COMMONWEALTH SECRETARIAT
MARLBOROUGH HOUSE, PALL MALL, LONDON SW1Y 5HX
(IN STRICT COMMERCIAL CONFIDENCE)
Request for Proposal
369-2016 – Redesign of the Commonwealth
Secretariat External Website
Submission deadline:
Monday 16 May 2016 at 8am BST
Clarification Closing date:
Wednesday 11 May at 5pm BST
Contract Award Date:
Week Commencing 23 May 2016
Questions E-mail only:
FMSProcurement@commonwealth.int
Contents
Introduction __________________________________________________________ 3
General Instructions____________________________________________________ 3
2.1 Invitation ____________________________________________________________3
2.2 Submission of Proposals ________________________________________________3
2.4 Timetable ___________________________________________________________ 5
2.5 Terms and Condition of Contract _______________________________________ 5
3 Scope of Services ______________________________________________________ 6
4 Assesment of bidders proposals __________________________________________ 7
Annex 1 Format for Submission ______________________________________________ 8
Page 2 of 15
Introduction
The Commonwealth Secretariat (the “Secretariat”) is an international organisation with its HQ
on Pall Mall in London. The Secretariat implements decisions agreed by Heads of Government
and Ministers through advocacy, coalition–building, information sharing, analysis, technical
assistance, capacity-building, and advice and policy development.
Bidders are encouraged to refer to the Guide on Bidding to the Commonwealth Secretariat
which can be found at http://thecommonwealth.org/procurement
All communication relating to this process, including Requests for Clarification, should be
channelled through FMSProcurement@commonwealth.int Any actual or attempted
communication outside of the above contact (unless specifically requested by the Secretariat)
may result in disqualification.
General Instructions
2.1
Invitation
The Secretariat invites companies to provide goods or services in accordance with the
specification listed in Section 3 Scope of Services.
This is a single stage Request for Proposal process.
The most economically advantageous Proposal shall be awarded the contract. The
weighted award criteria shall be based on:

Qualitative – 60%
o

The breakdown of the weighting is contained in Section 4.
Price – 40%
o
The Lowest Bid that meets the specification in full (the benchmark) will be awarded
the full score. The weighting for all Other Bids to be a percentage from the
benchmark. i.e. (LB/OB)*0.4 = Score.
o
Please note, all pricing shall be considered when calculating the scores.
2.2 Submission of Proposals
2.2.1
Responses and all supporting documents must be submitted in electronic format
and sent to FMSProcurement@commonwealth.int The subject of the email should
state the contract reference number and title. Your proposal must be
accompanied by the Secretariat’s Code of Ethics signed by the bidder. The
format can be found on the website http://thecommonwealth.org/procurement
2.2.2
Your technical and financial responses should be submitted as separate
documents clearly titled as such.
2.2.3
The deadline for returning proposals is Monday 16 May 2016 at 8am BST. Proposals
received after this deadline will not be considered.
2.2.4
All prices should be quoted in Pounds Sterling and should include VAT. The budget
available for this consultancy is £40,000 including VAT. This excludes annual
design and maintenance support which bidders are asked to provide a separate
estimate for.
Page 3 of 15
2.2.5
Bidders should submit an offer based on the Scope of Services in Section 3below.
2.2.6
It is incumbent on you to ensure that you have all the information required for
the preparation of your proposal and that you are satisfied about the correct
interpretation of terminology used in this documentation. You must also ensure
that you are fully conversant with the nature and extent of the obligations should
your proposal be accepted.
2.2.7
Proposals are to be valid for a minimum of 180 days from the closing date for the
submission of the proposals.
2.2.8
The Secretariat reserves the right to cancel the process at any time for lack of
response or for other reasons deemed appropriate.
2.2.9
The Secretariat does not undertake to accept the lowest proposal and reserves
the right to accept any part or all of any proposal or proposals.
