REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Consultancy for an Integrated Protected-Area Monitoring and Control-Room Information System – RDB

Volcanoes Conservation and Development Programme (VCDP) – African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) with the Rwanda Development Board (RDB)

CONTENTS

PART A — INVITATION TO QUOTE

PART B — INSTRUCTIONS TO QUOTERS

PART C — SCHEDULE OF REQUIREMENTS

PART D — EVALUATION AND AWARD

PART E — TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF AWARD

FORM 1 — QUOTATION SUBMISSION FORM

FORM 2 — PRICE SCHEDULE

FORM 3 — CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND ELIGIBILITY DECLARATION

PART A — INVITATION TO QUOTE

The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Rwanda Country Office, invites eligible and qualified companies to submit quotations for Consultancy for an Integrated Protected-Area Monitoring and Control-Room Information System – RDB (AWF-RW/RFP/FY27/033).

The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) Rwanda Country Office invites qualified firms to submit technical and financial proposals for a consultancy to develop a national biodiversity-monitoring framework and data-governance protocol for Rwanda's protected areas, and to select, set up and pilot the information platform for the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) control-room network, starting with Volcanoes National Park. The assignment must be completed by 30 April 2027.

The platform is not prescribed: bidders are invited to propose how they will assess the current systems and recommend the most suitable platform based on interoperability, cost of maintenance and ease of use. The quality of the proposed methodology carries the largest weight in the evaluation. Hardware and room fit-out are procured under separate contracts (AWF-RW/RFQ/FY27/020 and AWF-RW/RFQ/FY27/025).

Scope summary

Quick access to the online forms

Issued for and on behalf of the African Wildlife Foundation, Rwanda Country Office

Signature: 

Name: Patrick Nsabimana

Title: Country Coordinator, AWF Rwanda

Date: 19 October 2026

PART B — INSTRUCTIONS TO QUOTERS

B.1 Eligibility

• Legally registered in Rwanda (RDB certificate) or in the country of origin, with a valid TIN.
• Tax and social security compliance (RRA and RSSB clearance) at contract stage.
• Not debarred or suspended by AWF, the World Bank, the United Nations or the Government of Rwanda.
• No conflict of interest (Form 3).
• Registered in the AWF Rwanda vendor database (completed by AWF Procurement before contract signature).

B.2 Contents of a compliant quotation

B.3 Preparation of quotations

• Quotations in English.
• Prices in RWF, tax inclusive, covering all costs of the goods / services.
• Prices remain fixed for the validity period.
• Quotation valid for at least 90 days from the closing date.
• Signed by an authorised representative.
• AWF does not reimburse the cost of preparing quotations.

B.4 Rights of AWF

• Accept or reject any quotation or cancel the RFQ without liability.
• Seek written clarification from quoters without changing the substance of the offer.
• Negotiate with the best-evaluated quoter.
• Award to the best-evaluated responsive quoter(s) – not necessarily the lowest price.

B.5 Anti-fraud and ethical standards

AWF applies zero tolerance to fraud, corruption and collusion. The following lead to immediate disqualification and may lead to debarment:

• Offering gifts, payments or favours to AWF staff or evaluators.
• Providing false information or forged documents.
• Collusion or price arrangements with other bidders.
• Contacting AWF staff about the tender outside the official clarification channel.

Concerns can be reported confidentially to the Country Coordinator or to the AWF ethics hotline.

PART C — SCHEDULE OF REQUIREMENTS

C.1 Background

The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) is building an integrated protected-area monitoring and control-room network: a national control room at RDB headquarters in Kigali that brings together information from Rwanda's four national parks, and new site-level control rooms at Volcanoes National Park (VNP) and Gishwati-Mukura National Park (GMNP). Nyungwe and Akagera National Parks are managed by African Parks and already use their own operational platform (EarthRanger).

Monitoring and operational data are currently spread across several tools – SMART patrol data, ArcGIS layers and services, sensor and telemetry feeds, community-monitoring tools and the African Parks systems – with no common national framework for biodiversity monitoring indicators, data standards, data sharing or data governance. AWF supports RDB, under the Volcanoes Conservation and Development Programme, to put in place both the national framework and the information system that makes it operational, starting with a park-level pilot at VNP.

