Tender Notice - Options Study on Reforming the Mozambican Election Management Structure and its Election Results Management Process

Tender Notice - Options Study on Reforming the Mozambican Election Management Structure and its Election Results Management Process

International IDEA - The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance

Tender Reference No: 2025-10-075

Assignment Name: Options Study on Reforming the Mozambican Election Management Structure and its Election Results Management Process
Project Name: Support to Democratic Governance in Mozambique
Deadline for Submissions: Proposals must be submitted on or before 23:59 (CET), 12 November 2025. Late submissions will not be considered for evaluation.

Address for Submissions: E-mail: tendersubmissions@idea.int.

This email address is set up with auto-response to acknowledge emails received. In the event that you did not receive an autoreply, please send a text message prior to the deadline for submission (NO CALLS, CALLS WILL NOT BE ANSWERED) to this number +46725375735. In your text message, please provide the following:

• Tender reference no. and title;
• Email address you used for submission;
• Date and Time, you sent your submission (e.g. 01 December 2021, 12:30 CET);
• Please also send the above information to tender@idea.int before the deadline for submission.

Format for Submissions: Proposals must be submitted by email. Technical and Financial proposals must be submitted in separate files and marked accordingly. Price should not be mentioned in the Technical Proposal.

The following text should be put in the subject field of the email: Tender No. 2025-10-075 Technical and Financial Proposals – Do not open before 23:59 (CET), 12 November 2025.

Email Address for Clarifications: E-mail: tender@idea.int.

Clarifications may be requested via e-mail no later than 7 days prior to the submission deadline at the above email address. Note a response to a request for clarifications will be issued to all tenderers on our website https://www.idea.int/. Therefore, tenderers are advised to check the website regularly during the process.

Note: there are two different email addresses as outlined above, one to be used for Submission of your final proposal and the second one to be used for clarifications and other related correspondence.

REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Section 1 General Information

1.1 The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) is an intergovernmental organization established in 1995, with member states across all continents, which aims to support sustainable democracy world-wide and assist in the development of institutions and the culture of democracy. At the interface between research, fieldwork and the donor community, IDEA provides a forum for dialogue, builds networks of experts, develops training materials and provides strategic advice at international, regional and national level, cooperating with a range of organizations.

1.2 International IDEA now invites proposals from qualified consultants firms, organizations and/or a consortium of individuals consultants for the assignment to develop an Options Study on Reforming the Mozambican Election Management Structure and its Election Results Management Process. The services include (i) Assessing the current institutional framework governing election management in Mozambique; (ii) Reviewing the performance and challenges of existing Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) and results management processes in recent elections, (iv) Identifying comparative models and good practices from other contexts relevant to Mozambique; (v) Developing reform options for an election management body and a results management process that enhance their integrity, independence, professionalism, transparency, inclusivity, and efficiency and (vi) Providing recommendations for legal, institutional, technological, and procedural reforms.

1.3 A detailed description of the assignment is provided in the Terms of Reference attached to this Request for Proposals.

1.4 Tentative timeframe: It is anticipated that the services will commence on 24 November 2025, and they will have to be completed before 22 February 2026.

Section 2 Preparation of Proposals

Essential Requirements

2.1 Language: The official language for the proposal, contract, reports and any other documents in relation to the assignment is English. However, all deliverables should be submitted in English and Portuguese, editable formats (Word/PowerPoint/Excel), with an executive summary in both English and Portuguese.

2.2 General Required experience:

1. This assignment is expected to be carried out by a team of up to four (4) experts, one of whom will serve as the Team Leader;
2. The team must collectively demonstrate strong expertise, skills and experience in electoral systems and EMB design, EMB reform, election results management systems (ERMS) design and/or management, comparative studies, and report writing;
3. Knowledge and experience of the Mozambican electoral context is a strong advantage;
4. Fluency in English is required, and at least one team member with fluency in Portuguese is strongly desirable.

2.2.1. Team Composition and Minimum Qualifications

1. Team Leader must have:
   1. Advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Political Science, Public Administration, Law, Governance, or a related field;
   2. Minimum of 10 years of professional experience in electoral system reform, EMB institutional design, or election results management;
   3. Demonstrated experience in leading multi-disciplinary teams in analytical or reform- oriented assignments;
   4. Proven experience in conducting comparative studies and developing reform options for electoral management bodies or election systems;
   5. Excellent analytical, coordination and report writing skills, with a proven record of producing technical or policy reports for international organizations or governments;
   6. Fluency in English (written and oral).
2. The expert or experts in Electoral Systems/EMB Reform must have:
   1. Advanced degree in Political Science, Public Policy, Law, or a related discipline;
   2. Minimum of 7 years of experience in electoral system design, EMB reform, or related governance reform processes;
   3. Demonstrated experience in comparative institutional analysis and formulation of reform recommendations;
   4. Familiarity with international standards and good practices in electoral management and institutional design;
   5. Fluency in English required.
3. The expert or experts in Election Results Management Systems (ERMS)/ICT must have:
   1. Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related technical field;
   2. Minimum of 7 years of professional experience in the design, management, or assessment of election results management systems or other large-scale ICT systems in the electoral domain;
   3. Demonstrated understanding of data integrity, transparency, and cybersecurity considerations in electoral technology;
   4. Experience working with Election Management Bodies (EMBs) or electoral stakeholders on ICT reform or system development;
   5. Fluency in English required.

