Request for Proposal (RPF) for Midline Listenership Survey at Creative Associates / Northeast Connection Program

Creative Associates International provides outstanding, on-the-ground development services and forges partnerships to deliver sustainable solutions to global challenges. Its experts focus on building inclusive educational systems, transitioning communities from conflict to peace, developing sustainable economic growth, engaging youth, promoting transparent elections, and more. Creative is recognized for its ability to quickly adapt and excel in conflict and post-conflict environments. Creative is currently implementing a 2-year USAID-funded project titled “Northeast Connection: Building Community Resilience to Violent Extremism and Conflict in Northeast Nigeria.

Applications are invited for:

Title: Request for Proposal (RPF) for Midline Listenership Survey

Subject: Request for Proposal (RFP) No: RFP-YOL-07-22-0001
Locations: Adamawa, Yobe and Borno
Performance Period: September 1, 2022 to October 30, 2022

Attachment I: Statement of Work
Background
Creative Associates International is implementing a 2-year United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded program titled “Nigeria Northeast Connection”. The aim of the Northeast Connection program is to strengthen the resilience of communities vulnerable to violent extremist infiltration and conflict and to develop local capacity to respond to emerging threats. By targeting communities not yet under the control of violent extremist organizations (VEOs), Northeast Connection will mitigate the grievances that make communities vulnerable to violent extremism, while building social cohesion within and across communities in northeast Nigeria. In addition to helping Northeast Nigerians create a stronger foundation against the violent extremist and conflict threats, the activity is designed to develop local capacity to respond to emerging threats.

Summary

• This is a call for proposals for a Midline Listenership survey for all grantee implemented and direct implementation projects of Nigeria Northeast Connection (NNEC) across Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states.
• The contracted firm or organization will conduct data collection, analysis, and reporting to Creative Associates International’s (Creative Associates) Northeast Connection: Building Community Resilience to Violent Extremism and Conflict in Northeast Nigeria (Northeast Connection) project funded by USAID.

Scope of Services

• Creative Associates under Northeast Connection program seeks to engage a firm to carry out a study for a Midline Listenership survey across the three states of intervention (Adamawa, Yobe, and Borno) with a focus on the Local Government Areas (LGAs) where grantees of the program and state portfolios have implemented media related programming.
• The assignment will be conducted under the direction of Northeast Connection and in consultation with media institutions and audiences.
• The Midline Listenership survey is following the successful implementation of a series of media-related activities on media stations within the BAY states.
• The survey will aim to investigate theme arguments on the different activities and determine what, if any, change can be attributed to the project, in accordance with the project's philosophy of change.
• The 3-R Framework's Reach, Relevance/Resonance, and Response aspects will be at the heart of the Listenership survey. This will help the team track and document stories of change that can be attributed to the media related programs, assess the impact of the programs on the communities and identify areas for improvement and provide recommendations for future programming.

Methodology

• This midline listenership survey will adopt a mixed approach methodology, consisting of both quantitative and qualitative methods. It will employ a community-based survey to collect perceptions of community people within target locations then triangulate same with focus group discussions, and key informant interviews and review of existing literature.
• Leveraging on an already existing media mapping and listenership survey tools, which ascertained some media perception baselines, the firm will in collaboration with the NNEC team develop survey tools suited for this survey. The inception, midterm and final reports of this study will be developed by the consulting firm with the concurrence of the Northeast Connection team’s MEL team.

The Objectives of the Listenership Survey:
The listenership survey objectives are as specified below:

• To measure the reach of, resonance with, and response to the media related activities of the project.
• Understand the contextual extremism issues that are most important to target listeners.
• Document stories of change that can be attributed to the media programs.
• Assess the perceptions and attitudes of communities to program objectives.
• Identify themes relevant to the goal and objectives of the program which could be included in future media-related activities.

The selected firm will thus develop the Midline Listenership survey framework and research questions, adhering to USAID Evaluation Policy. Northeast Connection will contract the firm or organization to:

• Conduct a listenership survey through data collection and analysis of media activities on the NE Program.

The Media Activities

Target LGAs:
The following are the LGAs of project implementation. However, a review of project documents for projects with media related activities will provide more specific information of which LGAs to cover.

Anticipated Tasks / Deliverables

• Participate in a Midline Listenership survey kick-off session with Northeast Connection and possibly participate in initial meetings with Northeast connection project.
• Conduct an initial desk study: gather relevant secondary materials to identify key actors and stakeholders, relevant local and oversight institutions, coordination mechanisms and support structures.
• Modify data collection tools (Quantitative and Qualitative), and proposed communities in each target state, informed by desk study.
• Conduct and manage the entire process of data collection, including and training and coordinating enumerators.
• Use mixed method data collection, including surveys, key informant interviews (KII) and focus group discussions (FGD) at LGAs in each target state, with stakeholders as identified.
• Submit all data (qualitative and quantitative) with disaggregated raw data in excel and data collection tools and ensure confidentiality of data.
• Prepare consolidated survey report of not more than 30 pages including but not limited to the following parts: executive summary, introduction/background, Description of the project, Purpose and Methodology, Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations.
• Presentation slide- Not more than 15 slide presentation of the findings.

