Background

The “Make it in The Gambia – Tekki Fii” is a multi-stakeholder initiative to improve economic development and future prospects for The Gambia’s youth, including returning and/or potential migrants by promoting attractive employment and income opportunities, and to support the Government in its attempt to nurture perception shift for the Gambian population moving away from a ‘future through migration’ to a ‘future in The New Gambia’. The International Trade Centre is looking for a service provider that can develop an online platform to be known as “Youth Services Directory” which provides an overview of different training, learning and business opportunities for young Gambians offered by different national and international partners.

Scope of Work

The selected applicant should be able to provide services in two main areas:

  • Deliver one-off development work, including backend access for different types of users (service providers, administrators).
  • Provide hosting and maintenance of the site, which could include applying security patches, clearing out log files, enlarging disk space before it runs out, sorting out security certificates and fixing bugs in the code.

The selected service provider will work under the technical guidance and supervision of the ITC focal point for Communications and the overall supervision of the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) project manager.

The selected service provider will design a Youth Services Directory (YSD), which will serve as a platform for local institutions to advertise their events and training opportunities. The YSD should be open to the general public, specifically Gambian youth. The main users will be institutions and people who interact with young Gambians on a daily basis and are in need of up-to-date information about training and business development opportunities (refer to the Annex 1: “YSD Mockup”).

It is required that two types of users have access to the backend, each with different levels of access rights:

  • Service Providers: Edit their own institutional profile and add new opportunities (automatically linked to their institutional profile).
  • Administrator: Create new logins for service providers, edit content in all pages of the website, and view analytics of users.

The platform will be in English. It will be hosted and managed independently from ITC, by the service provider, with the view for it to remain online beyond the programme duration under the direct management and responsibility of the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Employment (MOTIE).

The selected service provider will be required to create (design, develop, test, implement and maintain for one year) the platform within an agreed timeline.

The selected service provider has to ensure that they have obtained the necessary permissions with regard to intellectual property rights (contents, photographies, software code) required to perform his services under this assignment. Documentary proof is to be submitted to ITC.

Should any license fee be due for the use of copyrighted materials of third parties, the service provider shall request prior written permission.

Tasks - Deliverables

a) Website development:

  • Develop a layout and structure of the website. The design must be interactive, appealing, highly usable. Contents will be provided by ITC.
  • Ensure the mobile and tablet optimization of the website (responsive web design).
  • Ensure that the website adheres to security best practices.
  • Use simple, cost-effective techniques to test designs with representative users before implementation of major features such as implementing the main navigation menu.
  • Optimize the site for low bandwidth users and avoid to embed excessive videos, music etc. to enable fast downloading.
  • Browser compatibility. The site must be compatible with the current versions of the following browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Chrome).
  • Embed Google Analytics code into the site.
  • Suggest domain name and select a cost-effective and reliable hosting solution (include 2-year hosting into the offer).
  • Build the website on a user-friendly content management tool: the website should allow users with Service Provider and Administrator accounts to be able to edit and update content, according to their access rights.
  • Include automated features, such as automatic updating of statistics on front page and of opportunity status
  • The website design should allow for additional features to be added later on and the possibility to embed content from third-parties (e.g. job placement websites)

b) Website maintenance:

  • Provide regular maintenance/bug fixes and helpdesk until the end of 2021. The contracted web development company will maintain full backup of the web site through the duration of the contract. The backup, code and source files will be delivered in full to MOTIE on closing of the contract.

c) Training:

  • Provide training to staff on using the administration interface of the website. Approximately five trainings should be delivered for around 20 people each one. Training sessions should not last more than two hours each.

4. Selection and requirements

Mandatory requirements:

  • The candidate is required to deliver face to face training sessions in The Gambia.
  • The candidate is required to have proven experience of innovative and creative web design.
  • Strong experience in developing in common and widely used open source platforms.
  • Strong track record in website design; security and administration; and, Google analytics.
  • The candidate is required to have experience in working in English.

ITC will only consider proposals that include all the deliverables specified above in section 3. Partial proposals will not be considered.

5. Deliverables and estimated timeline:

Deliverables
Estimated timeframe
First version of the website for comments
01 July 2019
Final version of the website
31 July 2019
First training for users
05 August 2019

 

Payment schedule

  • 70% of the total on delivery and acceptance of the website
  • 20% of the total after delivery of three trainings
  • 10% of the total in December 2021

Minimum response requirements

In your application, please provide the following

  • Experience: evidence of experience in designing and executing similar websites
  • Description of proposed approach to develop the platform and how the candidate intend to fulfil the deliverables and the available resources.
  • Breakdown cost proposal of professional fees.

Candidates must adhere to UN General Conditions for contract for services ( http://www.intracen.org/itc/about/working-with-itc/procurement/general-conditions/).

Interested candidates should send their application before June 25th to: akponton@intracen.org