₦airaland Forum

Request for Proposal (RFP)
Issued on: March 27, 2020
Solicitation Number: IQC‐Translation‐2020‐01
For: Pathfinder International
Quotes Deadline: May 8, 2020
Background
Pathfinder is driven by the conviction that all people, regardless of where they live, have the
right to decide whether and when to have children, to exist free from fear and stigma, and to
lead the lives they choose.
Since 1957, we have partnered with local governments, communities, and health systems to
remove barriers to critical sexual and reproductive health services. Together, we expand access
to contraception, promote healthy pregnancies, save women’s lives, and stop the spread of
new HIV infections, wherever the need is most urgent.
Our work ensures millions of women, men, and young people are able to choose their own
paths forward.
Scope of Work
We are requesting a translation company that has the ability to translate various documents,
including, but not limited to: PowerPoints, reports, graphics, proposals, contracts, etc. into
different languages – French, Portuguese, Spanish, Bengali, Hindi, Swahili, and Amharic. We
would hope the company has extensive translation experience especially in the field of public
health or medicine. Additionally, for the French translators we would hope that they have
experience with African French Dialects.
*Local Contractors are encouraged to apply, even if Contractor is only able to provide
translations in local language. Example: If you are an Indian Contractor and can only provide
translations for Hindi to English and English to Hindi, you will still be considered eligible.
Quotes Deadline
All written responses to this RFQ must be received by Pathfinder no later than 5:00 PM on April
21, 2020.
Please mail the quote and other information directly to Paola Chavez, Procurement Officer at
the address listed below.
2 of 21
Inquiries
If you have any questions/inquiries, please e‐mail Priti Patel no later than close of business
April 14, 2020. As a part of this RFP process, Pathfinder reserves the right to hold a bidders
conference in addition to the question and answer period.
Payment Terms
We anticipate entering into a fixed price Indefinite Quantity contract with the selected
supplier(s). Payments will be made according to each individual task order. The Contract term
will be a fixed 2‐year term, with an option to renew for 1 additional year.
Proposal Guidelines and Instructions
A two‐stage process will be used. Potential suppliers will be required to submit two proposals
via email, one a technical proposal and the other a cost proposal. All proposals must be signed
and valid for a minimum of sixty (60) days. All proposals must be sent to the following email
address: Procurement@pathfinder.org
Your proposal should provide basic information about your Company/Individual and relevant
service offerings. It should have a section addressing each of the following areas:
(a) Company Profile/Individual Profile
(b) Approach/Responsiveness to Scope of Work
(c) Key Personnel
(d) References
Technical Proposal should include the following information:
a. Company Profile/Individual Profile
 Describe the Contractor on an overall basis, both nationally and internationally (if
appropriate)
 Summarize the Contractor’s qualifications and experience of the activities described in
the scope of work
 Provide a detailed track record of previous similar work undertaken
 Highlight any experience with Pathfinder International and/or a similar organization
b. Approach/Responsiveness to Scope of Work
 Describe the Contractor’s experience dealing with providing translation services
 Describe methodology used for translation services, any data retention software
 Are translations conducted manually or machine translated
3 of 21
 Describe how are estimates provided, how repetitions are treated
 Describe how the Contractor ensures timely delivery
 Describe average turnaround (delivery) times
 Describe your process and approach to client feedback/issues with quality
 Describe your in‐house quality control measures
c. Key Personnel:
 Describe the key personnel to be utilized on the engagement along with resumes of key
personnel. Indicate their degree of expertise and prior experience, which would be
appropriate for the engagement.
 Describe any current or past relationships your organization may have with Pathfinder,
and if it is a potential conflict of interest. If there is a potential conflict of interest, then
please explain how this risk will be mitigated.
d. References:
 Submit two (2) written client/company references
 Provide any other information to demonstrate the Contractor’s capability in relation to
the Scope of Work
Cost Proposal:
a. Bidders pricing should be based on a per word rate. Contractors are encouraged to
provide repetitions at no additional cost to Pathfinder
b. Any additional cost for expedited services, should be noted as a separate rate.
Contractor should also indicate what is an “expedited service”
c. Any volume discounts should be noted in the rate proposals
Evaluation Criteria
In evaluating the proposals, Pathfinder International will seek the best value for money rather
than the lowest priced proposal. Pathfinder will use a two‐stage selection procedure:
 The first stage will evaluate the Technical Proposal.
 Bidders obtaining less than 70 points (out of 100), will not be considered for stage 2
evaluation.
 The second stage will evaluate the Cost Proposal for proposals that pass the Technical
Proposal evaluation.
Specifically, the selection committee will evaluate each proposal upon the following criteria:
4 of 21
Criteria Weight
Bid Submission
a. Was the bid submitted on time?
b. Is the potential bidder eligible? Did they
clear the CSI check?
c. Is there a potential conflict of interest?
Pass/Fail
Company Profile
a. Ability to translate from English to French,
Portuguese, Spanish, Hindi, Swahili,
Amharic, and Bengali and vice versa.
b. International and/or local presence of
Contractor
c. Any qualifications/certifications
d. Size of Company/Contractor
e. Any previous experience with Pathfinder
or similar I/NGOs
*Contractors can bid on all languages or
select ones. Your score will not be penalized
for inability to work in all languages.
20
Approach/Responsiveness to SOW
a. Similar subject matter translations
(experience translating public
health/sexual reproductive health
materials)
b. Number of years conducting this type of
service
c. Text recognition software
d. Manual versus machine translations
e. Average turnaround time
f. Responsiveness to client feedback (how do
you ensure that quality concerns are
addressed)
g. Established quality control protocol
40
5 of 21
Key Personnel
a. Experience of proposed staff doing
translations
b. Any certifications Key Personnel holds
20
References
a. Positive Formal/informal written
references from 2 similar organizations
20
Total Weight 100
If at any time prior to award Pathfinder deems there to be a need for a significant modification
to the terms and conditions of this RFP, Pathfinder will issue such a modification as a written
RFP amendment to all competing bidders. No oral statement of any person shall in any manner
be deemed to modify or otherwise affect any RFP term or condition, and no bidder shall rely on
any such statement. Such amendments are the exclusive method for this purpose.
Pathfinder is not bound to accept the lowest or any proposal and reserves the right to accept
any proposal in whole or in part and to reject any or all proposals. Multiple awards may be
made under this RFP.
Pathfinder shall not be legally bound by any award notice issued for this RFP until a contract is
duly signed and executed with the winning Bidder.
The evaluator will tally all the individual scores for each section and calculate the average score.
The total average scores will be added to obtain the total points achieved by the individual
supplier. If the total number points meet or exceeds the threshold established in the evaluation
methodology, the suppliers cost proposal will be eligible for consideration.
The score for the cost proposal will be calculated in the following manner:
Cost proposal score = 100 x Lowest cost/ cost of the proposal under consideration. The lowest
cost proposal will receive the full 100 points.
The total score will be calculated as follows:
Total Score= Technical proposal score of the proposal under consideration multiplied by 70%
plus (+) Cost proposal score of the proposal under consideration multiplied by 30%.
Terms
Pathfinder reserves the right to cancel this solicitation at any point and is under no obligation to
6 of 21
issue a subcontract as a result of this solicitation.
Pathfinder will not reimburse any expenses related to the preparation of any proposal related
materials or delivery.
Agreement
Any resulting contract will be subject to the terms and conditions contained in the annex. See
Annex A
Thank you,
Paola Chavez
Procurement Officer
Pathfinder International