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Tender No: ICTR&DF/AUTOMATION/2009/0022
Request for Proposals
Workflow Automation for
National ICT R&D Fund
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1
2. Overview of National ICT R&D Fund .................................................................................................... 1
3. Goals of Workflow Automation ........................................................................................................... 2
4. Current Processes................................................................................................................................. 2
5. Scope of Implementation (Activities)................................................................................................... 4
6. User Training ........................................................................................................................................ 7
7. Post Implementation Services.............................................................................................................. 8
8. Documentation .................................................................................................................................... 8
9. Evaluation Criteria................................................................................................................................ 9
10. Budget............................................................................................................................................ 10
11. Standard Instructions..................................................................................................................... 11
12. Additional Terms & Conditions...................................................................................................... 13
13. Proposal Format and Contents ...................................................................................................... 13
14. Annexure – I ................................................................................................................................... 15
National ICT R&D Fund
1. Introduction
National ICT R&D Fund (the Company), a federally governed company established under section 42 of
the Companies Ordinance 1984, will select a registered firm, hereafter referred as the Consultant, duly
recognized by the relevant regulatory bodies of Pakistan, after an open and transparent bidding process,
in accordance with quality‐and‐cost based selection method, acceptable under PPRA Regulations to
provide complete workflow automation system to the Company.
2. Overview of National ICT R&D Fund
The emerging information and knowledge age and the accompanying technological revolution are
heralding a new economic and social order characterized by the development and exploitation of
information and communication technologies (ICT) within all spheres of human endeavor. This era is
giving rise to the emergence of information and knowledge based economies with traditional economic,
industrial and commercial activities being made more efficient and productive by incorporating
knowledge driven processes.
The knowledge and information economy has emerged as a new source for the creation of quality jobs,
wealth generation and redistribution, rapid economic development and prosperity as well as a means
for facilitating competitiveness. With the emerging information age, information and communication
technologies are seen by a number of countries as critical for achieving progress in economic and social
development. These technologies are offering developing countries like Pakistan a window of
opportunity to leap‐frog the key stages of industrialization and transform their agriculture dominated
economies into service‐sector driven, high value‐added information and knowledge based economies
that can successfully compete in the global village.
Pakistan has witnessed a phenomenal growth in its telecom industry. The government of Pakistan has
mandated that a certain percentage of gross revenue generated by all telecom service providers be
allocated to development and research of information and communication technologies with the vision
to transform Pakistan’s economy into a knowledge based economy by promoting efficient, sustainable
and effective ICT initiatives through synergic development of industrial and academic resources. To
achieve this vision National ICT R&D Fund has been created. This vision will be realized by pursuing the
following goals:
• Cultivate industry‐academia partnerships by funding concrete development and research
initiatives.
• Enhance the national ICT related human resource development capacity manifold by facilitating
industrial demand focused human resource capacity building and R&D capabilities in the
country and promoting ICT related educational programs and activities.
• Make Pakistan an attractive destination for service oriented and research and development
related jobs.
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• Use ICT as a tool for wealth creation and upward mobility for economically challenged groups of
citizens.
• Spread the ICT activities on a true national level.
3. Goals of Workflow Automation
The following goals should be achieved through workflow process automation at National ICT R&D Fund:
3.1. Senior Management should know status of each file at any given time
3.2. Executive Summary/Dashboard style reports should be available to each department head &
senior management.
3.3. All processes implemented within the organization must be fair, effective, efficient &
transparent (FEET). To achieve this goal, the following must be made available:
3.3.1. Checklist of all processing done by any position for any functionality should be available
for information to all stakeholders.
3.3.2. Mechanism for dynamically updating checklist should be defined and available to all
stakeholders.
3.4. Internal Audit should be facilitated by these automated processes based on FEET.
3.5. Identify bottlenecks and areas of improvement in the organization & its processes in a timely
manner.
