Request For Applications for : Development of E-Learning Platform – American Bar Association عودة إلى الفرص

Bid Timetable

The ABA will make every effort to adhere to the following schedule (all deadlines are 17:00
Tunisia):

1.0 General Information

1.1 Purpose. This request for proposal (RFP) provides to those interested in submitting proposals (“Bidders”) sufficient information to enable them to prepare and submit proposals for The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative Tunisia office.
Bidders should be legally registered associations and institutions.
1.2 Issuing Department. The American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative Tunisia office has issued this RFP on behalf of the American Bar Association. The point of contact in the ABA for the RFP shall be, the issuing employees for this RFP, Montassar Ben Slimane, montassar.benslimane@abaroli.org. and Marco Soliman, marco.soliman@abaroli.org.
1.3 Program Deliverables: ABA ROLI will support the “Ordre National Des Avocats De Tunisie” (ONAT) efforts to build a platform to provide online training and seminars for lawyers.

1.4 Type of Contract. The contract must comply with the ABA Contract Policy and  will be reviewed by the ABA’s General Counsel’s Office. ABA entities do not have  separate legal standing to enter into oral or written contracts in their own names.  All contracts are entered into on behalf of the American Bar Association. The  issuing department, in its sole discretion, may undertake negotiations with Bidders  whose proposal, in the judgement of the issuing department, show them to be  qualified, responsible and capable of performing the project or providing the goods.  Only staff members authorized by the ABA Executive Director and Chief  Operating Officer have authority to execute contractual agreements on behalf of the  ABA.

1.5 Rejection of Proposals. The issuing employee reserves the right, in their sole and  complete discretion, to reject any proposal received as a result of this RFP.

1.6 Incurring of Costs. The ABA is not liable for any costs the Bidder incurs in  preparation and submission of its proposal, in participating in the RFP process or  in anticipation of the award of the contract. 

1.7 Questions and Answers. If a Bidder has any questions regarding this RFP, the  Bidder must submit the questions by email to the issuing employee named in  Section 1.2 of the RFP. If the Bidder has questions, they must be submitted via  email no later than the date indicated on the Bid Timetable. The Bidder shall not  attempt to contact the issuing employee by any other means. All questions and all  answers will be provided to all Bidders by the deadline date indicated on the Bid  Timetable. 

1.8 Response Date. To be considered for selection, electronic submission must arrive  to the issuing employee on the date specified in the Bid Timetable. 

1.9 Proposals. To be considered, Bidders should submit a complete response to this  RFP, using the format provided in Section 2.0, providing an electronic copy in PDF  format to the issuing employee. The Bidder shall make no other distribution of its  proposal to any other Bidder or ABA employee or ABA consultant. An official  authorized to bind the Bidder to its provisions must sign the proposal in Appendix  A. For this RFP, the proposal must remain valid until a contract is fully executed.  If the issuing employee selects the Bidder’s proposal for award, the contents of the selected Bidder’s proposal will become, except to the extent the contents are  changed through Best and Final Offers or negotiations, contractual obligations.

1.10 Discussions for Clarification. Bidders may be required to make an oral or written  clarification to their proposals to the issuing employee to ensure thorough mutual  understanding and Bidder responsiveness to the solicitation requirements. The  issuing employee will initiate requests for clarification. 

1.11 Prime Contractor Responsibilities. The contract will require the selected Bidder  to assume responsibility for all services offered in its proposal whether it produces  them itself or by subcontract. The issuing employee will consider the selected  Bidder to be the sole point of contact with regard to contractual matters. 

1.12 Proposal Contents. Bidders should not label proposal submissions as confidential  or proprietary. The issuing employee will hold all proposals in confidence and will  not reveal or discuss any proposal with competitors for the contract, unless  disclosure is required: 

1. Under the provisions of any State or United States statute or regulation; or b. By rule or order of any court of competent jurisdiction. 

