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UNICEF seeks outside help for mobile strategy

UNICEF has put out a call for a mobile marketing firm or individual to help the UN agency map out its mobile strategy.

The request for quotation was made Oct. 27 with a link to a publicly available document outlining how the mobile vendor will meet each of nine deliverables that UNICEF?s headquarters in New York requires. Candidates have until Nov. 6 to respond to the UNICEF request for questions.

?UNICEF has a potential requirement for a consulting firm/individual to develop an overall internal and external mapping of the mobile telecom industry and recommendations to contribute to UNICEF?s strategic direction and organizational framework required to engage mobile technology as per the technical specifications outlined in 2(d) and 2(f),? said Erica Kochi at UNICEF?s youth section within the division of communication in New York in an email to an undisclosed list.

UNICEF is the world?s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries. The organization supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation and AIDS. 

Operating in 150 countries, UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Reproduced below is the request for quotation. Spelling has not been adapted to U.S. English.


Date: 27 October 2009
 
From: Erica Kochi,
UNICEF Young People, DOC
 
Subject: REQUEST FOR QUOTATION: RFQ/Youth Section-002
           
UNICEF is seeking to engage a consulting firm/individual with extensive experience in technology and its applications in providing solutions to support social development.
 
1.            UNICEF has a potential requirement for a consulting firm/individual to develop an overall internal and external mapping of the mobile telecom industry and recommendations to contribute to UNICEF?s strategic direction and organizational framework required to engage mobile technology as per the technical specifications outlined in 2(d) and 2(f). Key to responding to this RFQ is a brief (few sentence) narrative description of how each of the 9 key deliverables will be met. This document and responses to questions received is publicly viewable at: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dz882r4_12ft7np4gr
 
2.              Please advise as to:
(a)            Daily and/or hourly rate and total price in USD, services should be provided at the UNICEF Headquarters in New York, New York. Note that failure to quote in USD currency will invalidate your offer.
 
(b)            Services will be required for approximately 50 working days or 2 1/2 months.
 
(c)            A full day consists of 8 hours.
 
(d)            Specific services may include:
 
Background  
UNICEF has had extensive experience, though on a country-by-country basis, with mobile technology. We have used it for advocacy, fundraising, engagement of young people and also for gathering realtime data. What we have not done, yet, is explore how these various projects at country level connect at the global scale that our organization works at.
 
Many of the recent innovations in monitoring, evaluation, information gathering and their linkages to programme and supply functions revolve around the possibility of using mobile technology. We are looking to consolidate this knowledge and create the basis of a framework for engagement with mobile technologists.
 
In order to effectively coordinate these activities from an HQ level, UNICEF is seeking a consultant or firm to present a
1.     Mappings of various mobile phone service provider activities from a business point of view (their presence in countries, strategic alignments etc.)
2.     A landscape analysis of UNICEF?s mobile engagements to date,
3.     recommendations for strategic engagement at a global, regional and country level presented to key stakeholders
 
Key tasks
Applying various approaches including interviews, desk research, surveys etc., work with key UNICEF stakeholders including Private Fundraising & Partnerships, Programme Division, Division of Communication and Supply Division, select regional and country offices and others to:

? External Mapping (1, above) -- Oversee a Mapping Exercise of:
o  Analysis of current trends in the communications, datacomm, Internet and information technology markets at regional levels; analyzing regional trends and feature operators whose operations span the region or multiple regions corporations, industries and groupings actively involved in the areas of priority and those that need to be targeted by UNICEF
o country-by-country application environment and the relationships between these applications and the network providers; (this would be a live listing of what is ?out there? and can easily be used, and where there are gaps.
o network of external technical resources to assist UNICEF in the development and implementation of mobile opportunities, including learning and training opportunities and facilitates inter-office technical support where feasible
o Input from private sector: what is the future for development / children (interviews with thought leaders from private sector
o Matrix of mobile costings and services

? Global database of mobile costings and services, that mobile providers can update as needed, and that UNICEF can look at a global level to ensure coherence across country and regional programmes.
o Deeper dives into work that these providers are doing in the area of advancing development work and presentation of projects that are in UNICEF?s key areas of work (protection, health, education etc.)