3.6. Productivity evaluation & enhancement of employees of the organization.
4. Current Processes
Current processes in use at National ICT R&D Fund are summarized below. Details about processes are
available in operations manual. The operations manual is available at Company’s official web site
(www.ictrdf.org.pk). Consultants are required to refer to the “Scope of Implementation (Activities)”
section of this document regarding Company’s workflow processes.
4.1. Overall Process Flow (From Proposal Submission to Project Completion)/Noting & Document
Management:
This is the mainstream process (nervous system) of the Company that starts from the time a
proposal is officially submitted and ends when project is completed. The following
departments/entities are engaged in this process:
• Coordination
• Monitoring
• Solicitation & Evaluation
• Finance/Accounts
• Legal
• Administration
• Publication
• CEO/ PAC/Board
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4.2. Issues and Receipts (Administration)
Any document or postal mail sent from office or received in office is routed through a proper
channel. All departments take part in this process but one department, i.e., Administration is
responsible for routing.
4.3. Procurement (Administration)
Procurement is the acquisition of goods and services for the Company. All procurements are
done in conformity with Public Procurement Rules 2004 and in compliance with notifications
issued by Public Procurement Regulatory Authority. Currently, the Administration department is
responsible for all procurements for the Company.
4.4. Inventory Control (Administration)
Inventory includes any kind of physical asset: merchandise, consumables, fixed assets,
circulating tools, books, or capital equipment, etc. Currently the Administration department is
responsible for managing & controlling the inventory of the Company.
4.5. Payroll (Accounts, Finance & HR)
Calculation & processing of payroll in terms of compensation & wages paid to employees of the
Company. This system is handled mutually by Accounts, Finance & HR departments.
4.6. HR
There are many HR processes currently in use. Some of them are listed below:
4.6.1. Performance appraisal
4.6.2. Recruitment
4.6.3. Training & training needs assessment
4.6.4. Attendance system & Work time table
4.6.5. Leave records
4.7. Accounts
Proper recording and reporting of financial transactions made by the Company are managed by
the Accounts department
4.8. Finance
Planning of financial resources of the Company is carried out by Finance department.
4.9. Publication
In order to ensure smooth flow of information to all internal & external stakeholders of the
Company, Publication department is responsible to keep updated information about all news
and events of the Company.
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National ICT R&D Fund
5. Scope of Implementation (Activities)
The Consultant shall be responsible to duly complete all the following activities during implementation
stage:
5.1. Duration of the project
This project should be completed within six (6) months from the date of signing of the contract
agreement. Extension in project duration will be possible only at the discretion of the Company.
5.2. Flexibility in System Architecture
The system should be architected in such a way that future modifications & enhancement of
processes as well as process automation of other departments should be seamless. The system
should be flexible enough to accept any changes in workflow preferably with minimal changes
to the code.
5.3. Identification and Analysis of Workflow Processes
5.3.1. Functionalities and processes for each department are given in the operations manual.
This document contains a further explanation and partial list of functions & processes
for each department. Consultant must provide a complete list of functions & processes
as given in the operations manual as a part of their services. Please note that this
complete list of processes is not expected at the time of proposal submission. The
Consultant is also required to conduct a survey during the requirement elicitation
process in order to identify any process or critical function not stated in this document.
These processes or functions can be recommended for automation after consent &
recommendation of the responsible staff of the Company.
5.3.2. Proposals based upon open source technology will be given preference. As a general
practice, use of open source technology decreases the cost of implementation since
expensive licenses for technology used are not required.
5.3.3. The Consultant must conduct a study of the existing processes stated in operations
manual as well as in this document and suggest re‐engineering of processes so that
processes can be automated.
5.3.4. During the automation of processes, the Consultant is required to enforce the logic that
governs relationships between tasks in a process and bringing together the human &
information resources needed to effectively & efficiently complete each task in a
process.
5.3.5. During the requirement elicitation process, the Consultant is required to incorporate the
specific responsibilities in a process from person to person and task to task based on the
rules as mentioned in operations manual.
5.3.6. Based upon the study conducted by Consultant, a statement along with solutions &
suggestions of weaknesses in the current systems is also required.