2.2.10
Bidders are required to complete the pricing using the formatting provided in
Schedule 2 (additional lines may be added). Where assumptions are made, these
must be clearly documented so that where amendments may be necessary, the
contract price is adjusted in a transparent manner.
2.2.11
The Secretariat will carry out an evaluation of the proposals using the weighted
criteria method as described in Section 4. The Secretariat will select a Preferred
Contractor which will be taken forward to contract award. The Secretariat
reserves the right to appoint a Reserve Preferred Contractor which the
Secretariat would take forward to contract award if any contract negotiations
with the Preferred Contractor are unsuccessful.
2.2.12
Award of contract may be subject to negotiations with the Preferred Contractor
at the sole and absolute discretion of the Secretariat. Such negotiation would be
limited to contract terms as identified in the proposal or any other matter as
required by the Secretariat.
2.2.13
The Secretariat reserves the right to terminate any negotiations at any time for
any reason. If negotiations with the preferred contractor cannot be settled within
30 days of award of contract, The Secretariat may choose to invoke the Reserve
Preferred Contractor for award of contract instead.
2.2.14
The Secretariat will decide on the award of contract following successful
negotiations (if any).
2.2.15
The Contract prices and rates are not subject to change during the contract
period.
2.2.16
By taking part in this process all bidders commit to the following:
I/We hereby certify that I/We have not canvassed or solicited any member officer
or employee of the Secretariat in connection with this submission / award of this
Contract or any other Contract or proposed Contract for goods / services and
that no person employed by me/us or acting on my/our behalf has done any such
act.
I/We further hereby undertake that I/We will not in the future canvas or solicit
any member officer or employee of the Secretariat in connection with this
submission / the award of this Contract or any other Contract or proposed
Contract for Services and that no person employed by me/us or acting on my/our
behalf will do any such act.
Page 4 of 15
I/We hereby confirm that should such person act as described my/our Contract
shall automatically be subject to termination on grounds of misrepresentation
and failure of my/our duty to disclose.
2.3 Requests for clarification
All
queries
must
be
submitted
via
the
email
address
FMSProcurement@commonwealth.int. Any clarification request and response that is of
relevance to all Bidders shall, in the interest of a fair process, be made available on the
website without disclosing the identity of the originator of the question. Therefore
bidders are strongly encouraged to visit the website regularly to check for updates.
2.4 Timetable
Milestone
Date
Stage 1 - RFP
RFP advertised
27 April 2016
RFP submission deadline
16 May 2016
Completion of evaluation of RFPs received
16 May 2016
Stage 2 - Presentation
Presentations
20 May 2016
Selection of Preferred Contractor
20 May 2016
Contract Award
27 May 2016
Commencement of Contract
2 June 2016
2.5 Terms and Conditions of Contract
The terms and conditions that will govern this contract can be found at
http://thecommonwealth.org/procurement Bidders are requested to familiarise themselves
with them.
Page 5 of 15
3 Scope of Services
Background
The Commonwealth Secretariat provides guidance on policy making, technical assistance and
advisory services to Commonwealth member countries. We support governments to help
achieve sustainable, inclusive and equitable development.
Our work promotes democracy, rule of law, human rights, good governance and social and
economic development. We are a voice for small states and a champion for youth
empowerment.
Our vision is to help create and sustain a Commonwealth that is mutually respectful, resilient,
peaceful and prosperous and that cherishes quality, diversity and shared values.
Specification
The Commonwealth Secretariat invites suitably qualified companies to provide a quotation for
their consultancy, design and development services to propose and implement changes to the
Commonwealth Secretariat website (http://thecommonwealth.org) based on their evidencebased findings.
We expect this process to examine the twin aims of how we might best access our online
audiences while at the same time raise the profile of the Commonwealth. We would also like
you to develop a content strategy identifying the content types and workflows to support it.
Your evidence-based research will use both qualitative and quantitative methods and must be
able to inform on the configuration of a new home page, section landing page and basic page
templates with a revised information architecture/navigation.
