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Terms of Reference

Implementation of e-Procurement Solution in African Union (AU) on SaaS Model

Reference No.: ET-AUC-184878-CS-QCBS

Under the Support for Capacity Development of the AUC and other

AU Organ Project (P126848): World Bank Group Project Development Objectives: The objective of the Capacity Building Project is to strengthen African Union Commission’s capacity to facilitate socio-economic development results and transformation through enhanced institutional efficiency. This will be achieved by enhancing the AUC’s internal human resources and management systems, and supporting result-oriented external partnerships and collective actions designed to enhance the implementation of regional economic development initiatives in priority areas (e.g. regional trade, energy, infrastructure, governance, natural resource management) for the benefit of African Union Member States, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and African citizens.

The Project consists of the following parts:

- Strengthening Institutional Capacity: Support for improvement of budget execution, staff capacity, and ICT to provide efficient corporate and functional services through: (a) enhancing corporate governance and management systems and procedures in strategic planning, financial management, budgeting, procurement, recruitment, conference management and all other services as per international standards; (b) driving operational efficiency by (i) modernization of ICT infrastructure; (ii) development of human resources; and (iii) peer-to-peer learning; and (c) enhancing stakeholder communication, feedback and participation through branding, media and outreach.

- Facilitating Economic Development Results with Stakeholders: Support for promotion of regional transformation and improvement of policy standards and African Union agreements monitoring through: (a) support for piloting select external institutional partnerships towards the advancement of common goals for regional transformation; (b) monitoring of African Union agreements and programs implementation; and (c) Project monitoring and evaluation and learning.

- Project Beneficiaries: Project beneficiaries include the AUC and other AU Organs. Support for

capacity development is expected to improve the beneficiaries’ organizational performance and their ability to facilitate collective action in priority economic development areas (e.g. regional trade, agriculture, energy, infrastructure, governance, natural resource management) for the direct benefit of AU member states and RECs. The project is also expected to indirectly benefit public and private entities and citizens, civil society and Diaspora groups in general in Africa. An improved and effective AUC would also benefit the development partners and other entities engaged in peace building and economic development programs in the region and beyond. Attention to strategic priorities would also benefit women, youth and vulnerable groups in society through better information on policies and programs.

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1.0.Introduction

The African Union, established as a unique Pan African continental body, is charged with spearheading Africa’s rapid integration and sustainable development by promoting unity, solidarity, cohesion and cooperation among the peoples of Africa and African States as well as developing a new partnership worldwide. The Institution has the ambition to further enhance its effectiveness and efficiency to constantly adjust its operations to the evolving needs of the African citizens and drive the Continent’s integration and the institutional transformation process, a prerequisite for organization capacity and systems enhancement, which is required to support it.

In support of the AUC's 2014 strategic plan and Agenda 2063, essential elements for success of the AU Vision, the African Union Commission has received a grant from the International Development Association (IDA) to strengthen and develop its Capacity and other African Union Organs. In an effort to strengthen capacity of AUC and its organ, the Administrations and Human Resources Management Directorate of AUC is undertaking several capacity development initiatives to modernize its systems that enable it to deliver on its mandates and vision of being "An integrated and prosperous Africa at Peace with itself".

Accordingly, the Commission wishes to modernize its procurement planning, sourcing and contract management systems that is accompanied by the implementation of e-Procurement system within AUC and AU entities.

The Procurement function of the Commission is centrally performed by Procurement, Travel and Store Division under the Directorate of Administration and Human Resource Management. The procurement process of the commission is governed by a procurement manual which is derived from the Financial Rules and Procedures of the Union. African Union falls under a category of public organization with a source of funding from Member states contribution and support from development partners. Different audit reports and feedback from user departments revealed that there is need for improvement in the procurement function and processes. One of the recommendations to bring about change in the service delivery of the function is implementation of e-procurement system.

E-procurement is expected to enhance the Commission's capacity in undertaking procurement processes for goods, works and services, Consultancy Services and Non-Consultancy Services efficiently. It will also improve information sharing system of the Commission by supporting suppliers to identify opportunities and participate in tenders at lower cost. Thus, e-procurement is expected to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of public procurement in AU as a whole

The Commission has developed e-procurement implementation strategy which follows the World Bank e-Procurement model for the successful implementation of electronic procurement. The information under Table 1 shows the phased strategy that the commission used to implement the electronic procurement in AU.

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Phased strategy for implementation of e-procurement in AU

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Situation Analysis & Consensus Building

Building e-Procurement Foundation

Implementation

o e-Procurement Readiness Assessment – Feasibility Study

o e-Procurement Strategy and Road Maps

o Stakeholders Engagement on E-Procurement

o e-Procurement Scoping- Business Process flow

o e-Procurement Implementation Strategy (Use of suitable systems, applications and products).

o e-Procurement Sustainability Model,

o e-Procurement Guidelines

o Acquire the system/modules and provision of training

o Build Capacity o Piloting of E-Procurement for

AUC, followed by o Roll-out to other AU Organs o Support

1.1. Overview of Procurement Process in African Union The details of the AU Procurement Process is clearly elaborated in the Procurement Manual V.02, which is available on the AU website https://au.int/documents/procurement-manual. Consultants are expected to go through the Manual to make sure the service they wish to propose should at least meet or facilitate for the AU procurement process to function properly. The high level functional requirement, addressing the AU general procurement process and need, is provided under Annex I.