5.3.7. The Consultant is also required to conduct & submit detailed analysis of processes from
the perspective of implementing the FEET criteria described above.
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National ICT R&D Fund
5.4. Automation of Processes
The automation of processes must be web enabled & user friendly with following features:
5.4.1. Forms
In order to perform activity on tasks, user friendly forms are required in web based
environment.
5.4.2. Identifications of Parameters
The Consultant is required to identify necessary parameters (fields) to be incorporated
in forms.
5.4.3. User’s Authentication
A strong and highly trusted of authentication method is required to be imposed on
workflow automation system. Strong authentication includes a combination of user
name & password, digital certificates & security tokens.
5.4.4. Checklist of Tasks
This is a list of mandatory tasks that a user is required to perform. All assigned tasks
given in checklist are required to be completed before the user regains access to pass
on the assignment to the subsequent user.
5.4.5. Data Validation
In order to ensure correct, meaningful and secure data input, there must be standard
data validation rules based on associated data dictionary. The validation methods must
contain the followings:
i. Data Type Check
ii. Range Check
iii. Limit Check
iv. Presence Check
v. Check Digits
vi. Batch Totals
vii. Hash Totals
viii. Spell Check
ix. Consistency Check
x. File Extension Check
xi. Logic Check
xii. Uniqueness Check
xiii. Others as proposed
5.4.6. Fault Tolerance
The system should have standard fault tolerance features in order to facilitate the
revocation of certain activities while still maintaining a log
5.4.7. Attachments
Users must be able to attach multiple documents at once while performing activity on
assigned tasks. There must be a limit on size of attached document and administrator
must have the privilege to change the attachment size limitation.
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National ICT R&D Fund
5.4.8. Change in workflow
A change in workflow in any automated process should be customizable in the system
preferably with minimal changes in the code.
5.4.9. History of comments
Users must be able to type their comments in forms in a memo field. These comments
must be forwarded to next user along with the assigned task. A history of comments
must be maintained in descending order (latest date/time stamp on the top) and should
be generated automatically till the completion of a workflow, project or proposal. All
relevant users must be able to view detailed history of comments for each specific
workflow/proposal or project.
5.4.10. Alerts
Alerts in the form of an email or pop‐up window should be generated automatically by
the system whenever a user is assigned a task. The contents of this alert must be
comprised of reasonable (minimal) information about task & its priority level.
5.4.11. SMS Alerts
The Consultant is also required to incorporate the Alerts system in the form of SMS
Alerts as mentioned in 5.4.10.
5.4.12. Reminders/Tickler
A tickler system must be incorporated in the system as a reminder to perform activities
on assigned tasks within time. An SMS reminder may also be integrated in the system.
5.4.13. Digital Signatures
Before forwarding a task to next level, a task is required to be digitally signed by each
user. The digital signatures must include the following information:
xiv. Name
xv. Department
xvi. Designation
xvii. Email
xviii. IP Address of the client machine
xix. MAC Address
xx. Date & time stamp
5.4.14. Help
In order to facilitate the user to effectively perform activities on assigned tasks, user
level help must be integrated in system.
5.4.15. Save option during performing activities
Users must be facilitated to save activities so that before a session is terminated, users
can save their work. Later on, users may restart working on the same saved activity.
5.4.16. Session
If the user does not perform any activity, the session must be terminated after a
specific time‐out period of inactivity and should also clear any variables associated with
that session. The administrator must be able to change session time out period.
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National ICT R&D Fund
5.4.17. Control Panel
A user friendly control panel or administration area is also required to be a part of
workflow automation. All activities that are related to administrator should be
incorporated in control panel or administration area.
5.5. Customized Dashboard & Reports
A customizable dashboard containing summarized data of each department within the Company
is required. The dashboard must be customizable based upon user/departmental privileges.
Customized reports are also required. The system must be capable to generate customized as
well as predefined reports. Data in reports must be in such a form so that it can be sorted,
filtered and exported.
