karandaaz pakistan request for proposal mid term ... · 2 fraud and corruption idders shall comply...

RFP – 81 Mid Term Assessment of Enterprise and Assets Growth Program (EAGR)

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KARANDAAZ PAKISTAN

Request for Proposal

RFP # 81

Mid Term Assessment of Enterprise and Assets Growth Program (EAGR) at Karandaaz Pakistan

5TH August, 2020


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SECTION 1. LETTER OF INVITATION

REQUEST FOR QUOTATIONS

Country: Pakistan

Title of RFP: Mid Term Assessment of Enterprise and Assets Growth Program (EAGR)

at Karandaaz Pakistan

RFP Number: 81

Issuance date of RFP: 5th August, 2020

Last date for Queries: 19th August

Response to Queries: 21st August, 2020

Closing date of RFP: 28th August, 2020

Presentation: 15th & 16th September (Tentative)

RFP response to: Procurement Department

E-mail Address: [email protected]

RFP no. 81 5TH August 2020, Islamabad

1. The purpose of this Request for Proposal (the “RFP”) is to solicit proposals from bidders interested

in providing Mid Term Assessment of Enterprise and Assets Growth Program (EAGR) at Karandaaz Pakistan. The RFP is designed to assess whether bidders are able to provide the goods and services required (hereinafter jointly and severally referred to as the “Services”), and through a competitive and fair assessment, select a winning bidder for the Services.

2. Karandaaz Pakistan invites sealed proposals from interested and eligible bidders. Further details on the Services required are provided in the Terms of Reference (Section 4 of RFP).

3. The bidder will be selected under open competitive procedures, in accordance with the Procurement Policies and Procedures of Karandaaz Pakistan (the “KRN Policy and Procedures”). In the event of any conflict or inconsistency in terms and conditions of the RFP and the KRN Policy and Procedures, the KRN Policy and Procedures shall prevail.

4. The full RFP is available at www.karandaaz.com.pk under procurement section 5. Karandaaz Pakistan plans to offer a Fixed Price Contract in PKR to the successful bidder 6. An award will be made on the Quality and Cost basis selection.

Both technical and financial proposals must be submitted in a hard copy and an electronic format through email at [email protected] before 5:00 pm Pakistan Standard Time on 28th August 2020. Bidders must prepare three hard copies of the technical proposal and one hard copy of the financial proposal, and submit each of them in separate sealed envelopes to the attention of ‘The Procurement Department’ 1-E, Ali Plaza, D Chowk, Mezzanine Floor, Nazimuddin Road, Blue Area, Islamabad. The proposal should also be sent to the following email address: [email protected] with the subject line: Responding to RFP No 81 “Mid Term Assessment of Enterprise and Assets Growth Program (EAGR) at Karandaaz Pakistan”. Bidders must submit password protected electronic copies of financial proposal. Password for financial proposal will be requested by Karandaaz procurement department from the technically qualified bidders at the time of financial opening (if needed).

http://www.karandaaz.com.pk/

mailto:[email protected]



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Hard copy of the bids/proposals shall be considered in case of any discrepancy found in the soft copy. In case of any conflict between the provisions of this RFP, the decision of Karandaaz shall be final regarding the overriding effect of the respective provision.

Yours sincerely, The Procurement Department Karandaaz Pakistan


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SECTION 2. INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS

A. General

1 Scope of Proposal Karandaaz Pakistan issues this Request for Proposals (the “RFP”) for the following Services: “Mid Term Assessment of Enterprise and Assets Growth Program (EAGR) at Karandaaz Pakistan”

Throughout this RFP:

i. The term “in writing” means communicated in written form (e.g., by mail, e-mail, fax) ii. “Day” means calendar day

2 Fraud and Corruption

Bidders shall comply with Karandaaz Pakistan’s policy regarding fraud and corruption set out in Section 3 of the RFP.

3 Eligibility

Karandaaz Pakistan may specify certain minimum qualification criteria in the Terms of Reference e.g. minimum years of relevant experience; __ etc. Bidders shall be under an obligation to disclose to Karandaaz Pakistan any situation of actual or potential conflict that impacts their capacity to perform/act in accordance with Karandaaz Pakistan’s best interests or pose a conflict of interest. Failure to disclose such situations may lead to the disqualification of a bidder or the termination of its contract. Karandaaz Pakistan’s policy with regard to conflict of interest is specified in Clause 33 of Section 3 of the RFP. Bidders shall, upon request, provide evidence of their continued eligibility to the satisfaction of Karandaaz Pakistan, as may be requested from them from time to time.

4 One Proposal Per Bidder

An entity can participate only in one bid: as a single bidder, as a lead in a consortium/ joint venture or as a partner in a consortium / joint venture. Partnership firms or similar entities in different jurisdiction which work under common brand name or a part of affiliated network will be regarded as single entity and may not participate in more than one bid. Similarly associates and subsidiaries of an entity will be regarded as a part of a group and may not participate in multiple bids. Bidders may ask for clarification and any decision in this regard by Karandaaz shall be deemed to be final.

5 Cost of Preparation of Proposal The bidder shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of its proposal. Karandaaz Pakistan shall not be responsible or liable for any such costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the bidding process.


