Purpose:
The purpose of this scope of work is to outline duties, deliverables, and a timeframe for the Baseline study for the USDA/CRS Cacao Promotion Project Kakawo bay Bourad pou Opòtinite ak Siksè (KABOS).

Background:
On September 29, 2016, USDA and CRS signed a five-year Agreement for the implementation of the KABOS project. The Agreement required CRS to conduct “a baseline study to identify and target Cacao producers with small, medium, and large farms.” (USDA/CRS Agreement page 4.) Standard guidance on baselines is found beginning on Page 4, Food for Progress and McGovern-Dole Indicators and Definitions, USDA, FAS, Food Assistance Division, Office of Capacity Building and Development 07/15/2014 and beginning on Page 10, Monitoring and Evaluation Policy, USDA, FAS, Food Assistance Division, Office of Capacity Building and Development, 5/6/2013.

Objectives:
The objectives of this baseline are to:
• complete the identification of 6,000 potential project participants (KABOS project will provide names of up to 6,000 farmers. Consultant will gather enough additional names to reach 6,000.)
• estimate average, per farm, normal-year levels of farm production and prices of cacao, banana/plantain, igname, breadfruit, malanga, and one other major crop
• estimate average cacao yield per hectare and per tree based on farmers’ recall
• estimate the proportion of farmers who have received training to improve the productivity of their cacao trees and ask farmers what organization provided the training
• estimate the proportion of farmers who practice the following cultural practices: sapling production, direct seeding of cacao, pruning of cacao and shade trees, fertilization, weeding, spacing of intercrops, etc.
• estimate the proportion of farmers who practice the following management practices: record the number of pods produced per tree each season, record total sales and expenses by crop
• estimate the number of farmers who have received and applied training on improved marketing techniques for cacao
• estimate the number of farmers who market their cacao beans in wet form to an organization that will ferment the beans prior to marketing
• estimate the proportion of farmers who sell their cacao beans only in unfermented, dried form
• estimate the average number of farmers receiving loans from financial institutions in a normal year
• estimate the average value and cycle time of loans individual farmers receive in a normal year from a financial institution

Work to be accomplished by the Consultant:
The Consultant will be given a list of agroforestry/cacao growers in Moron, Les Abricots, Jeremie, Roseaux, Corail, Pestel, Beaumont, Camp Perrin, Torbeck, and Maniche communes identified for participation in the KABOS project. The list will indicate the name of the farmer, geographic location by Commune and Section of the farm, size of the farm, and contact information of the farmer. The Consultant will draw a random sample from the list provided by CRS. The sample may be stratified to minimize survey costs. The Consultant will develop a survey instrument in collaboration with CRS and use the instrument to conduct the baseline survey on the sample of the population.

The Consultant will visit each sampled farmer in their agroforestry plot/garden and:
• capture an adequate number of GPS coordinates to enable calculation of the size of the garden
• take a picture of the farmer, showing the farmer’s face, head, and shoulders.
• count the number of cacao trees in the garden
• count the number of cacao trees damaged beyond rehabilitation by the hurricane
• count the number of cacao trees that can continue service with or without rehabilitation
• observe if cacao trees have been pruned as normally recommended by cacao production specialists
• observe other cultural practices
• implement the survey instrument

Deliverables
1. Questionnaire for collecting data,
2. Timetable for carrying out the survey and a distribution plan of the enumerators in the field,
3. Document for the recruitment and training of enumerators,
4. A detailed financial report and the final invoice for the services,
5. Raw database at the end of the field survey and cleaned database before submission of the final report and invoices,
6. Report Draft,
7. An electronic copy of the final report in English, which takes into consideration input, feedback and comments on the draft report. The Final Report, which should be an autonomous document of no more than 30 pages (excluding annexes),
a. Cover page
b. Contents
c. Table of tables and charts
d. Overview
e. Presentation
• Brief description of the Project and context
• Objective of the baseline study
f. Methodology
g. Brief description of the Project and context
• Description of the chosen methodology
• Justification and limits
• Primary and secondary sources
• The beneficiaries and the size of the sample
• Information on the survey and possible biases, justification and limitations
• Data collection, data entry, and analysis
h. Results
• Data presentation and analysis (data for all indicators to be provided)
• Recommendations to address the problems observed within the value-chain
• Performance indicators values
• Summary of field data restitution sessions
i. Conclusion
• Possible changes to the logic model
• References
j. Appendices
• Survey questionnaires

Obligation of consultant
1. Inform the MEAL coordinator or his / her replacement, within a reasonable time, of the progress made and the problems encountered,
2. Clearly specify the methodology adopted for carrying out the study,
3. Execute activities as planned, if changes are needed, first inform the MEAL coordinator or his replacement before proceeding,
4. Practice the rules of investigation ethics (respect for the privacy and integrity of the respondents, confidentiality of the data collected),
5. Ensure the logistics of the investigation and facilitate the movement of the investigation team on the ground (if necessary, it may still require the participation of CRS on an agreement basis)
6. Accept constructive feedback,
7. Be responsible of all the tools the investigation team will need to do the data collection and their training on them
8. Respect the deadlines.

CRS Obligation
1. Provide the list of cacao farmers from which the consultant will draw samples for the baseline study
2. Provide the consultant with documents relating to the project,
3. Provide recommendations on report drafts.

Place of Performance:
Visits to cacao gardens in the Grand’Anse communes of Moron, Les Abricots, Jeremie, Roseaux, Corail, Pestel, and Beaumont; and in the Department of the South communes of Camp Perrin, Torbeck, and Maniche.

