RFP: Proposal Writing Consultants

Synopsis of the Request for Proposal

TERMS OF REFERENCE

1. Background

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa – AGRA, is an African-led alliance established in 2006, at a time when agricultural development was emerging from a 20-year decline characterized by minimal growth and investment in the sector. AGRA’s mission is to catalyze and sustain an agricultural and food system transformation in Africa through innovation-driven productivity increases and access to markets and finance that improves the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. With its headquarters in Kenya, AGRA is present in 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

To deliver its overall goal of catalyzing and sustaining an inclusive agricultural transformation in Africa to increase incomes and improve food security for smallholder farmers, AGRA is now developing a 5-year strategy, including a resource mobilization strategy which takes into account the changing donor landscape, assesses lessons learned from current resource mobilization efforts to drive both growth and impact and aligns closely to AGRA’s emerging strategic focus. The resource mobilization strategy must convey a strong proposition to donors, diversify sources and cultivate lasting relationships with donors.

2. Scope of Work

AGRA is seeking experienced proposal writers with a proven record of success to lead on proposal development for institutional donors (bilateral, multilateral) as well as, private sector and philanthropic foundations. Selected proposal writers will play a key role in supporting AGRA in securing new funding for the organization by working in collaboration with AGRA’s divisional teams to develop high quality and competitive proposals. As a lead proposal writer, the consultant will be responsible for ensuring that the proposals submitted by AGRA are compelling and responsive to donor guidelines and priorities and align with the organization’s strategy. For specific proposals, the consultant may also be asked to facilitate storyboarding sessions and the project design working sessions with the technical staff.  Successful applicants will join AGRA’s roster of proposal writers, from which our Development Cooperation team can request services.

3. Sectors of Focus

The proposals will focus on the following sectors:

• Agriculture and Food Systems
• Seed Systems
• Sustainable Farming
• Climate Smart Agriculture
• Inclusive agriculture
• Policy and State Capability
• Inclusive Markets and Trade
• Gender and Youth
• Nutrition

4. Responsibilities

The selected consultant/s will be responsible for writing high quality proposals, in full compliance with the requirements of the donor and quality standards of AGRA.

Key responsibilities include:

1. Familiarizing with AGRA’s work, (institutional and country strategies, and other related thematic documents).
2. Coordinating the concept note/proposal development process by producing a workplan, tracking timelines and key deliverables
3. Research and background reading to familiarize with the specific donor opportunity and alignment to AGRA’s strategy (request for proposals, TORs, and other published documents).
4. Work with AGRA’s Technical Leads and other designated personnel to determine proposal concepts by participating in proposal planning, design and ideation meetings;
5. Gather and analyze information, working with AGRA’s technical teams (virtually or in-person) formulating content and managing inputs through interviewing and engaging with technical experts.
6. Draft the technical proposal, incorporating win themes, consolidating and integrating content from the Technical Lead and the wider technical teams. Create graphics and visuals as required.
7. Incorporate feedback on the technical proposal from the review process and strengthening proposal drafts by incorporating changes through an iterative review process.
8. Work with the Development Cooperation, technical and leadership teams to ensure that all relevant proposal content aligns with AGRA’s organizational values;

5. Duration of the Assignment

The consultant(s) may be contracted on a one-year retainer (framework) contract to support on specific assignments. Each assignment will vary between 10 days to 30 days in duration.

6. Location and nature of the assignment

The consultant will be based in his/her home country. However, in a few instances, the assignment will involve limited travel to the AGRA Head Office in Nairobi. The consultant is expected to have check in calls and consultations with the AGRA team in carrying out the assignment.

7. Copyright

All materials / documents arising out of this consultancy work shall remain the property of AGRA.

8. Qualifications and Experience of the Individual Consultant

The consultant will be selected based on their proven experience, qualifications and ability to deliver a quality product in a timely and efficient manner.

Minimum qualifications and experience of the consultant will include:

1. At least 5 to 10 years of experience in similar assignments in international development. Experience in food systems, agriculture, climate change, energy, gender and/or youth considered an advantage.
2. Demonstrable successful experience in writing competitive, winning proposals for at least one or more institutional donors (EU, USAID, GAC, BMGF, Rockefeller Foundation, AfDB to name a few).
3. Knowledge of the donor landscape in relation to funding agriculture sector in AGRA’s priority countries.
4. Solid experience in working with technical experts (virtually and in team settings) and synthezing large volumes of complex information into well-structured technical responses
5. Excellent communicator able to write effective, concise and compelling content while under the pressure.
6. Able to work effectively in and with diverse teams to get accurate, high-quality information from all bid stakeholders in order to produce quality bid documents
7. Experience in supporting large international organizations.

9. Evaluation Criteria

The proposals shall be evaluated against the following technical criteria:

1. Academic and Professional Qualifications (10%)
2. Experience in similar assignments (30%)
3. Experience with key institutional donors (bilateral, multilateral) and philanthropic foundations (30%)
4. Proposal Writing Skills (30%)

Total:…………………………………………………………………………………………100%

Note:

Selection Method – Quality Based Selection Method (QBS). NB. Candidates with technical proposals equal or above 75% shall be considered for further evaluation and/or negotiations.

10. Application Submission Requirements 

Interested and qualified individual consultants are invited to submit their proposal(s) comprising of the following:

1. Technical Proposal
   1. Detailed Curriculum Vitae.
   2. Detailed reference list indicating the scope and magnitude of similar assignments carried out, value and donor.
   3. Demonstrate possession of qualification and experience required.
   4. An extract of a previous proposal you prepared (as the first author) and submitted. In order to ensure confidentiality, all contact details or title should be removed.

2. Financial Proposal 
   1. The consultant shall provide a daily fee inclusive of applicable withholding taxes for carrying out the assignment. The total cost shall be negotiated depending on the scope of assignment and estimated days for the assignment.
   2. Reimbursable costs if applicable shall be quoted separately.  These will be reimbursed based on actual cost incurred. Reimbursable costs normally include accommodation and international travel where applicable.
   3. Professional fees shall include the applicable withholding tax.
   4. If the financial proposal is silent on taxes, AGRA shall assume that these are inclusive.
   5. Prices must be quoted in USD ($). Contracting will be in USD and bidders are encouraged to have a USD bank account.
   6. The financial proposal shall be sent as a separate attachment and MUST be password protected.

11. Guidelines for Preparations and Submission of Proposals 

1. The proposals SHALL be submitted to procurement@agra.org by deadline indicated in the synopsis
2. The proposal and ALL Attachments submitted via email SHALL NOT exceed 10MB
3. VALIDITY of the proposal shall be for a period of 90 days from the date of bid closure.
4. Financial proposal shall be sent as a separate attachment and MUST be password protected. The password shall be requested from the technically qualified individual (s)

Download Full RFP:

https://agra.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/RFP-043-RM-2022-Proposal-Writing-Consultants-Readvert.docx