NEPAD PLANNING AND COORDINATING AGENCY

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST (REOI)

CONSULTING SERVICES – FIRMS SELECTION

CONSULTANCY SERVICES TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE SERVICE FOR NEPAD - SAP ERP SYSTEM

PROCUREMENT NUMBER: NPCA/BSC/QCBS/01/2018

INTRODUCTION

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) is a programme of the African Union adopted in 2001 in Lusaka, Zambia, aimed primarily at poverty alleviation and promotion of economic growth and sustainable development in Africa. As a consequence of the integration of NEPAD into the structures and processes of the African Union, the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) has been established by the Decision of the 14th AU Assembly of February 2010 as the technical.

NEPAD has been using SAP ERP system since 2016 to automate its internal operation for Finance, Project and Administration purposes. NEPAD runs SAP ECC 6.0 EHP 7 HANA platform. The current SAP system is serving all NEPAD staff members, over 160 at HQ in South Africa – Midrand and others located out of the HQ in Africa. All of the staff members have Employee Self Service (ESS) and all Managers have access to Manager Self Service (MSS) with 5 internal administrators/super users.

NEPAD’s SAP ERP platform is hosted in SAP data centre at Germany. The system is running in Linux Suse. However, ESS and MSS systems are running on Windows 2012 platform within NEPAD premises. NEPAD infrastructure is linked to SAP datacentre in Germany via a dedicated and secured link adequate to run the system. The SAP ERP system has full modules and adequate licenses to run the required functionality on the system. Currently running modules are:
a) HCM modules - Payroll, Leave management, Performance management, e-Recruitment (under development), Employees Self Services (ESS) System and Manager Self Service (MSS);
b) Project System (PMS);
c) Finance and Control (FICO);
d) Asset Management;
e) Material Management – Procurement, Travel, Inventory management; and
f) DWH/BI.

NEPAD had defined its requirement through a business blueprint for Project Management, Material Management and FICO prior to the start of development of its ERP on SAP mainly on basic functionalities of each modules. Certain systems that are not yet automated or customized in the SAP system are still running manually to generate the required output. Bank reconciliation, customized report generation for Finance, Procurement and Human Resource activities according to the organizations specific needs and BI integration are few to mention.

NEPAD Agency need for the support Contract is driven by the requirement for:
a) Obtaining overall SAP data integrity;
b) Obtaining maintenance and support of SAP Modules implemented;
c) Obtaining the required configuration change as deemed necessary to address the organizations specific need;
d) Ensure System Maintenance and Security; and
e) Skill transfer to internal staff members.

The consulting services (“the Services”) includes providing day to day off-shore maintenance support of the NEPAD’s SAP ERP system. Detail maintenance and support services required are included as below but are not limited to;

I. Overall SAP data integrity:
The Selected vendor shall ensure the integrity of the information stored in the ERP system through regular checks and will report to NEPAD SAP Administrator on a monthly basis.
II. Maintain and support SAP Modules implemented
The successful service provider will assist NEPAD staffs, in day to day operations, provide regular maintenance and debug the system and look into some technical aspects and will customize reports to users need for the modules implemented. The service provider should be able to vreate BO univers in order to facilitate the creation Dashboard and to enhance the reporting layouts in the system. Moreover, user account management, installation and confirguratoin of new tools to support the management of the system will be part of the scope.
III. New Configuration Requirements:
Depending on the need of the organization, configuration of reports, interfaces, conversions, enhancements, forms and workflows as deemed necessary by the organization to meet its internal process requirement and alignment with the parent organization, African Union, for the implemented modules as well as new additional modules identified for use by the organization.
IV. System Maintenance and Security
a) Ensure system patches application.
b) Ensure that the SAP system is secure.
c) Ensure ERP backup are done and test regularly and reported monthly.
d) Assist divisions with Audits – preparation of audits (internal and external)
e) Ensure that the SAP system is at all times aligned to the SAP security policy and organizational Standard operating procedure (SOP)
f) Ensure the BI and Dashboard functionalities are working for required reporting and anaysis.
g) Suppport integration of GIS to BI platforms as well as analysis of data from external sources and reporting in a visialuzed manner.
h) Assist in activating new modules and provide necessary training
i) Provide Basis fanctions.
j) Provide Authorisations functions.
k) Provide monthly performance and usage reports. Shall include all monthly activities undertaken by the service provider.

V. Skills Transfer
Facilitate a well-structured skills transfer programme for Busines Users, Super Users and internal IT support staff. Skill transfer trianing shall be different from on-the job training and must at least be carried out once in a year for a period of at least 3 days for each module. The skill transfer must be carried out at NEPAD premises only. NEPAD will facilitate for required logistics to undertake the skill transfer.

The NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA) now invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The shortlisting criteria are:

• The Firm should be in Information technology and application support industry and have the proven track record and expertise of similar nature.
• The firm should have at least five (5) years’ proven experience in SAP HANA development, maintenance and functional support.
• Experience providing off-shore support via secure VPN
• At least 3 (three) references of customers and corresponding sites for which the vendor has performed similar services. Client Satisfactory Certificates from at least three (3) clients each for the last four (4) years for similar contracts with contract details
• Experience working with and addressing the needs of non-profit organizations in the Africa Continent;
• The team must comprise of experts with qualifications and experience in all SAP modules. The key staff must comprise of experts with a minimum level of BA, minimum 5 years’ experience minimum on each modules and should ideally be certified.

Reporting and Time Schedules: The duration of assignment is expected to last 24 months The continuation of the Contract on the second year is subject to NEPAD Agency satisfaction with service rendered during the first year. The Consultant will report directly to the NEPAD IT Unit.

Consultants may associate with other firms in the form of a joint venture or a sub-consultancy to enhance their qualifications. Firms from African Union Members States and/or joint ventures will have added advantage.

A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) method set out in the AU Procurement Manual. This is Expression of Interest and submission of Financial Proposals is not applicable at this stage.

Interested Consultants may obtain further information at the address below during office hours (08:00- 17:00). Expressions of interest must be delivered to the address below by the 9th February 2018 by 14:30 hours (South Africa Time) and mention “CONSULTANCY SERVICES TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE SERVICE FOR NEPAD - SAP ERP SYSTEM”. Email submissions are acceptable for submission of EOI.

The Chairperson Internal Procurement Committee (IPC)
NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency
230, 15th Road, P. O. Box 218 Midrand,
1685 Johannesburg, South Africa
Email: procurement@nepad.org

In Attention of: Procurement Division