The VNP control room is delivered through three separate contracts: ICT and audio-visual equipment (AWF-RW/RFQ/FY27/020), room partitioning, fit-out and furniture (AWF-RW/RFQ/FY27/025), and this consultancy. This consultancy covers services only; no hardware, works or furniture.

C.2 Scope of work

• Inception and assessment: review the current systems, data sources, data quality, interoperability, hosting, connectivity and staff capacity at RDB HQ, VNP and GMNP, and the platforms used in Nyungwe and Akagera; consult RDB, African Parks and other data holders.
• Platform options analysis and recommendation: compare realistic platform options (for example EarthRanger, SMART Connect, ArcGIS-based solutions, or a combination) and recommend one, using at least these criteria: (i) fit with the current status of systems and data and interoperability with SMART, ArcGIS, sensor/telemetry feeds and the African Parks systems; (ii) total cost of ownership over five years, including licences, hosting, maintenance and support; (iii) ease of use for operators, rangers and administrators; (iv) data sovereignty, hosting and security; (v) local support capacity and sustainability; (vi) scalability to all parks. The recommendation is presented to RDB and AWF and must be approved in writing before implementation starts.
• National biodiversity-monitoring framework and data-governance protocol: propose core monitoring indicators and protocols across the parks, data standards and a data dictionary, roles and responsibilities, data flows, access rights, data sharing and confidentiality rules (including sensitive species data), quality assurance and archiving; validate with RDB and stakeholders in a workshop.
• Implementation of the approved platform: configure the platform for RDB HQ, VNP and GMNP; integrate SMART, ArcGIS, sensor/telemetry and community-monitoring data; arrange data exchange with the Nyungwe and Akagera systems, subject to agreement with African Parks.
• Park-level operational pilot at VNP and control-room dashboards: design and deploy the operational dashboards, including the four live dashboards for the VNP display wall and the national views for RDB HQ; configure alerts and reports; test end-to-end and support go-live once the equipment from tender 020 is installed.
• Capacity building: train RDB control-room operators, rangers using field apps, and system administrators; provide user and administrator guides and short video tutorials.
• Handover and sustainability: integration architecture, configuration records, credentials and documentation handed to RDB; a costed operation and maintenance plan; post-go-live support for one month.

C.3 Deliverables and timeline

C.4 Qualifications required

• Firm legally registered in Rwanda or abroad, with valid tax registration
• No commercial tie to a specific platform vendor that would bias the options analysis, or full disclosure of any such tie in the proposal
• At least two assignments in the last five years on protected-area monitoring systems, conservation information platforms or data integration, proven by certificates, recommendation letters or contract copies
• Experience with at least two of: EarthRanger, SMART / SMART Connect, ArcGIS Enterprise or Online

PART D — EVALUATION AND AWARD

Evaluation process

• Stage 1 – Administrative and eligibility check (pass/fail): completeness of the bid, mandatory documents, eligibility and vendor registration.
• Stage 2 – Technical evaluation against the criteria below.
• Stage 3 – Financial evaluation of technically qualified bids.

Evaluation criteria

Award decision

PART E — TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF AWARD

FORM 1 — QUOTATION SUBMISSION FORM

To be completed, signed, stamped and uploaded with the quotation.

Section 1 – Bidder information

Section 2 – Quotation details

Section 3 – Declaration

We offer to provide the goods / services / works described in this document at the prices stated in Form 2. We accept the terms of this document, confirm that the information provided is true and that we are not in a situation of conflict of interest.

FORM 2 — PRICE SCHEDULE

All prices in RWF, tax inclusive. Unit prices prevail in case of arithmetic error.

FORM 3 — CONFLICT OF INTEREST AND ELIGIBILITY DECLARATION

We confirm that no gift, commission or benefit has been offered to any AWF employee, that this bid was prepared independently, and that we will inform AWF of any change before contract award.

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