Question 1: Do Bidders have to go through EY to submit the Bids and participate in the process?

Answer: No. Bidders are required to submit bids to KADPPA, the submission modality is provided in the IFB.

Question 2: In order to proceed with the payment of the non-refundable participation fee, please further provide us with the IBAN number and SWIFT code for both bank accounts (required by our bank in order to process the payment).

Answer: IBAN NO: GB15CITI18500817703414, SWIFT CODE: CITIGB2L

Question 3: We would like to clarify if we are expected to provide a pointwise response to each of the functional requirements listed for the modules expected to be delivered as part of the system to be deployed. We have a comprehensive functional specifications requirement document that would provide you with detailed information on the functionalities our system has to offer.

Answer: It is fine to provide a pointwise response to each of the functional requirements listed for the modules, but that should come as additional information after providing the required response (Yes or No) to the mandatory as well as desirable requirements indicated in the bidding document.

Question 4: Please provide in MSWord (or any other editable form) the tender document or at least Section IV (Bidding Forms).

Answer: Bidding Forms are available in word format on http://kadppa.kdsg.gov.ng/index.php/advertisement/

Question 5: The table that lists the personnel qualifications (pp. 83-84 of the PDF file), as well as the requirements of paragraph 2.7 of the Technical Requirements (pp.145–146 of the PDF file) and of paragraph 3.1.6.2 of Schedule 3 of the Framework Agreement (pp.222-223 of the PDF file) refer to a number of certifications; however, a short description of what exactly is sought would help us propose the best candidates for your requirement. Could you please provide some additional information about what certifications are considered acceptable?

Answer: There is no restriction on the type of certification, any relevant expert certification recognized internationally in the specified fields will be acceptable.

Question 6: We were unable to find in the tender document how the “Evaluated Bid Price” will be calculated. The Price Schedule Forms of pp.91-105 refer to implementation and recurring costs as well as license and technical support costs for various cases (e.g., 1-5 MDAs, 5-50 MDAs, etc.) in the form of a “price list”. We understand that this price list will be used as the basis for the call-off contract definition, but it is not clear to us how these prices will be used to calculate the “Evaluated Bid Price” that will be used in the evaluation of the bids for the framework agreement. It is common practice for such large contracts that the Contracting Authority specifies an indicative scenario that uses reasonable metrics that can be used to calculate the “Evaluated Bid Price” to be used for the overall evaluation of the bids. Please clarify how you intend to calculate the “Evaluated Bid Price”.

Answer: There are two parts for the evaluated bid price (technical/financial) indicated in the bidding document. The specific variables in terms of number of MDAs and Users will come up during the Framework Contract phase. But for the sake of the Framework Agreement, a range price will be entered for the range of MDAs/Users specified in Addendum 2 to arrive at an agreement price which will be compared. Please refer to Addendum 2 for detailed clarification and scenario/examples.

Question 7: We understand that the term of the envisaged Framework Agreement (FA) refers to the period in which the Contracting Authority may initiate Call-off contracts, which may survive the end of the FA.

1. Please confirm that our understanding is correct.
2. Please confirm that the term of every call-off contract will depend on the specific requirements of each RFQ, and as such it may have its own implementation period (e.g., for the configuration of the system, integrations, data migration, etc.) followed by its own period for the provision of the SaaS services.

In case our understanding is incorrect, please clarify.

Answer: Yes, the understanding is correct, participating purchasers can enter into a Framework Contract within the lifetime of the Framework Agreement Second question is also correct. The term of the call-off contract will depend on specific requirements of each State, it is likely that States may have different implementation periods within the term of the Framework Agreement.

Question 8: Is the lead purchasing agency open to contracting with a provider who offers no in-country support?

Answer: No. Based on 6ii in the Request for Bids (RFB) document, the bidder is to provide demonstrable evidence of how effective in-country support for the software being proposed will be provided.

Question 9: Is the lead purchasing agency looking for a stand-alone SaaS tool? Or an enterprise solution that integrates with all software?

Answer: The proposed SaaS e-Procurement solution should allow for integration with existing software and platforms e.g payment platforms.

Question 10: How many states have explicitly put forth interest into contracting with an eProcurement provider through this framework agreement?

Answer: Please refer to Schedule II (List of Participating Purchasers).

Question 11: Do the 36 purchasing agencies involved have world bank funding for this project?

Answer: Purchasing States will fund the project from their budgets, disbursement by the World Bank will be dependent on results (i.e. the number of modules implemented by States in line with SFTAS disbursement linked indicators)

Question 12: Is the lead purchasing agency open to a vendor’s payment terms?

