Request for Offer: Development of the HI EO Reference App

Request for Offer

“Development of the HI EO Reference App”

Introduction

Humanity & Inclusion (HI) is pleased to invite companies/consultants to submit an offer for the services described below:

Reference number: HI/ROTEO22

Deadline for submission: 11th of February 2022

Deliverables deadline: approx. the 31st of May 2022

Submit to: Julien Kempeneers – Regional Mine Action Specialist – [email protected] and Procurement Team - [email protected]

Humanity & Inclusion in the Mekong Region

HI’s humanitarian mine action intervention in the Lao PDR dates back to 1996 when the organization spent the first 9 years providing technical and institutional capacity building to the national Unexploded Ordnances (UXO) operator, UXO Laos. In partnership with UXO Laos, HI conducted a nationwide survey on UXO contamination levels in the mid-1990s. Following surveys, Explosive Ordnances Disposal (EOD) teams have destroyed more than 35,000 UXO and have cleared more than 480 hectares to date. Initially developed from 2001 to 2005, by the team of HI EOD technical experts supporting UXO Laos in Savannakhet, the HI UXO Reference Manual covers the explosive ordnances (more than 200 items) that were reported found in Lao PDR. It was updated in 2008 with new items discovered in the country. This guidebook is still massively used by all operators, and mine action actors.

From 2006 to 2017, HI had implemented Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) activities in Savannakhet Province and then from 2018-2020 in Houaphan Province, as one of the other 4 main activities of HMA operates by HI. In 2020, HI developed a first UXO Field identification Aide Memoire that was distributed to all MA actors. This aide memoire contain sufficient information to help identifying Explosive Ordnances (EO) found in the field. It was a good success, as mine action operators had already ordered 200 additional copies and the quality is recognized.

HI also supports the development of capacities local demining organization Cambodian Self-Help Demining (CSHD) in Siem Reap, Cambodia thanks to the support of the United States Government.  

The RIMA Project

From 2021, HI launches a new mine action project for 3-years funded by the Dutchs Ministry of Foreign Affairs extending the area of intervention to Phongsaly and Houaphan Provinces.

HI is the only Mine Action Operator in Laos implementing a wide range of activities (clearance, survey, EO risk education, victim assistance, and advocacy).

Therefore one component of this project aims at providing high quality technical documentation for the benefits of the entire UXO sector. HI constantly receives requests from EOD experts in the Mekong region willing to get specific information on ordnances and fuzes because this is not our first tool done and that operators have appreciated our contributions so far and have become reliant on them. This project will positively address these issues, by supporting the efforts of technical training of new staff and by improving the quality and safety of EOD operations. In 2021, three accidents occurred in Lao PDR involving mine action operators.

While Humanitarian Mine Action continues to progress around the globe, HI continues to examine current methodologies and develop new sets of technical documentation to improve the quality, the safety and the success of land release efforts for the all sector. People who usually research or develop technical documentation about mines and other EO use a lot of technical references. Those technical references have inherent problems for the field teams as they are often produced by experts who have high level of competences, only in English and are usually not adapted to the local context. This project aims at providing user-friendly, in both local and English language, technical documentation references meeting the national and international standards requirements (and will be useful for future autonomy of national operators). Correctively and positively identifying mines and other EO is critical to ensure the safe disposal. It cannot be done unless the task leader is absolutely sure what effects and hazards present the ordnance.

Scope of Work

In 2008, a HI UXO Reference Manual was updated and shared with all mine action stakeholders. It covers all the common Mines/EO to date that were reported in Lao PDR and details in 2 pages per item the dimensions and appearance of each item covered as well as it details the Net Explosive Quantity (NEQ) and provide guidance for the disposal (weight and charge placement). It is an excellent tool for all EOD-qualified level but particularly useful for the training of EOD-level 1 and 2.

This guidebook is still massively used by all operators, and mine action actors.

Due to its weight and volume does not allow easy transportation on the field, the update of the 2008 edition and the development of an online application is considered with this work.

This product will:

  • Increase the capacity of EO identification of EOD teams intervening in Laos and potentially Cambodia by providing a practical tool accessible to everybody on the field
  • Increase the safety of EO disposal by providing the most suitable solution to remove any kind of EO
  • Provide gains of time/productivity for EOD teams

The selected provider/consultant will be in charge of the development of an online application to display the updated version of the historical HI UXO Reference Manual. The application will consist of 2 separate modules:

Administration Web Application

The administration module is an administration tool allowing a simple and user-friendly access to add EO entries, modify and correct data (including pictures/photos).

