Dear Sir / Madam:

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) hereby invites you to submit a Proposal to this Request for Proposal (RFP) for the above-referenced subject. 

This RFP includes the following documents and the General Terms and Conditions of Contract which is inserted in the Description of Requirements Sheet:

• Letter of Invitation
• Annex 1 - Description of Requirements
• Annex 2 - Terms of Reference
• Annex 3 - Form for Submitting Service Provider’s Technical Proposal
• Annex 3b – Form for Submitting Financial Proposal
• Annex 4 – Proposal Submission Form

Please be guided by the forms attached hereto as Annex 2, Annex 3 and Annex 4, in preparing your Proposal. 

If you are interested in submitting a proposal in response to this RFP, please prepare your proposal in accordance with the requirements and procedures as set in this RFP and submit it by the deadline set out in the UNDP e-Tendering website.

Bidders who registered on the e-tendering, will be able to download the complete bidding documents from the e-tendering website: http://etendering.partneragencies.org/

In case your company not registered in the e-tendering system, you can register your company by visiting http://etendering.partneragencies.org/ and to sign in with below username and password:

• Username: event.guest
• Password: why2change

It is highly recommended to acknowledge the receipt of this case by using "Accept Invitation". This will enable you to be updated and receive Tender amendments or updates. In case you require further clarifications regarding this case, please contact the case focal point (s) identified in the attached bid datasheet.

The Technical Proposal and the Financial Proposal files MUST BE COMPLETELY SEPARATE and uploaded separately in the system and clearly named as either ‘’TECHNICAL PROPOSAL’’ or ‘’FINANCIAL PROPOSAL’’, as appropriate. Each document shall include the Proposer’s name and address. The file with the ‘’FINANCIAL PROPOSAL’’ must be encrypted with a password so that it cannot be opened nor viewed until the proposal has been found to pass the technical evaluation stage. UNDP shall request via email the Proposer to submit the password to open the Financial Proposal. The Proposers shall assume the responsibility for not encrypting financial proposal.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The amount of the Financial proposal MUST NOT be mentioned anywhere in the submitted documents or in the e-tendering system, other than the Financial Proposal. Failure in compliance with the mentioned condition shall result in rejection of the offer.

PLEASE DO NOT PUT THE PRICE OF YOUR PROPOSAL IN THE LINE ITEM IN THE SYSTEM. INSTEAD PUT ‘’1’’ AND UPLOAD THE FINANCIAL PROPOSAL AS INSTRUCTED ABOVE

In the course of preparing your Proposal, it shall remain your responsibility to ensure that it reaches the address above on or before the deadline.  Proposals that are received by UNDP after the deadline indicated above, for whatever reason, shall not be considered for evaluation.  If you are submitting your Proposal by email, kindly ensure that they are signed and in the .pdf format, and free from any virus or corrupted files.

Services proposed shall be reviewed and evaluated based on completeness and compliance of the Proposal and responsiveness with the requirements of the RFP and all other annexes providing details of UNDP requirements. 

The Proposal that complies with all of the requirements, meets all of the evaluation criteria and offers the best value for money shall be selected and awarded the contract.  Any offer that does not meet the requirements shall be rejected.

Any discrepancy between the unit price and the total price shall be re-computed by UNDP, and the unit price shall prevail and the total price shall be corrected.  If the Service Provider does not accept the final price based on UNDP’s re-computation and correction of errors, its Proposal will be rejected. 

No price variation due to escalation, inflation, fluctuation in exchange rates, or any other market factors shall be accepted by UNDP after it has received the Proposal.   At the time of Award of Contract or Purchase Order, UNDP reserves the right to vary (increase or decrease) the quantity of services and/or goods, by up to a maximum twenty-five per cent (25%) of the total offer, without any change in the unit price or other terms and conditions. 

Any Contract or Purchase Order that will be issued as a result of this RFP shall be subject to the General Terms and Conditions indicated herein.  The mere act of submission of a Proposal implies that the Service Provider accepts without question the General Terms and Conditions of UNDP in this link: http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/procurement/business/how-we-buy.html

Please be advised that UNDP is not bound to accept any Proposal, nor award a contract or Purchase Order, nor be responsible for any costs associated with a Service Providers preparation and submission of a Proposal, regardless of the outcome or the manner of conducting the selection process.

UNDP’s vendor protest procedure is intended to afford an opportunity to appeal for persons or firms not awarded a Purchase Order or Contract in a competitive procurement process.  In the event that you believe you have not been fairly treated, you can find detailed information about vendor protest procedures in the following link:

http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/operations/procurement/protestandsanctions/

UNDP encourages every prospective Service Provider to prevent and avoid conflicts of interest, by disclosing to UNDP if you, or any of your affiliates or personnel, were involved in the preparation of the requirements, design, cost estimates, and other information used in this RFP. 

UNDP implements a zero tolerance on fraud and other proscribed practices, and is committed to preventing, identifying and addressing all such acts and practices against UNDP, as well as third parties involved in UNDP activities.  UNDP expects its Service Providers to adhere to the UN Supplier Code of Conduct found in this link : http://www.un.org/depts/ptd/pdf/conduct_english.pdf

Your offer, comprising of documents stated in this RFP, should be submitted to UNDP Erbil, Iraq in accordance with the Annex 1 (Description of Requirements) through the “UNDP ATLAS E-tendering system” (https://etendering.partneragencies.org

Kindly go through this invitation letter and other documents attached here to this RFP. Should you have any questions or require any clarification, please feel free to email your questions/clarifications to the procurement officer at dolores.maitim@undp.org The subject of the email should be RFP-172-22, Conduct of Focus Group Study in 3 Governorates, Babil, Dhi Qar and Kirkuk

UNDP looks forward to receiving your proposal and thanks you in advance for your interest in UNDP procurement opportunities. 

• Username: event.guest
• Password: why2change