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B. Request for Proposal

6 Contents of the RFP

The RFP comprises of the documents listed below plus any Addendum issued pursuant to Clause 8, of Section 2 ‘Amendment of RFP’. Section 1 - Letter of Invitation Section 2 - Instructions to bidders Section 3 - Procurement Policy – bidder conduct Section 4 - Terms of Reference. Annexure A - Proposal Submission Letter

7 Clarification of RFP All questions and/or clarifications regarding this RFP must be submitted via email to [email protected] no later than 5PM local time on 19th August 2020. All correspondence and/or inquiries regarding this solicitation must reference the RFP number. No phone calls or in-person inquiries will be entertained; all questions and inquiries must be in writing.

Questions and requests for clarification—and the responses thereto—will uploaded at Karandaaz website by 5PM local time on 21st August 2020.

8 Amendment of RFP At any time prior to the deadline for submission of bids, Karandaaz Pakistan may amend the RFP by issuing an Addendum. Any Addendum so issued shall be part of the RFP and will be communicated via the Karandaaz Pakistan website. Bidders are advised to monitor the site for updates. To give prospective bidders reasonable time in which to take an Addendum into account in preparing their bids, Karandaaz Pakistan may, at its discretion, extend the deadline for the submission of bids, pursuant to Clause 16, of Section 2 ‘Deadline for Submission of proposals’.


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C. Preparation and Submission of Proposals

9 Language of proposal

All documents relating to the proposal shall be written in the English language.

10 Documents Comprising the Proposal A proposal shall consist of the following:

i. Name and details of bidder and experience; ii. Two customer references on letterheads related to the subject RFP, duly authorised by

the clients. The accuracy shall be the sole responsibility of the supplier. iii. Comments and suggestions on the terms of reference, counterpart staff, and facilities to

be provided by Karandaaz Pakistan; iv. Description of approach, methodology, and work plan in responding to the terms of

reference; v. Examples and proof of past experience

vi. Work schedule and planning for deliverables; and vii. Team composition, assignment, and key experts’ inputs and Curriculum vitae (CV of team

members and key experts). viii. Resource allocation plan (for both onsite and functional experts) for the overall tenure of

the project.

1. Financial proposal Pricing must be fully comprehensive, complete, and list any available discounts. Pricing information supplied with the proposal must be valid for at least 60 days after the due date for proposal submission. All one-time and recurring costs must be fully described. Rates should be quoted, inclusive of all, services, licenses, out of pocket expenses, withholding income tax, sales tax and other provincial/federal levies if any. The Bidder will be responsible for meeting all tax liabilities arising out of the contract. Karandaaz will not be responsible for any erroneous calculation of tax rates or any subsequent changes in rates or structure of applicable taxes.

11 Currencies of Bid, Contract and Payment

i. The financial proposal will be submitted in PKR, irrespective of the bidder being local or foreign.

ii. The contract will be signed in PKR and the payment of the invoices shall be in PKR. iii. If the selected bidder does not have any office in Pakistan, the bidder may request the

payment to be made in USD. Any such payment will be made in USD using the spot rate advertised on the SBP website on the day of payment. The cumulative payment shall not exceed the amount agreed in the executed contract.”

12 Proposal Validity Proposal shall remain valid for 60 days after the proposal submission deadline date established by Karandaaz Pakistan. A proposal valid for a shorter period shall be rejected as non-responsive. In exceptional circumstances, prior to the expiration of the proposal validity period, Karandaaz Pakistan may request all bidders who have submitted their proposals to extend the period of validity of their proposal for a specified additional period. The request and the responses shall be made in writing. Agreement by a bidder to extend the validity of its proposal, shall be without any change in the original proposal and with confirmation of availability of the key experts. A bidder


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has the right to refuse extension in the validity period of its proposal, in which case such proposal will not be further evaluated. If any of the key experts become unavailable for the extended validity period, the relevant bidder shall provide an adequate justification in writing and evidence to the satisfaction of Karandaaz Pakistan together with the substitution request. In any such case, the replacement key expert shall have equal or better qualifications and experience than those of the originally proposed key expert. The technical evaluation score, however, will continue to be based on the evaluation of the CV of the original key expert. If the said bidder fails to provide a replacement key expert with equal or better qualifications, or if the reasons provided for the replacement or justification are not to the reasonable satisfaction of Karandaaz Pakistan, the proposal will be rejected at Karandaaz Pakistan’s sole discretion.

13 Proposal Security A proposal security is not required for purposes of this procurement.

14 Alternative proposals Alternative proposals shall not be considered.

15 Format, Signing, and Submission of Proposal The bidder shall prepare and email a scanned copy of the documents comprising the proposal as specified in Clause 10, of Section 2 on its official letterhead. Each document shall be signed by a person duly authorized to sign on behalf of the bidder and all pages of the proposal shall be initialled by the person or persons signing the proposal. The proposal shall contain no alterations or additions, other than those which are necessary for complying with instructions issued by Karandaaz Pakistan, or as are necessary for correcting errors made by the bidder, in which case such corrections shall be initialled by the person or persons signing the proposal.

16 Deadline for Submission of Proposals Proposals must be received by Karandaaz Pakistan no later than 5:00 PM Pakistan Standard Time on 28th August 2020. Karandaaz Pakistan may extend the deadline for submission of proposals by issuing an amendment in accordance with Clause 8, of Section 2 ‘Amendment of RFP’, in which case the original deadline shall be extended to the new deadline.

17 Late Proposal Any proposal received after the deadline for the submission of proposals prescribed in Clause 16, of Section 2 by Karandaaz Pakistan will be considered only at the sole discretion of the evaluation team.