The deliverable phases for this project are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Design discovery – UX workshops, analysis and recommendations report.
Visual redesign with wireframes of http://thecommonwealth.org
HTML and CSS implementation and configuration of above in Drupal CMS on our hosting
server.
Annual support for three years with ongoing design and development work.
As stated in 2.2.4 above, the budget for this consultancy is £40,000 including VAT which is
intended to cover Items 1 to 3 above. Under a separate heading, bidders should propose
estimates of costs of Item 4, for three years of support.
Duration
The contract will run for three years with a possibility of an extension of up to two years.
Page 6 of 15
4 Assessment of bidders proposals
Weighting
Your proposal will be assessed out of 100% broken down as follows:

Schedule 1 - Qualitative and Presentation – 60%
Schedule 2 - Price – 40%
In submitting your technical proposal, please respond to the three questions below:Qualitative questions (60%)
1.
List five website URLs where you have undertaken a design discovery phase which
subsequently resulted in significant changes to the home page section landing and basic page
templates and information architecture (Not marked).
2.
In not more than 500 words describe these past projects detailing the changes made to
the home page, section landing and basic page templates and information architecture.
(Weighting 20%).
3.
In not more than 500 words describe how you would approach the Secretariat project,
its component phases, project management methodology and communications/reporting
strategy. Prepare a timeline for the project with any risks you anticipate may hinder successful
delivery. Provide us with a description of the project team with their roles and responsibilities.
(Weighting 20%).
Presentation
The top three (3) scoring suppliers will be invited to give a presentation to the Evaluation Panel
describing a recent past project (completed within the last 24 months) (Weighting 20%)
Price (40%)
Please provide your cost proposal. Bidders who provide costings lower than the budget of
£40,000 will score more highly. In this section, bidders should also propose estimates of costs
for support for three years with ongoing design and development work.
Alternative Proposal
Bidders are at liberty to submit an alternative proposal with an alternative costing. In order to
qualify for the alternative bid to be analysed, a bidder must submit a bid that conforms this
Request for Proposal.
Any bidder who submits an alternative proposal must do so in a separate email and stating the
words “Alternative Proposal” clearly in the title of the email following the instructions in 2.2.1
above.
Page 7 of 15
ANNEX 1- FORMAT FOR BIDDER’S TO SUBMIT THEIR TECHNICAL
AND FINANCIAL RESPONSE
BIDDERS ARE TO COMPLETE AND RETURN THIS DOCUMENT IN THE LAID OUT FORMAT
Page 8 of 15
Schedule 1a – Basic Contractor Information
Please provide details relating to your registered offices, legal status and date of incorporation.
Company
Name
Company
Address
Legal Status
Date
of
incorporation
Post Code
Provide evidence you have an office in London which is able to supply the service. If your
registered offices are not in London, please give details of the office that is:
Those wishing to be considered should provide a statement disclosing their audited annual
turnover / turnover per annum for the past three (3) years.
YEAR 1 [insert period]
YEAR 2 [insert]
YEAR 3 [insert]
Organisation
Annual
Turnover
Please provide the contact details of three reference clients with whom you provide similar
Services required by The Commonwealth Secretariat in the boxes below. – The referees will not
be contacted until the final stage of this process. Experience of working with international
organisations or public sector bodies would be an advantage.
Reference 1
Reference 2
Company Name
Company Address
Post Code
Telephone
Email
Type of organisation (as specified by
the UK Companies Act of 2006
i.
Small
ii.
Medium
Gender composition of ownership of
the bidding firm
iii.
Large
Male:
Female:
Gender composition of Board (if
applicable)
Male:
Female:
Do you consider yourself an
environmentally friendly business?