The AU has SAP ERP solution and it uses SAP to process some of the procurement activities while undertaking its daily procurement operation. The Commission uses SAP to raise Purchase Requisition, create Purchase Order, and create vendors and contract in SAP. It also uses SAP to handle creating of Service Entry Sheet and Good Receiving Notes and parking of invoices for further payment process. However, the other procurement processes are handled manually. A brief overview of the procurement process in AU is explained herein under subsequent three sections.

1.2. Procurement Planning

The Financial year for AU is from the 1st of January until 31st of December. All AU agencies are required to submit their budget requirements well in advance for the subsequent year. Each unit or division seeks budget against a list of activities it seeks to undertake in the subsequent year. This list of activities is consolidated at first at the Divisional level, and then at the Directorate level. The budget thus consolidated is reviewed by the Internal Budget Committee and then by the Permanent Representative Committee (PRC). The Executive Council of AU approves budget for all agencies of AU before start of the financial year. There are broadly two types of budget viz. Program budget and Operational budget. The list of activities in Operational budget is well-defined and minimal changes are done to it. The AU agencies create and submit a new Program budget each year. This Program budget is prepared by the AUC and few more agencies using https://www.amert.org, web based application software. A designated representative of Directorate

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loads into AMERT (i.e. African Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Tool) the Program budget requirements of all Divisions and units under the Directorate. The key parameters captured in AMERT are:

(i) Name of the Directorate a. Project name

i. Envisaged project outcomes 1. Activity description and its budget requirement

a. Sub-activity and its budget requirement 2. Indicative fund source for activity

The Project thus created is sent for review and approval at first to Head of the Directorate, then to Strategic Planning and then to Finance. Strategic Planning will map fund source for each of activities. There are broadly two fund sources viz. Member States and Development Partners. The budget thus prepared will be exported out of the AMERT system in a structured Excel format. The agencies which do not use AMERT will submit their budget proposals in manual format. The Finance Directorate of the Commission will consolidate the budget requirements submitted using AMERT and via manually and take them for approval. Each activity listed in the budget will be reviewed in detail by the Sub-Committee for Administrative and Financial Matters under the PRC. The Sub-committee can decide to approve or reject funding for an activity, recommend re-organization of activities and revise budget allocation. All modifications to budget during review and approval stages are documented manually in Excel sheet. The budget thus finalized will be reviewed by PRC and approved by Executive Council of the AU. This approved budget is referred to as Budget of the Union. The Business Units create Annual Procurement plan (APP) subsequent to budget preparation and are required to submit it to procurement unit for preparation of consolidated APP. This consolidated APP is approved by the Controlling Officer. The Finance Directorate uploads at first the approved budget in SAP system. This uploaded budget is referred to as the “Original budget” and it provides the baseline. Each approved activity is uniquely identified in SAP system as “Fund Centre”. Also, a unique identity (i.e. master data) is generated in SAP system for all the fund sources. The Finance Directorate manually assigns (i.e. in an Excel sheet outside SAP system) fund centre code for all the approved activities and maps fund source for all the activities as per SAP master data. For all agencies using the SAP system, the Finance Directorate loads fund allocation data onto SAP with the following key data fields:

(i) Fund centre (activity reference) (ii) Text (activity description) (iii) Fund name (fund source) (iv) Cost centre (Directorate/Division/Unit) & (v) Amount (vi) GL Account

For agencies that do not use SAP, the Finance Directorate loads fund allocation data as one single credit entry individually against each agency. The fund allocation to agencies which do not use SAP is done with reference to GL accounts specifically created for the budget allocation purpose. It is understood that the approved budget will be loaded onto SAP before start of the financial year (i.e. 1st of January)

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A Business unit seeking to utilize budget funds for procurement will send a Memo manually to the Head of Procurement Division. This memo will be signed either by Head of the Division or Head of the Directorate and it will provide detailed specification for the procurement. Also, the Memo will specify the activity (i.e. fund centre) under which this procurement is to be undertaken. The procurement division head will allocate the sourcing work to a procurement officer. The AUC agencies which use SAP system create Purchase Requisition (PR) online, which will be reviewed and approved by the Business unit head. The PR thus reviewed will be sent to a budget officer for authorization and then to the Head of Procurement division. The Head of Procurement Division allocates the purchase requisition to a Procurement Officer in the Division for initiating sourcing work. Business Unit user will create PR against an activity (i.e. fund centre) loaded in the SAP system. The system will require user to input the estimated price and allow user to create PR only if there is adequate fund available under the fund centre (i.e. funds released). When PR is created, the system will automatically commit the estimated amount as Current Year Commitment. This committed amount will be released back to the budget when PR is cancelled.