Required Qualifications and Skills

• Team Lead must possess a Background in Social Science, or Development
• Research Assistant (s) must have an Advanced University Degree in International Relations, Mass Communication, Information Management, Theatre Arts, Political Science, Public Administration, Finance, Economics, or related field with demonstrated competence in media mapping or similar assessment frameworks.
• The firm must have a minimum of 2-years’ experience in social, media, information and/or economic assessments and/or development assistance programming.
• Proven experience in, and familiarity with, the use of media mapping and analysis or similar assessment tools (with at least two assessments successfully completed) in the development and implementation of development assistance programming.
• Proven experience of working with media houses, social media influencers, listener groups, government authorities, civil society organizations, and communities in Northeast Nigeria.
• ICT capabilities in data collection systems, minimally including GIS Mapping, Analytics and Reporting,
• Clear understanding of Mobile Technology for data collection.

Desired Qualifications and Skills:

• Proven knowledge of donor-assisted efforts to promote improvements in Building Community Resilience to Violent Extremism in developing countries through media programming.
• Experience in development assistance programming with USAID or other international donors.
• Knowledge of local language(s).

Supervision and Guidance:

• The firm/organization will be closely supervised by the Nigeria Northeast Connection Program Team, led by the Chief of Party (COP). The COP will be responsible for deliverables review, payment, and administrative management. The firm/organization will participate in relevant meetings with NE-Connection team, as required under the supervision of the MEL Manager.
• The firm or organization is expected to exercise the highest degree of individual initiative, resourcefulness, responsibility, and authority, consistent with USAID’s overall policy and procedural framework.

Compensation Schedule
This activity will be compensated based on delivery and approval of milestones, as illustrated below:

Period of Performance:

• Creative anticipates a period of performance of two months (September-October 2022); to be finalized at time of award.

Place of Performance:

• Northeast Nigeria: Adamawa (Demsa, Mubi South, Mubi North, Guyuk, Numan, and Lamurde LGAs), Yobe (Damaturu, Potiskum, and Fune LGAs), and Borno (Maiduguri, Jere, Biu Kwaya Kusar, Hawul, and Shani LGAs) states.

Attachment II: Instructions to Offerors
General Instructions
These Instructions to Offerors will not form part of the offer or of the Contract. They are intended solely to aid Offerors in the preparation of their proposals. Read and follow these instructions carefully:

• The proposal and all corresponding documents related to the proposal must be written in the English language, unless otherwise explicitly allowed. Additionally, all proposals should be single-spaced with clear section headings, and be presented in the order specified in Attachment III – Evaluation Criteria.
• Proposals must include only the Offeror’s own work. No text should be copied from sources outside of your organization, unless those sources are adequately cited and credited. If Creative determines that any part of the proposal is plagiarized from outside sources, the Offeror will be automatically disqualified.
• Proposals and all cost and price figures must be presented in local currency. All prices should be gross of tax, but net of any customs duties. A firm fixed price purchase order will be issued to the successful offeror in local currency as per requirement of local Law.
• The Offeror must state in their Proposal the validity period of their offer. The minimum offer acceptance period for this RFP is 90 days after closing date of the RFP. If an Offeror has provided a validity period of less than 90 days, they will be asked to revise this. If the Offeror does not extend the validity period, their proposal will be rejected. Creative reserves the right not to make an award.
• The Technical Proposal and Cost/Business Proposal must be kept separate from each other. Technical Proposals must not make reference to cost or pricing information at any point. This will enable in order the technical evaluation to be made strictly on the basis of technical merit.
• Offerors must be licensed and authorized to conduct business in Nigeria, as evidenced by submission of a copy of a valid Business License (if registered as a for-profit company), a valid Host Government license (if registered as a non-profit organization) or a municipal license (if registered as a local vendor of goods or import-export dealer). The copy of the license must clearly show a license number, official government stamp and a date of issue and date of expiry.
• No costs incurred by the Offerors in preparing and submitting the proposal are reimbursable by Creative. All such costs will be at the Offeror’s expense.
• Responsibility Determination: Award shall only be made to “responsive” subcontractors. To enable Creative to make this determination, the Offeror must provide a cover letter, as provided in Attachment IV.
• Late Offers: Offerors are wholly responsible for ensuring that their Offers are received in accordance with the instructions stated herein. A late Offer will be recommended for rejection, even if it was late as a result of circumstances beyond the Offeror’s control. Late offers will only be considered at the procurement department’s discretion.
• Modification/Withdrawal of Offers: Offerors have the right to withdraw, modify or correct their offer after it has been delivered to Creative at the address stated above, and provided that the request is made before the RFP closing date.
• Disposition of Proposals: Proposals submitted in response to this RFP will not be returned. Reasonable effort will be made to ensure confidentiality of proposals received from all Offerors. This RFP does not seek information of a highly proprietary nature, but if such information is included in the Offeror’s proposal, the Offeror must alert Creative and must annotate the material by marking it “Confidential and Proprietary” so that these sections can be treated appropriately.
• Clarifications and Amendments to the RFP: Any questions regarding this solicitation must be emailed to: procurement@connection-nigeria.com within 10 days of the date of issue of the RFP. No questions/clarifications will be entertained if they are received by another means. The solicitation number should be stated in the subject. Responses will be complied and emailed to the requesting potential Offeror and will be sent to all organizations that requested this RFP or re-posted publicly if offered as a full and open competition.
• Creative anticipates that discussions with Offerors will be conducted; however, Creative reserves the right to make an award without discussions. It is strongly recommended that Offerors present their best offer.
• Eligibility of Firms: Source/Origin/Nationality: The authorized geographic code for the source and origin of the goods and services and for the nationality of our suppliers under this contract is 937. A full discussion of the source/origin/nationality requirements maybe found at 22 CFR 228 (See Here). Offerors whose proposals fail to meet the nationality requirements will be considered non-responsive.