Answer: No, the lead purchaser will be bound by the payment conditions specified in the Framework Agreement.

Question 13: Can the $500 wire transfer be waived?

Answer: No.

Question 14: We draw your attention to the following requirement mentioned in your RFB (page 73, section 2.3.3 Financial Resources) “The Bidder must demonstrate access to, or availability of, financial resources such as liquid assets, unencumbered real assets, lines of credit, and other financial means, other than any contractual advance payments to meet the following cash-flow requirement: $1,500,000.00.” Since the Indian Rupee has depreciated of late with respect to the US Dollar, we request that the cash-flow requirement be reduced from $1,500,000 to $1,000,000.

Answer: No, this requirement cannot be modified as it is a major eligibility criterion.

Question 15: We draw your attention to the following requirement mentioned in your RFB (page 75, section 2.4.1 General Experience) “Experience under SaaS e-Government Procurement Solution contracts in the role of prime supplier, management contractor, JV member, for at least the last five (5) years prior to the applications submission deadline.” We request that for the Bidders participating as Joint Venture, the requirement be modified from “Each member must meet requirement” to At least one member must meet requirement”.

Answer: In a JV, all members are jointly and severally liable. It is assumed that if one member pulls out from the JV consortium, other members should be able to carry on with the responsibilities without affecting the purchaser(s). However, in the case of a subcontractor, the prime contractor is expected to meet the requirement while the subcontractor will be subject to evaluation to ensure it can carry out its responsibility.

Question 16: Our understanding is that the framework agreement established by Kaduna State Public Procurement Authority and based on the Framework Agreement, there shall be call – off contracts by Kaduna State Public Procurement Authority as well as other participating Member States / their procurement authorities. Kindly let us know if the payment shall be made by each Member State / their procurement authority.

Answer: Yes, the understanding is correct. Payments shall be made by Member States through their procurement authorities.

Question 17: Can the Call-off contract to be established by selected service provider with a participating Member State / their procurement authority exceed beyond the validity of the Framework Agreement? E.g. if Framework Agreement with Kaduna State Public Procurement Authority is valid for 3 years starting 1st January 2020 to 31st December 2022, can the Call-off contract to be established by selected service provider with a participating Member State / their procurement authority be valid from 1st January 2022 to 31^st December 2024 (being the delivery period)? If yes, can selected service provider request the Member State / their procurement authority to allow for cost adjustments due to inflation / other unforeseen circumstances?

Answer: The Framework Agreement can be extended according to FAGP Clause 3.5 and within the period of extension, a Framework contract can be established. The conditions for price adjustments after the warranty period are specified in Schedule 5 of the Framework Agreement.

Question 18: Will all participating Member States / their procurement authorities be mandated to use the e-Procurement system offered by selected service provider?

Answer: States are not mandated to use the solution offered by the service provider. However, the States are interested in having a unified eProcurement solution and signing the Framework Agreement makes it easier and less time consuming for States to onboard a vendor and implement the solution within the timeframe of SFTAS. So, it is expected that the States will key into the project.

Question 19: Who shall be responsible for providing the infrastructure for hosting including servers, platform software, internet connectivity, SSL certificate and disaster recovery site?

Answer: The Service Provider shall be responsible for providing the hosting infrastructure. Please see Schedule 3.4.3 of the Framework Agreement.

Question 20: What is the data type that needs to be migrated to the proposed system? Please specify the format of availability of data along with the quantity.

Answer: The Data type and size will vary from State to State. Some have it available in CSV format while some are available on paper. Specific information for this will be available during the Framework Contract stage.

Question 21: Please provide the information on training infrastructure and facilities that shall be provided by Kaduna State Public Procurement Authority as well as other States as part of on – boarding of its Users on system.

Answer: The States will provide standard training infrastructure and facilities while the supplier will provide training materials and logistics.

Question 22: The formula for evaluation that has been provided, it has been mentioned – X = weight for the Price as specified in the SIB. However, in the SIB we are unable to find the value for X. Request you to kindly clarify the value of X.

Answer: The value of X is specified in ITB 35.4

Question 23: Following the Open Contracting Standards, the mentioned reports should be available for the public or only to the MDA and relevant authority users?

Answer: The reports are to be made public.

Question 24: Integrations with other systems like P2P, Finance System, Budgeting System, Payment Gateways etc. – We would like to know the exact scope. All these systems exist for all the 17 organizations? Or is it referring one single entity?