1.3. Sourcing

Once the PR is released by Finance Directorate, Procurement Unit will initiate the sourcing process. The Sourcing process invoices, RFx preparation, bidding management, evaluation, negotiation, approval and contract administration, which includes contract preparation, vetting by the Office of the Legal Counsel and signing of contracts by AUC and Services Providers. The sourcing function is undertaken by the Procurement unit and as explained above it is now being done entirely manually. Chapters 4, 5 & 6 of the procurement manual define the following key sourcing procedures in detail:

(i) Chapter Four: Procurement management stages a. Approach to the market and selection of suppliers

i. Request for Information ii. Pre-qualification of suppliers

iii. Request for Expression of Interest (EOI) b. Type of competition

i. Open competition ii. Limited competition

c. Selection methods i. Request for Quotation (RFQ)

ii. Request for Bids (RFB) iii. Direct selection iv. Request for Proposal (RFP)

d. Framework / Call-off contracts e. Selection and employment of consultants

i. Two envelope system ii. Quality and Cost Based Selection

iii. Quality based selection iv. Least cost selection v. Contract types

1. Lump sum contract 2. Time based contract 3. Retainer and / or contingency fee contract

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4. Percentage contract 5. Indefinite delivery contract

(ii) Chapter Five: Preparation, announcement and issuance of bidding documents a. Components of bidding documents b. Issuance of bidding documents c. Tender period d. Receipt of submissions and Opening e. Evaluation by the bid evaluation committee f. Preliminary examination g. Technical evaluation h. Financial evaluation i. Post qualification of bids

(iii) Chapter Six: Contract award a. Approval of recommendation for contract award b. Contract award c. Complaints by bidders and other stakeholders d. Contracts

1.4. Contract Management Once the contract signed by both parties, contract will be managed by Business Units in consultation with Procurement Unit. Generally, the Contract for works and consultancy services and other services are managed by the Business Unit and the contract for goods are managed by the Procurement Unit. The procedure for Contract management is detailed in Chapter 7 of the Procurement manual under the following key sections:

(i) Contract supervision and administration – Goods (ii) Receipt and inspection of goods (iii) Payment for goods (iv) Contract supervision and administration – Works (v) Contract performance & (vi) Contract amendments

The process adopted for Contract Management in SAP is broadly sub-divided into 2 categories:

(i) Goods and Commodity services & (ii) Works and (non-commodity) Services

Goods and Commodity Services: The Procurement Unit which did sourcing issues Purchase Order (PO). This PO is generated online using the SAP system. As suppliers are not given access to SAP system, PO is sent to suppliers using email or manual methods. Supplier delivers goods to the Stores unit specified in PO, which receives goods and issued Goods Received Note (GRN). In AU agencies which use SAP, Stores representative issues GRN online in SAP system. The procurement unit initiates payment processing process based on invoice received from supplier and GRN. The payment due to supplier is made by Finance department after due validation. Works and (non-commodity) Services: Just as in Goods and Commodity services procurement, the concerned Procurement division issues PO. The Business Unit which initiated procurement will manage delivery of the contract and involve Procurement Unit and finance for payment processing.

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Overview of Procurement Process in African Union (High Level View)

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2.0. Objective of the Assignment

The African Union Commission under this project is aspiring to achieve an enhanced corporate

governance and management systems in procurement planning, sourcing and contract management

processes. Below are the specific areas where the AU will anticipate to enhance its procurement

operations.

a) Good governance: Transparency, accountability, efficiency, effectiveness & predictability, corruption control, easy access, rule of law & equity and social awareness.

b) Value for Money: VFM through informed procurement management c) Socio-Economic Development: Adherence to AU Financial Regulation, AU Strategic Plan and

Agenda 2063. Technological enablement, quick market access, informed planning, contribution to green procurement, better investment environment.

3.0.Scope of Work

The Consultant is expected to undertake the following

a) Supply the e-Procurement System on SaaS model and create access and enable the use of the e-Procurement Software by AU. The Consultant shall cover the below major modules under this ToR and all the Modules should be integrated and the consultant should demonstrate that reports and analytics is enabled under each module:

i. Procurement Planning Module ii. Sourcing Module

iii. Contract Management Module iv. Supplier Management Module

Please see the functional requirement for details – Annex I. b) Customization and Configuration to meet the AU requirement

i. Requirement Gathering: The Consultant is required to do detailed requirements gathering and submit a quick design for the customization and envisaged features along with a demo. The Consultant shall conduct physical or online workshops, study in detail the AU procurement process and procedures and others to gather information required for customization and configuration of the e-Procurement Software.

ii. Prototype design with Demo: The requirement thus gathered will be translated into customization and configuration of the e-Procurement System which meets the AU needs. AU has to provide its feedback on the proposed customization and configuration.

iii. Finalize and launch the e-Procurement Software: The Consultant should finalize the customization and configuration process by incorporating all the comments provided by AU and expected to make the e-Procurement System operational. The latest version of the e-Procurement System shall be deployed in a test environment accessible over the Internet / Intranet for access by designated AU staff.

iv. Testing: The Consultant should demonstrate the e-Procurement System covering the entire procurement process before going live. The consultant required to provide test scenario and test scripts.

v. Go-Live: Live transactions will happen subsequent to launch of the software after obtaining approval from AU.