5.6. Exception Handling
The concept of exception handling is to be incorporated in the system to deal with conditions
where an assigned task cannot be completed due to certain reasons. This would include
provision of temporary official transfer of charge during the absence of a user.
5.7. Database Integrity
5.7.1. Ideally, all the modules (of processes) should be installed on single integrated platform
accessible to all authenticated users.
5.7.2. The files must be stored in a compressed form.
5.7.3. Automatic backup system must be integrated in the system to provide data backup.
5.8. Workflow Diagrams/Process Maps
In order to make the analysis of workflow processes easy to understand, the Consultant is
required to represent all the workflows in graphical format i.e., Workflow diagrams & Process
maps, etc.
5.9. Performance Measurement
The system must be capable to track all the activities by users. A tracking system will perform
following actions to measure performance level of the user:
5.9.1. List of tasks that are pending
5.9.2. Deadline of the assigned tasks
5.9.3. Actual completion date of the assigned tasks
5.9.4. No. of overall tasks assigned to a user
5.9.5. No. of specific category of tasks assigned to a user
6. User Training
After the automation of processes is deployed, the Consultant should provide in‐house training &
educate all the relevant staff of the Company. The duration & timings of the training will be decided
later after consent of the responsible staff of the Company.
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National ICT R&D Fund
7. Post Implementation Services
It is mandatory that the Consultant has at least 5 week days support structure for post implementation
services initially for the period of one year. If support structure is not local, the Consultant will be
required to describe other methods of support structure in detail. A Service Level Agreement (SLA) will
be developed between National ICT R&D Fund and Consultant to ensure standards in the resolution of
problems and enhancement requests in automation of processes. The Consultant will be required to
provide a minimum of one expert for a period of at least four (4) months who will manage the
automation software and concurrently train the responsible personnel as designated by Company who
will later on administer the whole system.
8. Documentation
Right after the implementation of workflow automation as mentioned in project plan submitted by
Consultant, the Consultant is required to furnish the complete manual of automation, user’s manual,
release notes, requirement specifications, design documents and other information pertaining to the
performance of the software. The documentation must be furnished in both hard & soft copy formats.
However, Unified Modeling Language (UML) is recommended for technical documentation.
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National ICT R&D Fund
9. Evaluation Criteria
The evaluation of response of RFP will strictly be made on evaluation criteria provided in Annexure‐I.
9.1. Evaluation Process
9.1.1. The Company will formulate an evaluation committee to review in detail all the
proposals received.
9.1.2. The selection of the successful Consultant with highest marks in evaluation criteria
provided in Annexure ‐ I will be the Company’s final decision. Therefore the bidders are
required to provide as much details as considered necessary for evaluation.
9.1.3. Any proposal that does not meet the RFP documents requirements may be rejected.
9.1.4. Proposals containing false or misleading statements regarding requirements of RFP
documents may be rejected.
9.1.5. Financial/Bid Price will be evaluated only for proposals that achieve at least 75 % score
in technical evaluation. Sealed financial bids will be returned to all the bidders who
achieve below 75% score in technical evaluation.
The maximum number of points that can be scored is 100. Ratio of technical to financial score is 70:30.
The evaluation criteria form is attached in Annexure – I.
9.2. Formula to Convert Cost to Points
In order to determine the final bid score following may be considered:
STEP 1
List all proposal prices:
Bidder #1 – Rs. 1,000,000 Bidder #2 – Rs. 2,000,000 Bidder #3 – Rs. 3,000,000
STEP 2
Convert cost to points using this formula.
(Price of Lowest Financial Proposal) x (Maximum Points for Financial Evaluation)
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐= POINTS
(Value of each bidder’s Financial Proposal)
The RFP allotted 30% (30 points) of the total of 100 points for financial evaluation.
Being the lowest, bidder #1 receives 30 points.