Answer: The scope of this will vary from State to State and as such will be determined during the Framework Contract phase. However, provision should be made for it by vendors.

Question 25: Computer appreciation training? Is this referring to training the users for basic computer functions as well as on how to work with the software solution?

Answer: Yes.

Question 26: How long is the support expected and is it required for the team to be onsite? And if yes what is the duration expected?

Answer: Throughout the warranty period

Question 27: In pricing schedule are listed rows for 1-5 MDA, 5-50 MD and above 50 MDA. What is expected here? The average price for these ranges? The estimated effort it will take? Normally, we complete the Blueprint first and then fine tune our pricing, when it comes to such big projects.

Answer: The price schedules have been amended in Addendum 2 published on 4/2/2019. A single range of MDAs/Users has been provided in the price schedules for each of the project implementation activities and recurrent costs. Bidders are expected to input a price for the range of MDAs/Users specified in Addendum 2 Section 2.1 for both the Lead Purchaser and Other Participating Purchasers. Please refer to Section 2 & 3 of Addendum 2 for detailed explanation and examples.

Question 28: Is it mandatory for the purchasers to perform all these tests? All the 35 listed purchasers will perform these separately? Instead a consolidated third-party audit report will be accepted?

Answer: Yes, Purchasers will carry out inspection separately based on their implementation timelines and framework contract.

Question 29: There are some numbers / volumes specified in the price schedule, however there are no numbers mentioned in terms of Contract volumes / Supplier’s volume / PO’s etc. this will give us better understanding of the scope

Answer: That cannot be determined at the framework agreement level, but only at the framework contract level.

Question 30: We need to know how will the technical + commercial bids be evaluated. Will the scores for technical + commercial be combined in accordance to pre – assigned weightage? If yes, what is the weightage?

Answer: YES, the commercial and technical will be combined based on allocated weights. Please see ITB 34.4 under the Special Instructions to Bidders and Section III of the Bidding Document- Evaluation and Qualification Criteria.

Question 31: Who will provide infrastructure for training? In the RFB the section in which this should have been defined is blank.

Answer: Standard training facilities and infrastructure like training room will be provided by the Purchaser, while all training materials and lecture handouts will be provided by the Bidder in hard and soft copy.

Question 32: We need to know if we need to initialize, prepare design document, customize, configure, data migrate, integrate for each state or this is to be done for Kaduna State Government implementation being the first and other State Governments will adopt the system delivered to Kaduna State Government? This has significant impact on our costs.

Answer: This is to be done centrally based on the requirements specified in the RFB and in line with the leading practices. However, States are at different maturity level in digitization, with little differences in processes. Hence, customization and adaptation of the system for each state may vary and we expect these to be properly addressed when establishing the framework contract for each State.

Question 33: We need to know by when do we need to achieve operational acceptance for each phase of the delivery (Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3), when does the warranty period start and gets completed, and when does the post warranty period start from? How does this fit in to the 36 months of Framework Agreement Contract?

Answer: Warrantee period defined for the Framework Agreement is 2020 to 2022. We expect this to commence as soon as the FA is established and signed. Kaduna is ready to sign their framework contract and commence their deployment immediately the FA is signed (hopefully from March). Other participating States have also shown commitment to commence deployment as soon as the FA is signed.

Question 34: As from when to we get paid from providing on – going helpdesk support and technical support? If this is to be done for each State Government separately, can we set up a common help desk and technical support team for all State Governments?

Answer: Framework Agreement Specific Provisions and Framework Contract Specific Provisions have itemized the payment schedule. See FCGP 6.1.1 and FCGP 6.1.3. Since helpdesk support application will paid against its cost in two instalments. 60% against installation and 20% against operational installments. Each state will have help desk support separately

Question 35: What are the timings / days of the week, the helpdesk support team is expected to provide support to the Users of the system?

Answer: Kindly see the Service Level definition and Management- Part D and Schedule 6.1 in the Framework Agreement

Question 36: How will the payments be made? In Price Schedules the payment is MDA / User based model and in Draft Framework Agreement it appears to be milestone driven payment.

Answer: The payment is milestone driven as listed in the payment schedule. The price schedule is for the purpose of arriving at a Contract Price

Question 37: We kindly ask the client to reconsider the weight of the Financial Proposal (80%) vs. the Technical Proposal (20%) in ITB 35.4 and give more consideration to the technical aspects of the vendor proposal.

Answer: Technical Weight still remains 20% while the financial will be 80%

Question 38: Please clarify which eligibility requirements must be met by all members combined and which by at least one member in case we want to associate with a subconsultant.

