The Institute for Health Measurement (IHM) Southern Africa
RFP No: RFP-2022-08-026
Issue Date: 30 August 2022
Application Due Date & Time: 06 September 2022 at 17:00HRS
Description: Supply of IT equipment (Workstation Laptops, Servers, Tablets)
Requesting Unit/Department: IT Department
Funded by:CDC under the SCHISS Project
Type of Award: Blanket Purchase Order
This award will be made to bidders whose proposals meet all the requirements including terms documented in this RFP. IHM will consider bids that are technically sound, offer the best price and also cover any other requirements in the RFP.
Point of Contact Email: [email protected]
1. Purpose
Institute for Health Measurements (IHM) in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Zambian Ministry of Health, is mandated to roll-out SmartCare+ to health facilities across all 10 Zambian provinces. As part of this work, IHM is responsible for ensuring facilities have the required IT infrastructure in place in order to effectively use the SmartCare+ information system. As such, IHM is inviting proposals from reputable IT vendors with the capacity to provide large volumes of such IT supplies at competitive prices.
2. Scope of Work
IHM is seeking to sign a Blanket Purchase Order (BPO) agreement with an IT vendor capable of providing the items below, as well as safely storing such equipment on behalf of IHM, with IHM being able to quickly collect required stock as it seeks to deploy to specific health facilities.
The BPO will identify the vendor as the preferred provider for the items listed below for a period of 3 years for a maximum cap (quantity per item). The vendor will need to propose not only their initial pricing for each of the items listed below, but also maximum cost escalations, as well as when they would come into effect each year.
Furthermore, IHM then intends to place large orders on regular intervals with upfront payment. The vendor is then expected to source the items below and confirm that they are in stock at their facilities and reserved for IHM’s use. Such stock should not be made available to other clients under any circumstances. IHM will then draw down on that stock based on its programmatic needs, before placing further orders. This draw-down may take a number of weeks to months, and therefore the vendor must provide IHM with assurances that the assets will be fully safeguarded and insured, such that if an unforeseen event were to occur, the items would be covered. The risk of asset safekeeping will therefore be fully on the selected vendor. IHM is therefore of the understanding that this will be priced into the items’ unit costs. It must be clear that IHM cannot provide a definitive time in terms of how long the items will be under the vendor’s care.
Below are the items required, as well as the quantities expected to be ordered and paid for in the initial order (this is subject to change). The BPO issued will cover much higher quantities, as it is intended to cover a 3-year period. Nevertheless, the quantities below should be used for quoting, in order to enable comparison across applicants:
1. WORKSTATION LAPTOPS SPECIFICATIONS:
Quantity required: 300
Processor: Core i3
RAM: 4GB
Hard drive: 256GB SSD
OS: Ubuntu (can be installed by IHM, therefore laptop does not need to
come with OS)
Acceptable Brands: HP, Dell, Lenovo
2. SERVER SPECIFICATIONS:
Quantity required: 20
Processor: Intel Xeon E-2224 3.4GHz, 8M cache, 4C/4T, turbo (71W)
Memory Capacity: 2X 16GB UDIMM, 3200MT/s, ECC
Controller: Embedded SATA for SATA HDDs or SATA SSDs (Mixed Drive Types
Allowed)
Hard Drives: 1TB 7.2K RPM SATA 6Gbps 512n 3.5in Cabled Hard Drive
Card Reader: ISDM and Combo Card Reader with 16GB VFlash SD
SD Card: 16GB micro SDHC/SDXC Card
Form Factor: Tower
Acceptable Brands: HP, Dell
3. TABLETS SPECIFICATIONS
Quantity required: 100
Samsung Galaxy Tab Active 2 8″ Ruggedized Tablet Wi-Fi 16GB
Additional Notes
- Specifications of goods provided should be exact with no deviations. IHM is seeking the lowest cost possible, while meeting the specifications above.
- Warranty period of at least 1 year for the equipment supplied. The warranty should become effective from when IHM collects the item.
- Cost per item is a significant consideration due to the volumes which will be procured over the 3-year period. Refer to the evaluation criteria for weighting towards cost competitiveness
3. Proposal Submission Guidelines
The following 4 documents must be provided to be considered for this opportunity:
1)MS Word Proposal following the section lay-out below:
- General Company background
- Showing in business for a minimum of 5 years
- Evidence of supplying and delivering similar products in Zambia
- Storage and Insurance of the equipment
- Demonstrable capacity to store items for undetermined periods of time
- Statement on insurance provided on items
- Statement on warranty of each product
- Costing
- Current unit costs which will be charged for items (all insurance and storage costs must be built into the items’ unit costs)
- Statement on cost increases (i.e., when will cost increases be effected each year and what percentage increase can the vendor comfortably commit to and cap increases to)
2) Comparative Quotes on an official Company Letterhead. Quote must contain the following key elements
- Pricing should be detailed, showing Quantities and Unit Costs for each line item
- Quote should be valid for 30 days minimum.