Bidder # 2 receives 15 points Rs. 1,000,000/Rs. 2,000,000 x 30 = 15
Bidder # 3 receives 10 points Rs. 1,000,000/Rs. 3,000,000 x 30 = 10
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National ICT R&D Fund
The scores of financial bid will be added to technical scores and final award of contract
decision will be based on total of technical score plus financial score.
10. Budget
At present, the maximum approved budget is Rs. 5 million. It is highly recommended that the project
plan should have phase wise implementation schedule.
10.1. The project deliverables must include (but not limited) to the following:
10.1.1. Complete requirement documents including documentation of all processes
10.1.2. High level architecture & design documents
10.1.3. Selection of tools & technologies to be used
10.1.4. Hardware requirements
10.1.5. Testing methodology
10.1.6. Project plan
10.1.7. Implementation & deployment of most critical processes
10.1.8. Project plan to provide services for data entry of all the existing records in newly
deployed system.
10.2. At a minimum, the following budget heads must be provided:
10.2.1. Comprehensive license fee for any proprietary software/technology deployed
10.2.2. Cost of hardware
10.2.3. System development cost
10.2.4. Management/Consulting fee
10.2.5. Travel including boarding & lodging
10.2.6. Cost of other support activities
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National ICT R&D Fund
11. Standard Instructions
Return Mailing Address, Contact Person, Telephone, Fax Number and deadline for receipt of Proposals.
Address:
National ICT R&D Fund
HR & Administration Office
Attention: Ms. Nelofar Arshad
Project Name: Workflow Automation for National ICT R&D Fund
6th Floor, HBL Tower
Jinnah Avenue, Blue Area
Islamabad
Contact Details:
Manager HR & Administration
Ms. Nelofar Arshad
Phone: +92 51 921 5360 – 64, Ext.: 104
Fax: +92 51 921 5366
Email: nelofar.arshad@ictrdf.org.pk
For technical queries only, contact the following no later than 5:00 P.M. PST on 8th January, 2010
Ihsan Elahi
Deputy Manager Coordination
Phone: +92 51 921 5360 – 64, Ext.: 112
Fax: +92 51 921 5366
Email: ihsan.elahi@ictrdf.org.pk
Proposals must be received no later than 10:30 A.M. PST on 19th January, 2010. Proposals via courier,
postal mail or by hand are acceptable. A softcopy (word document) must be submitted with the actual
proposal.
A bidder’s failure to submit its proposal prior to the deadline will cause the proposal to be
disqualified. Late proposals or amendments will not be accepted for evaluation.
11.1. Contract Term and Work Schedule
The contract term and work schedule set out herein represent the Company’s best estimate of
the schedule that will be followed. If a component of this schedule, such as the opening date, is
delayed, the rest of the schedule will be shifted by the same number of days. The approximate
contract schedule is as follows:
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National ICT R&D Fund
S. No. Activity Dates
1 TOR Issue Date 21st December 2009
2 Proposal Submission Deadline 19th January 2010 at
10:30 AM
3 Opening of Technical Proposals 19th January 2010 at
(In front of applicants at 6th Floor, HBL Tower, Jinnah 11:00 AM
Avenue, Blue Area, Islamabad)
4 Completion of Evaluation of the Technical Proposal 26th January 2010
5 Opening of Financial Proposals at 6th Floor, HBL Tower, 27th January 2010 at
Jinnah Avenue, Blue Area, Islamabad) 11:00 AM
6 Notice of Intent to Award 29th January 2010
7 Negotiation 3rd February 2010
8 Contract Agreement Date 10th February 2010
11.2. Bidding Procedure
The bidding procedure for this assignment is in line with clause 36(b) of the PPRA Rules i.e.
Single Stage‐two envelope procedure, single package containing two separate envelopes.
Accordingly both the envelopes should be clearly marked ‘Technical Proposal’ and ‘Financial
Proposal’.
11.3. Required Review
Questions and concerns regarding this RFP must be made in writing and received by the
concerned officer mentioned above at least ten working days before the proposal submission
deadline
11.4. Amendments
If an amendment is issued, it will be inculcated at all locations where the RFP was originally
placed.
