Terms of Reference for Supply of Virtual Private Server

About ChildFund International

ChildFund is a child-focused international development organization that works in 24 countries to connect children with the people, resources, and institutions they need to grow up healthy, educated, skilled and safe, no matter where they are. ChildFund Kenya works through 11 implementing partners (IP’s) and 2 Direct Program Implementing Units 9DPIU) to implement various development interventions across 26 counties in Kenya. Over the next five years, ChildFund Kenya will focus on the following programming and advocacy priorities; Strengthening Early Childhood Development and Education (ECDE), Child Protection, Youth Engagement and Participation, Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation, Gender and Social Inclusion and Advocacy

Under ECD, ChildFund Kenya works with caregivers, communities, and the government both at the national and county levels to support responsive caregiving, child protection, improved health and well-being of infants and young children (IYC) through systems strengthening of government and community structures to provide nurturing care for ECD interventions. Our aim is to strengthen the nurturing environment to promote protective and responsive parenting and supportive structures for early childhood development.

About the Project

ChildFund received funding from Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to implement the Operationalization of A Strengthened Partnership for Nurturing Care project for an 8-month initial planning phase and a subsequent implementation phase of 36 months. The project will be implemented in 6 wards across the two counties of Homabay and Busia. A similar project is being undertaken in Mozambique.

The implementation phase has three objectives that need to be achieved as follows for Kenya and Mozambique:

• Objective 1: Improve caregivers’ nurturing care capacity and well-being in Mozambique and Kenya
• Objective 2: Enhance support systems for parents and children at the community level.
• Objective 3: Strengthen local ownership and efforts to support multisectoral coordination at local and national levels.

Based on the lessons learned in implementing a previous strengthened Partnership for Nurturing Care project, the project team routinely collected data monthly using numerous paper base tools. This method of data collection was unfriendly to primary data collectors in the field and required regular and consistent support to ensure the data collected was accurate and complete. A consideration to adopt digital data collection tools and uploading the same on a digital platform for ease of reporting and analysis of project data was a top priority.

During the 8 months planning phase, ChildFund contracted an IT firm to develop and commission a Management Information System(MIS) to support the digital collection, tracking, analysis and reporting of project data. The system(currently under development) will be accessible both online and offline for improved data quality. The purposes of the Management Information System (MIS) are to:

1. To enhance monitoring of the proposed project’s activities including tracking of beneficiaries to improve the quality of programming.
2. To improve the quality of data reported from program activities including completeness and accuracy of the collected data.
3. To capture all client/beneficiary data from various implementation platforms such as groups, centre-based and households where project activities are undertaken.
4. To meet donor reporting requirements for the project.
5. To promptly provide the necessary information to project staff, mentors and supervisors at various levels to help them to discharge their functions of organising, planning, control and decision-making.

ChildFund Nurturing Care Management Information System is a comprehensive end-to-end data management solution that is designed to support ChildFund’s Strengthening Nurturing Care in Kenya Project. Built on the DHIS2 platform, this system provides project managers, officers, and staff with a robust tool to efficiently collect, store, and analyze project data. By utilizing this data, the system supports informed decision-making and simplifies project reporting.

To successfully implement and roll out the system, ChildFund requires a Virtual Private Server to host the database. The VPS should meet the recommended DHIS2 specifications for a medium instance, including at least 16GB of RAM, 8 CPU cores, and a disk capacity of at least 160GB SSD.

The network should provide at least 10Mbps, and the operating system should be Ubuntu 22 LTS, with SSH Root Access and ports 80/443 for web access. ChildFund requires access to the VPS for a period of 3 years and 6 months.

Furthermore, ChildFund requires a reliable backup solution that can perform full VPS backups and quickly restore functionality from earlier backups in case of data corruption. This backup system is crucial to ensuring that data is not lost and that the system can quickly recover from any issues that may arise.

Due to the Data Protection Act, the VPS should be hosted in a data centre located within Kenya.

Purpose of the assessment

Through the established procedure, ChildFund is seeking to engage the services of a reputable and experienced vendor to provide, install and test a cloud server to host the MIS on a monthly subscription for a period of 42 months.

Specific Objectives

• To provide a Virtual Private Server(VPS) to host the MIS
• To provide a backup solution
• To provide terms of the warranty

Technical specification

• Server to Host DHIS2 Application + Database specifications.
• Server to Host DHIS2 Application + Database.

The specifications recommended by DHIS2 are:

• • https://docs.dhis2.org/en/manage/performing-system-administration/dhis-core -version-239/installation.html.
    – Standard Virtual Machine – VM Platinum T2 (8xvCPU, 16xGB RAM, 160xGB GOLD Storage (SSD), Standard Virtual Machine – VM
    – A Linux server instead of Windows (Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS)
    – Reservation period 3 Years and 6 months
    – Local hosting – to comply with the data protection act.
    – Inbound/Outbound data transfer.
    – https
    – Cloud Online Backup solution
    – Child Fund Connectivity VM – 20mb link
    – Reservation period 3 Years and 6 months

Key indicators

The followings are considered to be purpose indicators:

1. Performance – the ability to perform the tasks of processing, storage, presentation and replication of data with the required speed
2. Safe – ability to perform required functions without quality degradation of user data service within the target time
3. Resiliency – the ability to maintain the current state under the negative impact;
4. Scalability – the ability to upgrade and at the same time to maintain all peculiar characteristics without performance degradation, safeness and control performance;
5. Ability to maintain heterogeneous application
6. Controllability – the ability to adequately respond to the control actions applied by the administrator or the management system
7. Adaptability – the ability to change (adjust) characteristics of functioning in accordance with running tasks and due to activities
8. Maintainability – the ability to provide user-friendliness conditions and administrative simplicity

Delivery and inspection

• Delivery and configuration of the server requirement should be 30 days or earlier upon receipt of notice to proceed
• ChildFund shall have the right to inspect and/or test the server to confirm conformity with the requirement
• Inspection and acceptance report from Childfund will form part of the payment process as proof of compliance of the supplier on the requirements herein

Bidding Documents

1. Technical and Financial proposals
2. The vendor is expected to attach his/ her CV
3. A list of at least 3 similar assignments successfully completed.
4. If it is a company, attach a certificate of registration,company profile, CV of the lead vendor and list of at least 5 similar assignments successfully completed

Key deliverables

• The IT company selected to undertake this project would be expected to deliver the following: Supply the server as per the stated specifications
• Installation of Hardware and Software
• Configurations of the server
• Testing of servers
• Commission the servers
• Submit a detailed report and Administrator’s manual on all tasks undertaken and configurations done on the new server
• Training of IT staff on the newly installed server
• Maintenance and Support on the warranty period

Application Process

Technical proposal; the vendor should describe their capacities and how they intend to accomplish the assignment. Financial proposal: the vendor should provide the overall cost of the assignment which should be broken down. Provide a detailed logical work plan with milestones for the activities/assignment with the total number of days required to complete the assignment.

Financial proposal: The prospective vendor should submit an itemized budget and justification for the costs budgeted for. The budget should be budget that is comprehensive to include professional fees, logistical costs where required and taxes. All payment is subject to verification of works at every agreed phase.

How to apply

Interested candidates should submit their Expression of Interest through [email protected] by 28th April 2023. An evaluation of the proposals will be made by ChildFund Kenya who may engage in an interactive process with the vendor to further specify the scope and methodology to be used as well as the budget, deliverables and deadlines.