ASSESSMENT OF PERPETRATORS’ RESPONSE MECHANISM WITHIN THE NATIONAL GBV PREVENTION AND RESPONSE SYSTEM

REQUEST FOR QUOTATION

RFQ Nº UNFPA/UKR/RFQ/20/24

Dear Sir/Madam,

UNFPA hereby solicits a quotation for the following service:

ASSESSMENT OF PERPETRATORS’ RESPONSE MECHANISM WITHIN THE NATIONAL GBV PREVENTION AND RESPONSE SYSTEM

This Request for Quotation is open to all legally-constituted companies that can provide the requested services and have legal capacity to perform in Ukraine, or through an authorized representative.

1. Terms of Reference (ToR)

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Our mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA strives to prevent and respond to gender-based violence through its work with policymakers, justice systems, health systems and humanitarian partners. UNFPA has been working for Ukraine since 1997, having delivered technical assistance for programmes in sexual and reproductive health, gender equality and gender-based violence (GBV), youth empowerment, population research, and humanitarian response.

Since 2015, UNFPA Ukraine has been providing support to the Government of Ukraine to develop and enhance a GBV prevention and response system in order to ensure that the majority of GBV survivors seek and have access to good quality survivor-centred services, while promoting a zero tolerance approach to GBV in the society.

Following the successful introduction of innovative solutions created to address the needs of the conflict-affected population amid humanitarian crisis in the east of Ukraine, thousands of GBV survivors, including those residing in conflict-affected regions, received access to crucial services.^[1]

Informing about available services and challenging stereotypes about GBV, national awareness-raising campaign “Break the Circle” brought GBV out of the darkness of silent acceptance in Ukrainian society.

Adoption of Law on Prevention and Combating of Domestic Violence and relevant amendments to the Criminal Code in 2018 criminalised domestic violence and put Ukrainian legislation closer in line with international standards. The laws, complemented with 16 normative acts, set the essential framework for developing sound multisectoral response mechanisms and creating a network of specialised services (shelters, psychosocial mobile teams, police, service-delivery points, hotline, daycare centres). The positive developments have laid the foundation for the national system of GBV prevention and response.

Overall, a key focus of the existing national system is ensuring GBV survivors’ safety and access to quality assistance. Reducing high prevalence of GBV requires integrated responses, including the respective work with perpetrators. Perpetrator programmes are important elements of an integrated and comprehensive approach to preventing and combating violence against women. They should be a part of a comprehensive national policy or strategy triggering behavioural change that is necessary to reduce gender-based violence, including domestic and sexual violence. Work with male perpetrators of domestic violence and sexual assault can contribute to a wider process of cultural and political change towards abolishing gender hierarchies, gender-based violence and gender discrimination as well as other forms of personal and structural violence and discrimination. In leading perpetrators to accept responsibility for their violence, perpetrator programmes are crucial to overcoming belief systems that tolerate, justify or outright condone violence against women.

Work with perpetrators of domestic violence which seeks to hold them accountable for violence and change their perceptions of gender relations has been endorsed by the CEDAW Committee, the Beijing Platform and the UN Secretary-General’s report^[2]. In addition to it, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) requires the state to take the necessary legislative or other measures to set up or support programmes aimed at teaching perpetrators of domestic violence to adopt non-violent behaviour in interpersonal relationships  with a view to preventing further violence and changing violent behavioural patterns.”.

Starting from March 2020, UNFPA has been carrying out a new Programme “EU 4 Gender Equality: Together Against Gender Stereotypes and Gender-Based Violence”, funded by the European Union, implemented jointly by UN Women and UNFPA in six countries of Eastern Partnership (Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine). Among others, the Programme is aimed at spurring the adoption of best practices in perpetrator’s programmes among the ministries of social affairs/ ministries of interior in the respective countries.

To crystallize this component within the national GBV prevention and response system, as the first step UNFPA wishes to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the national intersectoral coordination, referral and service delivery mechanisms on working with perpetrators, including prevention and rehabilitation programmes.