18 Withdrawal, Substitution, and Modification of Proposal Bidders may withdraw, substitute or modify their proposal by giving notice in writing before the deadline for submission of proposal prescribed in Clause 16, of Section 2 ‘Deadline for Submission of Proposal’.


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Each bidder’s withdrawal, substitution or modification notice shall be prepared, sealed, marked, and delivered in accordance with Clause 15, of Section 2 ‘Format, Signing, and Submission of Proposal’, with the subject line : Responding to RFP for [“______________ - “WITHDRAWAL,” SUBSTITUTION” or “MODIFICATION”] as appropriate. No proposal may be substituted or modified after the deadline for submission of proposal as aforestated.

D. Proposal Opening and Evaluation

19 Proposal Opening Karandaaz Pakistan shall open the proposals, including modifications made pursuant to Clause 18, of Section 2, on the business day following the deadline stipulated in Clause 17, of Section 2 or the extended deadline in accordance with Clause 17 of Section 2, as the case may be.

20 Confidentiality Information relating to the examination, evaluation, comparison, and post-qualification of proposal, and recommendation of contract award, shall not be disclosed to bidders or any other third persons whatsoever, prior to publication of the contract award. Any effort by a bidder to influence Karandaaz Pakistan in the examination, evaluation, comparison, and post-qualification of the proposal or contract award decision may result in the rejection of its bid. Notwithstanding the foregoing, from the time of proposal opening to the time of bidding process conclusion, if any bidder wishes to contact Karandaaz Pakistan on any matter related to the bidding process, it should do so in writing at the address indicated in Clause 7, of Section 2 ‘Clarification of RFP’.

21 Clarification of Bids To assist in the examination, evaluation, and comparison of proposals, Karandaaz Pakistan may, at its discretion, seek clarifications in respect of the proposal from any bidder. The request for clarification and the response shall be in writing, but no change in the price or substance of the proposal shall be sought, offered, or permitted except correction of arithmetical errors discovered by Karandaaz Pakistan in the evaluation of the proposals in accordance with Clause 25 of Section 2 ‘Correction of Errors’.

22. Preliminary Examination of Proposals Prior to the detailed evaluation of proposals, Karandaaz Pakistan shall first review each proposal and check the power of attorney or any other form of delegation of authority demonstrating that the representative has been duly authorized to sign the proposal, initialization of all pages, etc.

23 Determination of Bidder’s Eligibility and Qualifications Karandaaz Pakistan shall determine whether the bidder meets the eligibility and qualification requirements of the bidding documents. Bidders failing to comply with the eligibility criteria specified in Clause 3, of Section 2- ‘Eligibility’ shall be disqualified. If the bidder meets the eligibility criteria, Karandaaz Pakistan shall determine whether the proposal is substantially responsive to the requirements of the bidding documents.

Karandaaz Pakistan’s determination of a proposal’s responsiveness shall be based on the contents of the proposal itself. A substantially responsive proposal is one, which conforms to all the terms, conditions, and specifications of the RFP, without material deviation or reservation. A material deviation or reservation is one (a) which affects in any substantial way the scope, quality, or


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performance of the Services; (b) which limits in any substantial way or is inconsistent with the RFP, Karandaaz Pakistan’s potential rights or bidder’s obligations under the proposed contract; or

(c) the rectification of which would unfairly affect the competitive position of other bidders presenting substantially responsive proposal.

24 Evaluation of Technical Proposal Karandaaz Pakistan shall evaluate the technical aspects of the proposals received, applying the evaluation criteria specified hereunder. Each proposal that is not rejected for reasons stated in these Instructions will be given a technical score. Technical evaluation weight will be split in two categories i) desk review of proposals (60%) and

presentation (10%). The desk review of proposals will be evaluated on following criteria:

o Technical Proposal (70% of total score): o Firm Experience and Capability (35 marks) o Quality of leadership and expertise (35 marks) o Proposed approach (30 marks)

Component Criteria Max. Score

Prior experience of the firm in conducting similar assessments to measure program impact

Strong track record in formative evaluations/assessments of donor-funded programmes on private sector development, MSMEs and/or economic development – including assessments of Theories of Change and Value for Money

10

Experience assessing programmes contributing to market development

15

Experience in conducting institutional assessments of organisations focusing on development finance in terms of appropriateness of governance and operating structures, sustainability in terms of managing operations in case sponsors exit, capital and Financing structures and knowledge of similar or advanced entities from other countries

10

Quality of leadership and expertise in the proposed core team. Quality will be judged based on demonstrated skills, expertise and knowledge to cover all deliverables within the ToR

Project leader and core team demonstrate significant expertise in monitoring and evaluation. Evidence of strong understanding of various quantitative and qualitative research methodologies used for performance and process evaluations, applying mixed methods that meet recognised standards for credibility and rigor.

10

Proposed team demonstrates strong experience in evaluating contribution of private sector development programmes to wider market development, in particularly on:

Product/ process innovations and risk appetite

Program strategic investments, partnerships and demonstration effects

Challenge funds and offering to niche segment including programs for women-led/ managed businesses

Knowledge products relevance and suitability for organizational and public consumption

15

Core team demonstrates strong experience in institutional assessment of SPVs, development finance, SME financing organizations, particularly:

10


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Appropriateness of governance and operating structures

Sustainability in terms of managing operations in case sponsors exit

Capital and Financing structures

Demonstrated knowledge of similar or advanced entities from other countries

Proposed approach, appropriateness and its relevance

The proposed approach should demonstrate a clear understanding of the anticipated impact of EAGR program

10

The proposed approach should demonstrate clear understanding of market development aspects of MSMEs and the role of Karandaaz in market development vis-a-vis interventions by other private sector players, development finance agencies or similar entities.