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c) Installation of the e-Procurement System in AU for offline use. The AU anticipates possible internet interruptions and hence the e-Procurement system should also be available in AU premises (local Datacenter) for eventual offline use. When internet resumes, the system should be synchronized with the e-Procurement Software on the cloud. The final solution proposal should also include a local offline client mode for each user. The Procurement officer should be able to locally download (on a software client) some specific files or tenders for offline work, and then synchronized later the offline changes with the production cloud based server. This offline process should not be affected by the ongoing updates. Bidders and different stakeholders having Internet should be able to perform their normal work as usual.

d) Provide End-User Documentation and Training Manual and Provide training to AU staff on the use and applicability of the Software

e) Provide technical Support and Troubleshooting during operation

f) Maintain high standard data security and application Security throughout the use of the Software by AU

g) Adhere all the laid down service levels or standard performance requirement during implementation and operation

h) Mitigate all risks identified during implementation and operation, including the IT security assessment to ensure the integrity of the data submitted on the platform.

i) The total duration of the project is four (4) months.

4.0.Minimum Performance Standard

The Service Provider is required under the contract to provide a high standard of performance throughout

the implementation and use of the e-Procurement Services. The Service Provider is also required to

quickly resolve the issues with a minimum of disruption. The service level agreement are built on the

expected standard of performance and the e-Procurement Service Provider should deliver its services to

the AU with minimum stated tolerance described herein. Detailed SAL will be consider further during

contract negotiation. The system provider shall provide the tools to measure the minimum performance

standards as part of the e-Procurement system.

• Availability of the System: The service provider will make system available for 99.5% of the time each month. Maintenance downtime will be discussed and agreed during negotiation. A mechanism should be put in place to inform all the stakeholders during maintenance period.

• System response time: The system response time should be less than or equal to 30 seconds for a standard Internet bandwidth of 512Kbps. The media (video, images, multimedia files) contents uploaded on the platform should be optimized to take into consideration the slowness of Internet speed in most of Africa countries.

• Response times: The service provider will answer all calls within 45 seconds of the first ring. The Supplier will Answer 90% of all Telephone Support Reports within 45 Seconds each Month. Email support should also be provided with a service desk available 24/7.

• Resolution time: the services provider shall resolve a critical fault reported within 3 hours of receipt of the request. The Service provider shall provide documentation of the Time Taken for Issue Resolution for each case.

• Recovery Point Objective: All data – (i.e.) including database, file system and logs – should be automatically backed up in regular intervals. The maximum possible data (i.e. Recovery Point Objective) should at the most be 30 MINUTES.

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• Recovery Time Objective: All data – (i.e.) including database, file system and logs – should be automatically backed up in regular intervals. The maximum possible data (i.e. Recovery Time Objective) should at the most be 4 hours.

• Data compression mechanism: the data submitted on the platform from bidders or procurement officers should be compressed from their original size with a minimum compression rate of 30%.

5.0.Proposed Service Level Compensation

The AU has prescribed the remedies, as presented below, for minor failure made by the Services

Provider. However, for major failure the AU has the right to terminate the contract as per the conditions

of the contract.

Availability Compensation Greater than =99.5 None

Less than 99.5% but >= 99.1% 5% of the monthly fee

Less than 99.0% but >= 98.6% 10% of the monthly fee

Less than 98.5% but >= 98.1% 15% of the monthly fee

Less than 98.0% but>=97.6 20% of the monthly fee

Less than 97.5 40% of the monthly fee

System response time Compensation Less than or equal to 30 seconds None

Between 31 and 60 seconds 3% of the Quarterly fee

More than 60 seconds 5% of the Quarterly fee

6.0.Evaluation and Qualification Criteria – Firm

6.1. Past experience

The consultant should demonstrate the following experience requirement

Resolution Time Compensation A critical fault is resolved within 3 working hours of receipt of the request

None

A critical fault is resolved between 3 – 7 working hours of receipt of the request

1.25% of the Quarterly fee

A critical fault is resolved in more than 7 working hours of receipt of the request.

2.5% of the Quarterly fee

Recovery Point Objective Compensation should at the most be 30 Minutes None

More than 30 Minutes 3% of the Quarterly fee

More than 2 hours 5% of the Quarterly fee

Recovery Time Objective Compensation Should at the most be 4 hours None

More than 4 hours 2% of the Quarterly fee

More than 6 hours 4% of the Quarterly fee

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• Experience under e-Procurement related solutions contracts on Software as a Services (SaaS) model for in the role of prime consultant/services provider or subcontractor for at least the last 7 years prior to the applications submission deadline.