Situation Analysis

GBV is getting more public attention and policy streamlining in the country: Ukraine demonstrated its commitment to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment by acceding to the Biarritz Partnership for Gender Equality (decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine as of 7 May 2020), which outlines effective implementation of legislation on GBV and domestic violence among other priority areas for Ukraine.

The need for such a nationwide intervention is underpinned by economic data and case factsheet. With latency adjustments, the economic costs of violence against women totaled up to $208 million in 2015, or 0.23% of Ukraine’s GDP.^[3]

In 2018, National Police of Ukraine recorded 115,000 complaints and reports of domestic violence and almost 80% of them were filed by women. Almost 70,000 persons have been put on record for preventive purposes in connection with domestic violence, the vast majority of them are men. The number of registered complaints and reports of offenses and other events related to domestic violence continues to increase. In 2019, almost 27,000 more survivors applied to the National Police compared to 2018. As of May 2020, the National Police recorded 84,237 complaints (76% filed by women). Administrative protocols on administrative offenses were issued regarding 53,238 complaints as stipulated by the Article 173-2 of the Code of Administrative Offences of Ukraine.^[4]

However, experts point out that these figures reflect only about 15% of all the cases: 22% of women of reproductive age have experienced physical and/or sexual violence, but only 32% of the survivors have decided to seek any help, mostly from relatives, acquaintances or colleagues.^[5]

The experts’ opinion is echoed in the UNFPA led national masculinity survey of men aged 18-59.^[6] There is a considerable proportion of perpetrators, who do not see their violent behaviour as a crime, but in fact as “normal” and blame the victim for provoking their violent or abusive behaviour and avoid taking responsibility. According to the survey:

• 13% of men reportedly perpetrated physical violence against their partners.
• 32% of the surveyed men reported having male friends who perpetrated physical violence against their wives or partners. At the same time, 1/3 of the respondents indicated that they consider it a private matter of the couple that shouldn’t be discussed with other people. Moreover, 6% of the men were convinced that some compelling reasons must be present to justify physical violence.
• 10% of men agree that a woman should tolerate violence to preserve her family.^[7]

The GBV risks have become more imminent in the Ukrainian society due to the armed conflict unleashed in eastern Ukraine in April 2014 and COVID-19 quarantine implications. A study of GBV in five conflict-affected regions of Ukraine conducted by UNFPA in 2015 identified members of armed groups as those committing over 50% of reported GBV cases in the affected areas. Focus group discussions also confirmed popular fears of men in uniform as potential perpetrators.

Increased risks of committing GBV by ATO/Joint Forces Operation veterans still remains upon their return to peaceful life as a consequence of posttraumatic stress or adaptation disorders. While psychological rehabilitation is mainly held by the Ministry of Defense structures, there is a need for outreach services to prevent GBV among this target group. As a mitigating measure, UNFPA supported 6 mobile teams of psychosocial support for ATO/JFO veterans and their families. Operating in Kyiv and Mykolaiv regions since November 2019, mobile teams have provided over 10,000 consultations for veterans and their families.

Quarantine social isolation measures have led to an increase in domestic violence. Operators of the national 24/7 hotline for GBV survivors (managed by La Strada with UNFPA support) registered a notable increase in the number of requests for assistance. Overall, a month after the introduction of quarantine (16 March – 12 April) saw a 23% growth in the number of calls compared to the pre-quarantine month (17 February – 15 March). Second month of quarantine (13 April – 10 May) registered a further 41% increase, compared with the first month of restrictive measures, or 72% rise compared to the pre-quarantine month.^[8]

Compared to the pre-quarantine period, the share of perpetrators among hotline clients increased during the first two months of the quarantine and started declining in July 2020.

