Is it possible to submit our proposal as an email submission, a PDF document?
Response: Electronic submissions cannot be facilitated. Technical and Commercial Proposals must be placed into separate sealed envelopes, labelled in accordance with Instructions to Bidders, Clause 13 of the RFP documents, and delivered into the appropriately labelled Tender Box located at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Level 14 Nicholas Tower, 63-65 Independence Square, Port of Spain.
For Submission of Proposals could you allow the bidders to submit One (1) original proposal and one (1) PDF copy on a flash drive?
Response: As outlined in section 14 of the RFP, one (1) original, four (4) hard copies and one (1) PDF copy on a flash drive, of the Technical Proposal and the Commercial Proposals are required.
Is the consultancy team submitted to carry out the scope of work limited to only two people?
Response: Section 7.0 of the Terms of Reference for the consultancy states that “The Firm must designate a Consultancy Team consisting of a Lead Consultant and at least one Team Member…” Based on this requirement, two keys experts are the minimum number of staff required, however the consultant may propose additional staff as they determine is necessary to carry out the consultancy.
In the case that the team can be made up of more than two people, can the qualifications and experience required be spread across various team members or do two people have to possess all of the requisite qualifications as Lead Consultant and Team Member?
Response: As stated in the RFP section 9B, proposals that are deemed responsive following the preliminary evaluation stage will be evaluated against the pre-determined evaluation criteria and scoring system. In the evaluation criteria outlined in the RFP, only the qualifications and experience of the key experts to be assigned to the contract are evaluated. Other members of the team proposed by the consultant are not evaluated and will not receive a score in the evaluation.
The scope of services related to this Consultancy shall be executed in four (4) phases over a period of six (6) months does not correspond with the durations outlined in the following subsections:
Response: The expected duration of this consultancy is four (4) calendar months. Addendum #1 will be issued to address the mismatch between 5.0 Deliverable and Payment Schedule and 6.0 Characteristics of Consultancy.