REVISED CALL FOR EOI AND TORS: Provision of support Services to enhance the functionalities of AFAAS Portal with the Knowledge Hub and Funding crowdsourcing sub-platform

BACKGROUND:

African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) is a Continental body that brings National Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services (AEAS) providers in Africa under one umbrella. The African Forum for Agricultural Advisory Services (AFAAS) has received grant funding from the European Union funded by International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) under Grant Number: 2000002981 towards the implementation of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme ex-pillar IV (CAADP XP4) Project under the initiative “Development Smart Innovation through Research in Agriculture (DeSIRA)”. For the implementation of project activities, AFAAS will conduct procurements for goods, consulting and non-consulting services, in accordance with the IFAD Procurement Handbook and IFAD Procurement Guidelines.

In 2020, AFAAS revamped its portal and engaged the generation of different sub-portals related to its different focuses. A knowledge sub-portal is already in place and needs to be improved: 75 documents are downloadable under 4 categories (Board, Secretariat, Country Fora and Public) but a refined taxonomy needs to be developed to access other categories of documents and documents from the VSNP will be migrated in the sub-portal. Another initiative started in 2020 was the funding opportunity sub-portal which also needs improvements and updates: a detailed search criterion (per country, per volume, per category of funding) and weekly update of the portal are needed.

On the other hand, AFAAS has downscaled its budget in web services and plan to migrate the wealth of information from the VSNP platform to a more open source AFAAS Knowledge Hub. To ensure these improvements, AFAAS require the competencies of a web development and web migration team. Therefore, AFAAS is soliciting services of a firm with qualified and experienced professionals to provide technical support services in populating the AFAAS portal and sub-portals with the required contents in French and English.

OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY:

The objective of the assignment is to populate AFAAS portal and sub-portals with more contents and enable a refined search on namely the Knowledge Hub and the Funding sub-portals.

DURATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The assignment shall be for a period of 4 months starting from September to December 2021. The budget provided for the assignment shall not be exceeding US$ 5,000 for the duration of the contract.

QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE:

The following set of competencies will form the basis for selection of the firm:

The firm should have a minimum of five (5) years of experience in providing similar technical support in development of software and web applications.

At least 3 years of professional experience in development of software and web applications
At least 2 years of experience in web content migration from multiple platforms;
The firm must have at least one bi-lingual technician who will be in charge of the French contents (uploads, sorting, migration) in the platform
Multi-national firms (or consortium of firms) are encouraged to present their candidacy

Technical competencies and qualifications of proposed experts (maximum 2) should be demonstrated, including CVs, certifications:

A minimum of a Bachelor degree in computer science, software development or any related qualification or equivalent experiences;
A minimum of 5 years’ experience in the development of web-based applications and more specifically in the use of WordPress CMS and Elementor
Strong organizational and communication skills with experience in web content migration

Interested firms must provide information verifying that they are qualified to perform the services and meet the minimum required experience criteria above. The firm shall be required to submit the eligibility documents (Certificate of registration, Memorandum and Articles of Association, Tax Clearance Certificate); and the Technical and Financial proposal. The technical proposal should contain at a minimum the following: (i) Description on an understanding of the tasks including comments on the TORs; (ii) Elaborate description of the methodology to be followed to deliver the assignment; (iii) Work plan and (iv) CVs of the consultants.

The financial proposal should contain professional fees and any other direct and reimbursable expenses. The technical and financial proposal must be delivered to the address below not later than September 13, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. at the address below or electronically on email: secretariat@afaas-africa.org.

The Consultant will be selected based on the “Least Cost Selection Method (LCS)” procurement method in the IFAD Procurement Handbook (approved in September, 2010). Interested firms may obtain detailed information from Andry Raso on email: andriraso@afaas-africa.org; from 08:00 – 17:00 (local time) latest September 8, 2021.

Dr. Silim M. Nahdy

Executive Director, AFAAS,

Kigobe Road; House No. 26; Minister’s Village;

P.O BOX 34624 Kampala, Uganda

Telephone: +256-312313400.

Email: secretariat@afaas-africa.org;

Copying pwanzala@afaas-africa.org

Deadline: September 13, 2021, at 10:00 a.m

Download here:

Revised Call for Expression of Interest