Share of calls from perpetrators among total number of calls receiving consultation support

            N            %

 of calls

March   32          2,5%

April      96          4,6%

May      78          4,1%

June      36          4,9%

July        23          1,5%

August  25          1,6%

As can be observed from the above mentioned data on the share of calls from perpetrators, there is an area for self-referral of perpetrators to GBV prevention and response services in Ukraine, which will be one of the priorities of this assessment.

To tackle GBV related issues regarding perpetrators’ component, Ukraine’s legal framework is shaped by the following regulatory acts:

• Law of Ukraine No. 2229-VIII On Preventing and Combatting Domestic Violence (07/12/2017), which is compliant with the main principles and pillars of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention)
• Decree of the President of Ukraine No 398/2020  On Urgent Measures on Preventing and Combatting Domestic Violence, Gender Based Violence, Protection of Rights of  Persons Who Suffered from Such Violence.

• Law of Ukraine On ensuring equal rights and opportunities of women and men №  2866-IV від 08.09.2005

• Order of the Cabinet of Ministers № 728-р On Approval of the Concept of State social program on preventing and combating domestic violence and gender-based violence for the period up to 2023 (10/10/2018)
• Order of the Cabinet of Ministers №658 On approval of the procedure for cooperation among actors implementing measures on preventing and combating domestic violence and gender-based violence (22/09/2018)
• Order of MoSP № 1434 On approval of Framework programme for perpetrators (01/10/2018)
• Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs № 654 On approval of Procedure of the emergency barring order issuance by the authorized units of the National Police of Ukraine (01/08/2018)
• Law of Ukraine On Amendments to the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes of Ukraine aimed to implement the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (11/01/2019)
• Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs № 124 On approval of Procedure of taking preventive measures, conducting preventive work and removing the perpetrator from the preventive measures by the authorized units of the National Police of Ukraine (25/02/2019)

While developing a national Law of Ukraine “On Preventing and Combating Domestic Violence”, Ukraine was guided by the Istanbul Convention, although has not ratified it. The Law contains the following provisions regarding perpetrators’ component:

• Immediate case risk assessment and response (including an emergency barring order and/or applying preventive measures (e.g. «взяття на профілактичний облік») by a police officer;
• Administrative or criminal justice court proceedings (including measures within a restraining order, financial penalties and compensations, probation record, prison sentence);
• Referral to and delivery of programmes for perpetrators and probation programmes;
• Implementation of programmes for perpetrators led by specialists who have undergone appropriate training (article 28).

These measures are partially unpacked in a series of legal acts mentioned above. Still, insufficiency of Ukraine’s DV/IPV/GBV prevention and response system especially in terms of considering DV/IPV/GBV cases by courts was pointed out by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which passed the first decision against Ukraine on domestic violence in the Case of Levchuk v. Ukraine on September 3, 2020 (Application no. 17496/19). The ECHR outlined the Ukraine’s domestic court’s failure to conduct comprehensive analysis of the situation and assess risk of future psychological and physical violence towards an applicant and their children, which exposed them to a risk of further violence while pending proceedings (over two years at three levels of jurisdiction).^[9]

Among other measures of tackling DV/IPV/GBV, the Istanbul Convention requires states parties to set up or support two separate types of programmes for perpetrators and, where appropriate, to implement them in close co‐ordination with specialist support services for survivors, whose rights are of primary concern:

• Preventive intervention and treatment programmes aimed at teaching perpetrators of domestic violence to adopt non‐violent behaviour in interpersonal relationships with a view to preventing further violence and changing violent behavioural patterns (Article 16, paragraph 1)
• Treatment programmes aimed at preventing perpetrators, in particular sex offenders, from re‐offending. (Article 16, paragraph 2).

