1. Introduction
External threats to Ukraine’s cultural heritage have emerged since the beginning of Russia’s aggression in 2014 and have increased in terms of their gravity, frequency, and geographical scope after Russia’s full-fledged invasion in 2022. Documenting Russia’s massive physical damage to Ukraine’s tangible cultural heritage and countering the Kremlin’s propaganda strategy to wipe out any manifestations of the Ukrainian intangible cultural heritage remains a challenge. As of February 15, 2023, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) confirmed damage to 240 objects in Ukraine, including 105 religious’ sites, 18 museums, 86 buildings of historical and artistic interest, 19 monuments, and 12 libraries. There are countless other artifacts, including paintings, engravings, textiles, manuscripts, and sculptures, that have been destroyed without a trace.
As a central element of the ENGAGE approach is to support challenging horizontal networks of civil society organizations and citizens at the national, regional, and local levels on critical reform needs, in the fiscal year 2023, the ENGAGE program expanded its range of activities to support, preserve, and reconstruct Ukrainian culture, including advocacy campaigns aimed at protecting Ukrainian cultural heritage and lobbying it in the local and international arenas.
This Consultant Request (CR) is a part of the Activity to Enhance Non-Governmental Actors and Grassroots Engagement (ENGAGE). The purpose of ENGAGE is to increase citizen awareness of and engagement in civic activities at the national, subnational, and local level.
The goal of this CR is to procure the services of a local consultant to support ENGAGE in a) designing and conducting the two Annual Cultural Heritage Forums (one in 2023 and another in 2024) and b) bringing international expertise in cultural heritage protection to the territories affected by war. It is expected that with international expert assistance, a set of recommendations for strengthening Ukrainian cultural heritage protection will be developed.
2.Scope of Work
According to ENGAGE activities in the sphere of cultural heritage, which fall under the mandate of USAID/ENGAGE Activity, the Annual Cultural Heritage Forum is designed to contribute to the exchange and coordination among actors engaged in the protection of Ukraine’s cultural heritage, strengthen key stakeholder’s capacity to hold Ukrainian government accountable and advance reforms in the cultural heritage sector towards European integration. An additional focus of this year’s Forum is the coordination of stakeholders’ efforts in the documentation of the destruction of cultural sites committed by Russia’s army and the discussion of further actions to hold Russia accountable and ensure damaged cultural sites post-war reconstruction.
Purpose: Organize a Forum on Cultural Heritage involving stakeholders from civil society, cultural community, state, and international actors to discuss the situation, approaches and priorities for cultural heritage protection, recovery and reconstruction. Involve an international consultant to bring experience in cultural heritage protection to the territories affected by war. The Forum will become a place for expert discussions and the development next steps in cultural heritage protection and recovery and reconstruction.
Objectives:
- To support ENGAGE in conducting two Annual Cultural Heritage Forums in 2023 (September) and 2024 (May) via co-creating the approach, designing the agenda, and ensuring the participation of key stakeholders including representatives of relevant Ukrainian government agencies, and CSOs working on documenting war crimes against cultural heritage, as well as facilitating the expert discussions and the development next steps in cultural heritage protection and recovery and reconstruction.
- To involve an international consultant to bring experience in cultural heritage protection to the territories affected by war.
Duties and Responsibilities:
To achieve the above objectives, the purchase is divided into two tasks.
Task 1: Support ENGAGE in hosting a 1-day offline ENGAGE Annual Cultural Heritage Forum in Kyiv in September 2023 and another one in May 2024 for up to 100 participants each representing the Ukrainian government, CSOs, expert community, and international stakeholders.
The Forums are designed to contribute to coordination among actors engaged in the protection of Ukraine’s cultural heritage, strengthen key stakeholders’ capacity to hold the Ukrainian government accountable and advance reforms in the cultural heritage sector towards European integration. The 2023 Forum’s focus is the coordination of the process of documenting and communicating damages of historical sites made by Russia’s army as well as advocating policy changes in the sphere of cultural heritage protection. The 2024 Forum’s focus will be developed later.