All material submitted with the proposal becomes the property of the ABA and may  be returned only at the issuing employee’s option. The issuing employee, in its sole  discretion, may include any person other than competing Bidders on its proposal  evaluation committee. The issuing employee has the right to use any or all ideas  presented in any proposal regardless of whether the proposal becomes part of a  contract. 

1.13 Best and Final Offers. The issuing employee reserves the right to conduct  discussions with Bidders for obtaining “best and final offers.” To obtain best and  final offers from Bidders, the issuing department may do one or more of the  following: enter into pre-selection negotiations; schedule oral presentations; and  request revised proposals. 

1.14 Term of Contract. The term of the contract will commence on the Effective Date  and will end May 30, 2021. The Effective Date will be February 26, 2021 or the  date of countersignature, whichever is later. The selected Bidder shall not start the  performance of any work prior to the effective date of the contract and the ABA  shall not be liable to pay the selected Bidder for any service or work performed or  expenses incurred before the effective date of the contract. The contract is not  considered approved until the terms have been reviewed and approved by the Office  of General Counsel. An “American Bar Association Office of General Counsel”  approval seal will appear on the contract with the signature of the attorney  approving the terms of the contract. 

1.15 Use of Electronic Versions of this RFP. This RFP is being made available by  electronic means. If a Bidder electronically accepts the RFP, the Bidder  acknowledges and accepts full responsibility to ensure that no changes are made to  the RFP. 

2.0 Proposal Requirements

2.1 Statement of the Services. Briefly state your understanding of the services  required by the RFP. Include a high-level management summary of how your  company will effectively satisfy the services required.  

2.2 Proposed Approach. Describe your approach in detail for accomplishing the work  as specified in Section 3.0 of this document.  

2.3 Price Submittal. Bidders must not include any assumptions in their price  submittals. If the Bidder includes assumptions in its price submittal, the issuing  employee may reject the proposal. All prices must be included so that the total  spending required by the ABA is clearly defined. 

3.0 Criteria for Selection 

3.1 Mandatory Response Requirements. To be eligible for selection, a proposal  must: 

1. Be received according to the dates set in the Bid Timetable; 
2. Be properly signed by a representative of the Bidder who is eligible to bind  them in contract with the ABA; 
3. Be in accordance with all instructions as set forth herein. 

3.2 Technically Nonconforming Proposals. The issuing employee reserves the right,  in its sole discretion, to waive technical or immaterial nonconformities in a Bidder’s  proposal. 

3.3 Criteria for Selection. The following criteria will be used, in no particular order,  in evaluating each proposal: 

4. Planned approach to accomplish the project objective in accordance  with Section 4.0 of this RFP; Bidder’s will be evaluated on the  

understanding of the needs of ABA ROLI for the creation of this e 

learning course and platform for hosting. 

1. Experience managing similar projects: Bidders will be evaluated  based on previous work of developing e-learning courses (including  

those in Arabic). This criterion also covers quality of previous work as  

per references and feedback from references. 

1. Timeline: This will include evaluation of the Bidder’s capacity to begin  work in June and timeline for effective implementation before the end of  the project on July 31.

1. Price: Bidders shall be evaluated based on the cost effectiveness of the  budget.  

4.0 Specifications and Work Statement 

4.1 Objective: To develop a online platform as part of the ONAT website to provide  trainings materials, laws and other educational materials for Tunisian lawyers.  Estimated traffic to the platform is 5000+ visitors per month.  

