1. General instructions
A. Water.org requests proposals from research and evaluation firms to conduct a program evaluation for a project aimed at improving water access and sanitation in India.
B. The evaluation will require the firm to facilitate and coordinate with Water.org staff and Piramal Sarvajal in India. The project requires the firm to submit the following deliverables:
- A kick-off meeting with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team at Water.org to clarify roles and responsibilities in the evaluation process
- An inception report, including a desk review and outline of evaluation approach, methodology and data collection instruments, and facilitator guides (for any qualitative interviews)
- A draft evaluation report, submitted to Water.org for feedback
- A final evaluation report, not to exceed 25 pages (excluding annexes)
- Presentation of the findings and recommendations to Water.org
C. Invoicing will occur upon completion and approval of the deliverables outlined as above in Section 1, Part B of this document.
D. Water.org is not liable for any expenditure incurred by responding firms prior to issuance of an executed contract with Water.org.
E. Submissions must be typed and submitted only by email and must follow the format of the requests for information in Section 4: Submissions Requirements. Unless agreed upon with Water.org, no changes or corrections to a response will be allowed after the deadline.
F. Proposed schedule:
March 1, 2020 – RFP submissions due by 5:00 PM CST.
March 15, 2020 – Results announced
April 1, 2020 – Contract begins
August 15, 2020 – Contract ends
G. The proposals must be submitted by email to Magdalene Goble at [email protected] by February 28, 2020, at 5:00 PM US Central Standard Time. Subject line should read “Sarvajal Program Evaluation Proposal <<name of bidding firm>>.” Please cc Diwakar Das at [email protected]. The proposal must contain a technical proposal and a financial bid using Water.org’s budgeting format.
Please ensure that the total proposed budget does not exceed $18,000 USD.
2. Scope of work
A. Overview
About Water.org
For nearly 30 years, Water.org has been at the forefront of developing and delivering sustainable solutions to the global water and sanitation crisis. Water.org pioneers innovative, community-driven and marketbased solutions to provide universal access to safe water and sanitation. To date, Water.org has positively transformed more than 20 million lives around the world, ensuring a better life for generations ahead.
About Piramal Sarvajal
Piramal Sarvajal (Sarvajal) is a social enterprise established in 2008 which designs and deploys innovative solutions for creating affordable access to safe drinking water in underserved areas. Piramal Sarvajal has designed, developed and demonstrated a franchisee based decentralized drinking water models deployed at the community level through local entrepreneurs to create affordable access to safe drinking water.
E. Key deliverables
Over the course of the evaluation, key deliverables will include:
- Inception report—An inception report outlining the evaluation’s methodology, field staff, and approach to analyzing data collected;
- Draft evaluation report—a draft of the final evaluation;
- Final evaluation report–A final evaluation report, including findings and recommendations, and not to exceed 25 pages (excluding annexes) to be submitted to Water.org.
3. Proposed schedule and key dates
A tentative schedule of key activities is presented in the table below:
Activity | Date |
RFP submissions deadline | March 1, 2020 |
Announce results of the selection process | March 15, 2020 |
Finalize and start contract | April 1, 2020 |
Inception report | April 30, 2020 |
Collect and analyze data and synthesize findings | May and June 2020 |
Submit draft evaluation report | July 15, 2020 |
Review draft report | July 30, 2020 |
Submit final report | August 15, 2020 |
4. Submission requirements
To be considered under this RFP, please submit the following:
A. Technical Proposal
A narrative proposal (no more than 10 pages excluding annexes) should include the following sections:
a. Evaluation Methodology: Describe your overall approach and evaluation methodology including, but not limited to, evaluation questions, evaluation design, data collection, data quality assurance measures and theory of change.
b. Relevant Experience: Provide details of projects of similar scope, complexity and nature you have worked on previously.
c. Specific Expertise: Describe your level of knowledge and expertise specific to the water and sanitation and microfinance sectors. Describe your expertise and previous experience program evaluations.
d. Key Personnel and Staffing: Describe the key personnel and a staffing plan for the project. Include CVs (no more than two (2) pages each and attached as annex) of key personnel who would be part of the proposed plan.
e. Timeline: Include a detailed timeline of key activities.
B. Financial proposal
The financial proposal should include a detailed budget and a budget narrative. Please use the attached excel budget workbook to prepare and submit the budget. The cost estimates used to prepare the budget should be presented in Indian Rupees as well as US dollars. Please ensure that the total proposed budget does not exceed $20,000USD.
5. Criteria for submission
Applicants may be individuals, groups of individuals with a designated team lead, or firms. Applicants must have at a minimum the following qualifications:
- Proposed staffing plan includes at least one native or fluent English speaker as lead writer.
- Demonstrated experience in conducting program evaluation in complex and developing country contexts.
- Demonstrated experience and familiarity with the WASH and/or microfinance sector (desired, not required.)
6. Selection process
All proposals submitted by the deadline will be carefully reviewed by the Selection Committee based on established selection criteria. The selection process may involve phone interviews with applicants. The final decision will be based on the overall quality of the technical proposal and value for money. The Selection Committee reserves the right to reject any or may cancel any submission at any time prior to agreement if it is in the best interests of Water.org.
7. Contact
Proposals and queries related to the RFP should be sent through email to:
Magdalene Goble
Senior Analyst, Insights and Innovations [email protected]
Diwakar Das
Senor Manager- Insights and Innovations, India
For detailed information, please check the complete version of the RFP attached below.
| Download Attachment: | 40264208_2020-02-12 Sarvajal Evaluation TOR.pdf |
| 40264209_Water.org Project Budget (1).xls |
