National Long-term Expert (NLTE) / Sector Coordination – Marine Transport Sector in Malawi

Call for Expression of Interest – Specialist Contractor

National Long-term Expert (NLTE) / Sector Coordination Role for the Marine Transport Sector in Malawi within the Context of the Zantchito Skills for Jobs Technical Assistance Project

Purpose              

The primary objective of this consulting assignment is coordination of technical assistance support provided by the Zantchito Skills for Jobs project to the Marine transport Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE) and its Network Partner Institutes (NPIs) and will be the main focal point between the Project and the CoVE.

1. Background and context about the project

The British Council provides management and technical leadership of complex, multi-stakeholder programmes across the globe, with an intimate understanding of local context through our longstanding presence on the ground, contributing to the achievement of positive change, particularly for young people.

Working in Malawi since 1974, we form trusted partnerships that shape new approaches by tackling profound challenges and ensuring positive solutions for sustainable change, informed by global best practice but led by Malawi’s communities. This includes connecting students, educators, policymakers, academics, creatives and entrepreneurs, with a focus on increasing opportunities for youth: supporting young people and the systems that service them to improve education, qualifications and skills.

Skills development with an emphasis on TVET is the main priority for our operations in Malawi, equipping young people with the support they need to create more resilient pathways to better life prospects, and more broadly helping to tackle Malawi’s unemployment challenge.

The TEVET system in Malawi has faced challenges over a number of years relating to funding, governance and the institutional strength. The overall governance and management of the TEVET sector remains challenging. Efforts to improve on the quality of governance – of TEVET regulatory functions, decentralisation approaches, promotion of policy dialogue among stakeholders, Labour market information system have not materialised; collaboration between TEVET providers and the private sector is minimal. TEVET training systems are biased against women and students with disabilities. Enabling broad support for policy review, wider TEVET reform, capacity building throughout the system, a shared understanding and collective ownership of change that will ensure better overall management, planning, co-ordination and effective functioning of the sector is essential.

The Government of Malawi (GoM), with the support of various International Development Partners have embarked upon initiatives and projects to improve the governance, quality and relevance of TEVET. One of the largest such projects is the EU funded Zantchito Skills for Jobs project, which aims at improving the employability and self-employment opportunities of young Technical Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training (TEVET) graduates and entrepreneurs, including a focus on women. The main counterpart is the Ministry of Labour. This programme is in line with Malawi’s Vision 2063, the over-arching plan for the country’s long-term development goal of attaining an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant industrialised upper middle-income status by 2063, recognises quality TEVET as essential for developing a globally competitive and highly motivated human resource that will drive achievement of the Vision.

The overarching Zantchito Skills for Job Project, is implemented under two main components – component 1 – Skills and component 2 – Entrepreneurship as illustrated in the diagram below: (Shown in the TOR attached below)

The Technical Assistance (TA) project in component 1 is worth EUR 5,700,000 and delivered by the British Council, the following table provides more information about the project.

2. Scope of the Project / programme

 The Zantchito Skills for Jobs Project is supporting the Ministry of Labour (MoL) and the Technical and Entrepreneurial Vocational Education and Training Authority (TEVETA) to establish four sector-specific Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVEs). These sectors were selected based on Malawi Vision 2063 priorities. The four sectors are 1) Agricultural Mechanization, 2) Tourism, 3) Renewable Energy, and 4) Marine Transport. The COVEs are technical colleges which will spearhead the development of these four sectors by offering unique skills which are not currently available in the country. To further develop these CoVEs and sectors, the project is seeking to contract a Sector Coordinator as a national long-term expert to be linked to the Marine transport CoVE at the Salima Technical college.

3. About the role of the specialist contractor

 4. Scope of Services

The Sector Coordinator will report to the Deputy Team Leader and will be responsible for coordination and liaison with relevant stakeholders in the Marine transport sector. The Sector Coordinator will be attached to the Marine transport COVE at the Salima Technical college and will undertake the following tasks:

• Facilitate and coordinate the provision of technical support and capacity building services offered to the CoVE and its Network Partner Institutes (NPI) during project implementation.
• Support Management of the CoVE and those of its network partners in achieving the operations of the CoVE during the project implementation.
• Support the management of information generated by the CoVE and its network partners.
• Support all monitoring, evaluation and research activities undertaken by the project, as well as the CoVE and its network partners.
• Facilitate the participation of the CoVE and its network partners in the Sector Working Group or other capacity building or networking events for effective collaboration.
• Facilitate the missions of the project consultants who will work with the CoVE and its TEVET network partners.
• Monitor the work of project consultants assigned to work in a CoVE and its TEVET network partners.
• Monitor the delivery of training and capacity building provided to the CoVE and its TEVET network partners.
• Submit monthly reports to the Deputy Team Leader on the work being undertaken in the CoVE.
• Facilitate and support linkages between the CoVE and employers from the private sector.
• Promote the work of the Zantchito project at both the sector and regional level.
• Undertake any other tasks that the Team Leader or Deputy Team Leader may assign