EO Reference Mobile Application

This module is designed to ease the navigation through the different EO on the field. This module must be user-friendly and available for mobile phones and tablets (Android OS). Navigation must be possible offline.

Methodology

The service provider is free to propose methodology for the development of the application. However, use of agile development method is preferred. The app in long run will have a large number of users from different countries. Thus, user experience and satisfaction will be high priority to ensure scale up. Using development methodology that enables testing and adapting to changes throughout the different application development phases will be prioritized.

The selected provider/consultant will also have to extract existing information (including pictures/drawings) from existing Word or PDF sheets (the HI UXO reference manual was only used in soft copies in the past) to feed the application data. This includes approximately +200 types of EO. Automatic extraction and integration is encouraged.

Roles & Responsibilities

Service provider responsibilities:

  • Managing the software development team and ensuring competent workforce as proposed in tender
  • Inform HI well in advance for any possible delays or changes needed to the technical stack and ensuring that project manager is always at HI disposal if needed
  • Attending the follow-up meeting, workshops to discussions with HI when needed
  • Submitting the specified deliverables to HI for comments and approval
  • Delivering the system and its modules as per overall scope of work
  • Organizing and conducting training for administrator
  • Support troubleshooting during the piloting and after handing over of the application for the agreed period
  • Inform HI for use of sub-contractors and their qualifications (if any)

HI will be responsible for the following:

  • Liaison with end-users (other operators, NRA – National Mine Action Authority in Lao PDR) and involving them in the process for testing and collecting feedback
  • Provide technical feedback on the process, documentation, and deliverables
  • Review the application features and providing feedback to develop and finalize the system
  • Ensure access to cloud services and other, related environment that are required to be available under HI name.
  • Releasing the payments upon satisfactory delivery
  • Provide a server solution for the hosting of the application in discussion with the applicant

Deliverables

Detailed list of features and requirements as follow:

Administration Web Application

  • Administrators two different roles are foreseen: administration of contents and validation of the content (that might be limited to a specific country)
  • Administration of languages versions (see below)
  • Content management (including pictures, sketch drawings…), categories, and EO type and related fields/information that will be available in the mobile application. Ideally, the Content Management System must be open-source.
  • Statistics of use of the app

EO Reference Mobile App:

  • Authentication of users should be in Open Access (no individual data will be collected) – A system of invitations through a link will be provided to specific organisations (to be discussed) for a limited number of free use
  • Multi-lingual support: English and Lao and support for additional languages in the future (Khmer, Vietnamese or Thai). Technical translations will be provided on the existing sheets. Specific fonts must be used for the proposed regional languages as they are based on different alphabets.
  • System of feedbacks to allow users to send messages to administrators for specific EO (additional pictures, additional information or corrections) through designated forms.
  • Forewords / Credits by HI and potential spaces to display targeted messages
  • Glossary for technical terms
  • Graphical Chart and design of HI (HI logos / splash screens) have to be considered during the development including introduction videos and pictures/text to be displayed for the organisation
  • Responsiveness of the application: the application must be designed to be displayed on smartphones and tablets.
  • Application can be used offline: the application and its modules will be used in multiple geographical locations including areas with poor or limited access to internet or used in situations where data is highly expensive.  Therefore, offline consultation should be possible for the proposed content (EO information) and for a given country. Feedback system and introduction video will be skipped for the offline mode.  
  • Simple menu that allow to navigate using: 1. Navigation though specific category of EO (artillery bombs, aircraft bombs, cluster/dispensers, grenades, mines, mortars, rockets, cluster munitions, misc.) and sub-navigation through thumbnails/name/size/country or 2. Name search. The entry door of the EO catalogue and therefore the application menu will be the country.
  • Picture integration: Pictures and drawings of each EO must be formatted properly when displayed in different sizes and screen models.

Development of the above system will require company to consider and deliver following:

  • Design, develop and implement best possible architecture for the system, including front-end and back-end systems, and needed offline features.
  • A mobile first approach can be proposed by applicants for this development as HI considers it could be an added value for the application development.
  • Front end technical stack implementation
    • Develop HI EO Reference mobile app that has the best possible compatibility with different Android mobiles and tablets.
  • Back-end technical stack implementation
    • Set up the system hosting to agreed cloud service
    • Develop best possible, low cost and easy maintenance, back-end system based on proposed and agreed operating system and webserver, using relevant programming language/s, web frameworks and databases.
    • Content Management System must be open-source
  • While not, exhaustive list, the following overall requirements for the development system have been identified and should be delivered as part of the service: 
    • Highest possible performance considering feature requirements and different user levels
    • Scalability of the system

