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British Embassy San Jose: call for bids 2019/2020

The British Embassy in San Jose is now accepting project and activity proposals for the 2019/2020 financial year (1 April 2019 – 29 February 2020).

• From: British Embassy San Jose and British Embassy Managua
• Published: 10 January 2019

This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

Call for Bids

This year, the British Embassy is seeking to support projects and activities in Costa Rica and Nicaragua that focus on the following thematic areas:

• Human Rights & Democracy - for example, strengthened democratic governance and rule of law; increased equality and non-discrimination for women and disadvantaged groups and strengthened freedom of the press.
• Economic Growth and Inclusion - for example: fostering economic inclusion; improving the business environment; and strengthening cyber security

We are looking for projects and activities that deliver real, measurable outcomes in support of development in the country and are particularly interested in project proposals aimed at the following outcomes:

1. Increased accountability and transparency, demonstrated, for example, through improved Transparency Index scores or stronger mechanisms for checks and balances in institutional frameworks, leading to greater alignment of policies and practices in line with international standards

2. Reforms and implementation of policies aimed at promoting conditions for open markets and improving the business environment, such as, but not limited to promoting competitiveness, streamlining processes to facilitate trade, tackling bureaucracy and reducing the potential for illicit trade

3. Improved resilience to cyber-attacks and online crime, that guarantees a safe and stable online space for the public and makes the country a safer place to do business;

4. Greater economic inclusion through entrepreneurship and innovation, especially for women entrepreneurs

5. Decrease in reported gender-based violence, discrimination and harassment towards women, members of the LGBT community and other marginalised groups

6. Reduction in reported harassment of and violence against journalists; improved enabling environment in which freedom of the press is protected and respected

Kindly note separate guidance for projects and activities

Project bid guidance

• projects are funded for a single financial year running from 1 April 2019 to 29 February 2020, with no expectation of continued funding beyond this period
• minimum project budget limit: $10,000
• maximum project budget limit: $20,000

Project assessment

Project bids will be assessed against the following criteria:

• alignment with the above mentioned thematic priorities and outcomes
• outcomes are achievable within the funding period
• project design includes clear monitoring and evaluation procedures
• sustainability demonstrating that project benefits continue after the funding ends
• risk and financial accountability procedures
• the organisation’s safeguarding policies that ensure protection of beneficiaries
• overall value for money
• administration costs for delivering a project should not exceed 10% of the total project budget

Activity bid guidance

• activities are one-off interventions (not a fully developed project) that take place at a specific time in the financial year between 1 April 2019 and 29 February 2020, with no expectation of continued funding beyond the initial activity or period
• maximum activity budget limit: $8,000 (Please note that in the past, most bids approved in this category were typically between $5,000 and $6,000)

Activity assessment

Activity bids will be assessed against the following criteria:

• alignment with the above mentioned thematic priorities and outcomes
• outcomes are achievable within the funding period
• activity design includes clear evaluation procedures
• risk and financial accountability procedures
• the organisation’s safeguarding policies that ensure protection of beneficiaries
• overall value for money

Bidding Process

1. Proposals must be submitted using the relevant bid form and Activity based budget template provided below.
2. All proposals must be received by midnight on 15 March 2019. Late proposals will not be considered
3. Proposals must be submitted to Denise.Lewis@fco.gov.uk
4. Successful bidders will be notified by 15 April 2019

Additional information and documentation

All implementers will be expected to sign a standard FCO contract or grant agreement with the embassy. The terms of the contract or agreement are not negotiable.

All projects are expected to have achieved 85% spend by end December 2019.

• activity bid form Activity bid form (MS Word Document, 56.5 KB)
• proposal form for full projects between $10K and $20K (fill in Part A only) Proposal form for full projects (MS Word Document, 218 KB)
• activity based budget template (for all proposals) Activity Based Budget template (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 48.5 KB)
• guidance on value for money and on completing the activity based budget ABB & VFM Guidance (MS Word Document, 29.9 KB)
• grant contract Grant Contract (MS Word Document, 192 KB)
• administrative costs guidance (project only) Administrative costs guidance (MS Word Document, 23.6 KB)

Published 10 January 2019