REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST

(CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRMS SELECTION)

Republic of Maldives

Sustainable and Integrated Labor Services (SAILS) Project

Loan No./Credit No./ Grant No.: E046-MV

Assignment Title: Procurement of a firm to Develop Digital Infrastructure for Higher Education and Skills Management System

Reference No. (as per Procurement Plan): MV-MOED-456921-CS-QBS

The Government of the Maldives has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the Sustainable and Integrated Labor Services (SAILS) Project and intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services.

The consulting services (“the Services”) include design, develop and implement a Digital Infrastructure for Higher Education and Skills Management. This system will serve as a platform that enhances and strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Higher Education, Labour, and Skills Development to effectively manage tertiary education funding schemes and programs and provide data-driven insights and facilitate informed decision-making on shaping the national policy on public expenditure on tertiary education. It is expected to complete the assignment within 10 (ten) months from the date of contract signing.

The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment are attached to this request for expressions of interest.

The Ministry of Higher Education, Labour and Skills Development now invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The shortlisting criteria are:

• Must be a duly registered firm with the relevant government agency, such as a company registry or a business registration office.
• The interested firm shall have a qualified technical lead/developer proficient in software development including both front-end (user interface) and back-end (database) components. The individual should have a minimum of 3 years of demonstrable experience in software designing, implementation, and optimisation and shall be fluent in Unified Modelling Language (UML) and its tools. Additionally, familiarity with full-stack development, covering both client-side and server-side technologies, is essential.
• The interested firm must employ a Solutions Architect/ Business Process Designer with more than 3 years of experience in business systems and applications, implementation, and project management processes.
• The interested firm must demonstrate a proficient team of qualified domain experts specialising, software development, database designing, and UI/UX designing. The team must include at least one certified UI/UX engineer. Additionally, the firm is expected to have experienced < DevOps engineer > familiar with OAuth and identity projects.
• The firm must have experience in developing and delivering multilingual platforms, along with big data stacks for visualisations.
• The firm must have experience integrating with application performance monitoring stacks.
• The interested firm shall have at least 1 (one) relevant experience in business requirement analysis, process modelling including documenting and analysing functional procedures and workflows, business process re-engineering and definition and evaluation of user requirements and implementations of IT systems and business applications. Evidence of such experience, including client references and feedback must be provided.
• The interested firm shall have the required technical expertise and experience to perform the assignment. Submission of the firm’s portfolio is required to assess prior works on similar projects.
• The interested firm shall have quality assurance and testing practices. The interested firm must submit documentation related to testing practices and the approach to quality assurance.
• The firm must have cyber security engineers for unit testing architecture review.
• Experience with AI and machine learning (ML) will be an added advantage.
• The consultant or their team members should have experience with Robotic Process Automation (RPA) tools and technologies.
• The interested firm shall have experience in implementing customer support and communication platforms with a focus on customer service and support.
• The interest firm shall be experts in documentation and training. Submission of sample technical documentation, user guides, operational manuals, and details of previous training sessions conducted is required.
• The interested firm shall have experience in developing mobile-responsive web applications. This must be specified within the form’s portfolio.

Key Experts will not be evaluated at the shortlisting stage.

The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs, 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” November 2020 (“Procurement Regulations”), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest.

Consultants may associate with other firms to enhance their qualifications but should indicate clearly whether the association is in the form of a joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy. In the case of a joint venture, all the partners in the joint venture shall be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Quality Based Selection (QBS) method set out in the Procurement Regulations.

Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours.

Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by mail, or by fax, or by e-mail) by 03^rd December 2024, 16:00hrs.

Sustainable and Integrated Labor Services (SAILS) Project

Ministry of Higher Education, Labour and Skills Development

Attn: Mohamed Jailam Rafeeg, Procurement Manager

Umar Zahir Building, Orchidmaa Hingun,

Hulhumale’, Republic of the Maldives

Tel: +960 3026955

E-mail: [email protected]