Have you complied with the UK
Modern Slavery Act of 2015? Yes/
No/ N/A
Page 9 of 15
Reference 3
Schedule 1b Eligibility Assessment Questions
Grounds for Exclusion
You will be excluded from the procurement process if there is evidence of convictions
relating to specific criminal offences including, but not limited to, bribery, corruption,
conspiracy, terrorism, fraud and money laundering, or if you have been the subject of
a binding legal decision which found a breach of legal obligations to pay tax or social
security obligations (except where this is disproportionate e.g. only minor amounts
involved).
1.b.1 Within the past five years, has your organisation (or any member of your proposed
consortium, if applicable), Directors or partner or any other person who has powers of
representation, decision or control been convicted of any of the following offences?
Please Mark ‘X’ In The Relevant Box
(a)
Conspiracy as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your
jurisdiction.
(b)
Corruption as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your
jurisdiction.
(c)
Bribery as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your
jurisdiction.
(d)
The offence of cheating the Revenue as defined by the legislative or
judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(e)
The offence of conspiracy to defraud as defined by the legislative or
judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(f)
Fraud as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your
jurisdiction.
(g)
Theft as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your
jurisdiction.
(h)
Fraudulent trading as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in
your jurisdiction.
(i)
Fraudulent evasion as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in
your jurisdiction.
(j)
Destroying, defacing or concealing of documents or procuring the
execution of a valuable security as defined by the legislative or
judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(k)
The possession of articles for use in frauds as defined by the legislative
or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
(l)
Any offence considered to be Counter Terrorism as defined by the
legislative or judicial bodies in your jurisdiction.
Page 10 of 15
Yes
No
(m)
Money laundering as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in
your jurisdiction.
(n)
Any Sexual Offences as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in
your jurisdiction.
(o)
Drug trafficking as defined by the legislative or judicial bodies in your
jurisdiction.
1.b.2 In relation to the questions set out below, the Secretariat may exclude any Supplier who
answers ticks ‘Yes’ in any of the situations set out in the table below:Within the past three years, has:Please Mark ‘X’ In The Relevant Box
Yes
(a)
your organisation been declared bankrupt or subject of insolvency or
winding-up proceedings, where your assets are being administered by
a liquidator or by the court, where it is in an arrangement with
creditors, where its business activities are suspended or it is in any
analogous situation arising from a similar procedure under the laws and
regulations of any State?;
(b)
your organisation been found guilty of grave professional misconduct,
which renders its integrity questionable?;
(c)
your organisation entered into agreements with other economic
operators aimed at distorting competition?;
(d)
the prior involvement of your organisation in the preparation of the
procurement procedure resulted in a distortion of competition?;
(e)
your organisation shown significant or persistent deficiencies in the
performance of a substantive requirement under a prior contract with
a contracting entity, or a prior concession contract, which led to early
termination of that prior contract, damages or other comparable
sanctions?;
(f)
your organisation—
(i)
has been guilty of serious misrepresentation in supplying the
information required for the verification of the absence of
grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of the selection criteria?;
or
(ii)
your organisation withheld such information or is not able to
submit supporting documents?
(g)
(i)
Page 11 of 15
your organisation:unduly influenced
Secretariat?; or
the
decision-making
process
of
the
No
(ii)
(j)
obtained confidential information that may confer upon your
organisation undue advantages in the procurement procedure?;
your organisation negligently provided misleading information that may
have a material influence on decisions concerning exclusion, selection
or award?
1.b.3 Compliance with Equality Legislation
For organisations working outside of the UK please refer to equivalent legislation in the country
that you are located.
Yes
No
(a)
In the last three years, has any finding of unlawful discrimination
been made against your organisation by an Employment Tribunal, an
Employment Appeal Tribunal or any other court (or in comparable
proceedings in any jurisdiction other than the UK)?
(b) In the last three years, has your organisation had a complaint upheld
following an investigation by the Equality and Human Rights
Commission or its predecessors (or a comparable body in any
jurisdiction other than the UK), on grounds or alleged unlawful
discrimination?