• Provide evidence of at least 5 active customers who are using the e-Procurement Software on a SaaS model for the last three years with 99% downtime.

• Proven track evidence of the use of the e-Procurement software offline by customers.

6.2. Past performance

The consultant should provide evidence of history of performance authenticated by at least 3 of its

customers on the use, applicability and performance of the e-Procurement software.

The consultant should provide evidence that the e-Procurement system should have had a history of at the

minimum 99% availability in the last year

6.3.Financial Situation

The consultant is required to submit an audited balance sheets or other financial statements acceptable to

the AU, for the last three (3) financial years to demonstrate the current soundness of the Bidders financial

position and its perspective long term profitability. Form FIN – 2.3.1 with attachments

The Consultant is also required to demonstrate that it should have had an average annual turnover from

Information Technology (IT) and Software as a Services (SaaS) business of at least USD 2.5 Million in

each of the last 3 financial years.

7.0.Key Experts Qualification and Experience

The Consultant is required to assign a suitably qualified team required for successful implementation of the e-

Procurement Software requirements and other required conditions specified in this ToR. A detailed team

structure proposed for implementation of this Project including the escalation matrix shall be proposed as

part of the Consultant’s technical proposal. Commitment on the resources to be deployed on-site and/or off-

site. Below is the minimum qualification criteria for key resources:

a) Project Manager i. Education: An engineering degree holder, preferably computer science specialization

ii. Work experience: Minimum 7 years of total work experience and minimum 4 years of work experience in e-Procurement System implementation Project Management on SaaS model.

b) Domain Expert i. Education: An Procurement or Supply chain related degree holder, preferably with

certification in software implementation ii. Work experience: Minimum 5 years of total work experience in procurement/supply chain

related and minimum of 3 years of work experience in e-Procurement System implementation Project Management on SaaS model.

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c) Software Expert

i. Education: Graduate with Computer Science specialization ii. Work experience: Minimum 5 years of work experience in software development and

minimum 3 years of work experience in e-Procurement System implementation Project Management on SaaS model.

iii.

8.0. Methodology

The Consultant is required to present its understanding of the ToR. In addition, the Consultant is required

to provide adequate technical approach and methodology addressing the following at the minimum:

j) Supply and access and use of the e-Procurement Software by AU k) Customization and Configuration to meet the AU requirement l) Possibility of accessing the software offline in AU m) Training on the use of the Software and capacity building approach n) Support and Trouble shooting o) Detailed work plan in compliance with the project implementation requirements specified in the

ToR. Plan of action proposed for timely implementation of the software. p) Team structure proposed by the Consultant for implementation of the Project.

q) Data security and application Security implementation r) Plan of action for ensuring adherence to laid down service levels or standard performance during

implementation and operations s) Envisaged risks and proposed mitigation measures

t) Description about the Application Program Interface (API) of the e-Procurement software and its integration with ERP system, which is SAP HANA.

9.0. Deliverables, Duration of the Project, Time Input and Payment Schedule

Generally, the Consultant under this assignment is required to provide an e-Procurement System on SaasS Model for the following modules and number of users.

# e-Procurement Module Minimum # of Users 1 Procurement Planning 20

2 Sourcing 20

3 Software Expert 20

4 Supplier Management 20 The duration for the implementation of the e-Procurement System in AU is four (4) months. The consultant is expected to provide the following deliverables as per the proposed timeframe indicated below while supplying the e-Procurement System for AU:

D# Deliverables (D) Schedule Payment Percentage 1 Inception Report – After

Requirement Gathering T + 2 weeks 15%

2 Prototype design with Demo T + D1 + 5 weeks 20%

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3 Testing and Provision of Training and training manual

T + D2 + 2 weeks 20%

4 Finalize and launch the e-Procurement Software and in-house Installation

T + D3 + 5 weeks 35%

5 Go-Live and Support T + D4 + 1 weeks 10% T: date of contract commencement Following successful Go-Live, the Service Provider will support the AU in the use of the e-Procurement System. The minimum time input for each of the experts within the duration of the project is indicated below.

# Key Experts Time Input 1 Project Manager 66 man-days

2 Domain Expert 44 man-days

3 Software Expert 44 man-days

10.0. Transfer of Knowledge

The Commission is expecting the e-Procurement System will introduce new of doing business in AU. This require a well-tailored training to its Procurement Staff and other uses who will be accessing the system during implementation and use. The Consultant under this assignment is required to provide a detailed plans on how to transfer the knowledge to AU staff based on their role and segregation of duties. AU expects the following training components as part of the e-Procurement system implementation:

a) Pre-UAT (User Acceptance Training) Training: Before the user acceptance training (UAT), all the users selected to conduct the UAT need to go through a pre-training and understand on “how to proceed with the testing of respective modules”, and “how to log/report issues found during the UAT”, etc.

b) Training Requirement Analysis: Initial training requirement analysis must be conducted to

determine the readiness of users towards the new e-Procurement System. The Consultant is also required to provide a detailed training plan for each module following the requirement analysis.

c) Training and End User Manuals: Training and End User manuals for all modules is mandatory

before conducting the trainings. The training manuals must be prepared based on acceptable teaching standard so that end users will be able to learn the concepts easily before and after go-live of the system.

d) Provision of Training Module by Module: A detailed training on the use of the e-Procurement System must be provided by the Consultant to staff of the Commission.