    - System should be able to respond to changes and adapt to sudden growth peaks in users
    - Development of new features, language versions and integration of those into system should be easy, low cost with minimal extra effort required (for instance adding an extra language later on)
    - An automatic recognition of EO module based on pictures database and associated algorithm is envisioned for future development – this new feature will have to be pluggable to the system

    • Most adequate security standards and protocols
    • System should be developed to be compatible with different cloud platforms. Added value is consideration of situations where data needs to be store to specific country for legal reasons (to be discussed).
    • Systems should be ease of maintenance and repair including quality of code, documentation, availability of expertise, testing (bug tracking mechanism) and bug fixing 
    • Localization of the system should be well integrated including, but not limited to, different language versions, documentation, system installation, security updates etc.
    • Development of the application needs to aim for long life cycle, both from cost and technical perspective
    • Development schedule needs to be designed to enable user testing especially with mobile app at earliest possible time.
    • Develop simple documentation in English for the whole system and code that will make easy transfer of tasks between developers 

  • Other issues
    • This must include the participation of at least one online workshop (in English) to revise the analysis part and validate the functionalities with the national mine action authority at the beginning of the process (to be confirmed)
    • Selected company needs to commit to finalization, including final quality testing, fixing bugs and final approval
    • Support for the application process and launch of mobile app in the stores
    • Developed system should comply with GDPR requirements  - https://gdpr-info.eu
    • Reflection on the intellectual properties and copyrights of pictures with HI will be needed.

Profile/Experience

  • Experience in website development with different technologies
  • Strong Experience in the development of online application for smartphone and tablets
  • A proven track record of implementing similar projects
  • Experience in or working with the non-profit, humanitarian or development sectors;

Interested candidates/entities must provide a guarantee that they are registered as an independent legal entity.

By applying to the tender, the applicant authorizes HI to use their personal information to administer the tender and for internal purpose only.

The detailed information will not be passed onto other parties without obtaining the applicant’s explicit written consent first.

Location

Considering the current travel restrictions, the service can be delivered remotely with regular online calls with HI, and the national mine action authority.

Applicants based in Laos will be encouraged.

Steps are to be followed for preparing the offer:

  • Interested company/consultants will express interest  by email towards the development of the application
  • Sign the Declaration of impartiality and confidentiality (Annex 2.1)
  • Samples of EO sheets will be provided by HI by email
  • Complete the application form (Annex 2.2) and Application Profile
  • Applicants will prepare their offer before the submission deadline using the sample documents provided. Further clarifications can also be requested from HI contact email of this ToR.
  • After the selection process, HI will enter to final negotiations with possible service provider – All applicants will be informed of the results.

Application Profile:

All applications will integrate:

  • a narrative technical part explaining the process and methodology for the development of the application, the technologies/programming languages, and how the maintenance will be ensured.
  • a financial offer including the pricing of the service in USD (equipment and software will not be funded)
  • at least 2 examples of other similar applications
  • CVs including references

All applications must be submitted by email before the deadline.

Price and schedule of payments

The payment will be an “all inclusive” lump sum for the development of the application and agreed additional elements/services. 

The payments schedule will be agreed by both parties upon signature of the service contract.

Criteria for selecting the service provider/consultant

The evaluation criteria will consider following elements:

  • Overall quality of the proposal including proposed architecture and technical stack. These should be done based on examples of EO.
  • Open source and open access
  • Costs: proposal price including running/recurrent or foreseen future development of costs related to localisation and scale. Life-cycle costs will be assessed and ability to provide cost-effective models for maintenance and future development will be an asset. Bidders must include life-cycle costs (development, maintenance, hosting) estimation.
  • Innovation: offers exceeding the requirements or ability to propose alternative solutions/elements that increase life cycle and minimize long-term term development/maintenance risks for HI
  • References from similar scale projects
  • Development methodology and how this proposition complies with the principles for digital development (https://digitalprinciples.org/), including timeframe and agile development process.
  • Value add elements if any;

The selection of the best proposal will be done by using combined scoring method. Architecture and technical stack are not directly included in scoring but will be assessed to be on required and expected level through external review.

The successful applicant will be expected to comply with HI’s Code of Conduct, Child Protection Policy, Policy on Prevention from Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Anti-fraud, bribery, and corruption Policy.

 

Job Details
Organisation Name: 
HI
Application Deadline: 
Fri, 2022-02-11