A. BACKGROUND

1. The COMESA Competition Commission (“the Commission”) is a regional body corporate established under Article 6 of the COMESA Competition Regulations 2004 (“the Regulations”) promulgated under Article 55 of the Treaty Establishing the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. The Commission has the legal capacity required for the performance of its functions under the Regulations in the territory of each COMESA Member State.

2. The Commission commenced its operations on 14 January 2013 and is located in Lilongwe, Malawi. The Commission’s core mandate is to promote and encourage competition by preventing restrictive business practices and other restrictions that deter the efficient operation of markets, thereby enhancing the welfare of the consumers in the Common Market, and to protect consumers against offensive conduct by market actors. The main functions of the Commission are to monitor markets and investigate anti-competitive business practices, control mergers and other forms of acquisitions in the Common Market and mediate disputes between the Member States concerning anti-competitive conduct.

3. The Commission wishes to develop an Electronic Filling and Case Management System (EFCMS) that provide a comprehensive system which facilitates the coordination, communication, and collaboration with the Commission’s clients and stakeholders through enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations of the Commission in the case filing organization, preservation, retrieval, use, disposition, and access to public. This document is issued by the Commission, as a call for proposals to assist the organization engage the services of a consulting firmto provide consultancy services related to selection of appropriate IT business applications and hardware solutions, as well as corresponding IT service providers

B. SCOPE OF WORK

4. The Commission would like to adopt a structured approach towards the implementation of the EFCMS by leveraging the services of a specialist consulting firmwith regard to the planning, selection, and implementation phases of the project.

5. The envisioned scope of work to be undertaken by the specialist consulting firmduring the selection phase of the project includes, but not limited to the following domains.

5.1. Pre – feasibility study

5.1.1. Conduct a high-level review of all aspects of the Commission’s current IT infrastructure and service delivery environment (including back up and disaster recovery elements), and benchmark against generally accepted industry best practice. This will enable the Commission to develop a high level architecture of the Commission’s future state IT infrastructure and service delivery environment (including back up and disaster recovery elements). This architecture will also inform the Commission’s planning, as well as guide the process of generating relevant detailed requirements and capabilities Validate current operations and processes

5.2. System and infrastructure requirements

5.2.1 Work with IT unit to better understand the Commission’s strategy, with a view to developing an appropriate IT application and data/information architecture, as well as an implementation roadmap that considers organizational priorities, technological imperatives, and availability of resources.

5.2.2 Work with business units and users to develop high level current/future processes, based on available best practice models, that will inform detailed system requirements and functionality that should be delivered by the EFCMS.

5.3. Procurement and evaluation of proposal responses

5.3.1 Assist the Commission in preparing relevant documentation and manage the bidding/procurement process for both software and hardware elements, based on detailed requirements and applicable laws/regulations.

5.3.2 Engage with bidding IT solution providers to refine the future state IT infrastructure and service delivery environment (including back up and disaster recovery elements), and where necessary, account for the impact of refinements on submitted bid.

5.3.3 Assist the Commission in the negotiation and contracting process with selected IT solution providers, taking into account implementation roadmap.

5.4. Quality Assurance over system implementation phase

5.4.1 Review of pre-implementation design blueprints, to ensure alignment with envisioned processes.

5.4.2 Technical review of the implementation work (methodology, documentation etc.) to ensure appropriateness and alignment with prescribed methodologies.

5.4.3 Technical review of the system during the build phase (configurations, set-ups, customizations etc.).

5.4.4 Support the Commission undertake User Acceptance Testing (UAT), which will include training of users (based on best practice methodologies) and use of recognized tools to better manage the testing process.

5.4.5 Ensure quality of deployment of IT infrastructure and service delivery environment; and

5.4.6 Provide general project management oversight over all solution providers, across all project milestones

5.5. Other related matters

5.5.1 Work with the Commission on other project related matters such as establishing an appropriate structure, deploying a robust and responsive system and integrating the implemented system with the Commission website with ECMS portal page.

