• Contracting Authority – SPARK

SPARK supports higher education and entrepreneurship to empower young, ambitious people to lead their fragile and conflict-affected societies into prosperity. SPARK is a dynamic and growing, international not-for-profit development organisation with 100+ staff members, in more than 14 offices around the world.

SPARK supports refugees in the Middle East by providing them with scholarships in universities and higher education institutions in the region. SPARK also supports young entrepreneurs in fragile states, to start or grow their own businesses.

• Summary 

SPARK with the support of the European Commission is looking for a service provider who can support on the implementation of the capacity building component under SPARK’s ‘From Innovation to Creation’ programme. The programme aims to strengthen innovation through supporting cluster cooperation and start-up ecosystems in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia. This is achieved through strengthening the supportive eco-system for start-ups, support for start-ups to scale and enhancing the start-up environment through advocacy and regional exchange.

The services to be provided fall under the first component and focus on providing tailored capacity building support to Business Support Organisations in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia. This support should build on the outcomes of the capacity assessments developed under the programme during the course of 2023, and should include the drafting of tailored capacity building support plans and the implementation of these plans. 

To increase the impact of the services, the support should be tailored to the capacity needs of the Business Support Organisations. During the first phase of the capacity building, the capacities of the programme partners (local Business Support Organisations) have been assessed individually on a wide range of organisational pillars. The requested services include the writing of a tailored support plan for each organization, based on the assessments, as well as the provision of the outlined support. The areas that the capacity building should focus on include, but are not limited to, organisational management and sustainability, operations, networking and advocacy.

• Expected activities and services

• Expand on the previously conducted capacity assessments to develop tailored capacity development plans for up to 30 Business Support Organizations;
• Develop and implement training and mentoring activities to Business Support Organisations in key capacity building areas identified in the capacity building plans;
• Support network building and partner linkages to foster meaningful relations between partner organizations to further strengthen capacities and network;
• Support network building and linkages to foster meaningful relations between Business Support Organisations and with other start-up ecosystem stakeholders. Additional networking opportunities and exchange of best practices with stakeholders located in the European Union and/or Southern Neighbourhood ecosystems are considered an asset;
• Design a new quantitative tool to measure the improvement in the capacities of the Business Support Organisations in the target countries;
• Using the developed tool, conduct capacity assessments for selected partners (up to 30 Business Support Organisations) after finalizing the support and report quantifiable results in a capacity report for each supported organisation;
• Deliver monthly progress reports and a comprehensive final report including results, outcomes impact measurement and tangible recommendations for further implementation. 

• Outputs and deliverables

The above-mentioned activities should result in the following outputs:

1. Tailored capacity building plan for up to 30 Business Support Organisations;

• Indicator 1: # of tailored capacity building plans drafted

1. Tailored capacity building support for up to 30 Business Support Organisations;

• Indicator 2: # of Business Support Organisations provided with tailored capacity building support

1. A minimum number of 8 training/coaching hours per organisation, with additional hours depending on the organisational capacity needs;

• Indicator 3a: # of training/coaching hours per organisation
• Indicator 3b: # of BSO staff members who participated in training

1. A quantitative tool to measure the capacity level of a Business Support Organisation;

• Indicator 3: # of quantitative capacity measurement tools developed

1. Capacity level reports for up to 30 Business Support Organisations;

• Indicator 4: # of capacity level reports 

1. Monthly progress reports and a final report.

Please kindly note that the list of outputs is not exhaustive and will be complemented based on the activities outlined in the service provider’s proposal.

• Criteria for Submitting a Bid

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

1. Be legally registered; 
2. Be financially sound and have financial continuity throughout the project;
3. Experience in conductions similar activities in MENA Region;
4. Has a strong network amongst entrepreneurship stakeholders and support organizations in the MENA region and EU;
5. Has an entrepreneurial background and good knowledge of entrepreneurship support programmes and organizations in the MENA region/or have team members with relevant background;
6. Able to deliver on mentioned targets and results by implementing the activities in all countries;
7. Deliver tangible and efficient results;
8. Be able to efficiently budget and contribute to the success of the activities.
9. Be able to implement both phase 2 and 3 together. Offers submitted only for one phase will not be accepted.

• Selection and Evaluation Criteria

SPARK is committed to conducting a fair and transparent proposal process, as well as ensuring that all bidders are treated and evaluated equally throughout the proposal process. Bidder responses will be weighted in two categories: Technical and financial criteria and sub-criteria.

1. Essential Criteria (Exclusion if not met)
   1. Possess legitimate business premises;
   2. Registered for trading and tax;
   3. Not a banned party or on any government blacklists.

1. Technical Proposal (70%)

1. Capacity building methodology (20%)
2. Track record of similar projects (10%)
3. Demonstrated experience in training and coaching (10%)
4. Knowledge of SME/Start-up support structures (10%)
5. Access to relevant subject matter experts (10%)
6. CVs of project management team, experts, and trainers (10%)

1. Financial Proposal (30%)

Criterion will obtain between 0 and 5-point, 5 points being the maximum, 0 points the minimum and the points obtained will be multiplied by criterion weight. An analysis will include assessing the proposals’ methodology, expertise, background, etc.

SPARK expert evaluation committee will assign up to 5 points for the best quality of the sample, based on the following evaluation grid:

Those bidders who get less than 3 for the capacity of the bidder shall not be accepted or considered and their offer will be rejected.

For each bid, points from all evaluation criteria will be added up and the winning bid will be the bid with the highest number of points. In case of equal number of points, the winning bid will be the one with the lowest price. However, SPARK retains the right to select any bidder who they deem as most suitable to produce the highest quality deliverables within a reasonable budget.

• Application Details

We are looking for a service provider who:

1. Is competitive budget-wise and can contribute to the success of the activities;
2. Ensures visibility and branding for the activities, participants, SPARK, and the back donor in line with provided visibility guidelines;
3. Has a reasonable experience in the field of organizational capacity building; 
4. Has a good understanding of entrepreneurship support structures in the MENA region;
5. Has a strong network amongst business support organizations in the MENA region.   

• Required documents:

1. 1. Technical proposal with clear methodology written in English;
   2. Clear Budget breakdown in EUR for each category (including VAT and all relevant taxes), i.e., covering activities, communications efforts, administrative fees and staff hours;
   3. Activity time frame;
   4. A sample of CV’s of the core staff attributed to the assignment;
   5. Due diligence documents
      • At least 3 references from previous work projects including contact information (organizational contact information)
      • Signed contracts for similar work within the last three years; indicating description of contract scope, contract duration, and contract value
      • Recommendation letters or any other form of documentation proving completion of previously undertaken work within the last three years.
   6. Documents supporting the Eligibility Criteria
      • Legal Business Registration
      • Latest Tax Registration/Clearness Certificate