If you have answered “yes” to one or both of the questions in this
module, please provide, as a separate Appendix, a summary of the
nature of the investigation and an explanation of the outcome of the
investigation to date.
If the investigation upheld the complaint against your organisation,
please use the Appendix to explain what action (if any) you have
taken to prevent unlawful discrimination from reoccurring.
(c)
You may be excluded if you are unable to demonstrate to The
Secretariat’s satisfaction that appropriate remedial action has been
taken to prevent similar unlawful discrimination reoccurring
If you use sub-contractors, do you have processes in place to check
whether any of the above circumstances apply to your subcontractors?
1.b.4 Compliance with Environmental Management legislation
For organisations working outside of the UK please refer to equivalent legislation in the country
that you are located.
Yes
(a)
Has your organisation been convicted of breaching environmental
legislation, or had any notice served upon it, in the last three years
by any environmental regulator or authority (including local
authority)?
If your answer to the this question is “Yes”, please provide details in
a separate Appendix of the conviction or notice and details of any
remedial action or changes you have made as a result of conviction
or notices served.
Page 12 of 15
No
The Secretariat will not select bidder(s) that have been prosecuted
or served notice under environmental legislation in the last 3 years,
unless it is satisfied that appropriate remedial action has been taken
to prevent future occurrences/breaches.
(b) If you use sub-contractors, do you have processes in place to check
whether any of these organisations have been convicted or had a
notice served upon them for infringement of environmental
legislation?
1.b.5 Compliance with Health and Safety legislation
For organisations working outside of the UK please refer to equivalent legislation in the country
that you are located.
Yes
(a)
Does your organisation has a Health and Safety Policy that complies
with current UK legislative requirements?
(b) Has your organisation or any of its Directors or Executive Officers
been in receipt of enforcement/remedial orders in relation to the
Health and Safety Executive (or equivalent body) in the last 3 years?
If your answer to this question was “Yes”, please provide details in a
separate Appendix of any enforcement/remedial orders served and
give details of any remedial action or changes to procedures you have
made as a result.
(c)
The Secretariat will exclude bidder(s) that have been in receipt of
enforcement/remedial action orders unless the bidder(s) can
demonstrate to The Commonwealth’s satisfaction that appropriate
remedial action has been taken to prevent future occurrences or
breaches.
If you use sub-contractors, do you have processes in place to check
whether any of the above circumstances apply to these other
organisations?
Page 13 of 15
No
Schedule 1c Proposal Specific Questions
1.c.1 Quality questions
1.
List five website URLs where you have undertaken a design discovery phase/ project
which subsequently resulted in significant changes to the home page, section landing and basic
page templates and information architecture (Not marked). [If you do not have five examples,
do not proceed any further.]
2.
In not more than 500 words describe these past projects detailing the changes made to
the home page, section landing and basic page templates and information architecture
(Weighting 20%).
3.
In not more than 500 words describe how you would approach the Secretariat project,
its component phases, project management methodology and communications/reporting
strategy. Prepare a timeline for the project with any risks you anticipate may hinder successful
delivery. Provide us with a description of the project team with their roles and responsibilities.
(Weighting 20%).
[Not to be responded to at this stage]
1.c.2 Presentation
The top three (3) scoring suppliers will be invited to give a presentation to the Evaluation Panel.
Presentation Brief
Weighting
Present a recent past project (completed within the last 24 months) in terms 20%
of the following:
 Project Discovery
 Design
 Development
 Testing
 Project Management
 Project Team
Page 14 of 15
Schedule 2 – Price Proposal
Bidders must complete and sign this page to comfirm this Proposal submission price. This must
be emailed as a separate document and must not be attached to you response to Schedule 1
above
Total cost of
proposal inclusive
of VAT:
Cost estimates for
three
years
support for of
ongoing
design
and development
work:
Signed:
Date:
Name:
in the capacity
of:
Name
Company:
Page 15 of 15
of