C. OBJECTIVES

6. The specific objective of the consultancy service is to supervise and assure quality in the development of the EFCMS which is expected to provide the following

6.1. Replace the Commission’s current manual internal Case Management systems to a single, open automated architecture system that will provide improved communication across the Commission

6.2. Develop electronic filing portal which can connect with the case Management System

6.3. Ensure that the electronic filing portal connects to the Commission’s Website

6.4. Provide easy access to information and an intuitive end-user reporting system

6.5. Enhance the ability to support management decision making based upon access to accurately and timely information

6.6. Have a robust workflow engine that will allow business process configuration unique to the needs of each Divisions of the Commission

6.7. Reduce redundant data entry, reduce paper flow, and streamline best practices

6.8. Robust document management and storing within the Case Management System

6.9. Ability to integrate with other current/future systems, as appropriate

6.10. Deploy a robust, and scalable IT infrastructure and service delivery environment enabling the EFCMS

6.11. Train and equip System Users and Administrators as appropriate

D. CONTENT AND FORMAT OF PROPOSAL

7. The bidder’s proposal format should emphasize clarity and brevity in describing an understanding of the project, approach to each task, schedule, budget, and personnel experience.

8. The submission must include the following information:

8.1. Letter of introduction

8.2. Description of the approach, methodology and work plan for performing the work required to complete the scope of work (such as in the format of a Gantt chart) indicating the timing proposed for each activity that will be part of this assignment

8.3. Company background including how long the company has been in business, brief description of the company’s size and organization

8.4. An outline of the roles of the principal, key support, and technical staff, including a description of relevant experience of the key personnel who will work on the Commission’s project

8.5. List of detailed information of at least three (3) and a maximum of five previous engagements undertaken within the last five years are of a similar to this assignment. The detail information of references and clients should include organization name, contact name, phone and email,

E. PRICING

9. All prices MUST be indicated in Unites States Dollars.

10. There will be no price variation contract after signing of the contract except upon mutual written agreement between the Commission and the successful bidders.

11. Financial Proposal: The bidder should identify rates which should be valid for the entire length of the assignment in United States Dollars (USD). The financial proposal should have:

11.1. Description and costs

11.2. Additional optional information about consulting firm products and services not covered in other sections of the proposal such as awards, newsletters, documentation, etc

11.3. The financial proposal to be provided should be exclusive of any form of taxes or charges to be imposed by the Government of Malawi or the local government of the bidder in COMESA Member States.

F. CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS

12. Bidders must provide both Technical and Financial proposals. The evaluation shall be based on the following attributes:

12.1 Quality of the proposed approach to the project

12.2 Specific experience of the consulting firmrelated to the project

12.2.1 Experience in Quality Assurance for the system implementation.

12.2.2 Provide evidence through recommendation letters, contracts or Local Purchase Order from at least two client references on quality assurance assignments and IT project management.

12.3 Qualifications and competence of the key staff at least Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management or Information Systems or related field (attach copy of certificate)

12.4 At least 10 years of experience in Database Management, Database and Network Security.

12.5 At least 10 years of experience of the key staff in managing System implementation projects, supervision and quality assurance. Must provide evidence through recommendation letters of assignment of a similar nature.

12.6 Experience in designing, planning and implementing knowledge-related initiatives and executing/facilitating programs involving knowledge management or learning. Must provide evidence through recommendation letters (at least four (4) referees).

12.7 Experience in Process flow management system

12.8 Methodology of implementing the assignment to achieve the desired objectives.

12.9 Interpretation of consulting firm understanding of the scope of work

12.10 Technical ability to perform the required services with demonstrated experience of successful delivery of task of similar nature with regional or international organization.

12.11 The experience and reputation of the proposer as represented in the response and the quality of the references.

12.12 Composition of the proposed team with CVs of team members.

12.13 Cost of services. Fees and expenses will be a particularly important factor when all other evaluation criteria are relatively equal; and

12.14 Knowledge and experience in provision of Quality Assurance consultancy services to Competition Authorities.

13. The Technical proposal will be assigned a weight of 80% and the financial proposal will be weighted at 20%

13.1. The evaluation criteria shall be as follows