Request for Proposals (RFP)
RFP Number: ICTEC-2019-001
Issuance Date: 07.02.2019
Deadline for Offers: Extended 28.02.2019
Description: Consultancy Services
For: Moldova ICT Excellence Center Project
Funded By: United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Government of Sweden, Contract No. AID-117-A-15-00002
Issued By: National Association of ICT Companies (ATIC)
Point of Contact: executive@ict.md, contact person Ana Chirita
Please find the full RFP here.
1.2 Introduction
The National Association of ICT Companies (ATIC) is soliciting proposals from eligible and responsible consultants or consulting companies to provide an independent overview on the Startup Ecosystem Needs as described in the Annex 1.
The ICTEC Project is a USAID and Government of Sweden program implemented by the National Association of ICT Companies (ATIC). The project is implemented as a private-public partnership (through Global Development Alliances instrument (GDA)), between the Moldovan Government, private industry, academia and donors. The private partners include multinational companies, IBM and Microsoft, and also Moldovan Association of ICT Companies (ATIC) members that are local (operated) ICT companies. The private partners will bring significant new resources, ideas, software, technologies and development activities, such as trainings, practical assignments, and mentorship. The private sector partners will have the chance to use the center to communicate with the university, SMEs, startups, professionals and contribute to the curricula improvement answering the market needs, as well as the improvement of the IT and entrepreneurship ecosystem that will lead to the economic growth of the country. The Government of Moldova supports this project at the highest level of the Prime Minister, and the partners include Ministry of ICT, Ministry of Education, and E-Government Center.
The goal of the project is to establish and operate a fully functional and sustainable ICT Excellence Center in Moldova. The activity will establish and manage a physical facility for the Center, provide for appropriate equipment and staff, and organize trainings and services to students and IT sector workers related to information and communications technology (ICT). Over 1,000 beneficiaries are expected to receive relevant training per year. As a result of the project, the skills of the Moldovan work force and the ICT industry in Moldova will be improved.
The overarching goal of the ITCEC is to ensure maximum impact on Moldova’s economy though enhancing the educational capacity and research potential of the higher education institutions in line with industry needs; hence achieving quantitative and qualitative increase in qualified IT professionals and ICT skills, and nurturing successful technology startups based on modern ecosystem and world-class sales and marketing force. The project will contribute to growing competitiveness of the ICT industry and of other economic sectors, overall, given the enabling role of technologies in economic and societal development.
The main vision of the IT Center of Excellence is to contribute to the economic development of Moldova by providing:
• World-class education and training facilities, with up to date curricula, lecturers and laboratories
• Associated business development assistance
• Relevant research and development capabilities
• The main project objectives are listed below:
• offering education and assistance in capacity building for teams willing to develop and grow a business in IT
• offering orientation to individuals who see themselves as future entrepreneurs
• identifying different mindsets to create teams and work together on building products
• linking people, linking ideas to people, funds, mentors, investors
• assist successful projects in exiting the market
• encourage and assist projects, products, teams to be present on the international camps, meeting with investors, etc.
• get affiliated to international hubs, innovation centers, camps (such as google camp).
• encourage women/girls to participate in entrepreneurial activities.
The Tekwill Project follows the following objectives:
One of the Project main directions relates to ENTREPRENEURSHIP ENCOURAGED
The purpose of this component is to ensure instigation of the entrepreneurship community and development of technology startups and products. Apart from delivering value to the ICT industry, startups have a direct impact on the cities they make their homes. Employment opportunities for youth increases and new employment patterns arise. Entrepreneurship will also give local youth new opportunities to pursue and retain the talent in the country.
As with workforce development activities, ATIC intends to start entrepreneurship events and educational programs earlier. Entrepreneurship programs will target, first of all, students and recent graduates, so that it benefits the university and the academic world. Of the Center is intended to benefit about 1,000 youth (in workforce, entrepreneurship and other capacity building programs) on an annual basis and accelerate about 20 startups during the life of the project.
