RTI Audit in Madhesh and Lumbini provinces

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The Civil Society and Media (CSM) Activity is a five-year program (2022-2027) funded by USAID in Nepal through the CSM-STAND-LWA, with The Asia Foundation as the lead implementer. CSM supports independent civil society and media led by and for targeted women, youth, and marginalized (WYM) communities to advance public interest, fundamental freedoms, and accountability. Most activities will focus in Lumbini and Madhesh Provinces, with some activities implemented in Kathmandu.

The partnership between National Information Commission (NIC) and USAID CSM aims to counter misinformation/disinformation and build citizens’ capacity through training, awareness, and capacity building of public officials responsible for providing information.

The Right to Information Act came into effect in Nepal in 2007. RTI is a powerful tool for citizens to monitor and evaluate the government’s actions and decisions. It allows citizens to access information on how the government spends public money, implements policies, and delivers services. RTI also promotes transparency and accountability in the public sector, which can prevent corruption and improve governance.  In 2016, NIC conducted the first RTI audit of the government in Nepal. The RTI audit measures the status and impact of RTI in the country. It assesses how well the government complies with the RTI Act, how responsive it is to information requests, and how aware and satisfied the citizens are with RTI. The practice of “right to information audit” informs the state and impact of the “right to information.”

The USAID CSM is supporting NIC to conduct an audit of the RTI implementation in four districts (two each) across Madhesh and Lumbini provinces. The audit will assess the compliance and performance of the RTI implementation in these districts.

Application Timeline:

Any interested applicant can apply with the aforementioned documents to [email protected] with the subject heading RTI Audit no later than March 31, 2024.

For details please click on the following link:

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1zKHAw-3FX83b_a7Uw8OaiKx5LYZ6GMhU

Request for Proposal

Right to Information (RTI) implementation audit of local governments in Madhesh and Lumbini

RFP No.: CSM-RFA-2024-03

Issued: March 7, 2024

USAID CIVIL SOCIETY AND MEDIA

The Asia Foundation, PaniPokhari, Kathmandu, Nepal

Table of Contents

Introduction. 2

Background. 3

Objectives. 4

Submission Details. 4

Submission Deadlines. 4

Submissions of Proposal 4

Submission Questions and Clarifications. 4

Instructions to Vendors. 4

Eligibility of Applicant. 5

Bid Documents to Include. 5

Award. 5

Assumptions & Constraints. 6

Terms and Conditions. 6

Evaluation Criteria. 7

Certification of Independent Price Determination. 7

Annexure. 8

Introduction

The Civil Society and Media (CSM) Activity is a five-year program (2022-2027) funded by USAID in Nepal through the CSM-STAND-LWA, with The Asia Foundation as the lead implementer. CSM supports independent civil society and media led by and for targeted women, youth, and marginalized (WYM) communities to advance public interest, fundamental freedoms, and accountability. Most activities will focus in Lumbini and Madhes Provinces, with some activities implemented in Kathmandu. 

The program works to achieve its goal through mutually reinforcing activities under three inter-related objectives while contributing to USAID’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS): 

1. To foster an enabling environment for civic space where issues and interests of WYM communities are addressed.
2. Increase WYM’s engagement in civic and public spaces and advance their interests through better access to resources, assets, and skills.
3. Improve availability of credible information and diverse narratives within media that better represent WYM issues and perspectives. 

The partnership with the National Information Commission (NIC) mainly focuses on creating public awareness on access to information and information integrity through the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2007. As such, USAID CSM will support NIC to conduct a Right to Information (RTI) Audit of local governments in four districts of Lumbini and Madhesh provinces. Through this Call for Proposal, USAID CSM invites applications from a consultancy firm/a team of individuals as a group to conduct an RTI Audit of local governments in Madhesh and Lumbini provinces.

Background

The Right to Information (RTI) is a fundamental right granted to the citizens by the Constitution. Article 27 of the Constitution says, “Every citizen shall have the right to demand and receive information on any matter of his or her interest or of public interest.” The Universal Declaration of Human Rights emphasizes the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including seeking, receiving, and imparting information. However, a lot of people, particularly those from marginalized groups like women, Dalits, and minorities, face challenges in accessing information resources, which makes it harder for them to take advantage of government grants and subsidies.

RTI encourages accountability, clarity, and openness in government operations, lessens corruption, and promotes good governance. With the passage of a robust Right to Information Act 2007, every resident of Nepal is now guaranteed the ability to request information from public and governmental entities. Although the RTI law was passed more than 16 years ago, its execution needs to be revised. The information culture has yet to be developed. Lack of awareness among people about RTI Act, partial understanding, and tendencies of not seeking information have remained major obstacles to fully exercising RTI in Nepal.