Answer: Refer to response to question 15

Question 39: Please confirm that the experience of subcontractors would be taken into consideration for evaluation purposes.

Answer: No. Experience of Sub Contractor will not be taken into consideration for evaluation purpose

Question 40: In order to maximize competition and the quality of received proposals, we kindly ask the client to revise some of threshold requirements. For instance, we suggest:

1. 2.3.3 Financial Resources: Reduce the cash-flow requirement from $1,500,000 to $750,000
2. 2.4.1 General Experience: At least one member must meet this criterion instead of each
3. 2.4.2 Specific Experience: Participation as a prime supplier, management contractor, JV2 member, in at least once (1) contracts within the last five (5) years, not two (2)

Answer: Please refer to answers in Questions 14 & 15 above. These requirements cannot be changed.

Question 41: We kindly ask the client to allow consultants to suggest their own team structure and key personnel categories.

Answer: While Consultants may suggest their own key personnel, it should be noted that all the key personnel and positions identified in the Bidding Document under Section III, paragraph 2.5 must be filled

Question 42: Please kindly consider removing the certification requirement for the key experts to maximize the level of experience proposed by the bidders.

Answer: The certifications will form part of the evaluation criteria for all key personnel for their respective positions

Question 43: Please advise on the estimated number of trips to Kaduna during this project.

Answer: Bidders to determine this based on implementation experience

Question 44: Please confirm that the Financial Proposal would be evaluated exclusive of all direct and indirect taxes, such as VAT, withholding tax, and others, to allow for a meaningful comparison of the offers of bidders from different countries which might have different tax obligations.

Answer: All estimates must be inclusive of relevant taxes and financial proposal would be evaluated based on that.

Question 45: Please clarify if the e-Procurement System needs to be integrated with any other eGovernment platforms (current or in the process of future implementation).

Answer: The e-procurement system will integrate with necessary e-government platforms. See Section V, Paragraph 2.3 of the Bidding document.

Question 46: Will the Suppliers registering on e-Procurement System will also be included as part of Users for calculation of pricing as they will need to be trained, supported and they will also be Users of few of the modules of the e-Procurement System. In case you answer is a Yes to the above, please suggest how do we quote for pricing for Suppliers as the current range is limited to Users from MDAs only.

Answer: Only MDA Users will be included as part of Users for calculation of pricing as illustrated in Addendum 2 Section 3

Question 47: ITB 5 states that “The SaaS e-Government Procurement Solution to be delivered under the Call-off Contract awarded under a Framework Agreement financed by the Purchaser may have their origin in any country”; furthermore, there is no “Country of Origin Declaration” in the Price Schedule Forms included in Section IV. Please conform that Bidders must not include any “Country of Origin Declaration” in their bids or clarify if otherwise.

Answer: Bidders from all countries can bid for the Framework Agreement. However, Bidders are free to declare country of origin if they so wish.

Question 48: There are two tables in Schedule 3.1: General Requirements

• Project Implementation Requirements (Initial Project Plan), one for Kaduna and one for the other States.
  1. Please clarify if the time reference (Month 1 to Month 36) refers to the Framework Agreement duration or the Framework Contract duration with each state.
  2. Please explain how you want Bidders to complete these tables, preferably with an example.

Answer:

1. The time reference refers the to the time-frame for SFTAS and the warranty period of the Framework Agreement (36 Months) showing when and what tasks need to be completed for the States to stay on track in the SFTAS Program.
2. These tables are to be filled for each participating State at the Framework Contract phase to schedule the project implementation activities according to the time available for SFTAS. The Modules referenced must be implemented within the months in which they fall in the table.

Question 49: Please confirm if the FC with KADPPA is guaranteed and it will act as a pilot for the rest of the States, or clarify if otherwise

Answer: Kaduna State will sign the Framework Agreement after the selection process and thereafter proceed to sign a Framework Contract with the selected service provider. This will serve as a pilot for the other States.

Question 50: Do you expect that the Service Provider will perform any activity at all before the signature of the first Framework Contract?

Answer: It is expected that the service provider will start performing the project implementation activities after signing a Framework Contract.

Question 51: Do you expect that each Framework Contract will have its own set of project implementation activities (as shown in the various pricing forms) that will prepare the Service to be offered to the Framework Contract Purchaser(s)?

Answer: The project implementation timelines for each of the States will be based upon the Framework Contract signed with State. However, the set of activities will be consistent with the activities specified in the Framework Agreement.