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11.0. Services and Facilities to be Provided by AUC

AUC will provide to the Consultant the following document and facility a) The AUC will identify, agree and assign the relevant participants in implementation process. b) AUC will provide the necessary documentation and information required for the assignment. c) Maintain regular follow-up of the activities done by the consultants, review and comment on

the submitted deliverables and work done. d) Assist in organizing workshops, meetings and consultative forums with stakeholders e) Provision of office room and internet facility

12.0. Transition and Exit Management

The consultant has to indicate the transition and exit management strategy, if the African Union

Commission wishes to obtain other e-Procurement Solution. The consultant is also required to provide the

transition and exit time schedule or detailed plan to demonstrate how the African Union could easily and

efficiency exist the use of proposed software with no loss of data.

13.0. Downstream Work

The assignment has downstream work-opportunity for future expansion This may therefore require

continuity in the technical approach, experience acquired and continued professional liability and use of

the e-Procurement system. Below are the downstream works anticipated under this project:

a) Rolling out the e-Procurement System to all AU entities as given below: (i) Organs

a. PAP: Pan African Parliament b. AfCHR (The Court): African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights c. ACHPR (The Commission): African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights d. ECOSSOC: Economic and Social Cultural Council e. NEPAD: New Partnership for Africa's Development f. AUCIL: African Union Commission on International Law g. AUBC: African Union Advisory Board on Corruption h. Peace & Security Council i. ACERWC: African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

(ii) Specialized Offices of the AU a. AFREC: African Energy Commission b. IPED: Pan African Institute of Education for Development c. CIEFFA: Center for Girls' and Women's Education in Africa d. PAU: Pan-African University e. AIR: African Institute for Remittances f. ACDC: African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention g. AOSTI: African Observatory of Science, Technology and Innovation h. AFRIPOL: Africa Political and Economic Strategic Center

(iii) Peace Operations a. AMISOM: African Union Mission in Somalia

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The African Union Commission (AUC) has its Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and has the following Regional / Representational offices under its control:

(iv) Permanent Representation a. Permanent delegation to the League of Arab States, Cairo, Egypt

b. SARO: African Union Southern Africa Region Office, Lilongwe, Malawi

c. Permanent Mission to the European Union (EU) and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States, Brussels, Belgium

d. AU Permanent Representative to the United Nations and World Trade Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

e. AU Permanent Observer to the United Nations, New York, United States of America

f. AU Permanent Representative to the United States, Washington DC, United States of America

(v) Specialized & Regional Offices

a. STRC: Scientific, Technical and Research Commission, Abuja – Nigeria b. AOSTI: African Observatory of Science, Technology and Innovation, Malabo –

Equatorial Guinea c. PAU: Pan African University, Cameroon, Kenya and Nigeria

d. AFREC: African Energy Commission, Algiers – Algeria

e. IBAR: Inter-African Bureau of Animal Resources, Nairobi – Kenya f. IAPSC: Inter-African Phytosanitary Council, Yaounde – Cameroon

g. SAFGRAD: Semi-Arid Food Grain Research and Development, Ouagadougou – Burkina Faso

h. PANVAC: Pan African Veterinary Vaccine Centre, Debrezeit – Ethiopia i. Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Addis Ababa – Ethiopia

j. CELTHO: Centre for Linguistic and Historical Studies by oral Tradition, Niamey – Niger

k. ACALAN: African Academy of Languages, Bamako – Mali

l. ACSRT: African Centre for the Study and Research on Terrorism, Algiers – Algeria

(vi) Special Representative and Liaison Offices (Peace & Security) a. African Union Mission, Bujumbura – Burundi

b. African Union Liaison Office, Bangui – Central African Republic c. African Union Liaison Office, Moroni – Comoros

d. African Union Liaison Office, Abidjan – Cote d Ivoire e. African Union Liaison Office, Bissau, Guinea Bissau

f. African Union Liaison Office, Kinshasa – DR Congo

g. African Union Liaison Office, Monrovia – Liberia h. African Union Liaison Office to Libya, Tunis – Tunisia

i. African Union / Southern African Development Community (SADC) Liaison Office, Antananarivo – Madagascar

j. African Union Mission for Mali and Sahel (MISAHEL), Bamako – Mali k. African Union Liaison Office, N’Djamena – Chad

l. African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Mogadishu – Somalia

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m. African Union Liaison Office, Juba – South Sudan

n. African Union Liaison Office, Khartoum – Sudan

b) Integration of the e-Procurement System with ERP system of the AU SAP Hana. High level

integration points are between Procurement Planning and budget, Procurement Planning and Purchase Requisition (PR), Contract Management Module and Purchase Order (PO), Service Entry Sheet (SES), Good Receiving Note (GRN), Invoice Parking (INP)and Finance Module, Supplier Management Module and Vendor Creation (VNC). High-level Integration areas are depicted on the below diagram.

