Ministry of Rural Development has two departments namely
Department of Rural Development and Department of Land Resource.
Being the nodal Ministry for most of the development and welfare activities in the rural areas, the Ministry of Rural Development plays a pivotal role in the overall development strategy of the country. The vision and mission of the Ministry is sustainable and inclusive growth of rural India through a multipronged strategy for eradication of poverty by increasing livelihoods opportunities, providing social safety net and developing infrastructure for growth. This is expected to improve quality of life in rural India and to correct the developmental imbalances, aiming in the process, to reach out to most disadvantaged sections of the society.
About the Proposal
The Department of Rural Development (DoRD) (the “Authority”) implements several rural development schemes/programmes to achieve the aspiration of poverty-free rural India by increasing the income level, improving livelihood opportunities including skill development, social assistance, entrepreneurship and infrastructure development by adopting multi-pronged strategies grounded on principle of sustainable development and inclusive growth. The major schemes/programmes are Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojna – Gramin (PMAY-G), National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), Deendayal Antayodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) and Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY).
2 Over the years, the allocation of financial resource for rural development programme has increased significantly. The Department conducts impact assessment and evaluation studies on a regular basis with the following objectives: (a) To assess the outcomes of the huge expenditure incurred under various schemes and programmes; (b) To examine the issues and challenges limiting the effective implementation of the programme at the grass-root level; (c) To determine the impact and benefits of such development intervention; and (d) To improve the efficiencies and effectiveness of the schemes/programmes.
DoRD desires to involve country's reputed research organizations, universities, academic institutions, think-tanks and established non-government organizations with a proven track record in impact assessment& evaluation of its schemes/programmes, on an outsourcing basis, to benefit from their experience and expertise. These institutions should have multidisciplinary research and analytical capabilities to support impact assessment and/or evaluation of government schemes/programmes.
In pursuance of the above, the Authority has decided to undertake empanelment of qualified and eligible organizations/institutions (the “Empanelment”) for offering consultancy services, in accordance with the Terms of Reference of the empanelment specified at Schedule-1 (the “TOR”).These empaneled institutions shall be invited, as per the process specified in Clause 2.25, for Request for Proposals (RFPs) (the “Project RFP”) for conducting Consultancy Projects (the “Project”) as part of Impact Assessment and Evaluation (IA&E) activities undertaken by DoRD.
Scope of Work
Detailed description of the objectives, scope of services, Deliverables and other requirements relating to this empanelment are specified in this RFP. In case an applicant institution possesses the requisite experience and capabilities required for the Empanelment, it may participate in the Selection Process either individually (the “Sole Institution”) or as lead member of a consortium of institutions (the “Lead Member”) in response to this invitation. The term applicant (the “Applicant”) means the Sole Institution or the Lead Member, as the case may be. The manner in which the Proposal is required to be submitted, evaluated and accepted is explained in this RFP.
Applicants are advised that the selection of IA&E Institutions shall be on the basis of an evaluation by the Authority through the Selection Process specified in this RFP. Applicants shall be deemed to have understood and agreed that no explanation or justification for any aspect of the Selection Process will be given and that the Authority’s decisions are without any right of appeal whatsoever.
The Applicant shall submit its Proposal in the form and manner specified in this Section 2 (Instruction to Applicants) of the RFP. The Technical Proposal for Empanelment shall be submitted in the form at Appendix-I. Upon empanelment, the Applicant shall be required to enter into an agreement with the Authority in the form specified at Schedule-3.
Deliverables
The detailed list of deliverables and exact timelines with reference to a specific project/ study will depend on the nature and magnitude of specific project/ study. These will be detailed out in project-specific RFPs floated as and when a specific project/ study is commissioned by DoRD, and shall be shared with the shortlisted Institutions as part of the scope of the Project.
An indicative list of deliverables has been provided below:
Inception report with final scope, methodology, approach, study design, sampling plan and pilot-tested data collection tools;
Mid-term report after completion of field survey/analysis;
Draft Project Report with overall findings of the study, circulated for stakeholder consultations;
All the reports are required to be submitted in hard copy in triplicate and in soft copy. In addition to the reports, for further analysis in future, verifiable raw data in soft copy should also be shared with DoRD. For projects that include data collection and data analysis, this would also include detailed transcriptions, related materials/ documents from data collection, key informant interviews/ focus group discussions, etc., as well as raw data from household surveys in MS-Excel/CSV format.
In case of quantitative analysis using softwares such as R and STATA, the institution would also submit the Coding script of the data analysis.
Eligibility
Applicants must read carefully the minimum conditions of eligibility (the “Conditions of Eligibility”) provided herein. Proposals of only those Applicants who satisfy the Conditions of Eligibility will be considered for evaluation. The Conditions of Eligibility as specified in the RFP may be relaxed for a particular Applicant, if applicable, subject to furnishing of relevant and valid documents or certificates, supporting such relaxations or exemptions under Applicable Laws.
To be eligible for evaluation of its Proposal, the Applicant shall fulfil the following