4.2 Specifications: The key specifications for the development of online platform shall  include: 

• Development of online platform with both Arabic and French interfaces

• Platform should include the ability to upload and download online courses,  videos and other materials including PDFs, PowerPoints, and word  documents. 
• Online courses should be able to be made interactive, and should close with  multiple choice quizzes for each module, and include a completion  certificate. 
• Should include pop-up buttons/boxes that show definitions of the legal  terms or include explanatory notes 
• Should include ability to link to internal or external resources (e.g. websites,  embedded PDF documents, videos, etc.) 
• Should include text boxes for learners to reflect on lessons and provide  feedback 
• Should use attractive and innovative media and design (e.g. animation,  graphics, etc) to engage learners and support knowledge acquisition
• ● Interface should be user-friendly and include navigational elements that are  user friendly this includes: 

o Navigation buttons and easy functional links;  

o Search function availability;  

o The user should be able to stop the course at any time and restart  from the same point;  

o Users should know where they are in the course and can move easily  within and between modules 

o Note approximate time used to complete the modules 

o Accessible for users with low bandwidth  

• Platform should be mobile compatible  
• Contractor should implement appropriate technical measures to ensure  platform security including, but not limited to, SSL connection. 
• ● Bearing in mind the low internet connectivity of some target users, propose  an offline solution (e.g.possibility to download the course into a computer  (windows, mac or linux) or flash drive or install the same in an android or  a mac device to use it in an offline mode). 
• Contractor should provide hosting for platform 

o Platform may be hosted on separate website or on a current website  of ABA ROLI’s local partner; course should integrated through the  partners’ website if possible 

o Where possible, open source platforms should be utilized to ensure  smooth handover to ABA ROLI partners. 

• Contractor Should include maintenance and user support for one year.
• ● Should include customized registration page to allow users to register o Should have option to disable registration and pre-generate a list of  username and passwords 
• Course and materials will be owned by ABA ROLI’s Tunisian local  partners, and ABA ROLI and partners should have the ability to do the  following: 

o View the list of registered users 

o Track individual learners’ use of the course, progress made, and quiz  

scores, provide checks to ensure proper usage  

o Survey course learners to provide feedback on the course. 

o Generate certificates evidencing course completion. 

o Analytics of Usage 

o Other materials, to be further identified. 

• Pilot delivery and review: The contractor will be expected to be available  for the first pilot delivery of the platform and subsequent  

review/enhancement of the modules based on user feedback. 

• Additional information/technical details recommended by the contractor  are welcome. 

The contractor proposed approach to accomplishing the above scope of work must be clearly detailed in the Response to this RFP. Bidders should provide a narrative proposal, per  Appendix B, that provides detailed descriptions of the following: 

4.3 Organizational Capacity Statement: Bidders should describe their background  and mandate of the organization. They would also describe their organizational  capacity to carry out the work in this RFP. This should include a detailed  description of the capacity to develop the course and highlight previous experience  in carrying out similar work.  

4.4 Approach: The proposal shall provide an overall approach that includes effective  development of the course modules.  

4.5 Timeline: The Bidder must submit a timeline in the proposal detailing plans for  implementation. 

4.6 Budget: The Bidder must provide a line-item budget for all activities under this  program. The estimated budget shall be between 35,000 – 50,000 TND. Budgets  shall not exceed 50,000 TND (including all taxes). 

4.7 References: The Bidder must provide three (3) references who can attest to the  success of previous work. 

Appendix A – Bidder Response Sheet 

Failure to complete, sign and return this form with the bidder’s proposal may result in the rejection  of the bidder’s proposal.

Appendix B – Proposal Template 

Organizational Background and Capacity Statement:  

Bidders should provide background on the organization and detailed description of its capacity to  carry out the work in this RFP. This should include a detailed description of past experience in  carrying out similar work.  

Approach:  

The proposal shall include detailed description of an overall approach of the work, including key  steps to be taken (i.e. kick off, feedback meetings, launch of course). The proposal should include  a demonstrated understanding of the objectives of the work. 

Timeline:  

The Bidder must submit a timeline in the proposal showing the time required to carry out  development of course. 

References:  

The Bidder must provide at least three (3) references who can attest to the success of previous  work, preferably those who can speak to previous activities conducted in Tunisia.  

Please provide links to the past courses that have been developed. 

Financial Proposal: 

Please provide a quote for the development of the course, as well as hosting.