Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2021-11-09
Buyer: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Country: DE
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Open procedure
CPV classification: 71317210 | 85140000: Miscellaneous health services
Estimated value: 1666690 EUR
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: GIZ"s Health Systems Strengthening and Epidemic Prevention (HSSEP) is looking for a contractor to implement measures on various levels of the Liberian health system to strengthen Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) and Community Event Based Surveillance (CEBS) in the three south-eastern counties Maryland, River Gee, and Grand Kru. The contractor supports HSSEP in the improvement of IDSR measures based on the 3rd edition of the IDSR guidelines and creates links with responsible national bodies. Functional structures at the level of the communities, districts and counties still need support in order to make sure they are able to operate in normal situations and in emergencies. In general, the contractor will implement mechanisms for the coordination of national level policy advice and local implementation support in regard to IDSR; will support the health authorities in the south-east counties at county and district level who are responsible for the delivery and implementation of IDSR and CEBS; will train, mentor and support staff of local health facilities and communities and individual general Community Health Volunteers (gCHV); and will implement a regional Simulation Exercise (SimEx) to test the disease surveillance and response system in the counties. In order to describe the success of the project, set indicators need to be monitored and evaluated to provide evidence and report of the project results.
The contractor is responsible to provide four work packages and the accompanying milestones. The first work package is to build capacities and mechanisms in IDSR and CEBS for the coordination of national level policy advice and local implementation support regarding IDSR. The contractor should therefore support the policy development for IDSR and CEBS, as well as review and update training materials, toolboxes, policies and emergency plans and SOPs based on the 3rd edition of the national IDSR guidelines through interactions on various national levels. At national level, support should be provided to prepare and implement a SimEx and to integrate recommendations in developed and updated documents. The contractor will participate and organize technical working session with all actors involved.
The second work package includes support to the health authorities in the south-eastern counties at county and district level who are responsible for the delivery and implementation of IDSR and CEBS. The contractor is responsible to encourage improved reporting under CEBS by gCHVs, to organize and implement Training of Trainers (ToT) courses and train staff in CEBS. Additionally, minimal financial support and non-monetary incentives should be given to increase motivation, engagement and to improve feedback mechanisms. Further, the contractor is asked to strengthen links between national structures through engagement, training and mentoring. Part of that should be supervision and operational support of County and District Surveillance Officers (CSO and DSO) and training, capacity building, the establishment of new networks and clear roles and responsibilities. Health Facility Development Council (HFDC) meetings will be supported to sustain partnership, raise awareness on diseases within the community and enhance effective reporting and feedback mechanisms.
The third work package includes training, mentoring and support to relevant health staff on the 3rd edition of the national ISDR guidelines and institutionalizing its application. For this work package, ToT courses on IDSR need to be organized and implemented and additional health staff trainings will be conducted by the contractor. Also, the 3rd edition of the IDSR guidelines need to be anchored through quality assurance and learning loops on local and regional levels to share challenges and solutions, e.g. with the help of Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) exercises.
In the recovery phase after the Ebola outbreak, Germany"s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) together with Liberia"s Ministry of Health (MoH) agreed on an overall framework of bilateral cooperation to build a resilient health system. The objective of GIZ"s Health Systems Strengthening and Epidemic Prevention (HSSEP) project is that the population of Liberia is better protected against disease outbreaks with epidemic potential. HSSEP started in September 2020 with an overall term of 34 months. The lead executing agency is Liberia"s Ministry of Health. Other main partners are the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) and the Tubman University in Harper, Maryland.
HSSEP pursues a multilevel approach. At macro level it improves institutional frameworks for effective and efficient Human Resource and Health Technology Management, the creation of laboratory-specific standards, and integrated disease surveillance and response (IDSR) in line with global guidelines such as the International Health Regulations (IHR). At meso level it acts synergistically to strengthen laboratories" capacities to provide diagnostic and prevention services, with the focus on laboratory quality management, equipment maintenance and support to disease surveillance and response. At micro level the project"s focus is on strengthening community-based disease surveillance and response, with the specific involvement of the population in decision-making and steering processes. At macro level the project operates nationwide. At meso and micro level it is implemented in the five counties in the south-east of Liberia (Grand Gedeh, Grand Kru, Sinoe, River Gee, and Maryland) with an estimated population of around 640,000. HSSEP also cooperates closely with the Tubman University in Harper, Maryland to support the revision of its public health curriculum. In the first year of implementation HSSEP also supports the partners in the further containment of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Liberia.
One of the main focus areas of HSSEP is the support to the IDSR system in Liberia. IDSR is a strategy of the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa for improving disease surveillance and response in the African region, with community even based surveillance (CEBS) as an integral part, to ensure the population"s involvement in decision-making and steering processes. The IDSR system enhances the ability to monitor and react to outbreaks and boosts ownership at community level. Liberia adopted and has been implementing the IDSR strategy since 2004. The goal was to build the country"s capacity to detect, report promptly, and effectively respond to public health emergencies in line with global guidelines such as the International Health Regulations (IHR). The national IDSR 3rd Edition will be finalized, printed, and distributed within Liberia at the beginning of 2021 with support from HSSEP. Although IDSR has been implemented in Liberia it is important that health facility staff are constantly trained on standard case recognition of the Liberian priority diseases in the context of the IDSR/IHR strategy so that all staff at health facilities can cope with the current surveillance system in terms of timely detection, reporting (immediately), weekly reportable diseases and events, and timely response of public health events.
HSSEP is looking here for a contractor to implement measures on macro-, meso-, and micro-level to strengthen IDSR and CEBS in the three counties Maryland, River Gee, and Grand Kru in the south-east of Liberia within the overall context of the HSSEP project.
GIZ may optionally commission contract amendments and/or increases based on the criteria in the tender documents to the successful bidder of this tender. For details, please see the terms of reference.
According to Article 160, Section 3 of the German Act Against Restraint of Competition (GWB), application for review is not permissible insofar as
1. the applicant has identified the claimed infringement of the procurement rules before submitting the application for review and has not submitted a complaint to the contracting authority within a period of 10 calendar days; the expiry of the period pursuant to Article 134, Section 2 remains unaffected,
2. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that are evident in the tender notice are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for the application or by the deadline for the submission of bids, specified in the tender notice.
3. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that first become evident in the tender documents are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for application or by the deadline for the submission of bids,
4. more than 15 calendar days have expired since receipt of notification from the contracting authority that it is unwilling to redress the complaint.
Sentence 1 does not apply in the case of an application to determine the invalidity of the contract in accordance with Article 135, Section 1 (2). Article 134, Section 1, Sentence 2 remains unaffected.


Winner: Health Focus GmbH
Award value: 1666690
Number of bids: 2