TERMS OF REFERENCE

Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Consultancy Services to Assess and Address the Policy, Regulatory and Interoperability Barriers that Prevent Young People from Participating in Digital Markets (KYC, Digital e-Services, Interoperability and Data Exchange across Six African CountriesUnder the Smart Africa Markets for All (SAMA) Programme)

Client	Smart Africa Secretariat 10th Floor, Career Centre Building KG 541 ST, Kigali, Rwanda, P.O. Box: 4913 Tel: +250 788 300 581/+250788822155 Email: tenderenquiries@smartafrica.org | www.smartafrica.org
Source of Funds	Mastercard Foundation
Programme	Smart Africa Markets for All (SAMA)
Countries Covered	Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia
Country of Contract	Rwanda
RFP No.	158/S.A/RFP/10/2026
Release Date	08/10/2026
Closing Date	09/11/2026 at 17:00 Kigali time (CAT / UTC+2)
Enquiries	Enquiries: tenderenquiries@smartafrica.org |Submissions: procurement@smartafrica.org

1. About Smart Africa

The Smart Africa Alliance is a bold and innovative commitment from African Heads of State and Government to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent, with the vision of transforming Africa into a Single Digital Market by 2030. Established through its Manifesto, a collaborative effort among African nations, the African Union, the Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the International Telecommunication Union, the private sector, and academic and research institutions, the Alliance was endorsed by African leaders in 2014 and has since garnered the support of 42 African countries representing over one billion people.

The Smart Africa Secretariat, headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda, coordinates continental programmes that support digital market integration, policy harmonization, institutional strengthening, and innovation-ecosystem development across Member States, placing information and communications technologies at the core of national and continental socio-economic development.

More information: https://smartafrica.org

2. The Smart Africa Markets for All (SAMA) Programme

Smart Africa Alliance curated the Smart Africa Markets for All (SAMA), an initiative that brings in nexus between digital innovation – entrepreneurship, digital skills and knowledge, and strengthening policy and regulatory environment for digitization of markets while impacting youth with a particular focus on young women.

SAMA Programme is a four-year, multi-country initiative supported by the Mastercard Foundation, running from 2026 through 2029. The Program aims to unlock dignified and fulfilling work opportunities for 35,584 young people, with a target of 70% young women, 5% persons with disabilities, and 5% refugees/internally displaced persons, by improving access to digital markets for economically disadvantaged youth, particularly young women small traders. The Programme is implemented across six countries: Benin, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia.

The program responds to systemic challenges in Africa’s informal economy, where approximately 90% of workers are informal and youth, who make up 75% of the population, face interlinked barriers such as limited digital connectivity, financial exclusion, inadequate market access, and digital skills gaps. SAMA builds on Smart Africa’s existing digital initiatives such as SANIA, SADA, SATA, SWG etc and aligns with the organisation’s vision for Africa’s Single Digital Market by 2030 as well as the African Union’s vision, ensuring that program efforts complement broader continental strategies for inclusive digital transformation.

2.1 SAMA Strategic Pillars

SAMA is built around three interconnected strategic pillars to drive inclusive growth: a) Entrepreneurship and digital innovation, b) Youth Digital Skills, and c) Institutional Capacity Building. In practice, this translates to:

• Accelerating Inclusive Digital Innovation bysupporting youth-led tech solutions that reduce market barriers for informal traders. 
•  Youth Digital Skills Development byproviding digital, financial and entrepreneurial skills training to young persons, especially young women, to improve their employability and enterprise growth.
• Strengthening Institutions and Policy by workingwith governments and regional bodies to harmonize policies, improve regulatory environments, and build institutional capacity for a unified digital market. 

2.2 SAMA Target Personas

The Programme’s human-centred design is built around and targets three distinct groups of young persons in Africa:

• Small market trader or “Aisha”: Asa young woman and small market trader who struggles to make ends meet selling from a tabletop in her local market. She represents the millions of economically disadvantaged youths in informal trade who need access to markets, financial inclusion, and digital tools to improve their livelihood. To benefit from the digitalization happening around her, Aisha needs training to effectively and safely use digital tools, and she needs digital products and services tailored to her realities as a young woman small trader, so that she can move from the periphery to the center of the digital economy.
• Social techpreneurs or “Chebet”: A recent university graduate or young social digital entrepreneur who develops inclusive digital solutions responsive to Aisha’s realities. She embodies the entrepreneurial spirit of university educated youth eager to leverage digital innovation for social impact but needs support to succeed. While she may not be as economically disadvantaged as Aisha, she has limited financial, technical, and business support to pursue social entrepreneurship. Chebet’s success is directly connected to Aisha because her enterprise is intended, first and foremost, to develop inclusive digital solutions tailored to the needs and realities of small traders such as Aisha.
• Unemployed disadvantaged youth or “Nala”: Nala is a young person from a low-income household who faces difficulty accessing meaningful employment and seeks ICT training to improve her work prospects. She represents the youth seeking to acquire digital skills to improve their employability and access opportunities in the growing digital economy. While she may not be as economically disadvantaged as Aisha, she is from a low-income community and not able to find a job easily. With access to relevant training, certification and employment pathways, she could find better work as tech worker or even upskill her current tech skills to obtain industry-related certification and employment pathways in the emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing, data science and coding etc.

2.3 SAMA Programme Interventions

Intervention 1: Accelerating Inclusive Digital Innovation: 

This intervention focuses on supporting young social techpreneurs like Chebet pursue entrepreneurship to develop homegrown digital solutions that respond to the market barriers experienced by small traders like Aisha to stay in business and thrive in digital markets. Chebet groups will receive relevant digital, tech and entrepreneurship skilling and training. The Programme will support 200 young social techpreneurs to pursue entrepreneurship and develop approximately 80 digital solutions that enable small traders to remain in business, access markets and participate more effectively in the digital economy. This will be carried out in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Ghana.

Intervention 2 – Skilling Young Talents for employability and future of work. 

This intervention focuses on developing the digital skills of 48,000 young people in Benin and Zambia to prepare them for the future of work either as digital entrepreneurs or tech talent. It comprises two distinct skilling pathways: foundational digital-literacy, financial-literacy and entrepreneurship training for 30,000 small traders like Aisha delivered in-person. While advanced digital skills modules such as cybersecurity, AI, Cloud, data science etc) will be delivered in a hybrid format to 18,000 disadvantaged young people like Nala.

Intervention 3 – Strengthening institutions and policy

This intervention focuses on enabling policy and regulatory environment to drive inclusive digital transformation across Africa in which the digital innovation and skills interventions can translate into improved economic participation and work opportunities, particularly for young women small traders like Aisha. This intervention works with governments, regulators, and regional bodies to strengthen institutional capacity, develop inclusive policies and regulations, address barriers within digital markets, and advance policy harmonization and interoperability. 

