accompanied by a draft work plan.
- Company's registration documents.
- Reference letters for the company from the previous customers/clients/partners (especially UN agencies or other international organizations if there were any) reflecting the nature of projects implemented.
- Creative approach is welcome as long as it fits the aforesaid methodology.
2) Financial proposal with a proposed budget should be submitted in accordance with the price quotation form. All costs for the preparation and implementation of the technical proposal must be indicated. Also, financial proposal should include a fee, if any, for maintaining production and development/testing servers.
3) Language of the proposal – English or Ukrainian.
4) Separate technical proposal and financial proposal should be signed by the bidding company’s relevant authority and be submitted in .pdf.
Instructions for Submission
Proposals should be prepared based on the guidelines set forth in Section IV and III, along with a properly filled out and signed price quotation form, and sent by email to the contact person indicated below no later than Thursday, November 30, 2023, 17:00 Kyiv time. Proposals sent to any other address will not be considered.
Contact person at UNFPA: Ірина Богун (Iryna Bohun) - ua-procurement@unfpa.org
Please note the following guidelines for electronic submissions:
The following reference must be included in the email subject line: RFQ Nº UNFPA/UKR/RFQ/23/41 Proposals that do not contain the correct email subject line may be overlooked by the procurement officer and therefore not considered.
The total email size may not exceed 20 MB (including email body, encoded attachments and headers). Where the technical details are in large electronic files, it is recommended that these be sent separately before the deadline.
VI. Overview of Evaluation Process
The evaluation will be carried out in a two-step process by an ad-hoc evaluation panel. Technical proposals will be evaluated and scored first, prior to the evaluation and scoring of price quotations.
Technical Evaluation (100 points max)
Technical proposals will be evaluated based on their responsiveness to the service requirements listed above and in accordance with the evaluation criteria below:
| Criteria | [A] Maximum Points |
[B] Points Attained by Bidder |
[C] Weight (%) |
[B] x [C] = [D] Total Points |
| Background in website development and protection, as well as reputation of the Bidder | 100 | 25% | ||
| General quality and completeness of the proposal vis-à-vis the terms of reference related to improving usability and carrying out SEO of the Aurora website | 100 | 30 % | ||
| Correspondence of proposals and work plan to the goal and specifics of the Aurora platform | 100 | 30 % | ||
| Design of the proposals (spelling, relevant links, etc.) | 100 | 10% | ||
| Previous working experience with international organizations or the UN agencies | 100 | 5% | ||
| Grand Total All Criteria | 500 | 100% |
The following scoring scale will be used to ensure objective evaluation:
| Degree to Which the Terms of Reference Requirements Are Met Based on Evidence Included in the Bid Submitted | Points out of 100 |
| Significantly exceeds the requirements | 90-100 |
| Exceeds the requirements | 80-89 |
| Meets the requirements | 70-79 |
| Does not meet the requirements or no information provided to assess compliance with the requirements | Up to 70 |
Financial Evaluation (100 points max)
Only those technical proposals achieving the score of 70 points and above will be considered as qualifying for evaluation of the financial proposal.
Financial proposals should follow the results-based budgeting approach. They will be assessed based on their clarity, completeness, level of detail and appropriateness. The maximum number of points shall be scored to the lowest price proposal among all technically qualifying applications. Other financial proposals will receive scores according to the following formula:
| Financial score = |
Lowest quote (USD) Quote being scored (USD) |
X 100 (Maximum score |
Total Score
The total score of each application will represent the weighted sum of its technical and financial scores as follows:
Total score = 70% Technical score + 30% Financial score
VII. Award Criteria
UNFPA shall award a Purchase Order/Contract with duration up to 31st of March 2024 to the applicant whose offer will receive the highest total score and will meet the requirements of the tender documents.
VIII. Right to Vary Requirements at Time of Award
UNFPA reserves the right at the time of award of contract to increase or decrease by up to 20% the volume of services specified in this RFQ without any change in unit prices or other terms and conditions.
IX. Payment Terms
The payment will be done in accordance with the above deliverables acceptance of the Contractor's invoice and complete set of supporting documentation.
The payment will be done in currency: Ukrainian Hryvnias. In case of two currencies involved, the United Nations Operational Rate of Exchange should be used on the day UNFPA instructs that payment(s) (web: www.treasury.un.org).
The payment term is 30 days after receipt of documents, invoices and other documentation required by the contract.
X. Fraud and Corruption
UNFPA is committed to preventing, identifying, and addressing all acts of fraud against UNFPA, as well as against third parties involved in UNFPA activities. UNFPA’s policy regarding fraud and corruption is available here: Fraud Policy. Submission of a proposal implies that the Bidder is aware of this policy.
Suppliers, their subsidiaries, agents, intermediaries and principals must cooperate with the UNFPA Office of Audit and Investigations Services as well as with any other oversight entity authorized by the Executive Director and with the UNFPA Ethics Advisor as and when required. Such cooperation shall include, but not be limited to, the following: access to all employees, representatives agents and assignees of the vendor; as well as production of all documents requested, including financial records. Failure to fully cooperate with investigations will be considered sufficient grounds to allow UNFPA to repudiate and terminate the Agreement, and to debar and remove the supplier from UNFPA's list of registered suppliers.
A confidential Anti-Fraud Hotline is available to any Bidder to report suspicious fraudulent activities at UNFPA Investigation Hotline.
XI. Zero Tolerance
UNFPA has adopted a zero-tolerance policy on gifts and hospitality. Suppliers are therefore requested not to send gifts or offer hospitality to UNFPA personnel. Further details on this policy are available here: Zero Tolerance Policy.
XII. RFQ Protest
Bidder(s) perceiving that they have been unjustly or unfairly treated in connection with a solicitation, evaluation, or award of a contract may submit a complaint to Alona Zubchenko, GBV Programme Manager at zubchenko@unfpa.org. Should the supplier be unsatisfied with the reply provided by the UNFPA Head of the Business Unit, the supplier may contact the Chief, Procurement Services Branch at procurement@unfpa.org.
XIII. Disclaimer
Should any of the links in this RFQ document be unavailable or inaccessible for any reason, bidders can contact the Procurement Officer in charge of the procurement to request for them to share a PDF version of such document(s).