Overview

Westminster Foundation for Democracy (“WFD”) is the UK public body dedicated to supporting democracy around the world. Operating internationally, WFD works with parliaments, political parties, and civil society groups as well as on elections to help make political systems fairer, more inclusive and more accountable. 

. We are a problem-solving, practitioner-led organisation that offers:  

• High quality and impactful regional and country programmes that directly support the full spectrum of institutions in political systems to develop inclusive political processes, more accountable political systems, protection of rights and freedoms, and more pluralistic societies; 
• Specialist analysis, research, and advice to inform policy makers on a range of democratic governance issues via its Centre of Expertise; and   
• International elections observation on behalf of the UK.  

Aim of this Invitation to Tender  

WFD is issuing this Invitation to Tender (“ITT”) to a range of potential experts and/or suppliers of services and would welcome a bid from your organisation.

As part of the "Democratic Resilience – Building Transparent and Inclusive Models in Montenegro" project, WFD seeks to engage a subject to conduct a comprehensive study on violence against women in Montenegrin politics. The study should provide insight into the public opinion on the topic and the perception of politicians as well as media monitoring and experteese recommendations to address this issue at both party and country levels. The results of this study will be presented in a round table discussion that will include the parliament, the government, academia, civil society organisations, and political parties. In addition, the result of this study will be promoted through a social media campaign.

Bid submission 

All bids should be submitted by the end of 30^th October 2023 in writing, comply with this ITT's requirements, and include the information requested in the Bid Requirements below.

The bid should be sent electronically and addressed to Mina Medjedovic, programme coordinator at mina.medjedovic@wfd.org.

The same email address should be used for any questions related to this ITT.

By submitting a bid, you agree to comply with WFD’s standard terms and conditions for tendering and key policies, which are found here, and WFD’s Code of Conduct.

Detailed Specification 

Objective 

With the goal of enhancing awareness and providing support in fighting the violence against women, WFD would like to engage with eligible subject(such as think tanks, CSOs, companies, agencies, groups of experts etc.) with relevant expertise that will create, conduct, and promote a comprehensive study on the topic of violence against women in Montenegrin politics.

The study aims to provide an overview of the situation of violence in the political realm of Montenegro against women, and it should be conducted nationally. In order to gain data from all respective actors, the study methodology should include a public opinion survey on violence against women in Montenegrin politics. Additionally, the study should provide the perspective of politicians from both genders through a series of interviews as well as the opinion of youth from political parties through focus groups. Besides this perspective, the study needs to reflect on the results of media monitoring that will be conducted on this topic and provide a comprehensive set of recommendations and best practices from different countries that can be implemented on both party and state levels to improve the current atmosphere for women in politics. Finally, upon completion of the study, a third-party agency will be contracted to help the subject conduct a social media campaign promoting the study results.

The overall study should be presented to the general public in a round table discussion, sparking the debate among prominent members of society.

Scope of work 

The comprehensive study should reflect the representative public opinion poll with a general population sample. The rest of the study’s material must be collected from 5 to 8 political parties in Montenegro. Meanwhile, the interviews that will be conducted should include at least 10 male and female politicians per party, and approximately 30% of them should be in a leadership position.  The focus groups should be conducted with youth wings of political parties with a representative sample that is reciprocal to the whole of Montenegro (both geographically and demographically). The detailed methodology of the study presented to the WFD team should outline the process of conducting focus groups, focus group participants’ recruitment plan, an outline of the focus group discussion including a moderator and participants’ introduction and focus group discussion points and questions.

Some of the questions that could be tackled within the analysis:

•           How do female and male politicians perceive the extent of violence against women in general separately?

•           How visible are the daily struggles of female politicians?

•           What are the most common forms of violence against women in politics?

•           To what extent are women subjects of online violence?

•           How do you think the media portrays women politicians compared to their male counterparts?

•           How do parties address the violence against their female members?

•           Are you aware of any existing policies or legislation aimed at combating violence against women in politics?

•           Do you believe media coverage can contribute to violence against women in politics?

The media monitoring part of the study should cover at least three social media platforms (preferably Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) focusing on the hate speech and violence exhibited in the posts of 5 selected political parties with prominent female members. The monitoring should also incorporate an analysis of the media outlets (at least 5) and report on the narrative used to portray women in politics.

Ultimately, the recommendations section should be based on the analysis of the current situation in Montenegro with regard to the violence against women in politics. These should address the identified obstacles, provide practical solutions to these issues, and feature best practices in other countries.