11.5. Modified Proposals
Bidders may only submit one proposal for evaluation. Any alternate or modified proposal
submitted after due date will not be acceptable.
11.6. Right of Rejection
The Company reserves full right to refrain from making an award if it determines that to be in
its best interest.
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National ICT R&D Fund
12. Additional Terms & Conditions
The Company reserves the right to add terms & conditions during contract negotiation.
12.1. Contract Payment
All costs associated with the contract must be stated in Pak Rupees. Under no condition will
the R&D Company be liable for any payment over or above the agreed contract price.
13. Proposal Format and Contents
The bidders are required to submit their proposals according to the format and contents summarized
below.
13.1. Complete Consultant Profile
This section must include the following contents:
13.1.1. Complete name and address of the Consultant
13.1.2. Name and mailing address of the person, the Company should contact regarding
the proposal.
13.1.3. Core business with area of expertise
13.1.4. Office locations with complete addresses
13.1.5. Team composition and task assignments of proposed professional staff
13.1.6. Detailed CVs of proposed professional staff
13.1.7. Attachments:
The bidder must submit a certified copy of certificate of incorporation or charter
or an equivalent document for proof of registration of the bidding entity
13.1.8. Proposal must duly be signed and stamped by an authorized Consultant officer
13.2. Technical & Professional Services
This section must include the details of technical & professional services the Consultant is
currently engaged in.
13.3. Implementation methodology & experience
The Consultant is required is to provide complete details of experience along with
implementation methodology of developing ERP, Groupware, Office automation or similar
systems.
13.4. References
The Consultant is required to provide complete list of references of deploying similar systems
to pubic, private, donor agencies, NGOs & Government sector organizations.
13.5. Tools & Technologies
This section includes the recommended tools & technologies for workflow automation of the
Company. Preference will be given to those bidders opting to use Open Source technology for
automation of processes at National ICT R&D Fund.
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National ICT R&D Fund
13.6. Understanding of User Requirements & Processes
The bidders are required to provide their understanding of the project (i.e., User
Requirements for Automation and Processes) in narrative form along with any proposed
recommendations. These processes are partially stated in this document and Operations
Manual.
13.7. Number of Processes to be automated
Bidders are required to propose number of processes to be automated within budget as
referred in section 10. All the bidders are required to automate the key process of the
Company as referred in section 10.
13.8. Post Implementation Services
The bidders are required to accept the requirements mentioned in Post‐Implementation
Services section of this RFP document. Bidders are also required to submit a project plan to
provide their services for data entry of all the existing records in newly deployed processes.
13.9. Project Plan
Bidders are required to submit a complete project plan along with following contents:
13.9.1. Work breakdown structure (WBS)
13.9.2. Risk assessment & management
13.9.3. Comprehensive project plan
13.10. Detailed and Itemized Pricing
Bidders are required to provide a detailed and itemized pricing for automation of processes
within the budget as referred in section 10.2
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National ICT R&D Fund
14. Annexure – I
Evaluation Form
S. No. Criteria Marks Marks Remarks
Obtained
Technical Evaluation
1 Understanding of user requirements and 6
processes needed to be automated; these
processes are partially stated in this
document and operations manual.
2 Consultant profile 6
3 Qualifications & experience of core team 6
members in implementing similar systems
4 Implemented system’s flexibility to 7
accommodate modification of existing
processes & additions of new processes
5 Proven technical & professional services of 6
the Consultant
6 Use of Open Source technology 7
7 Proven implementation methodology & 7
experience of development ERP, Groupware,
Office automation or similar systems
8 References in the public, private, donor 5
agencies, NGOs & Government sector
organizations
9 Project plan 6
i. Work breakdown structure (WBS)
ii. Risk assessment & management
iii. Detailed phase wise project plan
10 No. of processes to be automated within the 7
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National ICT R&D Fund
budget
11 Post implementation services 7
Sub Total 70
Financial Evaluation
12 Bid Price 30
Grand Total 100
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