2.3 The proposal (max 15 pages, not including CVs) should provide the following information:

1. A brief description of the firm, organization and/or the consortium of individuals consultants an outline of recent experience on assignments of a similar nature (at least 3 comparable assignments);
2. Understanding of assignment and context, the proposed methodology and work plan for performing the assignment, along with any comments or suggestions on the Terms of Reference;
3. The list of the proposed staff by title (and name if already identified), the tasks that would be assigned to each staff team member, and their timing, estimates of the total staff input needed to carry out the assignment;
4. CVs for the Team Leader and other proposed professional staff, including information on their previous experience in similar assignments;
5. Risk plan that outlines potential risks and mitigation measures related to the design, data collection, analysis, and dissemination of the EMB study;
6. A completed and signed declaration of honour form (Annex A3) should be submitted with all proposals. Please note that the attached Declaration of Honour Form should be submitted as a separate file together with the proposal. All sections must be ticked YES or NO. Please note that in Section 3, in the absence of conflict of interest, this section should be marked Yes.

Financial Proposal

2.4 The price broken down in fee (showing unit rates and input) and incidental expenses likely to be incurred. Proposal should be presented in EUR. The list of fees/rates and cost of reimbursable expenses should be tax inclusive according to the Mozambican fiscal laws.

Section 3 Submission of Proposals

3.1 Proposals should be submitted in electronic format by e-mail. Technical and Financial Proposals must be submitted in separate files and marked accordingly. The full details on how to submit proposals is under Tender Notice at the beginning of this document.

3.2 Proposals must remain valid for at least 60 days following the deadline for their submission stated under the Tender Notice. In the event there should be any (unexpected) delays, International IDEA will treat proposals as valid until the tender process and evaluation of proposals has been completed. During this period, the consultants are expected to keep available the professional staff proposed for the assignment.

Section 4 Evaluation of Proposals

Technical Evaluation

4.1 The proposals will be evaluated and scored against the following technical criteria with respective corresponding weights:

1. Relevant academic background in thematic expertise areas including governance, conflict resolution and political economy analysis (maximum 20 points);
2. Minimum 10 years of experience on thematic expertise areas and Mozambique experience of the key staff proposed to perform the assignment (maximum 30 points);
3. Technical approach & methodology and work plan in responding to the ToR (maximum 30 points);
4. Demonstrated experience in conducting assignments of a similar nature, scope, and complexity, particularly in the fields of political economy analysis, governance, institutional reform, or stakeholder engagement. (maximum 10 points);
5. Fluency in English and at least one team member with fluency in Portuguese (maximum 10 points).

Proposals must score a minimum of 70 points to qualify for further consideration.

The maximum technical score (T) is 100 points.

Financial Evaluation

4.2. The financial proposals will be verified and, if necessary, adjustments will be made to the prices to ensure consistency with the technical proposals in terms of work input and to eliminate arithmetical errors.

4.3. The corrected prices will then be converted to the currency of evaluation to obtain the evaluation price (E). The exchange rate is the IDEA monthly exchange rate.

4.4 The currency used for evaluation is EURO.

4.5 The financial scores (F) will be computed as follows:

The lowest evaluation price proposal (E_m) will be given a financial score (F_m) of 100 points. The financial scores of the other proposals will be computed applying the formula:

F = 100 x E_m/E, where:

• E_m is the lowest evaluation price; and
• E is the evaluation price of the proposal under consideration.

Consolidated Technical and Financial Score

4.6 The final consolidated scores (S) will be computed by applying the formula:

S = t x T + f x F, where:

• t is the weight given to the technical score;
• f is the weight given to the financial score.

4.7 The weights given to the technical and financial scores are:

• t = 70%;
• f = 30%.

4.8 The consultant ranked highest will be invited to negotiate the contract and if negotiations are successful the selected consultant will be awarded the contract. Should the negotiations fail; the second ranked consultant will be invited to negotiations.

4.9 International IDEA reserves the right during the negotiation stage to vary at the time of award of contract, the quantity of services and/or goods, or scope of work by up to a maximum of twenty-five per cent (25%) of the original TOR. This negotiation will not permit any changes to unit fee rates or other terms and conditions outlined in the tender proposal.

4.10 International IDEA reserves the right to directly award a follow up contract to the contractor selected for the tender to carry out potential future work related to this initial assignment. This will depend on satisfactory delivery of the tender assignment.

Section 5 Final Considerations

5.1. International IDEA will not be bound to select any of the proposals.

5.2 The following documents are enclosed with this Request for Proposals:

• Terms of Reference;
• Contracts General terms and conditions;
• A declaration of honour form (Annex A3).

5.3 Further information on International IDEA may be found on our website https://www.idea.int/.

5.4 Both the successful and unsuccessful bidders will be notified in writing following the completion of the evaluation and contract award process.

Complaints regarding any aspect of the tender process should be addressed in writing to both the Internal Auditor and the Executive Director at International IDEA. The address is tender.complaints@idea.int.

The Tender Notice and Request for Proposals, Terms of Reference, Declaration of Honour Form, Contract General Terms and Conditions are available at: https://www.idea.int/procurement-and-tenders.