To ascertain the status of RTI, NIC conducted its first RTI audit of the government in 2016. Such audits inform the state and impact of the “right to information.” So far, NIC has completed auditing of federal and provincial public bodies and is also in the process of extending this audit to the local government. USAID CSM is supporting NIC to conduct an audit of the RTI implementation in four districts of Lumbini and Madhesh provinces at the local levels.

Objectives

USAID CSM aims to hire a consultancy firm/a team of individuals as a group to conduct a RTI audit in four districts of Lumbini and Madhesh province.  

• To assist the National Information Commission in its audit of local governments regarding implementing the RTI in Madhesh and Lumbini provinces. 
•  To provide institutional development support to NIC to strengthen information access and rights in Nepal.
• To assess and investigate the usage of RTI in local government, emphasizing the four districts in Lumbini and Madhesh Province.
• To evaluate the difficulties in implementing RTI in Nepal and ascertain the use of technology and methods common in local governments.

Submission Details

Submission Deadlines

Proposals must be received no later than 5:00 PM Nepal Time (NPT) on Wednesday, March 31, 2024. Submissions must be accepted on time.  All proposals are to be submitted following the guidelines listed below. Telephone requests will not be entertained.

The Foundation may request additional documentation after the bid deadline.

Submissions of Proposal

Electronic submissions in response to this Request for Bid/Proposal will be accepted if they meet the following criteria:

Send via email to: [email protected]

Instructions to Applicants

• The bid should be valid for 6 months starting from the submission date.
• For each item quoted, a detailed description and justification should be included.
• Financial Cost proposal must include unit price and total price in NPR.
• Include VAT in cost proposal if applicable.
• Payment terms and complete banking information
• The Asia Foundation reserves the right to change or cancel this solicitation as required.
• The Foundation reserves its rights to reject any products and to cancel all or any part of this bid if the vendor fails to deliver all or any part of the products/services described in the request for bid/proposal. Acceptance of any part of the products covered by the request to bid shall not obligate The Asia Foundation to accept future shipments nor deprive it of its rights to revoke any acceptance given. If vendor ceases to conduct its operations in the ordinary course of business or are unable to meet its obligations, the Foundation may cancel this order without liability except for deliveries previously made or for services covered previously provided or for services received.

Eligibility of Applicant

This solicitation is open to a legally registered firm and/or a team of individuals who can provide a legal mandate to work in Nepal. To be eligible for the award, applicants must comply with the following conditions:

• Be legally registered or otherwise authorized to conduct business in Nepal (compliance with Nepal government and regulations laws).
• The consultant shall have adequate technical human resources to complete the project on time, as the scopes are detailed in Annex I. All the professionals should be employed on a full-time basis and responsibilities are delegated to these professionals based on the standard software development team.
• The vendor must submit the original CV of all the team members for this assignment. The Foundation will later verify during evaluation as well as during the execution of the project.
• Demonstrating successful past performance in implementing similar software products and services.

Bid Documents to Include

• Cover letter
• Technical Proposal
• Financial Proposal
• CVs of the proposed team members
• Proof of business registration and nationality
• Proof of Tax clearance of the latest Fiscal Year.
• Audit report of last three year
• A list of previous similar contracts completed successfully with the names and contact information of organizations related to the previous projects. Furthermore, any publicly available links of the earlier project will be preferred.  

Award

The Foundation anticipates notifying the successful vendor and signing the agreement by the  first week of April 2024.

• The Asia Foundation will run an open and fair competitive bidding process.
• As warranted, The Asia Foundation may change the system requirements illustrated in annexes.   

Assumptions & Constraints

The following assumptions are made while preparing this RFP and would require the awareness of the prospective vendors while proposing the bid.

1. All the travel expenses by the contracted consultant to and from the federal, province, district, and local governments will be borne by the consultant itself.
2. Consultant shall not outsource any work related to the project or the part thereof to any other associated / franchisee / third party under any circumstances. If it so happens, then it may lead to the termination of the contract.

Terms and Conditions

Each Bid must conform to the following requirements.