Period of Performance:
Baseline data collection: December 2016 – February 2017
Final report due before March 1, 2017


Key Working Relationships:

CRS Haiti: Ludger Jean Simon, Agriculture-Value Chain Program Coordinator; Rhode Charles, MEAL Coordinator; J.D. “Zach” Lea, CRS KABOS project Chief of Party
CRS Haiti Local Partners: TBD
CRS Regional Office: Kraig Kraft, Regional Technical Advisor for Coffee and Cacao

Participation conditions

1. Bid Submission
Proposals must offer services for the total requirements. Proposals offering only part of the requirement will be rejected. The bidder is expected to examine all the instructions, terms and specifications contained in the scope of work (SOW). Failure to comply with the (SOW) will be at the bidder’s risk and may have a negative effect on the evaluation of the proposal.

2. Clarification about the solicitation
Any prospective bidder who would need clarification about the solicitation must inform CRS by writing to: Bethanie.Saintlouis@crs.org. CRS will respond in writing to any request for clarification of the solicitation documents that will reach up to five (5) working days before the deadline for submission of proposals. In fairness, the written copies of the response of the Organization, including an explanation of the clarification solicitation but without identifying the source of the request, will be sent to all prospective bidders that have received the Solicitation.

3. Modification of solicitation
At any time prior to the deadline for submission of the proposals, CRS may, for any reason, whether at its own initiative or in response to a request for clarification by a prospective bidder, modify the solicitation by making an amendment. All prospective bidders that have received the solicitation will be notified by writing of all amendments to the solicitation. In order to provide prospective bidders reasonable time to consider the amendments while preparing their bids, the CRS may, at its discretion, extend the date for receipt of Proposals.

4. Ownership of submissions

The proposal and related documents shall remain the exclusive property of CRS and will not be returned to the bidder.

5. Cost of proposal preparation

All costs of proposal preparation shall be supported exclusively by the bidder. The bidder shall bear the costs incurred in providing the information requested by the petitioner as a result of submitting proposals.

6. Language of the proposal
The bid prepared by the bidder and all correspondence and documents relating to the bid exchanged by the bidder and the CRS will be written in English or French.

7. Incorporation documents of the proposal and dispositions

Candidates are invited to submit a technical proposal and a financial proposal. Each proposal must be written in English or French. The proposal file shall consist of the following documents:
• Legal papers of the firm (Fiscal Quitus, and Business Permit –Patent-, etc.).
• The letter of invitation
• The letter of submission duly completed
• A document describing the firm and the employees assigned to this study
• The terms of reference of the study
• The technical proposal
• The financial proposal
These documents must be prepared in (3) copies, one being marked "original" and two (2) additional copies. In case of discrepancy between the original texts, the original will be considered.
All documents must be submitted in paper format or electronically within the time specified, mentioning Baseline Study for USDA/CRS Cacao Promotion Project (KABOS).

The bidder must submit its proposal no later than December 29, 2016 by 4:00 p.m. Haiti at the following address:
Catholic Relief Service (CRS)
HR Department
1, Delmas 81, Autoroute de Delmas
Port-au- Prince, Haiti.
Email : Bethanie Saint Louis, CRS, bethanie.saintlouis@crs.org

Any bid received after this date and time will be rejected. CRS may, at its discretion extend the time by written notice to all bidders. Extension of time may eventually cause a change in the invitation letter and attached documents.

Documents and instructions listed above are required for the retention of bids for analytical purposes. In this sense the bidder is subject to any audit of the contents and requirements before proceeding to the submission. Any deviation of conformity will result in the cancellation of the bid.

9. Technical proposal

It must be presented in a concise and structured way in the following order:
• Legal identity and brief description (technical and financial) of the Firm. In the case of a group of consultants established for the circumstance, a convention indicating the team leader designed to represent the group vis-à-vis of CRS
• Description of the firm, its technical staff and skills
• Curriculum vitae initialed and signed by all team members
• Understanding of the needs and services required in relation to the terms of reference attached
• Methodological approach, activity timeline
• The number of people they deem necessary for the performance of the required service
• An estimate of the total working time to devote to the service while indicating the number of people
• Schedule of the work and achievements of delivery of outputs.
Include any assumptions as well as comments on the data, ancillary services and resources to be submitted by the sponsors. Any comments, or suggestions provided regarding the terms of reference should be reported in the technical proposal, as well as the methodological approach to answer.

10. The financial offer
The financial offer should cover all services to be rendered for the study. It must at least include:
• A submission letter duly signed and stamped
• Bank information of the Firm
• The preferred method of payment,
• The preferred payment mean (Bank transfer, Check, etc.).
• Fixed rates per person / days in the field and / or headquarters of the firm
• Per Diem, hotel to stay, training, communication, transportation costs on the field for each team member
• Logistics costs (transportation, etc.)
• Data collection tools/devices costs
• Proposed schedule of payments, which are all expressed in U.S. dollars.

CRS does not commit itself to accept the lowest or any proposal. All prices must be valid for a period of at least 60 days from the deadline for submitting the proposals.

The bidder must submit its proposal no later than December 29, 2016 by 4:00 p.m. Haiti at the following address:
Catholic Relief Service (CRS)
HR Department
1, Delmas 81, Autoroute de Delmas
Port-au- Prince, Haiti.
Email : Bethanie Saint Louis, CRS, bethanie.saintlouis@crs.org

CRS’ recruitment and selection procedures reflect our engagement to protecting children and vulnerable adults.