10

Proposed approach/ methodology to deliver desired assessment objectives on institutional assessment. Proportionality of various aspects of institutional assessment with respect to KRN maturity in the institutional development cycle.

10

* The firm scoring above 60% (maximum marks being 100) in desk review of proposals will be asked to make presentation on proposal. The scoring from 100 shall be converted as a score of 60%. The presentation will primarily focus on understanding of assignment and proposed methodology. Based on presentation, technical evaluation committee will give an overall score (maximum 10) to bidders (60+10=70). This overall score combined with 60% of score achieved during desk review of proposals will determine performance of the bidder on technical evaluation.

25 Correction of Errors Proposal determined to be substantially responsive shall be checked by Karandaaz Pakistan for any arithmetical errors. Errors shall be corrected by Karandaaz Pakistan as follows: Where there is a discrepancy between the amounts in figures and in words, the amount in words shall govern. The amount stated in the proposal shall be adjusted by Karandaaz Pakistan in accordance with the above procedure for the correction of errors and, with the concurrence of the bidder, shall be considered as binding upon the bidder. If the bidder does not accept the corrected amount, the proposal shall be rejected.

26 Currency for Price Evaluation For the evaluation and comparison of financial proposals, all prices shall be quoted in PKR

27 Evaluation of Proposal Price and ranking: Financial Proposal (30% of Total 100 Score) Financial proposal submitted will be evaluated for price reasonability determined under full and open competition and known market conditions.

Evaluation of the financial proposal will consider, but will not be limited to, the following:

Cost reasonableness;

Consistency with the technical proposal;

30 points will be awarded to the lowest responsive bidder while rest of the bids will be allocated points according to the following formula: Points of a Bidder = (P1/ P2) * 30


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Where: P1= Price of Lowest Responsive Bidder P2= Price of the Bidder Karandaaz Pakistan may also negotiate the price and terms with the short-listed/ highest

(combined technical and financial) scored bidder to have best techno-commercial outcome. If the

outcome of the negotiation is unsuccessful or an agreement is not reached with the top ranked

bidder, Karandaaz may then negotiate with the next in-line bidder and so on down the list as per

rank until a satisfactory outcome is achieved.

E. Award of Contract

28 Award Criteria Karandaaz Pakistan shall award the contract to the bidder whose proposal has been determined to be substantially responsive to the RFP and which has the highest combined technical and financial score and value for money.

29 Karandaaz Pakistan’s right to accept any Proposal and to reject any or all Proposals Karandaaz Pakistan reserves the right to cancel the bidding process and to reject all bids or to accept or reject any bid, at any time prior to the award of contract, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders or any obligation to inform the affected bidder or bidders of the grounds for Karandaaz Pakistan’s action.

30 Complaints pertaining to Bidding Process Without prejudice to Clause 29 of Section 2, any complaint at any stage of the bidding process or on conclusion of the bidding process from a bidder regarding a deviation from the prescribed procurement procedure may be addressed and delivered in writing to: Karandaaz Pakistan Attention: Chief Executive Officer 1 E, Ali Plaza, Nazimuddin Road, D-Chowk, Islamabad

Any requests via email seeking this explanation should be sent to [email protected] 31 Unsuccessful Bidders

The primary contact person of each bidder who fails technical evaluation or who is unsuccessful based on combined technical and financial score will be informed about the results of the bidding process through email upon the completion of the bidding process. Karandaaz Pakistan shall observe a 7 calendar days stand still period after intimation of results. Standstill period is defined as the period to give Bidders time to assess whether it is appropriate to submit an inquiry/concern/complaint. In case a vendor inquiries about the results of the evaluation, only the scores of the inquiring party shall be shared.

32 Notification of Award and Signing of Agreement The bidder whose Proposal has been accepted shall be notified of the award by Karandaaz Pakistan prior to expiration of the proposal validity period through a communication in writing (the “Letter of Acceptance”). The said Letter of Acceptance shall state the full value of the contract payable by Karandaaz Pakistan in consideration of the services to be provided in accordance with the RFP.



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The contract pursuant to the award shall incorporate all agreements between Karandaaz Pakistan and the successful bidder and shall be signed by Karandaaz Pakistan and sent to the successful bidder. The successful bidder will duly sign the contract and return it to Karandaaz Pakistan with seven (7) days.

SECTION 3. PROCUREMENT POLICY – BIDDER CONDUCT

33 Corrupt or fraudulent practices

Bidders, suppliers, contractors and their agents (whether declared or not), suppliers, and any personnel thereof, shall observe the highest standard of ethics during the procurement and execution of contracts.

Karandaaz Pakistan shall not award the contract if it is determined that the bidder, or any of its personnel, or its agents, or its sub-consultants, , suppliers and/or their employees, has, directly or indirectly, engaged in corrupt, fraudulent, collusive, coercive, or obstructive practices in competing for the contract in question. As part of bidding/ solicitation documents, Karandaaz Pakistan will seek declaration of ‘Non collusive non corrupt practices’ from each bidder. Format for such declaration is prescribed in section 3 of the standard bidding document. In pursuance of this policy, following terms are defined as follows:

a. “Corrupt practice” is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting, directly or indirectly, of anything of value to influence improperly the actions of another party;

b. “Fraudulent practice” is any act or omission, including a misrepresentation, that knowingly or recklessly misleads, or attempts to mislead, a party to obtain a financial or other benefit or to avoid an obligation;

c. “Collusive practice” is an arrangement between two or more parties designed to achieve an improper purpose, including to influence improperly the actions of another party;

d. “Coercive practice” is impairing or harming, or threatening to impair or harm, directly or indirectly, any party or the property of the party to influence improperly the actions of a party;

e. “Obstructive practice” is deliberately destroying, falsifying, altering, or concealing of evidence material to the investigation or making false statements to investigators in order to materially impede investigation into allegations of a corrupt, fraudulent, coercive or collusive practice; and/or threatening, harassing or intimidating any party to prevent it from disclosing its knowledge of matters relevant to the investigation or from pursuing the investigation.

34 Avoidance of conflict of interest Any bidder participating in the procurement process should disclose any actual or perceived conflict of interest situation/condition. Any bidder to have a conflict of interest shall be ineligible for award of a contract.

A bidder shall be considered to have a conflict of interest in a procurement process if: a. Such bidder is providing goods, works, or non-consulting services resulting from or directly

related to consulting services for the preparation or implementation of a project that it provided or were provided by any affiliate that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with that bidder; or


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b. Such bidder(including its personnel) has a close business or family relationship with one or more professional staff of Karandaaz Pakistan who: (i) is/are directly or indirectly involved in

c. the preparation of the bidding documents or specifications of the contract, and/or the bid evaluation process of the contract; or (ii) would be involved in the implementation or supervision of the contract unless the conflict stemming from such relationship has been resolved in a manner acceptable to Karandaaz Pakistan throughout the procurement process and execution of the contract; or

d. Such bidder falls under any other conflict of interest situation as specified in the standard bidding documents relevant to the specific procurement process.

e. Any employee of Karandaaz or Karandaaz has a financial interest in the procurement as an

officer, director, trustee, partner or employee in the business or organization in which the bidder is involved or is a party to.

35 Ineligible Firms

Proposals containing firms, goods, individuals (e.g., consultants, experts) and services from India

and/or Israel will be rejected.

SECTION 4. TERMS OF REFERENCE

About Karandaaz Pakistan

KARANDAAZ PAKISTAN (KRN), established in August 2014, promotes financial inclusion of small and

medium enterprises (SMEs) and individuals through a commercially directed investment platform and by

employing technology enabled digital solutions. The company has financial and institutional support from

leading international development institutions; principally the United Kingdom Department for

International Development (DFID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Karandaaz Pakistan1 has four core work streams:

1. Karandaaz Capital provides wholesale structured credit and equity-linked direct growth capital

investments in micro, small and mid-size enterprises (MSMEs) with compelling prospects for

sustainable growth and employment generation in Pakistan

2. Karandaaz Digital focuses on expanding the poor’s access to digital financial services in Pakistan

by working across the ecosystem with all stakeholders including regulators, policy-makers,

government departments, businesses and researchers and academics in four key work areas:

policy and regulation, seeding innovation, experimentation and solutions development, and scale

and outreach.

3. Karandaaz Innovation supports financial inclusion by addressing market gaps that prevent easy

access to finance. This is achieved through two key instruments: the Innovation Challenge Fund

(ICF) and Women Ventures (WV). ICF is aimed at generating innovative solutions to complex

1 The governance and operational structure of KRN is available at www.karandaaz.com.pk

http://www.karandaaz.com.pk/


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problems in the area of financial inclusion; while Women Ventures supports women led

businesses by providing growth capital and business development support.

4. Knowledge Management and Communications supports the company's core financial inclusion

goal by developing and disseminating evidence based insights and solutions to influence markets

and the financial ecosystem.

Context of the Assignment

KRN is implementing DFID’s Enterprise and Asset Growth Program (EAGR) program2.EAGR is envisaged to

unlock the potential of small entrepreneurs and businesses to drive growth, employment and trade; and

address the particular needs of women and young people as entrepreneurs and job seekers. EAGR was

initiated in 2013/14 with a funding commitment of GBP 75.5m over 5 years. The programme was later

scaled up in 2023 with increase in cumulative funding to GBP 200m.

The bulk of funding is aimed at supporting a range of financial institutions through ‘recyclable capital’

instruments to provide the finance to small growing businesses (SGBs). This will facilitate business growth

and also create jobs for the poor who can then build their assets. The remaining funds to be used to:

Build capacity of financial and non-financial service providers to deliver better business support

services and financial solutions to SGBs;

Improve the investment climate for business (including the financial sector) by advocating through

research and demonstration effect the reduction in regulatory, legal and institutional barriers to

exports and investment;

Provide challenge funds to enable commercial and financial intermediaries to develop innovative

products, services and delivery channels for greater financial inclusion of poor, women and youth,

and small business in Pakistan; and

Develop robust monitoring, evaluation, and impact assessment, research and knowledge

management.

The anticipated impact of the programme is ‘inclusive economic growth, higher incomes, and sustainable

livelihood improvements for lower segments of population in Pakistan’. The outcome is ‘improved MSME

access to appropriate financial services translating into higher economic benefits for state, and poor and

marginalized groups, in Pakistan’. Key results are:

At the firm level, the programme aims to reach micro, small and medium enterprises through its

various components and create jobs over the program period. It is to create additional output for

these enterprises. EAGR aims for at least 15% of the enterprises it reaches to be headed by women

and 50% of the jobs to be held by women and youth (50% each) over the life of the programme. This

will be achieved by targeting sectors where women have significant opportunities, delivering business

development support services to women, and market incentives to banks and other intermediaries to

support women.

2 Business Case and relevant documents are publically available at https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/projects/GB-1-202495/documents

https://devtracker.dfid.gov.uk/projects/GB-1-202495/documents


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At the intermediary level, the programme supports some MFIs, MFBs, commercial banks, leasing

companies, technology players and Islamic finance organisations. They disburse loans, leases and

other financial instruments over the program period. Intermediaries working with EAGR and accessing

the funds and guarantees, as a condition for participation, are required to define targets for

increasing the proportion of their portfolios dedicated to funding SGBs. EAGR also aims to help the

intermediaries to achieve qualitative improvements in credit and risk management, and other

indicators of institutional transformation.

At the market level, EAGR’s ‘recyclable capital’ funds will be operationally and financially self-

sufficient; preserving, growing and reinvesting capital on a continuous basis. The success of these

funds will encourage other investors to contribute to these funds or launch new funds; increasing the

availability of debt and equity capital for MSMEs. EAGR aims to successfully pilot unique innovative

value chain financing solutions across different sectors through combination of business development

services, challenge grants and/or provision of credit. Women and youth clients, working these

clusters, will be provided training on business development services, entrepreneurial skills and

financial literacy. Through demonstration of successful pilots as viable business lines for commercial

capital providers, EAGR aims to create a major market development impact for MSME finance in

Pakistan.

The EAGR program has reached its mid program cycle in terms of both time and spend. Given this is a

large and high-profile programme, KRN and DFID intend to commission a third party to review the

effectiveness of translating inputs to targeted outputs and outcomes under the EAGR program. To this

end, KRN is inviting Expression of Interest (EOI) to conduct a robust and independent mid-term

assessment (MTA) of EAGR’s implementation and draw lessons for future direction. The assessment will

be in the form of a series of three thematic studies that provide a comprehensive picture of EAGR impact

to date, KRN contribution to market development, and institutional assessment and sustainability.

Scope of Work The EAGR program implementation has reached half way, and progress has been regularly tracked by DFID annual reviews and quarterly review meetings of the Board of Directors. KRN and DFID have also used institutional experts periodically to provide a steer on institutional development, strategic direction, and outcomes. The primary focus of the MTA is on alignment of the KRN service delivery to strategic objectives of the programs. However, the scope of the assessment is wider than the design objectives of EAGR as the MTA is also expected to make recommendations to both DFID and Karandaaz on strategically significant issues which may not be a part of the EAGR results framework. The MTA will emphasise on:

i) Accountability – provide a wholistic and evidence-based assessment of Karandaaz performance on

the results framework.

ii) Impact – evidence-based assessment of the impact of results delivered – both planned and its spill

over effects.

iii) Learning & course correction – measures that need to be taken in the second half of the programme

term to improve efficiency and effectiveness.


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The MTA approach should follow the structure of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation (OECD)

Development Assistance Committee (DAC) “Principles for Evaluation of Development Assistance”. The

MTA should focus on assessing whether the performance is on track, right processes are in place and the

projected impact is credible. Within this structure, the key assessment questions that should also be

looked into are: i) relevance, ii) effectiveness, iii) efficiency, iv) impact, v) sustainability, and vi) coverage,

coherence, coordination. The OECD DAC principals will cut across the following three dimensional

thematic areas of the MTA:

a) Program Impact: key questions this MTA study should be answering include:

1. KRN Theory of Change: Is the TOC in the original business case still relevant to KRN or does it need to evolve? Does the KRN Logframe adequately capture the TOC? Is KRN on the path to achieving projected results? How much will the current and evolving economic environment impact the TOC?

2. KRN Results Measurement: Are the results measurement approaches used by KRN adequate? How do the results measurement approaches used by KRN compare with each other? How should the results measurement approach change to capture future needs of KRN?

3. Impact/ Outcomes: What is the first level impact of KRN investments on employment and growth of enterprises? What is the second level distributional impact on poverty, gender, youth and (quality) jobs? Does the performance to date give confidence about achieving the end results?

4. VFM: Is program delivering Value for Money (VfM)? How can the VFM be realistically improved? (DFID 4E approach to VFM should be used which focuses on economy, effectiveness, efficiency, and equity)

b) Market Development: the MTA should be looking to explore:

1. KRN Demonstration Effect: Is KRN on the pathway to create a demonstration effect in the market on sustainable business models of SME finance?

2. Innovation: Is KRN innovative in its approach? Is it focusing on the right areas of innovation? How scalable are its innovations?

3. Risk Appetite: Is the organization’s risk appetite appropriate for the role that KRN is expected to play in the market and to achieve its own institutional ambition?

4. KRN Strategic Investments: Has KRN investment in PMIC added value to the microfinance sector? Are

strategic investments addressing market failures, providing missing pieces of institutional architecture and

strengthening the financial sector architecture?