1. A bidder can make no minimum order requirements.
2. The Foundation will not consider advance payment. However, the payment terms will be determined based on the proposed activities and methodology.
3. All vendors are required to be registered with the Government of Nepal. Proof of Business Registration must be provided.
4. A consultant may withdraw or change a bid before the deadline to receive bids if the Foundation receives written notice of the withdrawal or change for submission of bids. Any changes in the submitted bid can be made only through the submission of a substitution bid.
5. Bids received after the time specified in the request will not be considered and shall be returned to the respondent.
6. Title to the product herein described shall not pass until said product has actually been received by the Foundation or its consignee. The bidder shall bear the risk of loss prior to such actual receipt by the Foundation or its consignee.
7. Final payment by the foundation will be made once the review and acceptance of deliverables have been completed by the foundation and approved by NIC.
8. The consultant must be able to demonstrate substantial experience in working on similar projects and, in particular, to demonstrate experience in working with organizations similar to the Foundation. The vendor must have excellent communication skills and methods and be able to communicate very clearly at every step of development, both providing information to the Foundation team as well as requesting, understanding, and closely following guidance from the Foundation team.

Evaluation Criteria

The criteria presented below have been tailored to the requirements of this RFP. A total of 100 points are possible for all components of the application. The relative importance of each criterion is indicated by approximate weight by points.

Criteria, and the points system for the evaluation of Proposals are:

* Technical proposal must demonstrate a clear understanding of the assignment and should include examples of relevant past performances.

* * The team must be composed of experienced professionals representing diverse ethnic and gender groups.

* ** The cost proposal will be evaluated based on cost reasonableness and alignment with the technical proposal, considering the cost and price analysis.

Note: The financial proposal should be provided in Excel format and accompanied by a narrative justification (this justification can be in Word or PDF) of the proposed cost and rates. This should include all personal and logistical costs required to accomplish the assignment.

Certification of Independent Price Determination

(a) The vendor certifies that—

1. The prices in this offer have been arrived at independently, without, for the purpose of restricting competition, any consultation, communication, or agreement with any other offeror, including but not limited to subsidiaries or other entities in which offeror has any ownership or other interests, or any competitor relating to (i) those prices, (ii) the intention to submit an offer, or (iii) the methods or factors used to calculate the prices offered;
2. The prices in this offer have not been and will not be knowingly disclosed by the offeror, directly or indirectly, to any other offeror, including but not limited to subsidiaries or other entities in which offeror has any ownership or other interests, or any competitor before bid opening (in the case of a sealed bid solicitation) or contract award (in the case of a negotiated or competitive solicitation) unless otherwise required by law; and
3. No attempt has been made or will be made by the offeror to induce any other concern or individual to submit or not to submit an offer for the purpose of restricting competition or influencing the competitive environment.

(b) Each signature on the offer is considered to be a certification by the signatory that the signatory—

1. Is the person in the offerors organization responsible for determining the prices being offered in this bid or proposal, and that the signatory has not participated and will not participate in any action contrary to subparagraphs (a)(1) through (a)(3) above; or

(c) Offeror understands and agrees that –

1. Violation of this certification will result in immediate disqualification from this solicitation without recourse and may result in disqualification from future solicitations; and
   1. Discovery of any violation after award to the offeror will result in the termination of the award for default.

Annexure

Annex 1: Scope of Work

Annex 1: Scope of Work

The Civil Society and Media (CSM) Activity is a five-year program (2022-2027) funded by USAID in Nepal through the CSM-STAND-LWA, with The Asia Foundation as the lead implementer. CSM supports independent civil society and media led by and for targeted women, youth, and marginalized (WYM) communities to advance public interest, fundamental freedoms, and accountability. Most activities will focus in Lumbini and Madhes Provinces, with some activities implemented in Kathmandu. 

USAID CSM is supporting National Information Commission to conduct a Right to Information (RTI) audit in four districts of Lumbini and Madesh Province. The objective of this assignment is:

• To assist the National Information Commission in its audit of local governments regarding implementing the RTI in Madhesh and Lumbini provinces. 
•  To provide institutional development support to NIC to strengthen information access and rights in Nepal.
• To assess and investigate the usage of RTI in local government, emphasizing the four districts in Lumbini and Madhesh Province.
• To evaluate the difficulties in implementing RTI in Nepal and ascertain the use of technology and methods standards in local governments.

In order to achieve the above objective, USAID CSM wants to on-board a consultancy firm/a team of individuals as a group to undertake the RTI Audit. The selected consultant(s) will work in consultation with NIC officials to select the districts of the provinces, discuss audit tools and techniques, and submit the final report within the agreed-upon timeframe. The selected consultant(s) will visit local-level governments of four districts, two each in Lumbini and Madhesh provinces. The consultant(s) will be selected through an open competitive process. Further, the contracted consultant(s) will compile the reports, design, proofread, and translate the final Nepali report in English.

The key deliverables will be:

1. Timeline of the assigned tasks
2. Final RTI implementation Audit questionnaire
3. Draft report in Nepali
4. Presentation of Findings
5. Final Report in Nepali
6. Translated Final Report into English.

The maximum available budget for the assignment is NPR 1,100,000 only.