A number of programmes for working with perpetrators had been developed by international organisations and NGOs even before the adoption of the framework programme for perpetrators by the Ministry of Social Policy in 2018. Among them are:

OSCE Methodological guide for specialists implementing correction (intervention) programmes for persons who committed violence in the family (2011)^[10]

• Odesa: at the basis of Odesa Social Services’ Centre;^[11]
• Lviv: starting from 2019, such a programme has been carried out by the Lviv “Osonnia” NGO as a social order service for the Lviv Region Council based on the Complex programme developed by ICF “Ukrainian Foundation for Public Health”;
• Kyiv: currently certified specialists including those based at the Kyiv City Centre of Social Services for Family, Children and Youth are engaged in the work with perpetrators.

Still there is a need to review the content and operationalization of these programmes according to the latest international standards (e.g. CoE Istanbul Convention) and best international practices to strive for the impact level results in terms of reducing recidivism rate among perpetrators.

The purpose of the planned assessment exercise is to comprehensively analyse the design and performance of the national intersectoral coordination, referral and service delivery mechanisms on working with perpetrators including prevention and rehabilitation programmes.

UNFPA expects the assessment to:

• highlight national good practices of working with perpetrators, lessons learned, areas for improvement;
• examine the national response mechanism, including programmes for perpetrators’ on the compliance with the minimum international standards (including the CoE Istanbul Convention);
• scrutinize best practices and lessons learnt of the foreign countries with the successfully operationalized perpetrators’ response system;
• draw evidence-based conclusions and recommendations regarding development of the national system on working with perpetrators including prevention and correction programmes. The recommendations among others should identify what services/programmes for perpetrators are most feasible and cost-efficient and/or a minimum scope of such services given Ukraine's public fiscal space.

Along with UNFPA, UN Women and the EU, the assessment findings will be presented to programme beneficiaries such as the Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine and Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, local authorities in the context of strengthening the national GBV response mechanisms.

The assessment exercise should include the following objectives:

1. Assessment of the overall national perpetrators’ prevention and response mechanism management;
2. Assessment of existing perpetrators’ programmes;
3. Analysis of international standards and successfully operationalized foreign country models of prevention and response system for working with perpetrators and development of recommendations for Ukraine hereof.
4. Presenting the results of the assessment at the round table for the respective national (international) and regional counterparts.

1. Assessment of the national perpetrators’ prevention and response mechanism:

1. To provide a detailed overview of the DV/IPV/GBV legal framework with a focus on perpetrators’ component response;
2. Identify state actors responsible for development, establishing and implementation of prevention and response mechanism regarding perpetrators;
3. To analyze and draw out existing prevention services for perpetrators including outreach to ATO/JFO veterans by mobile teams of psychosocial support;
4. To narratively describe and develop a mapping scheme of an existing perpetrator response mechanism, including coordination and referral between crisis response and immediate containment, criminal and administrative (civil) court proceedings, sentence or order compliance, risk monitoring and behaviour change components, coordination with the service providers for DV/GBV survivors.

Such scheme should include the following stages and identify key involved responsible actors:

1. Immediate case risk assessment and response (including an emergency barring (терміновий заборонний припис) order and/or applying preventive measures (e.g. «взяття на профілактичний облік») by a police officer;
2. Administrative or criminal justice court proceedings (including measures within a restraining order (обмежувальний припис), financial penalties and compensations, probation record, prison sentence);
3. Referral to and delivery of programmes for perpetrators, probation programmes;
4. Any existing interagency coordination between services/programmes for perpetrators and services/programmes for DV/GBV survivors;
5. Risk monitoring and GBV cases’ filing and reporting (GBV information collection);
6. Oversight (supervision) and evaluation of actions taken and services provided at each stage of working with a perpetrator;

5. To assess feasibility and effectiveness of the existing process of perpetrators’ response at the national, regional and community level (“об’єднані територіальні громади”) identifying good practices, bottlenecks and areas for improvement with the regard to perpetrators’ related responsibility of the following bodies: Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry of Interior, police, courts, local authorities (the list of bodies should be increased appropriately based on the assessment findings)
6. To identify available budgeting/funding deficit and financial opportunities for perpetrators’ component at the national, regional and community level.