3. About this Assignment

3.1 What we are asking for

We want to know, country by country, exactly what stops a young entrepreneur, particularly a young woman from entering a digital market, operating in it, and growing beyond her own locality or national border. We then want to know what to change, who has to change it, and in what order.

The subject areas are Know Your Customer (KYC), digital e-services, digital interoperability and data exchange. These are the levers, not the purpose. The purpose is market access and dignified work.

3.2 What already exists and must not be repeated

Smart Africa has already undertaken relevant work in adjacent areas, notably through the Institutional Support for Digital Payments and E-commerce Policies for Cross-Border Trade (IDECT) Project and other Secretariat initiatives and assessments listed in Annex A.

Annex A lists the reference materials the Secretariat will make available to the selected Consultant. These will also be shared through the RFP data room so that bidders can size their proposals accurately. The Consultant shall start from this material and shall not re-diagnose issues already adequately covered by it. Where the Consultant believes existing findings are outdated or incomplete, it shall say so explicitly and justify any re-assessment.

3.3 The principle that governs the whole assignment

Every activity and every deliverable under this assignment must be independently justifiable against SAMA's objective of improving access to digital markets and dignified work opportunities for young people, particularly young women. Where the evidence produced is subsequently useful to other Smart Africa initiatives, that is a benefit — not an additional objective of this assignment.

Bidders should read this as a practical instruction. Section 6.1 sets out how we expect this link to be made in every chapter of every report.

4. Overall Objective

The overall objective of this assignment is to identify and help remove the policy, regulatory, institutional and technical barriers that prevent young people — particularly young women and youth-led enterprises — from accessing, participating in and earning a living from domestic and cross-border digital markets in the six SAMA countries.

The assignment shall assess the current policy, regulatory, institutional and technical landscape for KYC, digital e-services, digital interoperability and data exchange across the six SAMA countries, and translate the findings into harmonized policy guidelines, recommended technical specifications, practical implementation guidance and toolkits, targeted capacity-building interventions, and country-specific action plans with clearly identified institutions responsible for taking agreed actions forward.

The assignment shall also generate the policy, regulatory, institutional and ecosystem starting values required for the SAMA Integrated Baseline. These baseline results will provide the pre-intervention reference point for measuring subsequent changes under Intervention 3 and for reporting relevant SAMA and Mastercard Foundation ecosystem and institutional-strengthening indicators.

5. Specific Objectives

The Consultant shall:

1. Assess the policy, legal, regulatory, institutional, governance, technical and operational environment for KYC, digital e-services, interoperability and data exchange in each of the six countries, and score each country against the common maturity framework set out in Annex B.
2. Identify the specific barriers that prevent young women and men entrepreneurs from accessing trusted digital services and participating in domestic and cross-border digital markets, and quantify or characterise who is affected and how.
3. Assess the capacity and readiness of policymakers and implementing institutions to deliver and sustain the reforms identified.
4. Develop evidence-based policy harmonization guidelines for KYC, digital e-services, and interoperability and data exchange.
5. Develop recommended technical specifications and implementation guidelines that countries can adopt voluntarily.
6. Develop practical government implementation toolkits that translate the guidelines into concrete policy, regulatory and institutional steps.
7. Develop capacity-building and knowledge-transfer packages addressing the capacity gaps identified.
8. Determine where controlled regulatory experimentation is justified by the diagnosis, and design sandbox frameworks only for those areas.
9. Support adoption: facilitate national validation and dissemination, inter-country peer learning, and the agreement of prioritized country action plans with the institutions expected to lead them.
10. Establish and document baseline values for Intervention 3 using a common six-country assessment framework, including clear definitions, scoring criteria, evidence sources, limitations and country disaggregation, and provide the resulting dataset and indicator documentation to the SAMA MEAL team.

6. Scope of the Assignment

The assignment is organized into three Work Packages. Section 6.1 sets out methodology requirements that apply to all three and that bidders must address in their technical proposals. Bidders are encouraged to complement these requirements with innovative, agile and context-responsive approaches that enhance delivery and impact.

6.1 How the work must be done

6.1.1 Follow the market journey

Rather than assessing the four technical domains in isolation or applying a single market journey to all beneficiaries, the Consultant shall assess barriers through differentiated pathways reflecting the SAMA beneficiary groups relevant to this assignment.

Pathway 1 – Informal and small-scale traders (Aisha):
establish/prove identity → meet KYC requirements → register/formalise the business → access a financial account → receive digital payments → access relevant government e-services → access digital marketplaces → reach customers domestically and across borders.

Pathway 2 – Youth-led digital enterprises and innovators (Chebet):
establish/register the enterprise → meet KYC and regulatory requirements → access digital identity, payments, government e-services, APIs and relevant data → develop and test a digital solution → obtain required regulatory approvals → integrate/interoperate with relevant public and private systems → scale the solution domestically → expand across borders.

The Consultant shall assess where policy, regulatory, institutional and technical barriers interrupt each relevant pathway, who is affected, with particular attention to young women, and what reforms are required to enable progression.

The pathways shall be refined during inception based on the confirmed SAMA persona-to-country mapping and country context, while maintaining sufficient consistency to support comparison across the six countries.

6.1.2 Report every gap in the same structure

Every thematic chapter of every country report shall present its findings in this chain:

1. Gap → practical barrier → who is affected (with attention to young women and youth-led enterprises) → economic or market consequence → recommended action → responsible institution

6.1.3 Keep technical depth proportionate

Technical analysis shall be limited to the level of detail needed to explain barriers to digital market access and identify practical actions. Unnecessary technical detail that does not contribute to these outcomes should be avoided.

6.1.4 Use one comparable scoring framework across all six countries

The Consultant shall score each country against the 0–4 maturity scale in Annex B. Each score shall carry three things: the score, the verifiable evidence supporting it, and the implication for young women and youth-led enterprises. 

The Consultant shall specifically coordinate with the SAMA MEAL team during inception to agree the Intervention 3 indicators, definitions, assessment rubric, evidence standards and data-transfer format. This assignment will generate the specialised policy and institutional baseline evidence; the consultant will consolidate it with the wider programme baseline. The coordination arrangement shall avoid duplicate interviews, workshops and data requests while preserving a clear audit trail of source evidence.

6.1.5 Deliver the countries in two waves

The six countries shall be assessed in two waves. The first wave shall be used to test the methodology, assessment tools and maturity framework across a range of country contexts. Lessons from the first wave may be used to make limited adjustments before applying the methodology to the second wave. Any adjustment shall be applied consistently across all six countries to preserve comparability. The first wave should include countries representing different levels of digital-market and institutional maturity.

6.1.6 Coordinate with the parallel SAMA consultancy

A parallel SAMA assignment (Digital Market Gap Analysis / Digital Skills Gap Assessment) covers the same six countries. Coordination is not optional and shall be operational, not declaratory. The Inception Report shall include a single consolidated six-country stakeholder engagement plan agreed with the parallel consultancy, covering:

1. a single stakeholder mapping per country;
2. a common government entry point;
3. harmonized questionnaires where the same institution type is being asked similar questions;
4. coordinated mission dates with other SAMA activities.
5. the differentiated beneficiary market-pathway framework, including confirmed persona-to-country mapping
6. Coordinate this assignment with other ongoing SAMA consultancies and country-level activities to avoid duplication and stakeholder fatigue. Engagements shall be coordinated so that separate Smart Africa teams do not approach the same senior government official independently within the same quarter.

6.2 Work Package 1 — KYC and Digital e-Services

The Consultant shall establish what it currently takes for a young person or a youth-led enterprise to be identified, verified, registered and served digitally in each country, and where that process breaks down.

6.2.1 Desk review

Review national policies, laws, regulations, strategies, standards and institutional frameworks covering digital identity, KYC/e-KYC, customer due diligence, risk-based and proportionate KYC, applicable AML/CFT requirements for digital onboarding, electronic identification, electronic transactions, digital signatures and trust services, consumer protection, data protection and privacy, cybersecurity, digital government services, digital financial services and cross-border digital trade. The assessment shall focus on how these requirements operate in practice and whether their application creates disproportionate barriers for young entrepreneurs, informal traders, MSMEs and start-ups.

6.2.2 Institutional mapping

Identify the roles, mandates and coordination mechanisms of the institutions that control each step of the journey: ministries responsible for ICT and the digital economy, financial regulators and central banks, data protection authorities, digital identity authorities, telecommunications regulators, business registration authorities, private-sector associations, innovation hubs, financial service providers and development partners.

6.2.3 Barriers facing young people and young women

Assess the barriers experienced by young women entrepreneurs, young men entrepreneurs, MSMEs and start-ups in: e-KYC and identity verification; business registration; customer onboarding; access to financial services; digital payments; access to digital public services; and digital trust. Establish which barriers fall disproportionately on young women, and why.

6.2.4 Country engagement

Conduct in-country consultations and a national workshop in each of the six countries covering existing KYC frameworks, digital onboarding practice, availability and coverage of digital identity systems, authentication mechanisms, trust services, maturity of digital public services, cross-border recognition of digital identities, and the implementation problems institutions are actually facing.

Assess the practical accessibility and usability of priority government e-services relevant to market participation, including business registration and licensing, tax registration, identity-related services and other relevant services. The assessment shall consider eligibility requirements, authentication, digital completion of transactions, payment integration, interoperability with identity and other government systems, accessibility to young women and underserved groups, and whether users must revert to manual or in-person processes.

6.2.5 Data protection: look beyond the law on paper

Recording whether a data protection law exists is not sufficient. For each country, assess: the legal framework; whether a data protection authority has been established; its operational capacity; published regulations and guidance; authorisation or notification processes where applicable; supervisory and enforcement practice; and the mechanisms available for data sharing and cross-border transfers. What matters is whether the regulatory environment functions, not whether the statute exists.

6.2.6 Gap analysis

Identify legal, regulatory, institutional, governance, technical and operational gaps, reported in the structure required by section 6.1.2.

6.3 Work Package 2 — Interoperability and Data Exchange

The Consultant shall assess how well systems and institutions in each country connect to one another and to systems in other countries, and what this means for a young enterprise trying to operate across services, platforms and borders.

6.3.1 Review existing frameworks

Review national interoperability frameworks, digital public infrastructure, enterprise architecture, API frameworks, data-sharing policies, cross-border data exchange arrangements, technical standards, digital identity interoperability, payment interoperability and government interoperability initiatives.

6.3.2 Assess the interoperability ecosystem

Evaluate governance arrangements, institutional coordination, adoption of technical standards, API maturity, data-exchange mechanisms, use of open standards, cross-border readiness and infrastructure readiness. The assessment shall examine data governance arrangements, including data ownership/stewardship, access rights, consent where applicable, data-sharing agreements, accountability, security and cross-border data-sharing arrangements.

Particular attention shall be given to practical access by start-ups and youth-led digital enterprises to government and other relevant APIs, registries, data and DPI. The Consultant shall assess not only whether access is legally or technically permitted, but also the practical conditions of access, including eligibility, onboarding procedures, documentation, authentication, technical integration requirements, costs/fees, testing or sandbox environments, service-level arrangements and other barriers affecting start-ups.

6.3.3 Assess institutional capacity

Assess institutional capacity, technical competencies, existing skills, skills gaps, training needs and readiness to operate and sustain interoperable systems.

6.3.4 Consultations

Consult government institutions, regulators, private sector, regional organizations, development partners and innovation ecosystem actors.

6.3.5 Gap analysis

Identify policy, regulatory, institutional, governance, technical and skills gaps, reported in the structure required by section 6.1.2, and score each country against Annex B.

6.4 Work Package 3 — Harmonization, Implementation Support and Adoption

6.4.1 Policy harmonization guidelines

Develop regional policy harmonization guidelines covering KYC, digital identity, digital e-services, digital trust services, interoperability, data exchange and cross-border digital transactions. The guidelines shall set out guiding principles, policy recommendations, institutional responsibilities, governance models, regional alignment and implementation priorities.

6.4.2 Recommended Technical Specifications and Implementation Guidelines

The consultant shall develop recommended technical specifications and implementation guidelines for interoperability and data exchange. These outputs are intended to provide practical guidance to participating countries and institutions and shall not create binding technical or regulatory obligations.

6.4.3 Government implementation toolkits

Develop practical implementation guides, model operating procedures, implementation checklists, institutional maturity assessment tools, governance templates and monitoring indicators.

6.4.4 Capacity-building packages

Prepare training curricula, facilitator guides, participant manuals, presentation materials, case studies, practical exercises and knowledge products, based on the capacity gaps actually identified in WP1 and WP2.

6.4.5 Regulatory experimentation

The Consultant shall first identify the national and regional regulatory and policy areas where controlled experimentation would allow youth-led enterprises and innovators to test solutions to the barriers identified. This assessment is a deliverable in its own, and it may conclude that a national or regional sandbox is or is not the right instrument in a given country or context.

Where the diagnosis justifies a regulatory sandbox, the Consultant shall develop a Sandbox Framework and Implementation Plan covering governance, eligibility criteria, onboarding and testing procedures, the innovation lifecycle, monitoring and evaluation, safeguards, exit arrangements, priority use cases, and the institutional, technical, human and indicative budgetary requirements for implementation.

For each sandbox recommended for implementation, the Consultant shall also prepare draft Technical Terms of Reference (ToRs) for the subsequent recruitment of the sandbox developer/implementer. The ToRs shall define the proposed scope, functional and technical requirements, implementation approach, required expertise, deliverables, indicative implementation schedule and acceptance requirements.

This assignment does not include the procurement, recruitment or technical implementation of the sandbox. These activities will be undertaken separately by Smart Africa and/or the relevant host institution following approval of the proposed sandbox framework and ToRs.

6.4.6 Validation, country ownership and dissemination

The Consultant shall support the Secretariat to:

1. conduct technical validation of the guidelines, specifications and toolkits with participating countries and stakeholders;
2. give each country the evidence behind its preliminary maturity assessment and a documented opportunity to submit factual corrections and additional evidence before finalization. Country comments shall be recorded. And incorporated for the final technically validations;
3. present the harmonization guidelines to the SAMA Programme Steering Committee for programme-level technical validation;
4. prepare the technical materials the Secretariat needs to pursue endorsement through the applicable Smart Africa governance processes;
5. organize six (6) national dissemination and adoption workshops;
6. facilitate two (2) inter-country peer-learning workshops and online workshops when needed.

Each national workshop must end with something concrete. The Consultant shall facilitate and document a prioritised country action plan that identifies the agreed reform actions, the institution(s) that participating country stakeholders confirm are expected to lead follow-up on each action, supporting institutions, indicative sequencing and immediate next steps. 

Note: The firm should be able to conduct their work in both French and English where needed. The client will not be responsible of hiring for interpretation services in any case

6.5 Baseline Measurement 

The baseline component shall be embedded across Work Packages and shall measure conditions that exist before SAMA-supported policy harmonisation, capacity building, adoption support or sandbox implementation begins. Implementation outputs that have not yet commenced, including SAMA-developed frameworks, policymakers trained through SAMA and SAMA-supported regulatory sandboxes, shall be recorded as zero rather than treated as contextual baseline measures.

The Consultant shall establish the following baseline domains:

• Policy enabling environment for trusted and inclusive digital markets;
• KYC and digital-identity policy, regulatory and operational readiness;
• Digital e-services and electronic trust-services maturity;
• Digital interoperability and data-exchange maturity, including cross-border readiness;
• Institutional mandates, coordination, governance, reform ownership and implementation capacity;
• Policymaker knowledge, competencies, skills gaps and training needs;
• Regulatory-sandbox readiness, including legal authority, governance, testing, monitoring, safeguards and exit arrangements; and
• Extent to which the enabling environment addresses barriers experienced by young women entrepreneurs, persons with disabilities and displaced youth.

During inception, the Consultant shall propose a standardised indicator reference and maturity-assessment framework for approval by Smart Africa. For every baseline measure, the framework shall specify the definition, unit or rating approach, calculation or scoring method, evidence required, source institution, frequency, responsible party, assumptions, limitations and intended disaggregation. Country results shall be comparable while retaining sufficient narrative explanation of national context.

The Consultant shall submit a clean machine-readable baseline dataset, country scorecards, an indicator dictionary, scoring guidance, a source and evidence register, stakeholder mapping, interview and workshop records, and a concise methodological note. All calculations and ratings shall be reproducible from the submitted evidence and shall comply with the assignment's quality assurance and data-protection requirements.

The Consultant shall ensure that the maturity assessment is repeatable and maintainable by Smart Africa beyond the assignment. This shall include documented indicators, scoring criteria, evidence requirements and assessor-calibration procedures, alignment with the relevant SAMA Results Framework indicators, and handover of the final assessment tools, editable datasets/templates and update guidance to Smart Africa.

7. Deliverables

#	Deliverable
1	Inception ReportFinal methodology; the market-journey framework; final assessment instruments in English and French; the locked 0–4 maturity framework with anchor definitions and evidence requirements; country engagement calendar and wave allocation; the differentiated beneficiary market-pathway framework, including confirmed persona-to-country mapping, the consolidated stakeholder engagement plan agreed with the parallel SAMA consultancy; the Assessment Data and Access Protocol; data-protection roles and arrangements; the confirmed Level of Effort table; and the quality assurance approach.
2	Six Country Assessment Reports and Action PlansOne per country, delivered in two waves. Each consolidates WP1 and WP2 findings, the country's maturity scores with supporting evidence, capacity findings, and the prioritised country action plan with lead institutions confirmed at the national workshop.
3	Regional Synthesis Report — KYC and Digital e-ServicesCross-country analysis: where the six countries align, where they diverge, and what can realistically be harmonised.
4	Regional Synthesis Report — Interoperability and Data ExchangeSame structure, covering interoperability, data exchange, trust services and cross-border recognition.
5	Regional Digital Market Access Readiness MatrixTwo linked outputs: (a) a detailed internal comparative matrix with scores and evidence, governed by the Assessment Data and Access Protocol; and (b) country-facing maturity profiles presented as descriptive profiles, not as a league table.
6	Policymaker Skills Assessment ReportCapacity and competency gaps across the institutions responsible for implementation.
7	Policy and Institutional Harmonization GuidelinesRegional guidelines per section 6.4.1.
8	Recommended Technical Specifications and Implementation GuidelinesVoluntary reference instruments per section 6.4.2.
9	Government Implementation ToolkitsPractical tools per section 6.4.3.
10	Capacity-Building and Knowledge PackagesCurricula and materials per section 6.4.4.
11	Regulatory Experimentation Assessment, Sandbox Framework(s) and Sandbox Implementation ToRsAssessment identifying where regulatory experimentation is justified and where it is not. For each justified sandbox: (i) Sandbox Framework; (ii) Implementation Plan; and (iii) draft ToR for the subsequent recruitment of the sandbox developer/implementer, including scope, functional and technical requirements, required expertise, deliverables, implementation schedule and acceptance requirements.
12	Workshop ReportsSix national and two regional workshops, including commitments and agreed follow-up.
13	Final Consolidated ReportConsolidated findings, recommendations and the full set of final approved outputs.

Cross-cutting requirement — gender and Young Women-Centered DesignThe Consultant shall apply a gender-responsive and Young Women-Centered Design (YWCD) approach across all analyses, consultations, recommendations, guidelines, toolkits and capacity-building materials. This is not a chapter to be added at the end. Every country report must identify which barriers fall disproportionately on young women and why, and every recommendation must state its expected effect on them.

8. Who We Are Looking For

8.1 The consulting firm

The firm shall be a legally registered entity with demonstrated expertise relevant to digital transformation, digital economy policy, digital public infrastructure, digital identity, trust services, interoperability, digital government and regional digital market integration.

The firm shall meet the following minimum requirements:

1. Have at least ten (10) years of experience providing consulting services in digital transformation, digital economy, ICT policy or digital public infrastructure. 
2. Demonstrate experience working with governments, regional organisations, development partners or international financial institutions in Africa, including comparable continental or regional institutions. 
3. Demonstrate experience managing complex multi-country assignments in Africa involving policy analysis and stakeholder engagement. 
4. Demonstrate the following specific assignment experience: 
   1. At least one (1) assignment involving digital identity, e-KYC, trust services or digital authentication frameworks; 
   2. At least one (1) assignment involving interoperability, API governance, data exchange or digital public infrastructure; 
   3. At least one (1) assignment involving digital policy, regulatory or institutional assessment and/or the development of policy frameworks, harmonisation guidelines or implementation toolkits; 
   4. At least one (1) assignment involving regulatory sandboxes, innovation frameworks or digital innovation ecosystems; and 
   5. At least one (1) assignment involving capacity building or institutional strengthening for policymakers or regulators. 

Bidders shall provide verifiable documentary evidence for the referenced assignments, such as completion certificates, reference/recommendation letters, contracts or equivalent documentation.

8.2 Key Experts

The following composition represents the minimum required Key Experts. Bidders may propose additional specialists where necessary for successful delivery of the assignment.

Key Expert 1 — Team Leader / Digital Policy and Digital Economy Expert

• Master's degree in ICT, digital transformation, public policy, economics, computer science, information systems, public administration, development studies or a related discipline. 
• At least fifteen (15) years of relevant professional experience, including at least ten (10) years leading complex digital policy, digital transformation, digital government or institutional reform programmes. 
• Experience as Team Leader or equivalent on at least three (3) relevant multi-country assignments. 
• Experience engaging senior government officials, regulators, regional organisations, development partners and the private sector in Africa. 

Key Expert 2 — Digital Identity, KYC and Trust Services Specialist

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, cybersecurity, engineering, digital identity, financial technology or a related discipline. 
• At least ten (10) years of relevant experience in digital identity, KYC/e-KYC, identity assurance, digital onboarding or trust services, including at least three (3) relevant assignments. 
• Experience working with central banks, financial regulators, digital identity authorities, financial institutions or fintechs in Africa. 

Key Expert 3 — E-Government, Interoperability, Data Exchange and DPI Specialist

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, software engineering, enterprise architecture, ICT or a related discipline. 
• At least ten (10) years of relevant experience, including at least three (3) assignments involving national or regional digital government, interoperability, data exchange or DPI platforms. 
• Knowledge and practical experience with recognised interoperability/DPI frameworks or models such as GovStack, the European Interoperability Framework, X-Road, MOSIP-related ecosystems or equivalent models. 
• Demonstrated ability to translate policy requirements into technical architecture and technical constraints into actionable policy recommendations. 

Key Expert 4 — Legal, Regulatory and Data Governance Expert

• Degree in Law. A Master's degree in ICT Law, Technology Law, Commercial Law, Data Protection, Public Policy or a related field is an advantage. 
• At least ten (10) years of relevant experience, including at least three (3) assignments involving digital law or regulation, digital identity/trust services, data governance/protection, digital financial services, digital trade, KYC/AML, data sharing or interoperability governance. 
• Demonstrated experience conducting multi-jurisdictional regulatory assessments and developing policy harmonisation frameworks, model policies, regulatory guidelines or regulatory gap analyses. 

Key Expert 5 — Regulatory Innovation and Digital Entrepreneurship Expert

• Bachelor's degree in ICT, economics, innovation management, finance, public policy, business administration, engineering or a related discipline. 
• At least eight (8) years of relevant experience, including experience designing, implementing or evaluating at least two (2) regulatory sandbox or innovation-testing programmes. 
• Demonstrated experience in sandbox governance and ability to assess whether a regulatory sandbox is an appropriate regulatory instrument in a given context. 
• Experience working with regulators, start-ups, fintechs, MNOs, accelerators or public-sector innovation programmes. 

Key Expert 6 — Institutional Capacity Development and Knowledge Management Expert

• Bachelor's degree in public administration, development studies, education, organisational development, public policy, human resources, social sciences or a related discipline. 
• At least eight (8) years of relevant experience, including institutional or policymaker capacity assessments and the development of capacity-development strategies, competency frameworks, curricula or knowledge-transfer packages. 
• Experience designing adult-learning programmes for policymakers, regulators or public servants. 

Key Expert 7 — Gender and Digital Inclusion Specialist

• Bachelor's degree in gender studies, development studies, social sciences, public policy, economics, international development, sociology or a related discipline. 
• At least eight (8) years of relevant experience in gender equality, women's economic empowerment and/or digital inclusion, including experience analysing barriers faced by young women in accessing digital services and digital markets. 
• Experience applying participatory, human-centred or Young Women-Centered Design (YWCD) approaches and/or developing gender-disaggregated indicators and measuring inclusion outcomes.

8.3 Level of effort — required in every proposal

Bidders shall submit a Level of Effort table showing the proposed person-days for each Key Expert and Non-Key Expert, broken down by Work Package, by country, and by type of input (field or home-based). The adequacy of the proposed Level of Effort will be assessed under Evaluation Criterion 2(e).The Secretariat will apply indicative minimum inputs for the Team Leader, the Gender and Digital Inclusion Specialist, the Legal and Data Governance Expert, the Interoperability/DPI Expert and country-level expertise. A proposal presenting strong CVs with implausibly low input for these functions will score poorly on methodology, regardless of the quality of the CVs themselves. The Level of Effort table shall identify the country-specific experts/associates assigned to each jurisdiction, their relevant expertise, language capability and proposed person-days.

8.4 Non-key experts and support personnel

Bidders may propose additional specialists, which may include a cybersecurity specialist, a digital payments specialist, a monitoring and evaluation specialist, research and policy analysts, country experts and coordinators, facilitation specialists, knowledge management and communications specialists, data analysts, and administrative and logistics personnel.

The Consultant shall demonstrate sufficient knowledge and experience of the policy, regulatory and institutional environments of the six SAMA countries to assess both the formal frameworks and their practical implementation. The proposed team shall have appropriate experience working across multiple African jurisdictions and the ability to engage effectively with national institutions and stakeholders.

The team shall have strong professional working capacity in both English and French. In particular, the personnel assigned to activities in Benin shall have sufficient French-language capability to conduct document review, stakeholder consultations, analysis and validation without reliance on interpretation services.

9. Evaluation criteria

9.1. Firm experience and qualifications — 20 points

Evaluation criterion / Qualification and experience	Max. points
a) General institutional experience and capacity	8
Legally registered entity with at least 10 years of experience providing consulting services in digital transformation, digital economy, ICT policy or digital public infrastructure	3
Proven experience working with governments, regional organisations, development partners or international financial institutions in Africa, including comparable continental/regional institutions	2
Demonstrated experience managing complex multi-country assignments in Africa involving policy analysis and stakeholder engagement	3
b) Specific relevant assignments	12
At least 1 assignment involving digital identity, e-KYC, trust services or digital authentication frameworks	3
At least 1 assignment involving interoperability, API governance, data exchange or digital public infrastructure	3
At least 1 assignment involving digital policy/regulatory/institutional assessment and/or development of policy frameworks, harmonisation guidelines or implementation toolkits	3
At least 1 assignment involving regulatory sandboxes, innovation frameworks or digital innovation ecosystems	2
At least 1 assignment involving capacity building or institutional strengthening for policymakers or regulators	1
TOTAL	20

Evidence: Bidders shall provide verifiable documentary evidence for the referenced assignments, such as completion certificates, reference/recommendation letters, contracts or equivalent documentation.

9.2. Technical Approach, Methodology and Work Plan — 30 points

Evaluation criterion / Qualification and experience	Max. points
Understanding of the assignment and soundness of the proposed technical approach and methodology, including the differentiated beneficiary market-pathway approach and comparability of country assessments — 15 points.	15
Stakeholder engagement, gender and Young Women-Centered Design (YWCD) approach	5
Quality assurance, risk management and validation methodology	5
Work plan, sequencing, resource allocation and adequacy of the proposed Level of Effort	5
TOTAL	30

9.3. Qualifications and Competence of Key Experts — 40 points

a) Team Leader / Digital Policy and Digital Economy Expert — 10 points

Evaluation criterion / Qualification and experience	Max. points
Master's degree in ICT, digital transformation, public policy, economics, computer science, information systems, public administration, development studies or related discipline	2
At least 15 years of relevant professional experience, including at least 10 years leading complex digital policy, digital transformation, digital government or institutional reform programmes	4
Team Leader or equivalent on at least 3 relevant multi-country assignments	3
Experience engaging senior government officials, regulators, regional organisations, development partners and the private sector in Africa	1
TOTAL	10

b) Digital Identity, KYC and Trust Services Specialist — 6 points

Evaluation criterion / Qualification and experience	Max. points
Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, cybersecurity, engineering, digital identity, financial technology or related discipline	1
At least 10 years of relevant experience in digital identity, KYC/e-KYC, identity assurance, digital onboarding or trust services, including at least 3 relevant assignments	4
Experience working with central banks, financial regulators, digital identity authorities, financial institutions or fintechs in Africa	1
TOTAL	6

c) E-Government, Interoperability, Data Exchange and DPI Specialist — 7 points

Evaluation criterion / Qualification and experience	Max. points
Bachelor's degree in computer science, information systems, software engineering, enterprise architecture, ICT or related discipline	1
At least 10 years of relevant experience, including at least 3 assignments involving national/regional digital government, interoperability, data exchange or DPI platforms	4
Knowledge and practical experience with recognised interoperability/DPI frameworks or models such as GovStack, European Interoperability Framework, X-Road, MOSIP-related ecosystems or equivalent	1
Demonstrated ability to translate policy requirements into technical architecture and technical constraints into actionable policy recommendations	1
TOTAL	7

d) Legal, Regulatory and Data Governance Expert — 7 points

Evaluation criterion / Qualification and experience	Max. points
Degree in Law; Master's in ICT Law, Technology Law, Commercial Law, Data Protection, Public Policy or related field is an advantage	1
At least 10 years of relevant experience, including at least 3 assignments involving digital law/regulation, digital identity/trust services, data governance/protection, digital financial services, digital trade, KYC/AML, data sharing or interoperability governance	4
Demonstrated experience conducting multi-jurisdictional regulatory assessments and developing policy harmonisation frameworks, model policies, regulatory guidelines or regulatory gap analyses	2
TOTAL	7

e) Regulatory Innovation and Digital Entrepreneurship Expert — 4 points

Evaluation criterion / Qualification and experience	Max. points
Bachelor's degree in ICT, economics, innovation management, finance, public policy, business administration, engineering or related discipline	0.5
At least 8 years of relevant experience, including experience designing, implementing or evaluating at least 2 regulatory sandbox or innovation-testing programmes	2.5
Demonstrated experience in sandbox governance and ability to assess whether a regulatory sandbox is the appropriate instrument in a given context	0.5
Experience working with regulators, start-ups, fintechs, MNOs, accelerators or public-sector innovation programmes	0.5
TOTAL	4

f) Institutional Capacity Development and Knowledge Management Expert — 3 points

Evaluation criterion / Qualification and experience	Max. points
Bachelor's degree in public administration, development studies, education, organisational development, public policy, human resources, social sciences or related discipline	0.5
At least 8 years of relevant experience, including institutional/policymaker capacity assessments and development of capacity strategies, competency frameworks, curricula or knowledge-transfer packages	2
Experience designing adult-learning programmes for policymakers, regulators or public servants	0.5
TOTAL	3

g) Gender and Digital Inclusion Specialist — 3 points

Evaluation criterion / Qualification and experience	Max. points
Bachelor's degree in gender studies, development studies, social sciences, public policy, economics, international development, sociology or related discipline	0.5
At least 8 years of relevant experience in gender equality, women's economic empowerment and/or digital inclusion, including experience analysing barriers faced by young women in accessing digital services and digital markets	2
Experience applying participatory, human-centred or YWCD approaches and/or developing gender-disaggregated indicators and measuring inclusion outcomes	0.5
TOTAL	3

9.4. Knowledge Transfer, Capacity Building and Sustainability — 10 points

Evaluation criterion / Qualification and experience	Max. points
Quality and practicality of the proposed institutional capacity-strengthening and knowledge-transfer approach	5
Sustainability, adoption and country-ownership strategy, including measures for institutional uptake and continued use of assignment outputs	5
TOTAL	10

Overall Evaluation

Evaluation criterion / Qualification and experience	Max. points
1. Specific Experience of the Consulting Firm	20
2. Technical Approach, Methodology and Work Plan	30
3. Qualifications and Competence of Key Experts	40
4. Knowledge Transfer, Capacity Building and Sustainability	10
TOTAL	100

The financial proposal of only those firms which secure a minimum score of 70/100 in the technical evaluation will be opened.

