Request for proposal for services as the research provider for our 2023 Gender Benchmark
The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) aims to drive the private sector’s engagement in the SDGs through its benchmarks, envisioning a future where companies, investors, governments, civil society and individuals can quickly and easily compare businesses and motivate a ‘race to the top’. WBA is a global non-profit organisation with most colleaguesbased in Amsterdam and a second office in London. WBA procurement rules require a public tender for contracts above a certain size. This Request for Proposal (RFP) sets out the draft scope of work outlining the research provider support requiredtodeliver the Core Gender assessment and the Gender Benchmark (GB) over a 3-year period. The research provider is not expected to create or revise the methodology, but to assess companies using a subset of the existing GB methodology and indicators. Over a 3-year period, the key deliverables will be approximately 3,000 draft research assessments which then WBA’s own core team of staff will finalise following (WBA-led) engagement with companies. WBA will also be responsible for carrying out any analysis and producing insights found as a result of the assessments.
Interested parties (‘you’) are invited to bid for one part or all parts of this scope of work. This RFP is provided to enable you to develop initial cost estimates and options to deliver the part(s) and as such should not be viewed as any form of agreement between you and WBA.
Expectations of the proposal
We expect that your proposal will, first and foremost, estimate the personnel and financial resources required to deliver the GB methodology in line with the expectations and draft deliverables listed herein. Furthermore, WBA anticipates that you will be able to demonstrate how you will deliver in three key areas:
- Researcher quality (interpreting large volumes of written data and scoring companies against the GB methodology),
- Familiarity with diversity and inclusion topics (depth of knowledge regarding social sustainability
issues, namely gender equality and women’s empowerment, and business), and - Research intensity (being able to execute in-depth research of 1,000 companies within condensed timeframes).
Moreover, WBA would like to see a staffing plan including how changes in staff will be handled throughout the project. We are interested in your approach to retaining people, supported with 2020 and 2021 (up to now) analyst retention rates, as well as gender-specific commitments or policies.
WBA expects that proposals will detail the tasks, time and costs involved, including day-rates for staff of various seniorities, breakdown for any sub-contracting, costs for using any proprietary software/databases and an eventual ‘cost-per-researched-company’.
Responses to this RFP should be sent to m.george@worldbenchmarkingalliance.org by 5 January 2023, and requests for clarifications may be sent to the same address beforehand. Project kick-off is anticipated to take place in mid-February 2023. The
tendering process will be conducted in line with the WBA Procurement Policy 2018-2022.
Read an overview of the research and WBA’s procurement policy.