? Internal Mapping (engagements to date, #2, above)
o Areas of current engagement (how exactly have mobile providers worked with, or offered to work with UNICEF)
o Overview of projects to date
o Larger, thematic strategies, if any (does UNICEF have regional or global partnerships already in place that can be leveraged for more developed collaboration)
o Opportunities, looking forward, for scaling existing methodologies (have there been specific, pilot-type engagements that could be expanded)
o How has UNICEF negotiated with mobile providers at CO, RO and gobal level

? Recommendations to UNICEF stakeholders about the current landscape, and how to proceed in a way that most supports UNICEF core activities.

Deliverables:
Work with UNICEF Innovations Unit to develop outputs that are not simply written paper documents, but have more ?life? in them. This could be expressed through maps, models, wiki pages, etc. After some of these forms are brainstormed / agreed upon, consultant will be responsible for producing these types of communication ? i.e. this is not about static reports on printed paper (only) but also about living documents, maps, various views of data, and innovative methods of knowledge sharing. It is expected that the consultant or firm will work closely with UNICEF during this time to identify striking and helpful modes of presentation.
 
Deliverables would be open sourced and licensed as creative content, except key items which pertain to UNICEF internal strategy, which would eventually be licensed as such, where appropriate.
1.     Mapping of External Activities (document + method for updation/input)
2.     Mapping of UNICEF internal mobile technologies engagements (document + method for updation/input)
3.     Deeper dive document highlighting key findings on where mobile providers are working in the world of advancing development (i.e. projects or philosophies that are concordant with UNICEF?s)
4.     Presentation to UNICEF key stakeholders
5.     Presentation for UNICEF to give as overview to other partners
6.     Database of information (live) produced in above (hosted externally for 1 year)
7.     Visualizations of 5) (database) including maps, graphs, etc.
8.     Recommendations for where this information should live eventually (intranet/internet etc.)
9.     Ongoing blog posts to provide updating to the general public on this project.
 
(e)            Validity of your offer ? not less than 30 days.
 
(f)            To fulfil these services UNICEF requires:
 
 
It is required that the consulting firm/individual possess extensive experience in technology and its applications in providing solutions to support social development. Direct expertise related to the mobile technology sector is essential. It would be desirable if the firm/individual have experience with evaluation and experience working on projects involving multiple stakeholders. The consulting firm/individual must show demonstrated ability to work in mobile/development field as well as demonstrated ability to work on projects at global scale
 
(g)            UNICEF?s General Terms and Conditions are attached; please indicate any discount is offered by you: ___________________________________.
 
3.              We request your price quotation and additional details as outlined, on or before close of business Friday 6 November 2009. We appreciate that the response time is very short, and thank you in advance for your assistance in meeting this deadline. Key to responding to this RFQ is a brief (few sentence) narrative description of how each of the 9 key deliverables will be met.
 
4.              Responses should be sent by email to with the subject UNICEF MOBILE RFQ.
 
5.              UNICEF?s General Terms and Conditions (see attached) apply to any potential purchase order resulting from this Request for Quotation.
 
Kind regards, 
  
 

_______________________________________
Erica Kochi
Youth Section, Division of Communication  
 
Please see attached Terms of Reference for Contractors
 
_______________________________________

Response to questions as they come in:

What is our timeframe?
The majority of the work needs to happen in 2009, however can extend in to 2010. We would like to be very much part of the whole process and expect that the individual or group will work closely with us and other parts of UNICEF.

What is our budget?
We are waiting to see what the proposals suggest. This could be either a group of people (company/consortium) or an individual who is working full time on this

Would you be open to a consortium group, one where we pick a primary product/contractor and then have separate groups work on different parts, with the primary team pulling all the parts together?
We would like proposals from individuals or companies/ngos. Your plan of how you would like to work should come across in your proposal.

The RfQ states that "services should be provided at the UNICEF Headquarters in New York, New York".  Is there a preference for NYC-based firms/consultants?  Are you open to some work being performed off-site? 
We are open to some of the work being conducted off site[;] however [we] would expect (especially in the beginning) that the firm/individual spend a sizable amount of time working with the team in New York.

The RfQ mentions that a Terms and Conditions for contractors is attached but I don't see it.  Could you please attach it?
Terms and conditions can be found here: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dvkh9gz_33fdnmnpdp

Please click here to view the document online.