Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project

Sierra Leone

Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project (RUSLP)

Grant No.: D8420-SL

Project Id:  P168608

Issue date: 15th December 2023

Assignment Title:  Consultancy Services for a national firm to undertake “the Development of Citizen Engagement Digital Platform (websites) for beneficiary councils under the Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project (RUSLP)"

Reference No.: SL-MOFED-397513-CS-CQS

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Following a series of natural disasters (including the Ebola outbreak of 2014 and the Freetown mudslide of 2017), the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL), in its Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP), has committed to building institutional capacity to respond to natural disasters and strengthen the resilience of urban communities, sustain decentralization, and improve service delivery.

The World Bank supports these efforts by funding the Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project in Freetown, Western Area Rural District, and other urban locations in Sierra Leone. RUSLP will support activities that aim to build social and physical resilience; upgrade vulnerable neighborhoods; enhance fiscal resilience through increased capacity for revenue mobilization; strengthen disaster risk management (DRM); improve service delivery for waste management and promote urban planning and compliance to building regulations in the cities.

The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to improve integrated urban management, service delivery, and disaster risk management in the Western Area and secondary cities of Sierra Leone.

The PDO will be achieved through the following three primary components:

Component 1: Institutional and capacity development in integrated urban management, which includes investments in:

1. 1. strengthening urban planning and spatial data infrastructure; and
   2. upgrading urban property tax administration systems

Component 2: Resilient municipal infrastructure investment and urban greening, which focuses on:

1. neighbourhood upgrading and greening activities in Freetown and select secondary cities through infrastructure investments (e.g., drains, access roads, walkways, footbridges, water supply and sanitation, public spaces, local markets and street lighting), along with urban greening through large-scale tree planting;
2. Solid waste management upgrading activities including development of the Western Area Sanitary Landfill, dumpsite decommissioning, and development of solid waste management strategies for six secondary cities; 
3. Market upgrading in select secondary cities.

Component 3: Disaster risk management capacity development, which includes strengthening emergency preparedness and response systems and a contingent emergency response component.

The project will carry out activities across all cities and other targeted activities to select cities and project locations. The following local councils will implement the project: Freetown City Council (FCC), Western Area Rural District Council (WARDC), Port Loko City Council (PLCC), Makeni City Council (MCC), Bo City Council (BCC), Bonthe Municipal Council (BMC), Kenema City Council (KCC) and Koidu New Sembehun City Council (KNSCC). Several technical agencies of the Government of Sierra Leone will also provide technical support in the implementation of program activities, included but not limited to, the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Country Planning, the newly established National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), the Sierra Leone Meteorological Agency (SLMet), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The project is hosted and coordinated by the Ministry of Finance's Fiscal Decentralization Division (FDD), establishing an internal Project Management Unit (PMU). The Project Management Unit (PMU) is led by a Project Manager and is responsible for project management, communications, and environmental and social safeguards implementation.

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVE

Following the assessment of the citizens' engagement platform conducted in July 2022 by the PMU and FDD in beneficiary Local Councils, which informed the preparation of a workable project-wide Citizenship Engagement Platform (CEP) at the council level for the project. During the assessment, the councils requested that the project provide a website that integrates other digital platforms and staff training to manage the platforms. This platform will provide access to project documents and timely updates and solicit feedback from citizens on the quality-of-service delivery in the sectors where the project provides direct support. Therefore, Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project (RUSLP) seeks to recruit a firm or individual consultant to design/upgrade informative websites and other digital handles, with modern interface, secure, robust and user-friendly for the project beneficiary councils of Bo, Bonthe, Kenema, Makeni, Port Loko, Koidu New Sembehun, Western Area Rural District and Freetown, showcasing the various functions and activities carried out within the RUSLP. The councils’ websites intended to enhance communication, outreach, and engagement with stakeholders of the project in the local and international communities.

This will facilitate the successful implementation of RUSLP activities, through the adoption of appropriate communication medium, that will ensure better understanding of the project's objectives and interventions that will promote acceptance, buy-in and ownership by the wider beneficiary communities.