The Center will play an active role in defining and designing the proper IT entrepreneurship Ecosystem. It will serve as a meeting, idea and experience sharing platform, in order to connect ideas to people and to financing. The first set of offerings are planned to be entrepreneurial education programs and events (such as hackathons, encouraging innovative thinking and new product development), followed by business acceleration and funding programs. The Center will assist the startups in attracting additional funding and exiting the country.
The potential list of tech entrepreneurship activities is presented below:
• B2B activities – these activities aim at consolidating the IT offer towards non-IT users, help the SMEs understand the role of IT and identify and adopt new tools. SMEs will be invited to participate in events and B2B meetings, get acquainted with some promo zones.
• Startup Events – a continuous series of startup events, pitches and idea generation events will take place in the Center. These events will be directed towards the students, but also to IT professionals and freelancers.
• Mentorship programs – The ideas and teams with great potential will be included in specific mentorship and coaching programs. They will be supported by the Center’s staff and attracted experts to develop, market, promote, grow, sell their products and services.
• Advisory programs and activities – Businesses will be advised in terms of educational programs, trainings, marketing programs, sales programs, and other.
• Networking activities- these activities aim at consolidating the community, getting to know each other, increasing the visibility of the industry and its players. Some of the networking events will bring together the companies and students to create a stronger connection between the available specialists and potentially their future employers.
• Developing Markets program- the center will act as a connecting point between Moldovan IT entrepreneurs and angel investors, investment funds, etc. It will highly encourage and support the participation of the IT companies and startups at various international events, fairs, conferences, campuses, etc.
• Interoperability labs- the center will aim to provide space for the entrepreneurs in the first year to test their new products with various systems and products. As with the scalability and architectural review, this support will prevent delays and cost overrun.
1.3 Questions and Requests for Clarifications
Questions regarding the technical or administrative requirements of this RFP may be submitted no later than February 14, 2019, 18:00 local Chisinau time by email to cdamaschin@ict.md, cc executive@ict.md. Questions must be submitted in writing; phone calls will not be accepted. Questions and requests for clarification—and the responses thereto—that ATIC believes may be of interest to other offerors will be circulated to all RFP recipients who have indicated an interest in bidding.
Only the written answers issued by ATIC will be considered official and carry weight in the RFP process and subsequent evaluation. Any verbal information received from employees of ATIC or any other entity should not be considered as an official response to any questions regarding this RFP.
1.4 Offer Deadline
Offerors shall submit their expression of interest to participate and propose offers until February 28, 2019 via e-mail to cdamaschin@ict.md.
Offerors shall submit their offers in hard-copy and/or electronically.
Hard-copy offers must be received no later than February 28, 2019, 17:00 at the following address: February 28, 2019, 17:00 at the following address:
In attention of Mrs. Ana Chirita,
Executive Director
Str. Studentilor 9/11
Emailed offers must be received by the same time and date at the following address:
In attention of Mrs. Ana Chirita,
Executive Director
cdamaschin@ict.md
Offerors are responsible for ensuring that their offers are received in accordance with the instructions stated herein. Late offers may be considered at the discretion of ATIC.
1.5 Protocol for Submission of Offers
A. Hard Copy Submissions:
Each offeror must submit its proposal in two separate volumes: the Technical Volume and the Cost Volume. The following number of copies is required in each submission:
1. Technical and Cost Volume: Three (3) original hardcopies and one (1) electronic copy on CD of the technical volume, per the instructions below.
2. All offers and related documents must be enclosed in sealed envelopes with the name and address of the offeror and the RFP number (“RFP No. ICTEC-2019-001”) clearly marked on the outside. The Technical Volume and the Cost Volume must be submitted together. If multiple envelopes must be submitted due to the size of a proposal, offerors must ensure that each envelope is sealed and clearly marked with the information described above.
B. Electronic Submissions:
The Offeror must submit the proposal electronically with attachments compatible with MS Word, Excel, or Adobe Portable Document (PDF) format in a Microsoft environment. Those pages requiring original manual signatures should be scanned and sent in PDF format as an email attachment. All offers must be prepared in English, Romanian or Russian.
Please find the full RFP here.