Request for Proposal of Consultancy Services to Develop a Five-Year Strategic Plan, PwC

Background

PwC Kenya has a long-established practice serving government, donor and other international financing communities, as well as the private sector through its offices in Nairobi. Our blend of local and international expertise is fundamental to the high quality of advice and assistance that we offer. As elsewhere in the world, PwC in Kenya uses the benefit of its hands-on experience to provide a strong level of local understanding and support, in accordance with the international professional standards of the PwC worldwide organization.

PwC is the interim fund manager to a new independent entity called Science for Africa Foundation (SFA).

SFA is a pan-African organization created to support, strengthen and promote science and innovation in Africa for the benefit of all Africans. SFA is committed to supporting African scientists in addressing the continent’s most pressing developmental needs by generating knowledge that solves problems and informs decision-making. SFA serves the African research ecosystem by funding excellent research and innovation ideas; enabling interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers and, building and reinforcing environments that are conducive for scientists to thrive and produce quality research that generates new, locally relevant knowledge. SFA is governed by a multi-specialized Board of Directors and managed by professionals drawn from across and outside Africa.

Consultancy Overview:

Science for Africa Foundation seeks to engage the services of a reputable and technically qualified firm to undertake development of its inaugural 5-year strategy and pursuant implementation plan in line with the SFA bylaws, thematic and programme concepts. Other reference materials are the AU STISA 2024 strategy, Africa’s Development Agenda 2063 and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Approach

The Consultant will be expected to:

1. Adopt a highly collaborative approach with the SFA team at all levels.
2. Build on existing strategy work and internal knowledge.
3. Challenge SFA on unexplored high-impact opportunities using a hypothesis driven, evidence-based approach.
4. Maintain clear channels of communication and factor adequate time for review and feedback.

Scope and Phases of Work

SFA envisions the scope of work to be completed in four stages within 10 weeks. Work completed in each of the stages will be summarized in a report and presented to the SFA leadership for approval before proceeding to the next stage. SFA will organize internally to expedite the review process in order to minimize any delays in the workplan. The scope of work will also require the Consultant to conduct a post-delivery check at 3 and 9 month intervals in order to assess SFA’s strategy implementation status.

Phase 1: Preparation and Inception:

The consultant will gain an in depth understanding of SFA’s founding principles, strategic direction and ethos. The consultant will also align with key staff to finalize the proposed approach and methodology.

Deliverables / Output: shared understanding of success, final methodology, workplan and milestones document, draft stakeholder engagement / interview guide.

Phase 2: Analysis and Scoping:

Through various data collection methods, the consultant will get grounded on the African science landscape and develop, test and refine hypotheses that indicate potential strategic opportunities for SFA within the science ecosystem.

Deliverables / Output: Landscape report on emerging strategic priorities, notable actors, lessons learned, opportunities and key gaps.

Phase 3: Refinement

In this phase, the consultant will build on the project preparatory work conducted in Phase 1 and analyses conducted in Phase 2 to synthesize findings and develop a preliminary strategy for SFA.

Deliverables / Output: SFA 5-year strategy document that includes:

A. Overall strategic framework consisting of:

● Theory of change

● Key strategic risks and risk management framework

● Strategic focus areas, objectives, pillars, drivers and outcomes

● Framework of key results areas including indicators, data sources, targets, and timelines

● Strategic stakeholder map outlining key relationships and defining:

• communication strategies
• engagement models
• partnership approaches
• resource mobilization tactics
• advocacy and influence pathways

B. Strategy implementation plan consisting of:

● Proposed operating model (including people, processes and technology)

● Results monitoring tracker and accountability dashboard including practical indicators of progress and high-level self-evaluation questions

● Proposed org-wide human resource structure to deliver strategy

● Proposed operating budgets linked to specific strategic areas

Phase 4: Wrap-up

The consultant will present the 5-year strategy as outlined above in dedicated interactive workshop sessions with the SFA board and staff. All relevant input from these sessions will then be incorporated to obtain the finalized version of the SFA Strategy.

Deliverables / Output: Interactive workshop with SFA Board and staff leading to presentation of a final synthesized SFA 5-year strategy.

Post-Delivery Follow-up

The consultant will conduct follow-up sessions at 3 and 9 month points after delivery of the final strategy in order to gauge SFA’s progress in alignment with the implementation plan.