Question 52: (related to the question above) Should reporting requirements of the system be addressed per Framework Contract, or across all Framework Contracts within the Framework Agreement?

Answer: The reporting requirements of the system should be addressed within the Framework Agreement; these requirements will stem into the Framework Contracts.

Question 53: Please confirm that it is the “Bid Price” that will be weighted by 80% when comparing bids

Answer: Yes, the Bid Price referred to as the Agreement Price as defined in Addendum 2 will be weighted by 80%.

Question 54: We note that in Item B of Section V of the Bidding Document paragraph 1.3 is missing. Please clarify if there are additional requirements we need to address, or this is a clerical error and there are no missing requirements.

Answer: There are no Missing Requirements

Question 55: All requirements of Schedule 3 are identified as “Mandatory” or “Desirable” with the exception of the requirements of Section 3.3.4, 3.3.5, and 3.4.3 (OCDS, OCDP, and Hosting), in total 16 requirements. Can you please specify for each of these requirements whether they are “Mandatory” or “Desirable”?

Answer: All Requirements in Section 3.3.4, 3.3.5, and 3.4.3 (OCDS, OCDP, and Hosting) are Mandatory

Question 56: In the “Technical Responsiveness Checklist” you refer to “Functional Requirements Response Tables”; however, we were unable to identify any such tables. Please provide the “Functional Requirements Response Tables” so that Bidders are able to use them to provide their functional requirements response.

Answer: Please use the functional requirements table and address the instruction: “Bidders must respond to each detailed Functional Requirement Specifications in 1.5.1, Part 2, Section V of the Bidding Document”

Question 57:

1. Please confirm that all responses except “Not Possible” are considered a “Pass” with respect to the “Pass/Fail” evaluation of all requirements specified as “Mandatory”.
2. Please confirm that all responses except “Standard” are not to be included in the system demonstration that Bidders will be invited to perform.

Answer:

1. Yes
2. All mandatory functional requirement will be required for demonstration

Question 58:

1. Please clarify if all Bidders are going to be invited for a demonstration as part of the evaluation of the Bid (as stated in the Technical Responsiveness Checklist) or if only the winning Bidder will be invited as specified in the SIB.
2. Please confirm that all requirements that Bidders have provided a response different than “Standard” are not to be included in the system demonstration that Bidders will be invited to perform.

Answer:

1. The Purchaser/Evaluation Team will invite the firm with the most advantageous bid for a live demonstration of all functional and technical requirements. However, the firms with the second and third most advantageous bids might be invited for demonstration as the case may be.
2. All mandatory functional requirement will be demonstrated

Note: Solution demonstration, in this case, is a component of the post-evaluation process.

Question 59: The addendum 2 specifies that the scope of project implementation for the Lead Purchaser will cover nine modules of SaaS e-Procurement suite across 19 MDAs within the term of the corresponding Framework Agreement. Is the scope within the term of Framework Agreement or Framework Contract?

Answer: The scope of project implementation for the Lead Purchaser will cover nine modules of SaaS e-Procurement suite across 19 MDAs within the term of the corresponding Framework Contract. Similarly, the scope of project implementation for Other Purchasers will cover five modules of SaaS e-Procurement suite across 4 MDAs within the term of the corresponding Framework Contract.

Question 60: Following issuance of Addendum 2, the “Bidding Forms” of Section IV of the RFB document needs to be changed to comply with the new requirement. Please provide the new Bidding Form templates so that bidders are able to present the financial component of their bids in a consistent manner.

Answer: The relevant updates have been made to the bidding forms. Kindly download the updated forms from the KADPPA site using the link http://kadppa.kdsg.gov.ng/index.php/advertisement/.

Question 61: We understand that only 5 modules should be quoted for with respect project scope for other states as specified under the “Implementation Project Scope for Other Participating Purchasers” definition; however, the illustrative table in the addendum for the other purchasers includes all the nine modules. Kindly confirm if the numbers of modules to be quoted for with respect to other purchasers should be 5 or 9.

Answer: The numbers of modules to be quoted for with respect to other purchasers is 5.

Question 62: Please confirm that the Indicative Unit Price for the deployment to one additional MDA is to be specified in a separate table that will be submitted as part of the Price Schedule Forms and it should include the following items: Implementation costs, Subscription cost and Technical support.

Answer: We confirm that the understanding is correct.

Question 63: Please specify for how many years do you want us to specify the recurrent costs (SaaS subscription, and technical support).

Answer: Three (3) years

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