Overall, the study should be delivered in both English and the Montenegrin language.

Timeline and Deliverables 

Reporting 

Reporting should be conducted following the set three milestones:

• Delivery of a detailed methodological plan
• Delivery of the comprehensive study draft
• Organisation of roundtable discussion

Each of the reporting milestones includes the delivery of financial and narrative reports for the respective time frame done in the template provided by the WFD office.

Payments

The total amount of the proposal should not exceed £40,000 (including taxes). Payments will be conducted in instalments aligned to the deliverables above. Please note that the financial proposal will be considered together with the technical proposal to decide the best bidder. Thus, bidders are encouraged to submit competitive financial offers.

The offer for conducting the programme should include the development of methodology, desk research, organisation of all and any relevant meetings and workshops, the proofreading cost to English, and translation and interpretation costs inclusive of VAT.

The consultant/s travel expenses, meeting organisation costs, accommodation and boarding costs, draft report preparation, taxes, meal allowances and any incidentals are the sole responsibility of the company/organisation, and the budget provided should be inclusive of these costs.

Minimum experience and expertise 

The service provider is required to demonstrate: 

• A track record of proven experience in conducting studies of similar complexity, sample, geographical scope and size in Montenegro is required 
• Proven experience in conducting studies and/or research related to gender equality, women in politics and violence is required
• Track record of previous work with WFD under a similar methodology and quick turnaround in delivering the task will be considered desirable.

Bid process 

Timescale 

Below is the proposed timescale for the tendering process. Please note the dates are indicative and subject to change. 

Bid requirements 

In general, the bid should include the following: 

1. Organisational profile 
2. Proposed solution and how it meets the specification  
3. Financial proposal  
4. References  
5. Confirmation of compliance with General Terms and Conditions of Tendering 

Organisational profile:  

• Company profile, including brief history and financial overview 
• Case studies/credentials demonstrating relevant experience and skills profile  
• Commitment to corporate social and environmental responsibility  
• Names and brief biographies of key staff  

WFD is particularly keen to receive bids from organisations which are – or are working towards becoming – living wage employers and that have a broadly representative and balanced Board from gender and ethnicity perspectives.   

Proposed solution:  

• Clear explanation as to the proposed approach to meeting the specification set out in this ITT.  
• Detailed project plan for the onboarding and implementation process, including timelines, assumptions and dependencies, resourcing and risks.  

Financial proposal:  

• Full breakdown costings for the proposed solution in GBP 
• Separate accounting of VAT and/or any other applicable tax, duty, or charge.  
• Detailing of any discount applied in view of WFD’s not-for-profit status.  

References: 

• The bid should include details of two references relating to similar goods/services provided in the last three years. Please note – referees will only be contacted once Preferred Bidder status is assigned. 

Confirmation of acceptance of General Terms and Conditions of Tendering:  

• By submitting a bid, you confirm acceptance to WFD’s General Terms and Conditions for Tendering which can be found on our website. 

All bidders should also note the following:  

• all bids should be submitted in English;  
• all bids should be submitted in electronic form only; 
• this ITT and the response may be incorporated in whole or in part into the final contract; 
• only information provided in response to questions set out in this documentation will be taken into consideration for the purposes of evaluating the ITT; 
• bids which are poorly organised or poorly written, such that evaluation and comparison with other submissions is notably difficult, may exclude the bidder from further consideration; and 
• any bids which do not fully comply with the requirements of this ITT may be disregarded at the absolute discretion of WFD.  

Evaluation criteria 

WFD does not provide a mathematical formula by which bids will be weighted and evaluated, but the procurement committee will usually consider the following criteria, among others, in the evaluation of all responses:

• Quality of bid document
• Service offer and solution fit to specification
• Quality, capacity, and track record of bidders based on references
• Value for money and pricing factors
• Professional profile, track record, and references
• Relevant experience, including case studies

WFD will score each criterion using the following table:

Tender Queries 

Any questions related to this tender should be addressed to Mina Medjedovic at minamedjedovic@wfd.org.

Equal Information 

Should any supplier raise a question that is of general interest, WFD reserves the right to circulate both question and answer to other respondents, either via WFD’s website or by email. In this event, anonymity will be maintained. 

Annual reports 

Please provide a link or copy of your company’s latest audited annual accounts with the bid. 

Expected contract duration 

WFD expects to award a contract for a three month period.

Other information 

If the potential supplier believes that there is additional information that has not been requested in the ITT but is relevant to your bid, please include that information as a separate attachment and explain its relevance to this ITT.