Deliverables / Output: Memo to Executive Management outlining strategy implementation status and top-line recommendations.

Deliverables/Outputs

The key expected outputs/deliverables of this exercise will include:

• Inception report – outlining a shared understanding of success, finalized methodology, workplan and project milestones.
• Scoping report – synthesis of the landscaping analyses outlining emerging strategic priorities, notable actors, opportunities, key gaps and lessons learned.
• Preliminary SFA five-year Strategy – that includes the overall strategic framework and the strategic implementation plan. (Refer to Phase 3 above for details).
• Facilitation of interactive workshop sessions with the Board and staff to share the Preliminary SFA strategy.
• Final synthesized SFA strategy that incorporates input from workshop sessions
• Memo to Executive Management at intervals of 3 and 9 months post-delivery of strategy, outlining organizational implementation status.

Proposal Submission Guidelines

Proposals from bidders should include a technical proposal (of not more than 20 pages) and financial proposal (not more than 3 pages) and must include the following elements:

1. Technical Proposal

Executive summary – providing an overview of your approach to the assignment, citing previous experience and expertise.

Firm profile – detailing relevant experience from similar assignments in line with, but not limited to, the themes below:

• Extensive experience in developing organizational strategies and actionable implementation plans for development organizations.
• Technical knowledge of the science space in Africa and experience supporting clients operating across the continent.
• Deep familiarity with strategic steps necessary to position a science organization such as SFA in the local and global context.

*Shortlisted Consultants will be required to submit at least three (3) reference letters later in the selection process.

Approach – a detailed write-up of the consultant’s understanding of this engagement, overview of the proposed project plan, methodology, workplan, deliverables, timelines, milestones and outcomes.

Team – a detailed description of the roles, skillsets and experience of the proposed team including names, bios and detailed CVs of the consultants who will be involved in this assignment. The consultancy is expected to have a team leader with more than ten (10) years of expertise in undertaking similar assignments.

2. Financial Proposal

Cost projections – the financial proposal shall clearly indicate the total cost disaggregated to enable partial payments and/or scaling of services. The prices quoted should be inclusive of all taxes and delivery costs, must be in US Dollars ($) and shall remain valid for (120) days from the closing date of the tender. The financial proposal must be submitted as a different document from the technical proposal and clearly marked, “Financial Proposal”.

Cost categories – the costs must be broken down into professional fees and reimbursement costs.

Companies are encouraged to include any additional information they believe demonstrates added value within the scope of this project.

Evaluation of Proposals and Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation of the proposals shall involve Technical and Financial analysis. The successful bidders based on agreed pass mark on technical scores shall be evaluated further on technical capacity through an interview before financial scores are considered. The best bidder based on combined Technical and Financial scores shall then be considered for negotiation for award. Responses will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

Technical Proposal (Total weighting 70)

Criteria

Score

Methodology and Workplan

• Understanding of the objectives of the assignment
• Clarity and suitability of the proposed technical approach in line with this RFP.
• Consistency of the proposed project plan, workplan, deliverables, timelines, milestones and outcomes to the methodology.  30%

Firm experience

• Specific and relevant experience of the agency related to the assignment.
• Short listed firms will be required to provide evidence of having undertaken similar assignments in the last 5 years by submitting at least three (3) reference letters or recommendations.  40%

Team experience

Composition and qualifications of key staff proposed (provide staff profiles as well as evidence of having undertaken similar assignments in the last 5 years)  30%

Financial Proposal (Total weighting 30)

Competitiveness of consultant rates in relation to market  20%

Payments linked to agreed outputs  20%

Overall Budget competitiveness in relation to other proposals  60%

Timelines

The consultancy is expected to take up to a maximum of ten (10) weeks starting from the date of contract subject to adjustments as required and mutually agreed upon.

Instructions on the Proposal Submission Process

• The deadline for submission of proposals is Monday 14^th February 2022 2359hrs (East African Time).
• All clarifications and or questions should be sent on or before Friday 4^th February 2022 2359hrs (East African Time) to procurement@scienceforafrica.foundation

Responses to this RFP should be strictly sent by email to: procurement@scienceforafrica.foundation and marked as follows on the subject line: ‘SFA/RFP/002/22- Response to REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS FOR PROVISION OF CONSULTANCY SERVICES FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING”