Notice of Request for Information Procurement 7: Data and Innovation Hub The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) awards eligible countries with fixed-amount, fixed-term (five year) grants (“compacts”) for a defined set of projects aimed at reducing poverty through economic growth (the Program). Country ownership of compacts and programs is a core part of MCC’s model and influences a great deal of MCC’s work. MCC supports country ownership through the establishment of a local team of professionals for each compact, typically called a “Millennium Challenge Account” or “MCA”, charged with compact implementation. The MCA is overseen locally by a Board of Directors. The Lesotho Millennium Development Agency (LMDA) is an entity created by the Government of Lesotho to lead compact development (until such time that the Millennium Challenge Account - Lesotho II is operational and takes over from LMDA). Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), then, is the entity yet to be established by the compact recipient’s Government to act as the accountable entity to implement the Program, with the authority to bind the Government of Lesotho (GoL) with regard to all Program activities. The MCC and the GoL signed the US$ 300 million multi-sectoral Lesotho Health and Horticulture Compact (the Compact) in March, 2022. Within this package of support to the GoL, the Compact will provide approximately US$75 million to support systems strengthening within the health sector through the Health System Strengthening (HSS) Project. The overall objective of this HSS Project is to improve health outcomes through strengthening Lesotho’s primary health care (PHC) system. It is anticipated that this support will assist the GOL to: • Provide high quality primary health care (PHC) services, including clinical services and those targeted at survivors of gender-based violence (GBV); and • Improve management and support services to deliver PHC primarily at the district level. To implement the HSS Project, the LMDA intends to procure the services of a number of Consultants or partner with organizations to provide the necessary technical services and support to the MOH and other partners/stakeholders. Prior to the formalizing of the procurement or partnership process, the LMDA has published a Request for Information (RFI) to obtain feedback from potential Consultants on certain key aspects of the terms of reference. The Scope of Work describes the design and implementation of a Data and Innovation Hub (the Hub) that will promote the use of health data in Lesotho at subnational and national levels. The goals of the Hub project are: 1. To establish a sustainable data and innovation hub, forming a local center of expertise in data analysis and use, training and visualization/presentation; and 2. To implement data competitions where small grants will be awarded, encouraging civil society to develop tools, methods and analyses to present and portray local health data in a way that fosters new insights while increasing community interest and involvement within the health sector. 3. To increase transparency of health data in Lesotho and increase health system accountability for health outcomes. It is envisioned that the Hub will become a trusted center for data use, training and innovation; and will support civil society to actively put the country’s data to work, making more information available for greater transparency and improving health services. The LMDA now invites responses to the RFI from legally constituted Consultants. Consultants interested in receiving the RFI and submitting responses should register using the following link: https://forms.office.com/e/z4uUVKDQud. Please fill in the form to get access to the RFI document. For clarification, please email the Procurement Point of Contact, Zenobia Maddy (Ms.), Interim Procurement Agent for the Lesotho Millennium Development Agency, Email:
[email protected] with a copy to: LMDA Interim Procurement Director - Malehlohonolo Lefothane,
[email protected] and the Procurement Agent Manager – Ian Stewart,
[email protected]. Deadline for submission of responses to the RFI is 5:00 pm SAST (GMT+2), on February 17, 2023. Yours sincerely, Lira Molapo (Mr.) Acting Chief Executive Officer LMDA DISCLAIMER: THIS NOTICE IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. FOR UPDATES ON THIS SOLICITATION PLEASE FOLLOW THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT AT THE LINK PROVIDED. THIS PROCUREMENT IS NOT CONDUCTED UNDER THE FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATIONS, IS NOT ADMINISTERED BY THE US GOVERNMENT, AND THE RESULTING AWARD WILL BE MADE BY THE COUNTRY INDICATED IN THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS PROCUREMENT PLEASE CONTRACT THE PERSON NAMED IN THE FULL ANNOUNCEMENT.