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Annex I: Functional Requirement

1 Annual Procurement Planning (APP) Remark

1.1 The system should allow to create annual procurement plan for different category of requirements

Must have

1.2 The system should allow to edit and update planned procurement activities Must have

1.3 The system should allow automatic alert for major procurement millstones Desirable

1.4 The system should facilitate publication of the annual procurement plan on website Must have

1.5 The system should facilitate assigning of task to any personnel or staff. Desirable

1.6 The Procurement planning moduleshould be linked with Sourcing Module Must have

2 Sourcing

2.1 RFx preparation and Invitation 2.1.1 The system should provide an online RFQ, RFP and RFB templates. Must have 2.1.2 The system should allow user to edit, save and retrieve draft solicitation documents

for further editing Must have

2.1.3 The system should have options for One or Two envelop bidding system Must have

2.1.4 The system should facilitate One stage or two stage bidding (Expression of Interest / Pre-qualification) processes

Must have

2.1.5 The System should allow publication of Invitation for Bids Must have

2.1.5 The system should be able to give data on the number of suppliers who have accessed the specific bid.

Desirable

2.2 Bidding Management 2.2.1 Clarification and Amendment

a. The system should facilitate clarification requests and responses Must have

2.2.2 Bid Submission Date Extension a. The system shall allow Procurement Unit to make extension on bid closing date Must have

2.2.3 Bid Submission a. Bidders will have the option to withdraw their proposals, modify and subsequently

resubmit their proposals as many times as they so desire until expiry of bid submission timeline

Must have

b. The system shall generate notifications to bidders after successful submission of their bids.

Must have

c. The system shall have restriction not to accept all bids that come after the deadline. Must have

d. In case of lots, the system should facilitate submission of bids per Must have

i. Online submissions shall be received into an electronic bid box (Virtual Bid Box) and maintained to high standards of security for long-term record keeping and audit. Especially, price bid and its associated attachments shall be encrypted and stored. At no time shall bids/proposals be in unencrypted format.

Must have

j. The encrypted commercial quote will be treated as the original record. The integrity of the encrypted commercial quote shall not be affected subsequent to its decryption.

Must have

l. The system shall display the date and time and close the Virtual Bid Box upon expiry of the bid submission deadline. No bidder is allowed to amend the bid after the deadline. However, they should be given access to only view its bid.

Must have

2.2.4 Bid Opening

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a. The system should enable email alerts to bidders and AU before the deadline. Must have

b. The system should facilitate online opening and attendance by AU and Bidders Must have

c. In a two envelope bidding process, the system shall not allow opening Financial Bid unless results of Technical Bid evaluation concluded.

Must have

d. The system should enable one to produce a bid opening report Must have

2.2.9 Bid Evaluation / EOI Evaluation / Proposal Evaluation / Financial Evaluation a. The system should manage the scoring and evaluation of tenders Must have

b. The system should apply logic around minimum acceptable criteria Must have

c. The system should segment the supplier responses for individual scoring of specialist areas

Must have

d. The system should allow for off-line scoring to be entered Must have

e. The system should allow export and re-import of tender responses Must have

f. The system should manage the communications to suppliers during the tender process

Must have

i. The system should manage the communications to suppliers during the tender process

Must have

2.2.10 Approval a. The system should facilitate approval of evaluation reports Must have

2.2.11 Contract Negotiation a. The system should be able to interchange documents or clauses with a supplier and

track changes Must have

b. The system should be able to provide user rights to amend specify clauses according to role profiles

Must have

c. The system should be able to compare versions Must have

2.2.12 Award of Contract a. The system shall have the option to provide award to one or more suppliers in a bid

(in case of bidding in Lots).

Must have

b. The system should facilitate publication of awards in the e-procurement website for public consumption.

Must have

2.2.13 Cancelation of Bidding Process a. The system should allow the AU to cancel all bids at any time of the bidding

process.

Must have

2.2.14 Complaint Handling a. The system shall have the option for supplier to submit a complaint if any Must have

b. The system shall also provide option for the AU to review and provide responses to the supplier

Must have

3 Contract Management

3.1 Contract Creation 3.1.1 The System should have standard template of contracts and facilitate creation of

contracts Must have

3.1.2 The system should have a standard library of template contract clauses Must have

3.1.3 The system should provide legally binding acceptance via e-signature (internally or with a 3rd party)

Must have

3.1.4 The system should provide a link between the contract and other prior processes. Must have

3.2 Contract Management

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3.2.1 The system shall enable the AU to monitor and track contract execution throughout the contract period

Must have

3.2.2 The system shall allow contract variation, amendment and other relevant changes throughout the contract period

Must have

4 Supplier Management

4.1 Supplier Registration and Self Services 4.1.1 The system should enable AU to change the status of a supplier to make available /

not available Must have

4.1.2 The system shall allow suppliers to register in the e-Procurement system Must have

4.1.3 The system should enable suppliers to submit accreditation and documentation Must have

4.1.4 The system should allow categorisation codes for buyers to classify suppliers Must have

4.1.5 The system should require acceptance of certain documents prior to seeing an event

(eg NDA) Desirable

4.4 Performance Monitoring & Management 4.4.1 The system shall provide option for the AU to monitor the performance of the

supplier during contract management

Must have

5 Procurement Reports and Analytics

Reporting and analytics should be enabled for all procurement process starting from planning to contract management for AU and for different AU Offices.

