Evaluator tender brief

Working document - Open Government Pioneers Independent Evaluation

Outline Process
The aim of this process is to employ a consultant who will undertake an imaginative, focused and thorough evaluation of the OGP Pioneers programme. Given the nature of the project, the partners want to create an innovative and participative process which will allow interested consultants to become involved at an early stage, and which provides opportunity for the interested consultants to bring their experience to bear upon the tendering process itself.

UPDATE Dec 2018:

The selection of the consultant was made by the Evaluation Subgroup of the Programme Board which comprised of:
 * Craig McGuicken, Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Environment Link (and Chair of the Evaluation Subgroup)
 * Rachel Davies Teka, Head of Advocacy, Transparency International UK
 * Alison O’Connell, Policy and Partnership Manager, Big Lottery Fund UK
 * Ruchir Shah, Project Director of the Open Government Pioneers Project UK

Timeline
Our proposed outline for the tendering process is as follows:
 * Mid October – Overall procedure for tender process agreed – to include – timeline, budget, and outline criteria.
 * End October – Communication around tendering opportunity through range of outlets including community based networks, setting out contact details and overview of process.
 * Mid November – Deadline for Phase 1 applications; it is suggested that interested consultants should submit a brief outline (200-500 words), setting out their interests in the project, including their interest/views on the principles around Open Government and the Sustainable Development Goals. It is not envisaged that these submissions will be marked, but rather will help feed into the design of the second stage of the tendering process. Only respondents to the first stage of the process will be allowed to progress to Phase 2.
 * Mid-to-end November – project partners will finalise the criteria for the final or Phase 2 application process.
 * End November – Consultants who had registered an interest by submitting a Phase 1 application, will receive an invitation to submit a Phase 2 tender, which will include all relevant information including scoring criteria. December – Deadline for receipt of final tenders proposals
 * Early December – Scoring of Applicants tenders
 * December 2017 – Appointment of successful consultant
 * January 2018 – Project Initiation meeting between Consultant and Project team
 * May 2018 - Delivery of interim findings by consultant
 * July 2018 - Delivery of final report by consultant

Budget
The overall budget available to bidders is '''£10,000 incl. VAT'''

Phase One (by 15th November 2017)

 * 1) Review project details on this Wiki and https://www.opengovernment.org.uk/about/open-government-pioneers-project/
 * 2) Register as a project partner on https://forum.opengovernment.org.uk/groups/opengovpioneers
 * 3) Once registered, visit https://forum.opengovernment.org.uk/conversations/1133 and post 200-500 words note of interest in an open reply to this thread setting out: (1) Why you are interested in this project and (2) what your interest/views are on the principles around Open Government and the Sustainable Development Goals.
 * 4) Please post this reply to the forum thread by 5pm, 15th November 2017.

Phase Two (by 8th December 2017)

 * 1) All applicants who have submitted a 200-500 (minimum 200, maximum 500) word note of interest on the Opengovpioneers forum thread in Phase One, will be invited to submit a full proposal for Phase Two.
 * 2) Full proposal needs to follow the outline criteria described below.
 * 3) Deadline for submissions of the full proposal for Phase Two is 5pm, 8th December 2017. Please email your Phase 2 proposal to [mailto:opengovernment@scvo.org.uk opengovernment@scvo.org.uk].
 * 4) Proposals will be assessed by a subgroup of the Open Government Pioneers UK Project Board against the outline criteria.
 * 5) NB. Phase Two proposals will not be made public unless specifically requested by the applicant.
 * 6) Any further questions, please email [mailto:opengovernment@scvo.org.uk opengovernment@scvo.org.uk].

Outline criteria
The following criteria will be used by the Open Government Pioneers UK Project Board to score Phase Two proposals:

Requirements: Expectations:
 * 1) Proposal submissions should be made electronically (e.g. MS Word, pdf or any other widely used digital format)
 * 2) Include detail on individual consultants:
 * 3) Include CVs
 * 4) Include relevant previous experience
 * 5) Include full indicative budget, with breakdowns for consultancy fees, and project expenses.
 * 6) Detail planned methodologies including activities
 * 7) Timescales for delivery including milestones
 * 8) Include a clear provision for reviewing the equality impact of this project as part of the evaluation
 * 9) Include provision for participating in an inception meeting in January 2018, an interim findings report by May 2018, and submission of full report by July 2018.
 * 10) Outline how interim and final reports will be made publicly available.
 * 11) Email your Phase 2 proposal to opengovernment@scvo.org.uk by 5pm, 8th December 2017.
 * 1) Closely match the Approach and ethos of this project detailed on this Wiki.
 * 2) Demonstrate a realistic and robust methodology appropriate to the budget requested.
 * 3) Outline clear and accessible outputs.
 * 4) It is expected that the evaluation could involve interviews with project partners, project participants and government, and will be supported by the data collected as part of the project's monitoring activities and a discussion with the project board and input from project's forums around evaluation priorities.
 * 5) The evaluator will be expected to make recommendations about how to continue and develop the engagement of citizens and civil society in using open government to secure progress towards SDGs.