4.1 Deliverables:

The Sector Coordinator will be responsible for delivering the following:

1. Drafting periodic work plans throughout the duration of the assignment.
2. Monthly progress reports.
3. Contribution to project progress reports and presentations as required by the Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader.
4. A final report incorporating overall achievements during the assignment.

4.2 Logistics and timeline:

The consultant will work up to 300 days over 24 months (150 days per year). The expected start date is 15^th January 2025.
The consultant will be expected to have a primary work base that facilitates delivery of his/her responsibilities and she/he may also work in the Marine transport CoVE and the Project Office in Lilongwe as relevant.  Any work-related travel to regions outside work-base will be organised by the British Council according to applicable guidelines.

4.3 Reporting and communication

The Coordinator will work under the supervision of the Deputy Team Leader of the Zantchito technical Assistance project.

5. Mandatory Minimum Requirements (Qualifications and experience)

The NLTE should possess the following expertise and qualifications:

• Minimum of bachelor’s degree in relevant field or project management, Economics, Research, Labour Markets or equivalent,
• Demonstrated practical consistent experience (at least 3 years) in the Transport sector (preferably marine),
• At least 3 years consulting experience with international development partners,
• Experience in the TEVET sector in Malawi is a strong advantage.
• Experience of engaging with government stakeholders and private sector leaders, and evidence of strong relationship building skills.
• Strong facilitation and coordination skills.
• Strong analytical ability, communication, and report-writing skills.
• Excellent written and spoken English.

6. Procedure for submission of Expression of Interest

6.1. Key background documents and further information

Further relevant background documents / information may be provided to potential suppliers as set out below, as an Annex to this EOI and/or by way of the issue of additional documents / links to additional information / documents. Where no such information / documents are provided, this Section of the EOI will not apply.

6.2. Instructions for Responding

The documents that must be submitted to form your EOI response are listed at Part [2] (Submission Checklist) of Annex [3] (Supplier Response) to this RFP. The following requirements should be complied with when summiting your response to this call:

• Please ensure that you send your submission in good time to prevent issues with technology – late tender responses may be rejected by the British Council.
• Do not submit any additional supporting documentation with your EOI response except where specifically requested to do so as part of this Call. PDF, JPG, PPT, Word and Excel formats can be used for any additional supporting documentation (other formats should not be used without the prior written approval of the British Council).
• All attachments/supporting documentation should be provided separately from your main tender response and clearly labelled to make it clear as to which part of your tender response it relates.
• If you submit a generic policy / document, you must indicate the page and paragraph reference that is relevant to a particular part of your tender response.
• Unless otherwise stated as part of this Call or its Annexes, all tender responses should be in the format of the relevant British Council requirement with your response to that requirement inserted underneath.
• Where supporting evidence is requested as ‘or equivalent’ you must demonstrate such equivalence as part of your tender response.
• Any deliberate alteration of a British Council requirement as part of your tender response will invalidate your tender response to that requirement and for evaluation purposes you shall be deemed not to have responded to that requirement.
• Responses should concise, unambiguous, and should directly address the requirement stated.
• Your tender responses to the tender requirements and pricing will be incorporated into the Contract, as appropriate.

6.3 Clarification Requests

All clarification requests should be submitted before the Clarification Deadline, as set out in the Timescales section of this Call for Expression of Interest. The British Council is under no obligation to respond to clarification requests received after the Clarification Deadline.

Any clarification requests should clearly reference the appropriate paragraph in the Call for Expression of Interest documentation and, to the extent possible, should be aggregated rather than sent individually.

The British Council reserves the right to issue any clarification request made by you, and the response, to all potential suppliers unless you expressly require it to be kept confidential at the time the request is made. If the British Council considers the contents of the request not to be confidential, it will inform you and you will have the opportunity to withdraw the clarification query prior to the British Council responding to all potential suppliers.

Send the above Application to  Subsahara.Procurement@britishcouncil.org  with the subject of the email as National Long-term Expert (NLTE) / Sector Coordination Role for the Marine Transport Sector in Malawi within the Context of the Zantchito Skills for Jobs Technical Assistance Project by Thursday , 18^th December 2024 at 11:59 pm CAT.