5. KRN Partnerships: Is KRN partnership structure sustainable? Is it delivering intended results (for example, increase in portfolio of SME finance within partners, introduction of new products/programmes)? Has KRN developed the capabilities to create the right partnerships? Should it consider international partnerships and what value does that bring?

6. KRN Knowledge Management: How well positioned is the KM function w.r.t. a) supporting KRN investment decisions; b) address information gaps and catalyze the market players; and c) transfer and creation of domain knowledge?

7. KRN Challenge Fund: Are the challenge funds appropriately targeting market failures and creating a demonstration effect to promote financial inclusion? 8. Women Entrepreneurship programme: is KRN support to women led businesses successfully creating a demonstration effect. Is the design aligned with ambition and market need?


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c) Institutional Assessment: While KRN continues to align its Governance and Operating structure with

its strategic intent and changing operating environment, the MTA should deep dive to answer the

following:

1. KRN Governance Structure: Is the KRN governance structure appropriate and aligned with its operations? Is it structured to protect the mission and assets when DFID exits?

2. KRN Operating Structure: Does KRN have the right systems in place to become a commercially sustainable/ viable entity? Is it on the path to strengthen them in line with growing needs and size of the organization?

3. KRN Sustainability: Is KRN on the path of sustainability post DFID exit? What are the key considerations that should be resolved prior to DFID exit?

4. KRN Financing: Has KRN been able to leverage its own balance sheet and those at subsidiary level to crowd in capital from commercial and private sources? What is KRN long term view on growth of its own balance sheet?

The MTA will be an essential guide and information to shape and scope future program direction.

Therefore, the MTA is expected to: i) document the program learning through its journey, ii) reflect upon

direction of variance from the original Business Case, iii) emphasize upon how likely it is for KRN to

successfully deliver on anticipated impact and outcomes. A clear reflection on KRN learning curve must

cut across all three thematic areas of the assessment. Each segment of the assessment should, at

minimum, assess: What is KRN good at? What does it need to do better? What have we learned so far?

The MTA will be an essential guide and information to shape and scope future program calibrations.

Following table summarizes relevant stakeholders and key sources for desk research for each of the

studies.

Thematic Area Key Stakeholders Potential Sources of Information

Program Impact DFID, KRN Board and Management

EAGR Business Case, Logframe, KRN MEL Strategy, KRN Results measurement approaches, KRN VFM Framework, DFID Annul Reviews and KRN progress reporting to DFID.

Market Development DFID, KRN Board and Management, KRN partner institutions including women led businesses, and industry players

Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) from all relevant stakeholders, existing KRN studies, evaluations and assessments.

Institutional Assessment

DFID, KRN Board and Management

KIIs all relevant stakeholders, DFID Due Diligence reports, previous institutional assessment reports, and KRN strategic framework.

Some of these information are available publically, while others are sole property of KRN. The consultant

will be required to maintain confidentiality of any information provided by KRN. To evaluate market

development, the consultant may need to conduct additional studies, which should be clearly explained

and justified in the technical proposal.


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Specific Tasks of the Consultant

As mentioned above, KRN plans to split MTE activity into three linked assessment studies, which may run

in parallel or sequentially. While this RFP narrates a broad scope of work, the shortlisted applicants will

be requested to submit technical and financial proposals.

However, for all three studies the following activities are expected to be completed in seriatim: Phase 1: Background Research, Development of Research Tools

The consultant will:

▪ Desk review literature, publicly available information, industry data and previous studies to scope out

the above listed dimensions of the assessment, and identify potential stakeholders to collect addition

information.

▪ Develop research tools: The consultant will be responsible for developing research tools needed for

the study. These will include, at least:

- Detailed research approach and methodology

- Identification of primary and secondary sources of information

- Interview guide and/or questionnaire from KIIs

- data analysis outcomes and information fields

Deliverables: Summary of the proposed assessment methodology, tools and work plan.

Phase 2: Consultation with Stakeholders

The consultant will be responsible for holding consultative sessions with KRN senior management, KRN

MEL team, DFID, and other stakeholders to develop an in-depth understanding and perform

comprehensive assessment. At this stage the consultant is expected to prepare Key Informant Interviews

(KII) questionnaire and share with stakeholders well in advance.

The consultant will be required to have progress review meetings with KRN team during different phases

of the field work and consultative sessions. Preliminary findings emanating from consultative sessions and

project progress review will be discussed during these meetings.

The consultant will develop a report outline completed with table of contents, list of tables and graphs

etc. to give the project manager a complete overview of the format and scope of the final report. Any

deviations from the field plan developed will be documented with reasons and shared with project

manager.

Deliverable: Progress report on consultative meetings, work plan and report outline.

Please note that all data collected during the study will be the sole property of KRN and cannot be shared,

used or reproduced for any purpose without prior permission.


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Phase 3: Report Writing & Dissemination

▪ Draft Report: The consultant will draft the report which should at least cover a) background and

research approach b) methodology c) key findings and analysis d)recommendations and other matters

of relevance that emerge during the course of the project. It is recommended that visuals, tables and

graphs be used wherever possible. The review and approval of the draft report may involve multiple

rounds of comments and editing to arrive at the final version.

▪ Final report: The consultant is responsible for incorporating the feedback and submitting a final

version to the project manager within the agreed timeframe.

▪ Presentation: The consultant will make a presentation to Karandaaz and DFID to share key findings of

the study.

