UNFPA hereby solicits a quotation for the following service: 

Event management services for the ICPD30 Conference to be conducted on September 6, 2023 in Ashgabat

For specific objectives and scope of the Services, please refer to Section II – Service Requirements/Terms of Reference (ToR) below.

1. About UNFPA

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is an international development agency that works to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every child birth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.

UNFPA is the lead UN agency that expands the possibilities for women and young people to lead healthy sexual and reproductive lives. To read more about UNFPA, please go to: UNFPA about us

II – Service Requirements/Terms of Reference (ToR) Objectives and scope of the Services

In 1994, representatives of 179 governments gathered in Cairo for the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and adopted the ICPD Programme of Action, which set a bold new vision of the relationships between population, development, and individual rights and well-being.

As the international community prepares to mark 30 years of ICPD, UNFPA accelerates efforts that are focused on expanding access to information and services needed by women and girls to fulfill their reproductive rights and choices that underpin gender equality and allow them to take choices and fully realize their potential.

The ICPD national conference in Ashgabat will enable the national side and UNFPA to prepare for this year’s planned Regional Conference “Population and Development: Ensuring Rights and Choices” on the ICPD30, which will be held on October 19-20, 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland. The outcomes of these above-mentioned conferences will form the basis of the ICPD global review to be held at the 57th session of the Commission on Population and Development in April 2024.

The Conference will be held on 6 September 2023 in the conference hall of “Yyldyz” hotel, Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

2. Questions

Questions or requests for further clarifications should be submitted in writing to the contact person below:

The deadline for submission of questions is August 15, 2023. Questions will be answered in writing and shared with all parties as soon as possible after this deadline.

3. Eligible Bidders

This Request for Quotation is open to all eligible bidders; to be considered an eligible bidder for this solicitation process you must comply with the following:

1. - A bidder must be a legally-constituted company that can provide the requested services and have legal capacity to enter into a contract with UNFPA to deliver in the country, or through an authorized representative.
2. - A bidder must not have a conflict of interest regarding the solicitation process or with the TORs / Technical Specifications. Bidders found to have a conflict of interest shall be disqualified.
3. - At the time of Bid submission, the bidder, including any JV/Consortium members, is not under procurement prohibitions derived from the Compendium of United Nations Security Council Sanctions Lists and has not been suspended, debarred, sanctioned or otherwise identified as ineligible by any UN Organization or the World Bank Group
4. - Bidders must adhere to the UN Supplier Code of Conduct, which may be found by clicking on UN Supplier Code of Conduct.
5.  
6. IV. Content of quotations

Quotations should be submitted in a single email whenever possible, depending on file size. Quotations must contain:

1. Technical proposal, in response to the requirements outlined in the service requirements / TORs.
2. Price quotation, to be submitted strictly in accordance with the price quotation form.

Both parts of the quotation must be signed by the bidding company’s relevant authority and submitted in PDF format.

5. Instructions for submission

Proposals should be prepared based on the guidelines set forth in Section III above, along with a properly filled out and signed price quotation form, and are to be sent by email to the contact person indicated below no later than: COB 20 August 2023.

Please note the following guidelines for electronic submissions:

• • The following reference must be included in the email subject line: RFQ Nº UNFPA/TKM/RFQ/2023/03. Proposals, including both technical and financial proposals, that do not contain the correct email subject line may be overlooked by the procurement officer and therefore not considered.

• • The total email size may not exceed 20 MB (including email body, encoded attachments and headers). Where the technical details are in large electronic files, it is recommended that these be sent separately before the deadline.
  • Any quotation submitted will be regarded as an offer by the bidder and does not constitute or imply the acceptance of any quotation by UNFPA. UNFPA is under no obligation to award a contract to any bidder as a result of this RFQ.

6. Overview of Evaluation Process

Quotations will be evaluated based on the technical proposal and the total cost of the services (price quote).

The evaluation will be carried out in a two-step process by an ad-hoc evaluation panel. Technical proposals will be evaluated for technical compliance prior to the comparison of price quotes.

7. Award Criteria

In case of a satisfactory result from the evaluation process, UNFPA intends to award a Purchase Order to the lowest priced bidder whose bid has been determined to be substantially compliant with the bidding documents.

8. Right to Vary Requirements at Time of Award

UNFPA reserves the right at the time of award of contract to increase or decrease, by up to 20%, the volume of services specified in this RFQ without any change in unit prices or other terms and conditions.

9. Payment Terms

UNFPA payment terms are net 30 days upon receipt of invoice and delivery/acceptance of the milestone deliverables linked to payment as specified in the contract.

10. Fraud and Corruption

UNFPA is committed to preventing, identifying, and addressing all acts of fraud against UNFPA, as well as against third parties involved in UNFPA activities. UNFPA’s Policy regarding fraud and corruption is available here: Fraud Policy. Submission of a proposal implies that the Bidder is aware of this policy.

Suppliers, their subsidiaries, agents, intermediaries and principals must cooperate with the UNFPA Office of Audit and Investigations Services as well as with any other oversight entity authorized by the Executive Director and with the UNFPA Ethics Advisor as and when required. Such cooperation shall include, but not be limited to, the following: access to all employees, representatives agents and assignees of the vendor; as well as production of all documents requested, including financial records. Failure to fully cooperate with investigations will be considered sufficient grounds to allow UNFPA to repudiate and terminate the Agreement, and to debar and remove the supplier from UNFPA's list of registered suppliers.

A confidential Anti-Fraud Hotline is available to any Bidder to report suspicious fraudulent activities at UNFPA Investigation Hotline.

11. Zero Tolerance

UNFPA has adopted a zero-tolerance policy on gifts and hospitality. Suppliers are therefore requested not to send gifts or offer hospitality to UNFPA personnel. Further details on this policy are available here: Zero Tolerance Policy.

12. RFQ Protest

Bidder(s) perceiving that they have been unjustly or unfairly treated in connection with a solicitation, evaluation, or award of a contract may submit a complaint to the UNFPA Head of Office, Ayna Seyitliyeva at seyitlieva@unfpa.org. Should the supplier be unsatisfied with the reply provided by the UNFPA Head of the Business Unit, the supplier may contact the Chief, Procurement Services Branch at procurement@unfpa.org

13. Disclaimer

Should any of the links in this RFQ document be unavailable or inaccessible for any reason, bidders can contact the Procurement Officer in charge of the procurement to request for them to share a PDF version of such document(s).

PRICE QUOTATION FORM

• • Quoted rates must be exclusive of all taxes, since UNFPA is exempt from taxes.