Note: Failure to agree and comply with any of the above specifications will result in the Offeror being considered unresponsive and the proposal may be rejected.

Application Closing Date
27th July, 2022 (5:00 PM, Local Time, Nigeria)

Method of Application
Interested and qualified Offerors should submit their Proposals in two separate e-mails which is the Technical Proposal and Cost / Business Proposal through the "Creative Procurement Department" to: procurement@connection-nigeria.com Each e-mail should be clearly labeled with the RFP Number and Project Title.

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Content of Proposal
The proposal shall be comprised of four sections:

• The Cover Letter (Attachment IV)
• Copy of the Offeror’s Valid Business license
• The Technical Proposal
• The Cost/Business Proposal.

Details of the Four Sections:

• The Cover Letter: The Cover Letter should be on the Offeror’s letterhead and MUST contain the information requested in Attachment IV.
• Business License
• Technical Proposal:
  • Should clearly & precisely address theoretical and practical aspects that the Offeror has considered and will employ to carry out the statement of work.
    The Technical Proposal is the opportunity for the Offeror to demonstrate that the firm is “technically capable” of implementing the activity, and should demonstrate the Offeror’s understanding of and capabilities to carry out the work, and address the key issues described in the Evaluation Criteria in Attachment III.
    The Technical Proposal should be divided into clearly separate sections following the same order of the Evaluation Criteria in Attachment III. A mis-ordered proposal that makes information hard to find will result in lower scores.
    If an Offeror submits a proposal that fails to respond to the majority of the information requested in this RFP, as outlined specifically in the statement of work and the evaluation criteria, the Offeror’s proposal will be automatically disqualified.
• The Cost/Business Proposal:
  • The Cost/Business Proposal must be submitted separately from the technical proposal and will primarily indicate the cost for performing the work specified in this RFP. At a minimum, the Cost/Business proposal should include the following information:
    • A detailed budget that provides a break-down of costs by line item. Note that any indirect/overhead costs should be listed as a separate line item in the budget and should not be built into the direct costs. Use the budget template presented in the Evaluation Criteria, in Attachment III.
    • Bidders should not use any “loaded rates” for labor. Budgets should include base labor rates only. Forms with loaded rates (i.e. inclusive of staff bonuses or any other type of financial benefit) will be rejected.
    • Detailed and comprehensive cost notes that provides information on each of the line items in the budget and explains why these items are needed for implementation of the activity.
    • If indirect rates are charged, Offerors must provide supporting computations for the allocation for indirect/overhead costs, a copy of an audit report and balance sheet, and a profit and loss (P&L)/income & expenditure / revenue & expenditure statement OR a copy of the current Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA).
    • USAID Biographical Data sheet (AID 1420) for each individual proposed in the proposal. The form must be signed by the individual and the offeror and should include daily rates in local currency only. Additionally, biographical data sheets should include base rates only. Forms with loaded rates (i.e. inclusive of staff bonuses or any other type of financial benefit) will be rejected.

Note

• Proposals must be delivered no later than the specified date/time to the address above.
• Offerors who do not submit their technical and cost proposals separately will be automatically disqualified.
• Failure to comply with any of the above points will result in the Offeror being considered “unresponsive” and the proposal may be rejected.
• If an Offeror provides insufficient information in their technical and/or cost proposal, Creative reserves the right to request additional information, or to request a revised proposal from the Offeror, if necessary.
• Creative reserves the right to make no award, or multiple awards, under this RFP.