2. Assessment of perpetrators’ programmes:

1. To provide an overview of the DV/GBV legal framework stipulating a detailed list of reasons/conditions for court mandated referral of perpetrators to treatment/perpetrators’ programmes;
2. To describe conditions (reasons), motivation, existing referral routes/paths of entry in case of voluntary access (self-referral) to perpetrators’ programmes;
3. To identify all existing platforms serving as locations for conducting programmes for perpetrators;
4. To assess compliance of existing national perpetrators’ programmes with the Council for Europe minimum standards for such programmes: ^[12]
5. To make analysis of the content of the existing perpetrators’ programmes on:

• psycho-emotional state diagnosis;
• motivation conversation for joining the programme;
• topics covered;
• psychological instruments’/modalities used for individual and group work
• knowledge to be obtained, gender equality and GBV perception to be shaped/shifted; skills (e.g. behavior change) to be developed;

6. To identify needs of specialists conducting perpetrators’ programmes in terms of staffing, training (building knowledge and skills on GBV and psychological work instruments), methodological support, safety, supervision, funding;
7. To verify whether there is a formal (institutional) mechanism of evaluation of the existing perpetrators‘ programmes efficiency and describe it if any.^[13]

3. Analysis of international standards and successfully operationalized foreign country models of prevention and response system for working with perpetrators:

1. To examine existing international standards in the field of work with perpetrators including but not limited to the following:

• Minimum standards for support services for combating violence against women developed by the Council of Europe (2008)

• Guidelines to develop standards for programmes working with perpetrators of domestic violence developed by the European Network for the Work with Perpetrators of Domestic Violence (2018)

• Standards and good practices provided by the European Institute for Gender Equality on the country basis (Germany , 2007-2014, UK^[14]),

2. To analyze good practices and lessons learnt of the foreign successfully operationalized models of prevention and response systems for working with perpetrators, including early prevention and treatment programmes for perpetrators in terms of: design, inter-agency coordination, efficacy and efficiency (fund utilization). Such exercise may include the following countries: Israel, UK, Belarus, Georgia.

The assessors can analyse any other international standards’ related documents and propose other foreign countries’ experience for examining best practices and lessons learnt upon agreement with the UNFPA Gender and GBV programmes’ colleagues. The total number of foreign countries should be at least 3.

Based on the comparative analysis of the international standards and foreign countries’ best practices:

• to develop recommendations to address bottlenecks and areas for improvement of the national perpetrators’ prevention and response mechanism, including programmes for perpetrators at the national, regional and community levels. The recommendations, among others, should:
• identify what services/programmes for perpetrators are most feasible and cost-efficient and/or a minimum scope of such services given Ukraine's public fiscal space;
• suggest whether a new early prevention programme or a revised one for violence perpetrators is needed.

4. Presenting the results of the assessment at the round table for the respective national, international and regional counterparts in order to agree on the follow up actions to improve the design and performance of the national perpetrators’ prevention and response mechanism in terms of integrated interagency coordination, referral and GBV prevalence impact.

Wherever applicable the assessment should be guided by the United Nations Evaluation Group Norms and Standards for Evaluation.

The selected pool (group) of experts or a research company is expected to develop an assessment methodology framework with methods and instruments to be discussed and agreed upon by UNFPA. The methodology should ensure that the information collected is valid, reliable and sufficient to meet the assessment objectives and that the analysis is logically coherent and complete (and not speculative or opinion-based). The methodology will cover a mixture of:

• Desk review of national and international legislation, national guides on perpetrators’ programmes, international standards’ guidelines, evaluation reports of foreign countries’ models, including prevention and treatment programmes for working with perpetrators, thematic research papers, national data statistics, respective GBV programme data sheets, etc.;
• Key informant interviews, including representatives of the central government and local authorities (including Ministry of Social Policy, Ministry of Interior), representatives of international organisations, UNFPA GBV/Gender programmes’ management etc.;
• Structured and semi-structured interviews with services providers representing the onsite case risk assessment, response and referral mechanism (e.g. police officers, representatives of administrative or criminal justice courts reviewing GBV cases, probation services, key actors involved of self-referral of perpetrators);
• Interviews with local authorities/NGOs’ specialists carrying (having carried) out perpetrators’ programmes in the field;
• Structured and semi-structured individual interviews with perpetrators currently in the programmes or those who completed programmes as well as with their intimate partners;
• Interviews with ATO/JFO veterans, who received PSS outreach services in terms of DV/GBV prevention;
• Interviews with service providers for GBV survivors to identify existing cooperation mechanism between support services for survivors and perpetrators’ programmes;
• Interviews with the GBV system level stakeholders engaged in perpetrators’ prevention and response, including organisations/specialists conducting perpetrators’ programmes in foreign countries.

Upon agreement with UNFPA and programme stakeholders, the assessment framework will be translated into an assessment calendar workplan. UNFPA commits to provide the evaluators with all available UNFPA and implementing partner documents that may be relevant for the assessment.

All Evaluation Team members should respect and comply with the ethical principles for assessment, which includes the obligations to behave ethically in terms of:

• Intentionality: bearing in mind the purpose, usefulness and necessity of the assessment at all its stages
• Avoiding conflict of interest: upholding the principles of independence, impartiality, credibility, honesty, integrity and accountability
• Interactions with participants: engaging appropriately and respectfully with participants in all assessment processes, upholding the principles of confidentiality and anonymity and their limitations, dignity and diversity, human rights, gender equality, avoidance of harm, especially with regard to sensitivities connected with GBV and domestic violence.
• Assessment processes and products: ensuring accuracy, completeness and reliability, inclusion and non-discrimination, transparency, fair and balanced reporting that acknowledges different perspectives
• Discovery of wrongdoing: discreetly reporting the discovery of any apparent misconduct to UNFPA.

The overall guidance of the assessment will be done by the UNFPA Assistant Representative, GBV Programme Manager and Technical Advisor and a direct supervision of the Project Coordinator of the EU4GE programme.

UNFPA expects that the selected pool (group) of consultants / research company would mandatorily include an international consultant given the need of analysis of international experience and elaborating recommendations for Ukraine based on it. The evaluators should provide information, produce and submit the assessment reports, presentation of findings and recommendations and a mapping scheme as explained below in this section. These documents (reports) should be submitted to UNFPA in soft copies in Ukrainian before the deadlines agreed with UNFPA. The presentation made upon findings and recommendations  outlined  in the final report should be submitted in both Ukrainian and English. Text documents should be prepared preferably in Microsoft Word on A4 size pages will all page margins of 2 cm using the Calibri or Times New Roman font of size 11 with single line spacing and paragraphs separated with a blank line. Layout design of the deliverables is not required but most welcome.

Deliverables:

The assessment report is expected not to exceed 60 pages excluding annexes and should follow the structure agreed by UNFPA in the inception phase report, unless otherwise agreed in writing. Preferably, the executive summary should be written in short sentences, in a clear and simple language and thus be media-friendly. The report must only contain information relevant for the assessment purpose and avoid including information of no direct relevance to the analysis. Assessment readers should be able to easily understand:

• What was assessed and why (purpose and scope)
• How the assessment was designed and conducted (assessment questions, methodology and limitations)
• What was found and on what evidence base (findings and evidences)
• What was concluded from the findings in relation to main assessment questions asked, and how such conclusions were drawn (good practices and conclusions)
• What and why was recommended (recommendations)
• What could be learned from the assessment (lessons learned).

Special attention in the report should be paid to recommendations. They should be strictly based on evidence collected during the assessment and analysis made, follow exclusively from the assessment findings and conclusions and not be based merely on opinions. Recommendations could include strategic directions and operational solutions. They should be practical and actionable, and very clear about who should take the proposed action, albeit not too prescriptive. Therefore, draft recommendations should be discussed in detail with potential implementers to secure their acceptability and feasibility and foster understanding, ownership and commitment of those who will act.