Specific Objective of the Assignment

The overall objective of the assignment will be to construct/upgrade modern interface on the World Wide Web for interaction between the Project Management Unit, the Local Councils, the Lead Technical Agencies, and the wider communities.

Scope of Assignment

The successful firm/individual consultant is to work closely with the councils and the RUSLP to either upgrade or design new robust, dynamic, visually appealing, easy to manage and user-friendly Websites and other digital handles to be used as a Citizen Engagement Platform (CEP) for Freetown City Council (FCC), Western Area Rural District Council (WARDC), Port Loko City Council (PLCC), Makeni City Council (MCC), Bo City Council (BCC), Bonthe Municipal Council (BMC), Kenema City Council (KCC) and Koidu New Sembehun City Council (KNSCC). The scope of this assignment shall cover as a minimum:4.1     The Consultant will be provided with relevant documents as requested to develop/reactivate the websites. 

• Build websites within the prescribed guidelines and layout to be agreed with the councils and within the confines of the content which the councils will provide. The websites should be linked to the PMU, Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs and the MoF websites/ knowledge portals.
• The websites should have a tracking tool (counter) to enable the councils to track and assess the number of visitors to the website and also determine which sections of the website are popular or otherwise.
• The Consultant will conduct both technical and professional training for IEC staff in the beneficiary councils.
• Should provide a warranty period of one year after completion of assignment.
• The websites should link the councils with all social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• The websites should offer linkages with GRM platform, allowing for the public to lodge complaints as related to program implementation.
• The firm/individual is expected to demonstrate virtually a prototype of the proposed website on the day of evaluation.
•             The website should demonstrate the progress of project activities and highlight impact stories.

(Please refer to Terms of Reference for more details)

The Project now invites eligible National Firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services.

The minimum qualifications for the Consultant for this assignment are:

Required Qualifications and Skills:

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE OF THE FIRM AND REQUIREMENT OF PERSONNEL

KEY QUALIFICATIONS / CRITERIA

The criteria for this exercise are aimed at securing the services of an experienced firm in developing robust websites to be used as Citizen Engagement Platform (CEP) for eight councils. As a minimum, the firm should have:

• Proven track record (documentary proof) in dynamic website and intranet development for the past 5 to 10 years.
• Should have a prototype solution that is demonstratable and ready for operationalization while the system is being fully customized for the councils.
• Should be familiar with the dynamics of website development and deployment and current web development technologies across multiple platforms.

Team Composition 

1.   Project Manager (Team Lead) – (Refer to Terms of Reference for details)
2.   Website Developers (Front-end & Back end) - (Refer to Terms of Reference for details)
3.  System Analyst (Technical Expert) - (Refer to Terms of Reference for details)
4. The Tester (Quality Assurance Analyst) - (Refer to Terms of Reference for details)
5. Graphic Designer (Technical Expert) - (Refer to Terms of Reference for details)

Duration of Assignment:  The duration of the assignment 12 weeks (or less) which shall include the review period for deliverables and payments to the consulting firm after contract effectiveness.

Languages

International Professional: Fluency (Level C) in English.

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” July 2016 Revised November 2017, August 2018 and November 2020 and September 2023 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

Interested firms MUST request for the detailed Terms of Reference (ToR) for the assignment via email request to resilienturbanslp2019@gmail.com.

 Further information can be obtained at the address below or via email request to resilienturbanslp2019@gmail.com during office hours 0900 to 1700 hours

Expressions of interest can be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person)

Project Management Unit

Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project

1st Floor -35 Percival Street

Freetown

Attn: Procurement Management Specialist

Tel: +23278965090

OR

Via e-mail to:  resilienturbanslp2019@gmail.com  Cc: ruslppmu@gmail.com

When submitting, please indicate clearly in the sealed envelope or email subject heading Consultancy Services for a national firm to undertake a “the Development of Citizen Engagement Digital Platform (websites) for beneficiary councils under the Resilient Urban Sierra Leone Project (RUSLP)” on or before SUBMISSION DEADLINE is 8th January 2024 at 1700 hours GMT.