RFP-A2F-2023-SPARK

RFP-A2F-2023-SPARK

Access to Finance

Contracting Authority Stichting SPARK

Project Name Access to Finance

Activity Name: Supporting high-growth SME’s access to finances to expand their growth-oriented SMEs

Location: Amman, Jordan

Date of advertisement August 15, 2023

**Application Deadline:**August 31, 2023 (18:00 Local Time)

Questions and Answers (Q&A)

Queries can be sent to tender_jordan@spark-online.org

Last Date for Questions and Answers (Q&A) August 27, 2023 (17:30 Local Time)

Expected Start Date: September 10, 2023

Duration of the activity: 6 months

Application Method

Proposals should be sent to tender_jordan@spark-online.org

1. Introduction/Background

SPARK is a not-for-profit, non-political NGO with headquarters in Amsterdam and field offices in South East Europe, Africa, and the MENA region.

SPARK develops 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 80+ 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.

SPARK’s Islamic Development Bank Supported Skills Training Education Programme- STEP overall objective is to contribute to increased resilience and poverty reduction of refugees and vulnerable members of the host communities in Jordan more specifically through increasing access to labor markets through curriculum support, business skill training and facilitating internships/ placement.

2. Project Objectives:

SPARK Jordan aims to design and provide technical leadership to activities that will support small and medium size enterprises (SME) in accessing and competing in domestic, regional, and international markets. Through its market-driven interventions the project will support growth towards employment opportunities and incentivize investment in business service provision and market infrastructure. Preference is given to those with previous private sector experience and advanced degrees. This position requires fluency in English and local and/or regional experience.

The main purpose of executing this notion is to build the capacity of SMEs to develop bankable applications for business loans and access short to long-term financing Compliant with Islamic financing law. As well as working with SMEs to ensure their compliance and quality of loan applications.

3. Scope of Services and Expected Results:

For this project, SPARK expects the below points to be delivered accordingly:

(i) Establish clear criteria for selecting and filtering participants (financial capacity, liquidity, cash flow, etc.)

(ii) Conduct offline and online outreach campaign in coordination with the SPARK communication team that targets potential businesses interested in receiving technical support. Additionally, SPARK is going to provide businesses that have received advanced business training and it is expected that they will be included to this programme.

(iii) Conduct 60 diagnostic assessments/audits per each company to assess their capacity to access credit.

(iv) Design training curriculum and coaching tools based on the identified needs based on the diagnostic assessments/audits

(v) Conduct access to finance readiness and legal capacity building training (maximum of 10 days) to 60 SPARK beneficiary companies to help them access financial instruments. Topics should include financial literacy, funding options for SMEs, loan applicants and documentation, risk management and financial planning, investment readiness, alternative financing, etc.

(vi) Support and provide technical assistance through one-on-one coaching (at least 10 hours per business) and training to 60 high growth SMEs on access to finance in order to expand their businesses

(vii) Provide with the required means of verifications as follows:

a. Minimum 60 of SMEs businesses matched with the financial investors

b. Minimum 60 of SMEs received advanced investment readiness training

(viii) Ensure at least 100 total jobs are either created or sustained/safeguarded by the end of the programme

Expected Results:

(i) At least 60 of SMEs businesses matched with the financial investors

(ii) At least 60 of SMEs received advanced investment readiness training

(iii) At least 100 total jobs are either created or sustained/safeguarded by the end of the programme

4. Deliverables:

1. Selection criteria/eligibility for participants

2. List of all businesses that apply to the project

a. Filtered list of businesses

3. Training curriculum and plan (including advanced investment readiness training)

4. Training report

5. Coaching reports per session per business (topics covered, planned courses of action, etc.)

6. Weekly progress reports

7. Final Narrative Report

5. Target Group:

The programme 60 home-based businesses and micro, small and medium enterprises, refugee youth (30%) as well as host community youth (70%), (50% being women) participation on Developing financial solutions for HBBs and SMEs to build their capacity for loans and access short to long-term financing and ensuring their compliance and quality of loan applications.

6. Data Availability

(i) Activity records and attendance sheets

(ii) Pre, post-tests, and training evaluation forms.

(iii) Explicit narrative reports for the activity

(iv) Data quality assurance and protection requirements

(v) Detailed timetable requirements

7. Criteria for Submitting a Bid

Eligible applicants operating in the public or the private sector on a profit-making or non-profit-making basis are welcome to submit a bid.

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

· Be legally registered and have actual operations in Jordan;

· Be directly responsible for the preparation/ management/implementation of the activities, i.e. not act as an intermediary; subcontracting is not acceptable. Applicants must submit a bid on their own being the mere implementing body.

· Be experienced and able to show that they have the capacity needed to manage the activities on the scale of the project in question;

· Experience working with international organizations

· Assign relevant professionals that will be assigned to follow up M&E and entering the data for SPARK’s internal system ( BTS)

· Be financially sound and have financial continuity throughout the contract;

· Deliver tangible and efficient results;

· The offeror must have a satisfactory record of performance and business ethics

· Proposals shall remain valid for period of (30) days from the closing date for the receipt of proposals as established by the selection committee.

8. 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)

1.1. Possess legitimate business premises.

1.2. Registered for trading and tax.

1.3. Banned party or on any government blacklists.

2. Technical Proposal (70%)

Technical Expertise and Previous Experience (55%)

1.1.1. Track record of similar projects (5%)

1.1.2. Demonstrated experience in training and coaching (5%)

1.1.3. Knowledge of SME’s access to finance, applying any financial incentives, etc. (10%)

1.1.4. Access to relevant subject matter experts (5%)

1.1.5. CVs of the project management team, experts, and trainers (15%)

1.1.6. Strategy of ensuring new markets and buyers is accessed (15%)

1.2. Selection and Outreach (15%)

1.2.1. Selection methodology, criteria, eligibility, etc. (10%)

1.2.2. Outreach methodology (5%)

3. Financial Proposal (30%)

Financial budget breakdown

Applicants whose proposal does not meet the minimum technical assessment criteria (40%) will not proceed to the financial evaluation phase.

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 an equal number of points, the winning bid will be the one with the lowest price. However, SPARK retains the right to select any bidder whom they deem as most suitable to produce the highest quality deliverables within a reasonable budget.

9. Required Documents

1. Technical and financial proposals in English (including a detailed budget breakdown per activity and a clear M&E Plan with activities, outputs, and outcomes)
2. Budget breakdown in JOD
3. Activity time frame.
4. A portfolio of the applicant in the relevant field with concrete achievements.
5. CVs of the project management team, experts, and trainers
6. Due diligence documents
   1. Three references from previous work projects including contact information (organizational contact information)
   2. Signed contracts for similar work within the last three years; indicating a description of contract scope, contract duration, and contract value
   3. Recommendation letters or any other form of documentation proving completion of previously undertaken work within the last three years.
7. Documents supporting the Eligibility Criteria
   1. Legal Business Registration
   2. Latest Tax Registration/Clearness Certificate