All costs of the assessment will be covered by UNFPA through a contract with a research company or a number of contracts (individual consultancy or legal entity) for evaluation services in case a pool of experts is selected. The evaluators are supposed to use their own equipment and tools for this assignment (computers, printers, photocopiers, cameras, voice/video recorders etc.) and make their own travel arrangements for travels. UNFPA is not in a position to provide visa support or facilitate receiving work permits for evaluators.

Evaluation contract payments will be made by UNFPA via bank transfers through the United Nations Office in Ukraine based on review and approval of the deliverables by the Project Coordinator of the EU4 Gender Equality Programme in consultations with Assistant Representative, GBV Programme Manager and Technical Advisor.

The contract amount will be paid in three instalments as follows:

1. 30% upon approval of the final Inception Report
2. 20% upon approval of the first draft Evaluation Report
3. 50% upon acceptance of the finalized Evaluation Report, presentation and infographics.

Questions

Questions or requests for further clarifications should be submitted in writing to the contact person below no later than: Thursday, 12 November, 2020 at 17:00 Kyiv time.:

In response to the UNFPA request for quotations, interested companies or groups of consultants should prepare and submit their applications in two separate sealed envelopes comprising a) technical and b) financial proposals.

Technical proposals should meet all the requirements of these terms of reference ensuring that the purpose, objective, questions, scope, criteria, deliverables, management and financial arrangements of the evaluation are considered. A technical proposal should demonstrate the understanding of the assignment by the evaluators and explain the proposed approach to organizing and managing the works, evaluation methodology, data sources, data collection methods and tools, data analysis procedures and criteria for making judgments, as well as the proposed structure/contents of the evaluation report and how it will be composed. The technical proposal should also provide a work plan and timeline, composition of the Evaluation Team with updated CVs of all members, and links or soft copies of two most recent evaluations performed by the proposed team. A sealed envelope with the technical proposal must be clearly marked “TECHNICAL PROPOSAL” and should NOT contain any financial information, otherwise they will not be qualified for consideration.

Financial proposals should provide detailed description of the proposed evaluation costs in Ukrainian Hryvnias with proposal validity term of 30 days, including:

• Daily  rates for each evaluator of the team
• Proposed number of  days for each evaluator on this assignment and specification of work to be performed
• Operational support costs (e.g. communications, interpretation/translation, expendables, stationery, transportation, subsistence in case the travel is foreseen by the proposal).
• Any other costs that need to be covered to make the evaluation exercise a success, with detailed justifications

Travel expenses should be based on the most direct and economical fares and should not exceed the applicable rates established by the United Nations for Ukraine. The financial proposal must be submitted together with the technical proposal in a separate sealed envelope clearly marked “FINANCIAL PROPOSAL”.

The applications must be sent  to the secured e-mail and contact person indicated below no later than: Thursday, 19 November, 2020 at 17:00 Kyiv time. Proposals sent to any other address will not be considered.

Please note the following guidelines for electronic submissions:

• The following reference must be included in the email subject line: RFQ Nº UNFPA/UKR/RFQ/20/24. Proposals that do not contain the correct email subject line may be overlooked by the procurement officer and therefore not considered.
• The total e-mail size may not exceed 20 MB (including e-mail 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. 

An evaluation committee will be established by UNFPA to evaluate all received applications. Applications will be reviewed in a two-stage process: technical proposals will be evaluated and rated before opening of financial proposals. Only those proposals found technically compliant will be subject to comparative financial evaluation.

The applications will be evaluated with 60% weight assigned to technical proposal score and 40% to financial proposal score, and according to the following criteria and scores:

Technical proposals (100 points max):

Overall response (20 points max)

• General quality and completeness of the proposal vis-à-vis the terms of reference and request for quotations requirements
• Applicant’s understanding of the evaluation subject, purpose, objectives, scope, expected deliverables
• Applicant’s background, official registration, certifications, memberships etc. 