If you have any clarification requests please share it with us through the following email  Subsahara.Procurement@britishcouncil.org before 13^th December, 2024 (Deadline date of the clarification requests) please indicate in the subject of your email the following (National Long-term Expert (NLTE) / Sector Coordination Role for the Marine Transport Sector in Malawi within the Context of the Zantchito Skills for Jobs Technical Assistance Project)

6.3 Evaluation Criteria

You will have your tender response evaluated as set out below: 

Stage 1:  Tender responses will be checked to ensure that they have been completed correctly and all necessary information has been provided.  Tenders responses correctly completed with all relevant information being provided will proceed to Stage 2.  Any tender responses not correctly completed in accordance with the requirements of this  and/or containing omissions may be rejected at this point.  Where a tender response is rejected at this point it will automatically be disqualified and will not be further evaluated.

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Stage 2:  The completed Qualification Questionnaire (if used) will then be reviewed to confirm that the potential supplier meets all the qualification criteria set out in the questionnaire. Potential suppliers that meet the qualification criteria will proceed to Stage 3.  Potential suppliers that do not meet the qualification criteria set out in the Qualification Questionnaire (if used) may be excluded from the Procurement Process at this point. Where a potential supplier is excluded at this point, its tender response will be rejected in full and not evaluated further and the supplier will automatically be disqualified from this Procurement Process.

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Stage 3:  If a bidder succeeds in passing Stages 1 and 2 of the evaluation, then it will have its detailed tender response to the British Council’s requirements evaluated in accordance with the evaluation methodology set out below. Information provided as part of Qualification Questionnaire (if used) responses may also be verified as part of this stage.

Award Criteria – Responses from potential suppliers will be assessed to determine the most economically advantages tender using the following criteria and weightings and will be assessed entirely on your response submitted:

Scoring Model – Tender responses will be subject to an initial review at the start of Stage 3 of the evaluation process. Any tender responses not meeting mandatory requirements or constraints (if any) will be rejected in full at this point and will not be assessed or scored further.  Tender responses not so rejected will be scored by an evaluation panel appointed by the British Council for all criteria other than Commercial using the following scoring model:

Commercial Evaluation – Your “Overall Price” (as calculated in accordance with requirements of Annex [2] (Pricing Approach) for the goods and/or services will be evaluated by the evaluation panel for the purposes of the commercial evaluation. Prices must not be subject to any pricing assumptions, qualifications or indexation not provided for explicitly by the British Council as part of the pricing approach. If any prices are expressed as being subject to any pricing assumptions, qualifications or indexation not provided for by the British Council as part of the pricing approach, the British Council may reject the full tender response at this point. The British Council may also reject any tender response where the Overall Price for the goods and/or services is considered by the British Council to be abnormally low following the relevant processes set out under the EU procurement rules.  A maximum offer score of 10 will be awarded to the tender response offering the lowest “Overall Price”. Other tender responses will be awarded a mark by application of the following formula: (Lowest Overall Price/Overall Price being evaluated) x 10 (rounded to two decimal places) = commercial score.

Moderation and application of weightings – The evaluation panel appointed for this procurement will meet to agree and moderate scores for each award criteria. Final scores in terms of a percentage of the overall tender score will be obtained by applying the relevant weighting factors set out as part of the award criteria table above. The percentage scores for each award criteria will be amalgamated to give a percentage score out of 100.

The winning tender response – The winning tender response shall be the tender response scoring the highest percentage score out of 100 when applying the above evaluation methodology, which is also supported by any required verification evidence (to include, without limitation, any updated information or references relating to any Qualification Question responses) obtained by the Authority relating to any self-certification or other requirements referred to in the Qualification Questionnaire (if used). If any verification evidence requested from a supplier, or a relevant third party as may be referred to by the supplier in the Qualification Questionnaire (if used) as a party prepared to provide such information, is not provided in accordance with any timescales specified by the British Council and/or any evidence reviewed by the British Council (whose decision shall be final) does not demonstrate compliance with any such requirement, the British Council may reject that tender response in full and disqualify the potential winning supplier from the Procurement Process at that point.

List of Annexes forming part of this EOI (issued as separate documents):

 Annex 1 – Supplier Response

Annex 2 – Pricing Approach

Annex 3­ – CV

The TORs can be downloaded using: Call for Expression of Interest – Marine Transport Sector Coordinator-CDAPPROVED8-12-24