3) Certificate of Incorporation showing the company has been in business for a minimum of 5 years
4) Valid Tax clearance certificate
4.Proposal Evaluation Process
Proposals received will undergo a multi-tiered evaluation process as follows:
4.1 Compliance Stage:
The proposals received will undergo a compliance review before being forwarded for technical evaluation by a selection committee. Failure to adhere to the following compliance criteria may result in disqualification:
Compliance Criteria Yes / No
No more than specified 4 electronic documents submitted
All 4 documents requested are submitted
Submitted by stated deadline
Proposal submission aligns to the proposed outline and covers all requested sections
Company has been in business for at least 5 years, and this is evidenced in the certificate of incorporation
Company has provided evidence of providing similar IT equipment in Zambia
Quote is fully itemized and shows both quantities and unit cost
4.2 Initial Technical Evaluation Stage:
Following the compliance review, compliant applications will be forwarded to the technical review selection committee. The selection committee reserves the right not to accept the lowest bid, as the elements listed in the evaluation matrix below will play a major role when evaluating proposals. In order to ensure meaningful participation and effective comparison, prospective vendors are requested to furnish detailed information in substantiation of compliance to the technical evaluation criteria:
Element /Range
Profile and reputability of the vendor within the sector (0-20)
Capacity to Store and Insure Items on behalf of IHM (0-30)
Cost Competitiveness on items (0-50)
Total (0-100)
5. Question and Answers
IHM will not be receiving any questions, nor providing any answers in relation to this RFP. Prospective applicants must make use of the information in this RFP to provide the best possible proposal and quote.
6. Proposal Submission Process
All proposals should be submitted by email to the IHM point of contact by the stated deadline. Late submissions will not be considered. Please ensure the subject line states “Proposal | Supply and delivery of IT equipment”
IHM is not responsible for late submissions or non-submission due to technical or IT problems. Prospective applicants are responsible for ensuring that their proposals are received by the IHM email address by the stated due date and time. Applicants are encouraged to keep a delivery and read receipt as evidence that their submissions have been made on time. Applicants are also encouraged to submit within sufficient time to deal with any unforeseen problems they may encounter.
7. Standard Terms and Conditions
The following terms and conditions apply to this RFP and any resulting award:
- Pricing must remain valid for not less than thirty (30) calendar days after the application submission deadline.
- Issuance of this RFP does not in any way obligate IHM, the SCHISS project, or CDC to make an award or pay for costs incurred by potential applicants in the preparation and submission of an application.
- This solicitation is subject to IHM standard terms and conditions. Any resultant award will be governed by these terms and conditions; a copy of the full terms and conditions is available upon request. IHM reserves the right to cancel this RFP at any time for any reason it may deem necessary.
- IHM standard payment terms are net 30 days after receipt and acceptance of any commodities or deliverables. Payment will only be issued to the entity submitting the application in response to this RFP and identified in the resulting award; payment will not be issued to a third party.
- United States law prohibits transactions with, and the provision of resources and support to, individuals and organizations associated with terrorism. The supplier under any agreement resulting from this RFP must ensure compliance with these laws.
- The applicant understands that CDC is not a party to this solicitation and the applicant agrees that any protest hereunder must be presented—in writing with full explanations—to the IHM for consideration, as CDC will not consider protests regarding procurements carried out by implementing partners. IHM, at its sole discretion, will make a final decision on the protest for this procurement.
- By submitting and quotation in response to this RFP, the vendor certifies that it and its principal officers are not debarred, suspended, or otherwise considered ineligible for an award financed by the U.S. Government. IHM will not award a contract to any firm that is debarred, suspended, or considered to be ineligible by the U.S. Government.
- IHM and CDC reserve the right to all intellectual property and product ownership upon the termination or completion of work, unless clearly specified otherwise by the applicant in their proposal.
ETHICAL AND BUSINESS CONDUCTS REQUIREMENTS
IHM Southern Africa is committed to integrity in procurement, and only selects suppliers based on objective business criteria such as price and merit. IHM expects suppliers to comply with our standards terms and conditions. IHM does not tolerate fraud, collusion among applicants, or falsified proposals or bids. Any firm or individual violating these standards will be disqualified from this procurement and barred from future procurement opportunities. In addition, IHM will inform CDC of any supplier offers of money, commissions, or gifts to obtain business.
Employees and agents of IHM are strictly prohibited from asking for or accepting any money, fee, commission, credit, gift, gratuity, or object of value from current or potential vendors or suppliers in exchange for or as a reward for business. Applicants responding to this RFQ must disclose and include the following information as part of the proposal submission:
- Close, familial, or financial relationships with IHM or activity staff. For example, if an applicant’s cousin is employed by the activity, the applicant must state this.
- Disclose any family or financial relationship with other applicants submitting proposals. For example, if the applicant’s father owns a company that is submitting another proposal, the applicant must state this.
- Certify that the prices in the offer have been arrived at independently, without any consultation, communication, or agreement with any other applicant or competitor for the purpose of restricting competition.
- Certify that all information in the proposal and all supporting documentation are authentic and accurate
- Certify understanding and agreement to NAME OF SUBCONTRACTOR’ prohibitions against fraud, bribery and kickbacks.