St= Score for the Technical Evaluation

Minimum technical score: only firms scoring at least 70 out of 100 will proceed to financial evaluation.

1. B) Financial Criteria

Once the technical criteria have been evaluated, the costs of all bids will be listed from low to high. Computing the cost criteria score will be accomplished by use of the following formula:

= Sf

The Applicant getting maximum marks on 80-20 weightage (80% for technical and 20% for financial) will be considered for the assignment. The weights given to the Technical (T) and Financial Proposals (F) are: T = 0.80 and F = 0.20

The Final Score (S) is calculated as follows: S = St*T + Sf*F

10. Duration and Sequencing

The assignment shall be completed within ten (10) months of contract signature.

Work shall follow the two-wave country sequence set out in section 6.1.5. Activities across Work Packages may run in parallel where dependencies permit, and the review of one deliverable shall not block progress on others unless the Secretariat identifies a material dependency.

Two things must be fixed before any country mission begins: the methodology and instruments (in both English and French) and the maturity framework with its anchor definitions and evidence requirements. Fieldwork shall not start before the Inception Report is accepted.

The detailed work plan shall identify sequencing, dependencies, and opportunities for parallel delivery. All final deliverables remain subject to the Secretariat's review and acceptance under section 12.

11. Deliverables and Payment Schedule

The assignment will be implemented under a lump-sum contract. Payments are linked to the acceptance of milestone deliverables under section 12.

Month	Milestone deliverables	Payment
M1	Inception Report, including final methodology, instruments in English and French, locked maturity framework, wave allocation, consolidated stakeholder engagement plan, Assessment Data and Access Protocol, data-protection arrangements and confirmed Level of Effort table.	10%
M3	Wave 1: three Country Assessment Reports and Action Plans, with national workshops completed; methodology calibration note.	40%
M6	Wave 2: three Country Assessment Reports and Action Plans, with national workshops completed; both Regional Synthesis Reports; Regional Digital Market Access Readiness Matrix; Policymaker Skills Assessment Report.
M7	Draft Policy Harmonization Guidelines; Recommended Technical Specifications and implementation guidelines; Government Implementation Toolkits — ready for validation.	20%
M9	Capacity-Building and Knowledge Packages; Regulatory Experimentation Assessment; and, where justified, Sandbox Framework(s), Implementation Plan(s) and draft ToR(s) for recruitment of the sandbox developer/implementer.	30%
M10	Two inter-country peer-learning workshops; all workshop and validation reports; Final Consolidated Report and final approved versions of all outputs.
Total	100%

Deliverables Acceptance criteria

Milestone	Minimum acceptance criteria
M1	Methodology and instruments complete in EN/FR; differentiated beneficiary pathways and persona-country mapping confirmed; maturity framework/scoring anchors finalized; stakeholder engagement plan, QA approach, data-protection arrangements and LoE accepted.
M3	Three Wave 1 country assessments completed using agreed methodology; evidence supports maturity scores; national consultations/workshops completed; action plans identify priority actions and responsible institutions; calibration note documents any methodological adjustments.
M6	Remaining three country assessments completed to same standard; six-country comparability demonstrated; both regional synthesis reports, readiness matrix and policymaker skills assessment complete and evidence-based.
M7	Deliverables 7–9 contain the minimum content specified in Section 7; recommendations traceable to assessment findings; technically coherent across countries; ready for country/stakeholder validation.
M9	Capacity package meets Deliverable 10 requirements; Regulatory experimentation recommendations are supported by assessment evidence; each proposed sandbox includes a complete framework and implementation plan; and each sandbox proposed for implementation is accompanied by a procurement-ready draft ToR covering scope, functional and technical requirements, expertise, deliverables, schedule and acceptance requirements.
M10	Two peer-learning workshops completed; workshop/validation comments documented and addressed; final outputs incorporate agreed revisions; final consolidated report and required editable/source files submitted.

12. Reporting, Review and Acceptance

12.1 Reporting line

The Consultant reports to the Smart Africa Secretariat under the supervision of the SAMA Unit Manager. The Secretariat will designate a Contract Manager at contract signature, together with an official contractual address for notices. Technical review responsibilities within the Secretariat will be confirmed in writing at inception.

12.2 Languages and translation

All final deliverables shall be provided in English and French, in editable format (Word, Excel, PowerPoint as applicable) and PDF.

To avoid translating documents that are still changing, drafts shall be submitted in the agreed working language for technical review, and translated into the second language only once the substance has been technically cleared. Two exceptions apply: all stakeholder engagement instruments shall be finalised in both languages at inception, and any document used in a country validation or dissemination workshop shall be available in that country's working language before the workshop takes place.

12.3 Review and acceptance

Smart Africa shall provide one consolidated set of comments within ten (10) working days of submission of a deliverable.

If no comments are provided within that period, the Consultant may issue a written notice to the designated Contract Manager requesting confirmation of acceptance. If no response is received within a further five (5) working days, the deliverable shall be deemed accepted for the purposes of the contractual milestone and payment processing.

Any material error identified after deemed acceptance shall be notified to the Consultant within thirty (30) calendar days of deemed acceptance, except in cases of fraud, wilful misconduct, breach of confidentiality or material breach of data-protection obligations.

Endorsement is decoupled from acceptance. Formal endorsement of any output by external or continental governance bodies shall not be a condition for the acceptance of the Consultant's deliverables or for payment. The three levels are distinct: the Consultant delivers; Smart Africa technically accepts; the Secretariat may subsequently pursue formal endorsement through the applicable governance processes.

12.4 Data protection

The Inception Report shall identify the applicable data-protection requirements in each country and define the respective data-processing roles and responsibilities of Smart Africa and the Consultant for each category of personal data processed under the assignment. Where the Consultant acts as a processor on behalf of Smart Africa, the parties shall enter into the appropriate data-processing arrangements before any personal data is collected.

The Consultant shall implement appropriate safeguards for the collection, processing, storage, transfer and disposal of personal or sensitive information, and shall comply with applicable national data-protection law in each country of operation.

The Consultant shall conduct all research, consultations, interviews, focus groups and workshops in accordance with applicable safeguarding and ethical standards. Participation shall be voluntary and based on informed consent, with participants clearly informed of the purpose of the engagement, intended use of information, confidentiality arrangements and their right to decline or withdraw participation.

Particular care shall be taken when engaging young women, persons with disabilities, displaced persons and other potentially vulnerable groups. The Consultant shall establish appropriate safeguarding, confidentiality, referral and incident-reporting procedures before fieldwork begins.