Must have

5.1 Annual Procurement Planning Report Must have 5.1.1 Status of Procurement Plan Per Business Unit and as a whole

5.1.2 Progress report on procurement planned and initiated

5.1.3 Planned amount vs Actual amount

5.1.4 Procurement Type of Competition by amount and Number

5.1.5 Number of procurement activity by category – Goods/ Works/Consultancy Services and Non Consultancy services

5.2 Bidding Management Must have 5.2.1 Published / Invited Bids by type of competition ( Open / Limited ) and by

RFP/RFB/RFQ

5.2.2 Bidders by country, region and amount, if applicable

5.3 Contract Approval and Award Must have 5.3.2 Award of contract by Amount, Type of Competition ( Open / Limited / Direct ) and

by RFP/RFB/RFQ and number of contract awarded per month and year

5.3.3 Number of Award of Contract by Country / Region

5.4 Contract Management Must have 5.4.1 Contract Status and Completed contracts

5.4.2 Contract performance and Monitoring – e.g. Product quality, Delivery Accuracy, Warranty claims, performance against agreed delivery lead times

5.4.3 Contract completed with additional time / Variation / Scope change

5.5 Procurement Spend Must have 5.5.1 The system should have spend analysis dashboard

5.5.2 Reports should be downloadable in both raw data and graphic form for use in other

tools

6 User Access for AU

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6.1 The system should allow access rights by user job function and individual Must have

6.2 The system should have segregation between supplier data and buyer data Must have

7 General Requirement

7.1 Accessibility and Support 7.1.1 The system shall be accessible over the internet and compatible with any of the

commonly used browsers Must have

7.1.2 The system shall have a robust Identity and Access Management controls, wherein the access rights assigned to a user will be verified during login

Must have

7.1.3 A feature should be made to allow users to download all records (i.e. data keyed in online forms, file attachments and system logs) pertaining to the concerned users. The data keyed in online forms shall be stored in a machine readable format such as .xls. doc or .pdf. The user should have the option to download and attach all of its data in a user friendly manner within minimum number of clicks.

Must have

7.1.4 Both telephonic and e-mail based help desk support should be provided. A ticket should be raised when a complaint is launched and such a ticket should be resolved in a timely manner.

Must have

7.1.5 Users (AU and bidders) should not have to wait for the intervention by e-Procurement service provider for any reason whatsoever to complete the procurement process

Must have

7.2 Notification 7.2.1 The system shall have the provision to send e-mails as a result of certain pre-

defined set of actions for concerned people only Must have

7.3 Security 7.3.1 The system must be secured and it should meet AU’s security policies Must have

7.3.2 The system should ensure that secure records are kept of every process, procedure, transmission, receipt, transaction in terms of the content, executing individual and authorizations, time and date. Such records shall be kept online for all Bids processed in the system up until end of the e-Procurement service contract period.

Must have

7.3.3 The system should meet the AU data protection policies Must have

7.3.4 The e-Procurement system and the installation shall be subjected to a security audit

and there shall be no outstanding audit issues. Required

7.4 Audit and Archiving 7.4.1 There should be audit trail for any changes in the procurement process. The system

should be able to provide real time data on all changes and user access as and when necessary.

Must have

7.4.2 The system should be able to archive the entire procurement data and the user are able to retrieve any data at any time.

Must have

7.5 Infrastructure and Data 7.5.1 The system should be hosted in a robust data center with redundancy built in on all

key components such as server infrastructure, power, cooling systems and internet connectivity

7.5.2 The server infrastructure should be deployed in a load balanced mode and the system should be designed to scale both horizontally and vertically as required. The e-Procurement installation should have had a history of at the minimum 99.% availability in the last year

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7.5.3 All data – (i.e.) including database, file system and logs – should be automatically backed up in regular intervals. The maximum possible data (i.e. Recovery Point Objective) should at the most be 30 MINUTES.

7.5.4 All data – (i.e.) including database, file system and logs – should be automatically backed up in regular intervals. The maximum possible data (i.e. Recovery Point Objective) should at the most be 4 hours.

8. The Services Provider should provide facility for the AU to work offline, in case of internet interruption.

Required

9 The system should have an environment with standard Application Program Interface (API) that should facilitate integration with the AU ERP system

Required

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Integration with mail server (Microsoft exchange) Integration with LDAP (active directory)

Required