BACKGROUND

First Consult PLC is a consulting firm in Ethiopia specializing in delivery of effective and business-oriented solutions for areas such as development, business, strategy, human resources, finance, and investment challenges, while ensuring to address the needs of its clients.

Additionally, First Consult offers training and capacity building to organisations and individuals in various professional skill areas. Key professional development themes include, financial planning, business plan and proposal writing, time management, communications, personal and human resource development, decision making, and project management.

OBJECTIVE         

The objective of this ToR is to outline the scope of work for the provision of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for First Consult. The aim is to deploy an ERP system that will assist in automating most of First Consult processes, comply with legislative and government policies and promote good governance. The ERP system must be scalable to allow additional modules, and must interface with other business information systems.

SCOPE OF WORK

The firm will take the following broad approach in accomplishing the terms of reference (ToR) for which the following tasks and responsibilities will be performed:

• Conduct review in a highly consultative manner with First Consult, meet with the relevant staff of First Consult in order to map/document internal processes, and align them with the internal control model set and documented by the company.
• Conduct analysis of the current processes which are performed through the current software solution.
• Propose several variant options that are aligned with the company requirements and advice on the effective solution to implement.
• Install and develop the selected modules – with Finance & Human Resources being the minimum required modules.
•  Migrate data from our system, without disruption of the company’s operation.
• Perform offline and live testing of the solution with the relevant First Consult staff.
• Develop user guidelines on how to use the ERP, and the ERP technical support guideline;
• Provide a complete documentation of flowchart and process of the ERP platform.
• Provide training to all relevant First Consult staffs on the ERP for daily operations and system training to IT staff on supporting and administrating the ERP systems.
•  Provide user guidance/support on issues faced using the solution.

DETAILS ON THE ERP SYSTEM:

The ERP system must be scalable.

ERP system must be able to interface with some of the existing and future systems to be deployed at First Consult.

The ERP must be able to accept migrated data from the existing system.

Sourcing and installation of the following modules (as shown below): 

I.  Financial management ERP module with the following functionalities: 

• Accounts payable
• Accounts receivable 
• Invoices
• Planning and budgeting 
• General ledger 
• Bank reconciliation
• Advanced allocations
• Cash management 
• Fixed assets 
• Grant or project accounting
• Commitment register
• IFRS compliant reporting

II.   Human resources management ERP module with the following functionalities: 

• Personnel management
• Benefits administration  
• Leave management 
• Payroll management 
• Enterprise compensation management
• Organizational management 
• Employee performance management
• Travel management (travel and advance request)
• Talent management 
• Training management
• Reporting

III.    Project management ERP module with the following functionalities:    

• Order/Intervention management
• Contract management
• Supplier/Partner database management
• Grant management and allocation  
• Reporting

IV.    Professional services provision as follows: 

• Data conversion and migration 
• Report development 
• Implementation and training services 
• Change management 
• System documentation and testing
• Knowledge transfer   
• Ongoing support and maintenance of the ERP solution

DELIVERABLES AND TIMEFRAME

The potential vendor shall deliver: 

• A complete integrated ERP platform with the all the modules and their required functionalities.
• Both an ERP user guideline and technical support guideline.
• A complete set of required documentation including flowchart, and process of the system.
• Necessary trainings to be provided to all relevant First Consult staff.
• Free support, maintenance, and licensing of ERP for a period no less than 12 months from the date of hand-over to First Consult (inclusive of on-site debugging/correction, when necessary). 

These timelines are indicative, and bidder should include a more detailed delivery timeline in their proposal.

LOCATION AND DURATION

This service is required for First Consult. The service provider will install the ERP system and provide ongoing technical support and maintenance for minimum of one(1) year.

EVALUATION

First Consult will review the submitted proposals in accordance with the specific qualification, and experience requirements – as well as with the specific tasks stated above. Firms should clearly indicate their experience and previous engagements in line with the specific requirements.

The bid will be evaluated on functionality and bidders require a minimum of 70 out of 100 points allocated for professional ability. Bidders will be evaluated in terms of the minimum requirements. Bidders who do not fulfill all the requirements, or do not submit the required documents will be disqualified.

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.       Software installation (each module)

2.       Training of users

3.       Other related costs, including support and maintenance

Regardless of the cost estimation model vendors choose to use, each vendor is required to submit a clear budget as explicitly indicated above, in order to allow like comparison between all financial bids received.

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

FIRM QUALIFICATIONS

A local IT firm with ERP system implementation capability that has the following experience:

• Legally registered organization with requisite professional experience of five (5) years minimum and knowledge of ERP installation systems.
• Prior experience should include a full range of activities from ERP planning process, and ERP implementation projects.   
• Senior (managerial) level experience in implementation of ERP systems.  
• Proven experience in integration of ERP systems.
• Ability to work under pressure and meeting deadlines.  
• Excellent communication, and presentation skills as well as ability to work with teams.
• Qualified personnel in project management, system analysis, and ERP software installation.
• Demonstrated ability to deploy and manage staff and experts with relevant experience.

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 with MSc or BSc in Computer Science, and demonstrable knowledge in Accounting and Financial Management with more than five (5) years of relevant experience.
• Project staff should at least have a BA or BSc in Computer Science with at least 2-5 years of experience.

METHODOLOGY

The vendor is asked to provide a clear methodology and approach in carrying out this assignment. 

The vendor is also required to demonstrate knowledge and skills that indicate the vendor team will have the ability to implement this project successfully and in accordance with the stated scope of work, and timeline.

Thus, services on the methodology include:

1.       Information/system demand capturing

2.       System installation

3.       System integration

4.       Reporting (user guide/reference)

5.       System training and user introduction

6.       Data quality assurance

7.       Technical quality assurance

WORKING ARRANGEMENTS

The vendor shall work closely with First Consult team. First Consult focal persons for this assignment to whom the company will be reporting to are the General Manager, and Senior Compliance and Grant Officer.