Where any participant is below the applicable age of legal consent, the Consultant shall comply with applicable national requirements concerning parental/guardian consent and participant assent.

Safeguarding and informed-consent procedures and instruments shall be submitted as part of the Inception Report and approved before primary data collection begins.

12.5 Confidentiality, access and ownership

The Consultant shall maintain strict confidentiality over all information, documents and datasets obtained or generated under this assignment, and shall not disclose them to any third party without the Secretariat's prior written authorisation. These obligations survive completion or termination of the assignment.

The Assessment Data and Access Protocol agreed at inception shall govern preliminary and final country scores, supporting evidence, country comments, the internal comparative matrix and the country-facing profiles, including who may access them within the Secretariat and the conditions for any external sharing. Detailed comparative country scores shall not be shared outside the Smart Africa Secretariat except in accordance with that protocol.

All reports, source files, datasets, presentations, graphics, training materials and other supporting documentation developed under this assignment become the property of the Smart Africa Secretariat.

13. Submission of Proposals

Interested firms shall submit technical and financial proposals in accordance with the RFP issued by the Smart Africa Secretariat. Proposals shall include, at a minimum:

A response to this RFP must include the following sections in the order listed:

• Administrative documents

• Company registration/incorporation certificates.
• Duly signed submission letter confirming the firm’s interest to provide the services required for the full assignment, and declaring also the non-conflict of interest.
• The list/names of Board directors, Key management personnel and Owners/shareholders 
• Valid tax and statutory documentation as applicable.

• A technical proposal containing the following content:

1. A technical proposal setting out the firm's understanding of the assignment, methodology, work plan and quality assurance approach;
2. The Level of Effort table required under section 8.3;
3. The company profile and evidence of relevant experience;
4. References for similar assignments (Recommendation letters /or good completion certificate)
5. Updated Curriculum Vitae for the team and relevant certificates requested (for all proposed key experts)

• Financial Proposal containing the following tables.

1. Summarized Total Cost taxes Inclusive 
2. Breakdown of a remuneration package 
3. Breakdown of reimbursable expenses

 Notes:

• Financial proposals should be password-protected; Smart Africa will request the password from bidders who qualify in the technical evaluation.

• Only consulting companies/firms are eligible to apply to this assignment; no individual consultants shall be accepted

• All financial offers shall be quoted and submitted in USD.

• A withholding tax of 15% will be deducted from payments for consultants not VAT-registered with the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA). and 18% VAT will be applicable for registered firms in Rwanda

• Conflict-of-Interest Declaration: The bidder shall disclose any actual, potential or perceived conflict of interest that could affect, or reasonably be perceived to affect, its independence or impartiality in carrying out the assignment. This requirement applies to the firm, its affiliates, proposed Key Experts and subcontractors/consortium members, where applicable. Any conflict arising during the procurement or implementation period shall be disclosed promptly to Smart Africa.

14. SUBMISSION PROCESS

Soft copies of both Technical and Financial Offers in PDF format must be submitted via email to: procurement@smartafrica.org showing each the nature of the offer concerned (technical or financial offer) with mention: RFP 158/S.A/RFP/10/2026 “Consultancy Services to Assess and Address the Policy, Regulatory and Interoperability Barriers that Prevent Young People from Participating in Digital Markets” not later than 9th of November 2026 at, 05:00 pm local time (Kigali).

Late proposals will be rejected.

15. RIGHTS RESERVED 

• This RFP does not obligate the Smart Africa Secretariat (SAS) to complete the RFP process. 
• SAS reserves the right to amend any segment of the RFP prior to the announcement of a selected firm.
• SAS also reserves the right to remove one or more of the services from consideration for this contract should the evaluation show that it is in SAS’s best interest to do so. 
• SAS also may, at its discretion, issue a separate contract for any service or groups of services included in this RFP. SAS may negotiate a compensation package and additional provisions to the contract awarded under this RFP. 
• The Smart Africa reserves the right to debrief the applicants after the completion of the process due to expected high volume of applications and avoiding the compromise of the process.

16. ENQUIRIES

Any enquiries will only be received and addressed three (3) days or more prior to the bid submission deadline. Prospective respondents who may have questions regarding this RFP may submit their enquiries to tenderenquiries@smartafrica.org

17. ANTI-CORRUPTION 

Smart Africa is committed to preventing and not tolerating any act of corruption and other malpractices and expects that all bidders will adhere to the same ethical principles. 

Annex A — Reference Materials Provided by Smart Africa

The following materials will be made available through the RFP data room and to the selected Consultant at contract signature. Bidders should factor them into their methodology and pricing, and should not budget for re-diagnosing what these materials already cover.

Source	Materials
IDECT Project	Country gap assessments on digital payments and e-commerce (countries and dates as listed in the data room index); regional policy harmonisation guidelines; country implementation toolkits; capacity-building materials; and the assessment methodology used.
SAMA Programme	Programme results framework and indicators; inception-phase country documentation; and the scope and timetable of the parallel Digital Market Gap Analysis / Digital Skills Gap Assessment.
Smart Africa Secretariat	Relevant continental and regional policy instruments, harmonisation guidelines and country outputs held by the Secretariat that bear on KYC, digital identity, e-services, interoperability or data exchange in the six countries.

The data room index will list, for each item, the countries covered, the date of production, the subject matter and the methodology used, so that bidders can judge what remains to be assessed.

Annex B — Maturity Scale

Each assessed area shall be scored on the following scale in every country. The scale and its anchor definitions are finalised at inception and applied identically across all six countries.

Score	Meaning
0	Not in place. No framework, institution or capability exists.
1	Initial or fragmented. Some elements exist but are isolated, draft, or without an operational owner.
2	Framework exists but implementation is partial. Legal or policy basis in place; operational coverage limited or uneven.
3	Operational and broadly implemented. Functioning, with an accountable institution and demonstrable use.
4	Mature, interoperable and demonstrably supporting inclusive digital market access, including for young people and young women.

Every score must carry three things:

1. the score;
2. the verifiable evidence supporting it — a legal instrument, published regulation, official statistic, system documentation, or an attributable institutional statement. Consultant opinion alone is not evidence;
3. the implication — what this score means in practice for young people and young women trying to participate in a digital market.

Areas to be scored in each country: digital identity and e-KYC; business registration and digital onboarding; digital payments; digital public services; interoperability governance; data exchange; data protection (framework and operational capacity); electronic signatures and trust services; cross-border recognition of identity and credentials; start-up and third-party access to APIs and DPI; regulatory experimentation; and institutional capacity.