Call for bids: supporting inclusive politics in Iraq
The British Embassy in Baghdad is accepting proposals for a 2 to 3-year project starting in early 2021 under its Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF).
The overall vision of the project is to support Iraq to develop a more inclusive political system and to support broadened participation in political processes and decision-making.
The project should be delivered based on one of these themes:
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Encourage development of issue-based political discourse, engaging across a broad spectrum of political actors, CSOs, and communities.
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Support the ability of politically-engaged actors (especially youth) to play an active role in Iraqi political life through the provision of technical, advisory and mentoring support.
Summary of requirements
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the call for bids is open to international organisations, non-governmental organisations, and private sector entities. The contract will be a grant agreement awarded on a strictly not-for-profit basis. This call for bids is open to all suppliers in the market, including suppliers on the CSSF Framework
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the FCDO requires bidders to have the necessary legal licences to operate in time for the start of the grant award, at the local level within Federal Iraq and/or in the Kurdistan Region. We will provide further information regarding which regions we expect the partner to be able to operate in once finalised. If bidders do not hold the required licences, we would expect to engage with partners at the point in which they are shortlisted. We would like bidders to have previous experience working in Iraq, with particular knowledge or experience of the political landscape
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bidders should consider sub-contracting with local CSOs or private sector organisations, using appropriate selection criteria
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deep, relevant thematic experience on the theme of inclusive politics, particularly in the MENA context
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the Embassy strongly encourages bidders to develop innovative ideas, and to de-conflict to the extent possible with other existing and planned programmatic activity by third parties in Iraq
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bidders should have sufficient financial resilience and a proven track record of transparently and effectively managing donor funded projects of similar scale. Specifically Bidders should have previously received a direct fund of at least $200,000 for a one year spend
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grant agreements are strictly not allowed to generate a profit for the delivery partner. For-profit delivery organisations will be asked to provide proof of compliance with this requirement
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suppliers should pay particular attention to relevant UK legislation on aid divergence and proscribed organisations
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the Embassy retains the right to create a reserve list of bids that meet its technical criteria, which may subsequently be used to select additional bids
Required submissions
Bidders should submit a Project Proposal Form/Concept. This should set out the concept for delivering a project based on the above broadly defined theme(s) to a maximum budget of GBP £3 million and over a maximum of 3 years.
Bidders should respond to either one of or both of the themes identified above.
All costs should be listed in GBP (not USD).
Official registration documents of the organisation in Iraq and document(s) showing annual turnover and proof of meeting the requirement for $200,000 recent funding (see above).
Bidding process
Concept notes should be sent to BaghdadCSSF.CallForBids@fco.gov.uk by 1 January 2021. In the subject line please indicate the name of the bidder and title of the concept/proposal ‘Political Inclusion in Iraq’. If you have not received a confirmation email within 48 hours, please get in touch with us.
The Embassy will consider which bidders’ concepts/proposals to shortlist. These organisations will then be asked to submit full bids. This decision will be based on:
- relevance to the themes identified
- evidence of deep knowledge of political inclusion issues in Iraq
- quality of the project, including deliverability and realistic results of the proposed intervention with the resources and within the expected time-frame of this project
- strategic fit with Embassy priorities
Following selection of a shortlist of prospective grantees, the Embassy will ask for full bids including costed bids from these organisations only. This will include a detailed Activity Based Budget and completed Project Proposal Form.
Full evaluation criteria for these detailed bids will be shared with shortlisted organisations. They are likely to include aspects risk management, sustainability, value for money, quality, expertise, etc.
The Embassy reserves the right to carry out due diligence of potential grantees as part of the selection process. Due to the volume of concepts/proposals expected, we will not be able to provide feedback on unsuccessful concepts/proposals.
See further guidance and templates.
For any further clarification on the project, see .