Proposed methodology and approach (50 points max)

• Proposed approach to organizing and managing the evaluation
• Proposed methodology, data sources, data collection methods and tools, data analysis procedures and criteria for making judgments
• Proposed structure/contents of the evaluation report and how it will be composed
• Proposed work plan and timeline
• Deliverables are addressed as per TOR; proposed timelines are met

Technical capacity of the Evaluation Team (30 points max)

• Range and depth of experience with similar evaluations
• Academic qualifications and job record
• Competencies and skills relevant for the evaluation (e.g. communications, analysis, data management, report writing, software use)
• Language proficiency

Only those technical proposals achieving the score of 60 points and above will be considered as qualifying for evaluation of the financial proposal.

Financial Proposals (100 points max):

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:

The total score of each application will represent the weighted sum of its technical and financial scores as follows:

To systematically ensure that the results of the assessment are used to inform programming and strategic and policy decisions, the UNFPA Country Office in Ukraine, collaboratively with the national and regional programme stakeholders, will prepare and implement a management response to the assessment findings. It may include review of and modifications to the ongoing programmes and projects of UNFPA and other actors including national stakeholders, consideration of findings in new programmes and projects, publication of good practices and lessons learned, issuance of advisory notes etc. The assessment results will be used by the national governmental counterparts for further strengthening of the national GBV response mechanisms and expansion of the PSS services in Ukraine.

The assessment report, in full or its executive summary, will be disseminated by UNFPA to all GBV programme stakeholders, including the donor community, as well as to relevant media outlets, in full and will be made available for free public access at the UNFPA website.

The assessor should be a pool (group) of experts with mandatory involvement of an international consultant, with a solid monitoring and evaluation background and respective practical experience of evaluating international humanitarian and development interventions, or will represent a specialized agency (with mandatory involvement of an international consultant). One of the team members will be assigned with the Team Leader responsibilities. The team should have the following qualifications and skills mix:

• Academic background or special training in monitoring and evaluation, preferably in the international humanitarian and development context
• Training on or practical involvement in GBV prevention and response interventions
• Excellent knowledge of evaluation principles, norms, standards, methodologies, designs, ethics and practices
• Technical evaluation skills
• Evaluation management skills
• Proven experience of conducting programme or project evaluations, preferably in the international humanitarian and development context, ideally in gender equality or GBV response
• Expertise in psychology for examining of existing perpetrators’ programmes
• Excellent knowledge of Ukraine’s systems of social protection and social services
• Data management and analytical skills
• Communication and interpersonal skills
• Time management skills, ability to respect set deadlines
• Excellent writing skills
• Perfect knowledge of written and spoken Ukrainian, English  is an asset

Award Criteria

UNFPA shall award a Purchase Order/Contract with duration until 28 February 2021 to the offer with the highest overall score.

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.

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).

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.

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.

RFQ Protest

Bidder(s) perceiving that they have been unjustly treated in connection with the solicitation or award of a contract may submit a complaint directly to the Chief, Procurement Services Branch at procurement@unfpa.org.

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 the UNFPA Programme Manager Olesia Kompaniiets at e-mail: kompaniiets@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.

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). English version of request for quotations prevails.

PRICE Quotation Form

I hereby certify that the company mentioned above, which I am duly authorized to sign for, has reviewed RFQ UNFPA/UKR/RFQ/20/24 including all annexes, amendments to the RFQ document (if applicable) and the responses provided by UNFPA on clarification questions from the prospective service providers.  Further, the company accepts the General Conditions of Contract for UNFPA and we will abide by this quotation until it expires.

ANNEX I:

General Conditions of Contracts:

De Minimis Contracts

This Request for Quotation is subject to UNFPA’s General Conditions of Contract: De Minimis Contracts, which are available in: English, Spanish and French