Deliverables: draft report, final report and PPT presentation

The consultant will have the responsibility for primary and secondary research, field work and report

writing. KRN will provide support where required and agreed in advance.

Deliverables & Timelines

The study will be conducted in different phases, starting from the signing of the contract. Deliverables

include:

Deliverable Description Timeline

PHASE 1

Inception meeting with Karandaaz

An inception meeting will be held in the first week to kick off the assignment and clarify any questions on scope of work, the project itself and any other details.

Week 1

Literature and document review

This will aim to gain in-depth understanding of the Karandaaz results framework, project documents and any other relevant literature relevant to delivering the above scope of work. Mapping of initiatives resulting from this scoping exercise will be included in the inception report.

Week 3

Inception report The consultant will submit an Inception Report to Karandaaz, which will include detailed work plan and timelines: a table of contents for the report, list of key informants and stakeholders to be engaged during the assessment, and revisions in research methodology if any.

Week 4

PHASE 2

Stakeholder consultations

The consultant is to undertake interviews with key project stakeholders as identified above.

Week 5-8

Progress review meeting

After analyzing the required information, the consultant will

deliver a presentation to DFID and Karandaaz team outlining the

preliminary findings of the assessment.

Week 9

PHASE 3


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Deliverable Description Timeline

Draft Report Incorporating feedback from the presentation, the consultant will submit a draft report for review by the Karandaaz team. The consultant will draft the report which should at least cover a) background, purpose and objectives of the assessment b) methodology c) key findings and analyses d) relevant annexure. It is recommended that interesting visuals, tables and graphs be used wherever possible. The goal should be to document information in a succinct and actionable manner.

Week13

Final report and presentation

The consultant is responsible for incorporating the feedback and submitting a final version to the project manager. Number of iterations will depend on the quality of the draft report.

The consultant will submit a PowerPoint presentation to Karandaaz Pakistan summarizing key findings of the study. The consultant may be required to present the same to Karandaaz management and/or sponsors.

Week 15

Reporting and Management

The consultant will report to the MTA Steering Committee (SC) comprising of representatives from both

DFID and Karandaaz. The Task Manager for the MTA is Senior Specialist MEL at Karandaaz. The

deliverables for each of the three phases of the MTA will be considered completed when approved by the

SC.

Level of Effort, Payment & Disbursement Schedule

LOE is estimated to be 60 days of work over a period of 5 months. Karandaaz Pakistan will make payments

as per the following schedule:

Phase 1 deliverables successfully completed 20% of total cost

Phase 2 deliverables successfully completed 30% of total cost

Phase 3 deliverable successfully completed 50% of total cost

Consultant Qualifications & Experience

KRN seeks potential applicants both from local as well as international consulting firms. However, the

international consulting firms must have a local partner registered in Pakistan, have a valid National Tax

Number (NTN) and is able to travel and work across Pakistan. KRN expects consulting firm and project

team members to clearly demonstrate following competencies:

Knowledge/ understanding and experience in financial inclusion (SME, digital financial inclusion and

microfinance) landscape, key stakeholders, financial sector infrastructure, operating and regulatory

context and challenges of developing economy of Pakistan.

Knowledge/ understanding and experience of programmes implemented in other countries but

similar to Karandaaz in context and direction.


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Knowledge/ understanding and experience of theories of change that govern not for profit entities

and demonstrated experience of critiquing theories of change, logical framework approaches,

evaluation/ assessment and research methodologies applicable the international development

programmes and value for money (VfM) assessments.

In depth experience of conducting different assessments (such as baselines, mid-term or end line

assessments) of large and complex programs funded by international development partners,

preferably of DFID funded program or similar programs funded by other multilateral organizations

such as IFC/ World Bank, CDC, or ADB etc.

Knowledge/ understanding and experience of the entrepreneurship space in Pakistan, especially the

women entrepreneurship and challenge funds on financial inclusion.

Understanding of how similar programs address information gaps and catalyze the market players;

and transfer domain knowledge through knowledge management.

Knowledge and experience of conducting institutional assessments focusing on corporate governance

structure, delivery models of special purpose vehicles, and institutional aspects that support the

growth journey

Excellent analytical skills, the team members must be able draw lessons from KRN experiences in

cognizance of its operating environment and give recommendations from relevant context.

Excellent report writing skills to comprehensively articulate and present analysis, findings in a precise

manner.


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Annexure A

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION LETTER Dear Sir/Madam, Having examined the Solicitation Documents, the receipt of which is hereby duly acknowledged, “THE FIRM NAME” undersigned, offer to provide consulting for “INSERT REFERENCE NUMBER” to Karandaaz Pakistan in accordance with the Price Schedule attached herewith and made part of this proposal. “THE FIRM NAME” undertake, if our proposal is accepted, to commence and complete delivery of all services specified in the contract within the time frame stipulated. “THE FIRM NAME” agree to abide by this proposal for a period of 90 days from date fixed for opening of proposal in the invitation for proposal, and it shall remain binding upon us and may be accepted at any time before the expiration of that period. We understand that you are not bound to accept any or all proposals you may receive. We also accept all terms of conditions RFP. We undertake that we will initiate the delivery of /Services as per the client’s request, if our proposal is accepted. We understand that you are not bound to accept any you receive. Dated: this------day of -------2020 Yours sincerely, Signature Name and title of signatory Name, Designation and Signature of the “firm authorized Representative”