BACKGROUND

The government of Ethiopia has adopted the second growth and transformation plan (GTP II) with the prime focus of transforming the country to a middle income country by the year 2025. The need to redirect the economy into an industrialized one is central to the transformation plan where the government is establishing industrial parks in different parts of the country with the intent to boost the Ethiopian textile, apparel-manufacturing sector, and create an attractive investment proposition for foreign and local investors, while creating employment opportunity.

Background specific to this assignment

The Ethiopian government had set various objectives for Industrial Parks (IP) and they include creating decent jobs, increasing exports, ensuring social and environmental sustainability, and transfer of skills and technology. Thus far, government IPs have created over 72,000 jobs, mainly from Hawassa IP and Bole Lemi IP. It is evident that the number of jobs to be created through IPs would increase as more IPs begin operation across the country. 

Since 2016, the Hawassa Industrial Park Investors Association (HIP IA), Enterprise Partners (EP), Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), the Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute (ETIDI), Industrial Park Development Corporation (IPDC) and the Southern, Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR) have been working together to avail sufficient factory ready workforce to meet the labor demand at HIP in a multi-stakeholder managed workers recruitment system. This labour system in Hawassa Industrial Park brings together the following essential labour market services: sourcing and screening of workers, labour allocation and recruitment using a digital IP labour database and soft skills training.  The overall objective of establishing a labour sourcing system is to support the creation of employment linkages for better industrial development.

The digital IP labour database, initially operational at HIP, is now also being utilized in Mekele and Kombolcha IPs.  

OBJECTIVE         

The objective of this assignment is to maintain and improve the Industrial Parks’ labour database for the three (Hawassa, Mekele and Kombolcha) industrial parks using the current system. The system is expected to provide policy makers with predictable and reliable labour market information for the industrial parks. It is anticipated that the service provider will continue to capture worker data through the various stages of the recruitment pipeline covering screening, grading, allocation, recruitment and post recruitment status at factory level.  This platform will include all workers at the industrial parks, i.e. both local and international operators and supervisors.

SPECIFIC TASK

The digital IP labour database should have the following functionalities:

• Maintaining the existing interface
• The basic package to be provided include: Registration of workers, Uniquely identifiable and digital worker’s data, Gathering, storing, and accessing employee information, Demand forecast module, Recruitment module, Promotion module, Employee termination module, Simplified reporting to EIC, In-app and email notification, Standard reports & insights, Secure hosting and back-up of data, On call and on-site support, Practical training for HR managers and staff; and System update and upgrade. 
• Off-line capability on laptops and tablets.
• Registers job seekers data for example, name, gender, date of birth etc. using pre-specified data fields with a unique ID and biometric information for each worker
• Adhering to the existing standard operating procedure that manages workers flow e.g. algorithm based allocation system for factories and a re-allocation function for job seekers that is line with Ethiopian labour law 
• Continue capturing of specific data requirements required by factories to EIC for monthly reporting purposes
• Continue capturing factory labour demand data for operator, supervisors and all levels. This data includes annual ramp up plan, weekly actual labour demand, recruitment as well as post recruitment status including promotion, abseetism, exits etc.
• Provide access to users to generate various reports based on their users’ rights.
• These reports should also be continued in the current standard operating procedure  manner that allows for real time data visualization and pre-determined report generation
• Uphold proper functioning of the system including training of users and governance stakeholders as appropriate; expand user friendly operational, and maintenance manual.
• Provide recommendations and options, as to the most cost-effective and efficient software and hardware requirements needed to operate the system.
• Ensure safety and security of all computerized data, information, files and documents
• Administer and maintain all database servers and periodically updating software and configurations as well as the copies of the systems and databases.
• Ensure full operation of standard operating procedure.
• Train staff on the use of the database, network sharing and help them to archive and support in the implementation of the SOP.
• Troubleshoot and monitor DBMS problems: File Server Traffic, usage and performance, security access and space usage. Follow up with stakeholder for corrective measures.
• Install and maintain that database software and hardware equipment as required.
• Maintain documentation of processes, procedures and troubleshooting guides including tracking service requests through completion

These requirements are flexible and may change overtime.  The service provider needs to work closely with all stakeholders and ensure all revisions to the platform as well as data capture changes are discussed and agreed jointly before implementation.  A data requirement documents should be developed by the service provider and kept updated with different versions as changes happen.  

DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME  

These timelines are indicative and bidder should include more detailed delivery timeline in their proposals

LOCATION AND DURATION

This service is required for Hawassa, Mekele and Kombolcha Industrial Parks until September, 2020. 

 METHODOLOGY

This assignment is required to be provide by a local firm who has adequate knowledge and experience in delivering similar systems. The service provider will build the database on a design-build-operate-transfer model providing ongoing technical support and maintenance of the platform for six months and investing in all hardware as appropriate with the aim of transferring the platform to the relevant stakeholder.

WORKING ARRANGEMENTS

• The selected IT Company will have a contractual relationship with either one or multiple stakeholders and this will include a partnership principles agreement.  Bidders should include a suggested roles and responsibilities document in their proposed methodology covering the various stakeholders in the recruitment pipeline as outlined in this TOR.
• IT company personnel needs to travel to the 3 Industrial Parks frequently to monitor the delivery. Maintenance personnel/ team must be based in the identified Parks. 

EVALUATION

Enterprise Partners together with relevant stakeholders will review the submitted proposals in accordance with the specific qualification and experience requirements and specific tasks stated above. Applicants should clearly indicate their experience and previous engagements in line with the specific requirements listed.

BUDGET DETAIL

All costs should be stated in ETB. Budget should be presented in a format where cost areas are clearly identified, including costs relating to:

1. Hardware;
2. Software development;
3. Training of users; and
4.  Other related costs, including support and maintenance.

Clearly distinguish between one-off development/set-up costs and recurring costs. 

Whatever cost model bidders select to use, a clear budget submitted as indicated above to provide a like for like comparison of the financial bids received, is needed.

If the technical bid has different proposed methodologies or options for approaching the model, please include a separate budget for each of the proposed options. 

Annexes to the TOR

Annex 1: Current labour recruitment model (HIPSTER). This document will provide historical context and detailed information on the flow of the current recruitment pipeline, the various stakeholders and their roles and responsibilities.  Please note that parts of this model has evolved so details ncluded in the TOR will take precedence. 

QULIFICATION

FIRM QUALIFICATIONS

A firm with IT and Software engineering management capability with the following experience:

• Legally registered organization with requisite professional experience and knowledge of Network technologies including windows and Linux operating systems
• Knowledge of ability to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported.
• Ability to review a variety of data, identify and adjust discrepancies, identify and resolve IT operational problems.
• Ability to manage work of a confidential nature and handle large volumes of work
• Should possess experience of client support, such as, a Help Desk or User Support Unit and relevant information source related to IPs
• Planning and Delivering results
• Willingness to take ownership of issue analysis and resolution efforts and committing to “doing what it takes” to resolve technical issues regardless of effort or time required
• The firm shall have local presence, on the ground to handle emerging issues.
• Firms with experience of working on multi-stakeholder projects is a plus.

TEAM MEMBER’S QUALIFICATIONS:

The multi-disciplinary team should comprise members with the following educational qualifications, experience and competencies:

• Team leader/Project manager with an MSc in Computer Science or related fields and at least 5-7 years of relevant work experience
• Senior experts/lead consultants should include systems analysts, full stack developers and cloud software and database experts with MSc or BSc in computer science and related fields with at least 4-6 years of experience
• Project staff/field staff (adequate number in each location) should have at least BA or BSc in computer science with at least 2-5 years of experience.
• Able to work under challenging circumstances with minimum supervision