Sub-tasks:
- Together with ENGAGE develop an outline of the Forum and its agendas.
- Create a list of invited participants from the government, civil society, and expert community and ensure their participation.
- Provide media coverage of the Forums (SMM, articles, press releases, etc.).
- Forums panel discussions facilitation.
- As a follow-up of the Forums, develop a draft set of recommendations for the Ukrainian government and civil society players for cultural heritage protection, recovery, and reconstruction with the input of international expert.
- Finalize the set of recommendations after ENGAGE feedback.
Task 2: Involve an international expert for two Annual Cultural Heritage Forums in Kyiv to bring international experience in cultural heritage protection to the territories affected by war.
With a purpose to bring international experience in cultural heritage protection to the territories affected by war as well as facilitating the expert dialogue on synchronization of follow-up actions for Ukrainian cultural heritage protection at the national and international levels together with government representatives, international experts, and civil society actors.
Sub-tasks:
- Sub-contract international consultant experienced in cultural heritage protection to the territories affected by war.
- Ensure the international consultant’s feedback on the Forums’ draft agendas, and list of thematic activities (lectures/workshops/discussions), as well as suggest non-governmental and government institutions working on cultural heritage protection internationally for further advocacy campaigns of ENGAGE partners.
- Ensure delivering a speech for the Forums and presentation materials by the international consultant.
- Ensure moderation of the Forums’ expert discussions on the synchronization of follow-up actions for Ukrainian cultural heritage protection at the national and international levels by the international expert.
- Together with an international expert collect relevant information and develop a draft of recommendations for the Ukrainian government and civil society players on cultural heritage protection during the war and postwar reconstruction.
- Ensure international expert input in the preparation of a set of recommendations for cultural heritage protection, recovery, and reconstruction as a follow-up of the Forum.
Deliverables for the Forums in 2023 and 2024:
Under Task 1:
- Forums’ outlines and agendas;
- List of speakers and participants for Forum in 2023 and in 2024;
- Media reports;
- Draft set of recommendations for the Ukrainian government and civil society players on cultural heritage protection during the war and postwar reconstruction as a follow-up after the Forum;
- Final set of recommendations after ENGAGE feedback (in English language).
Under Task 2:
- Sub-contracted international expert.
- Detailed feedback on the draft agendas of the ENGAGE Annual Cultural Heritage Forums in 2023 and 2024 including suggested activities with detailed descriptions.
- The main speech on international experience in cultural heritage protection to the territories affected by war delivered by international expert.
- Facilitated expert discussion on the synchronization of follow-up actions for Ukrainian cultural heritage protection at the national and international levels by the international expert during the Forums.
- International expert’s input to the set of recommendations for cultural heritage protection, recovery, and reconstruction (in English language).
Place of Performance: All services required under this solicitation will be performed in Ukraine.
Period of Performance: All services required under this solicitation will be delivered from July 31, 2023 to June 30, 2024.
Expected Level of Effort: Estimated Level of Effort is 72 consulting days. Deadlines and due dates could be negotiated if strong arguments are laid in the proposal.
Timeline – 2023
July 31, 2023 – October 2023 (ENGAGE Cultural Heritage Forum 2023 in September 2023)
Timeline – 2024
October 2023 – June 2024 (ENGAGE Cultural Heritage Forum 2024 in May 2024)
C. Qualifications:
- Specialization in cultural heritage protection, conservation, or related fields, especially in territories affected by war.
- Experience in cultural heritage protection during postwar reconstruction.
- In-depth knowledge of international conventions, treaties, and guidelines related to cultural heritage protection, such as the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.
- Demonstrated experience in managing and implementing heritage projects, including planning, fieldwork, documentation, and risk assessment.
- Experience in capacity-building and training programs for local communities and professionals involved in cultural heritage preservation.
- Understanding of Ukrainian cultural context, as well as the social, political, and economic factors that impact cultural heritage.
- Demonstrated experience in similar contracts.
- Strong analytical skills.
- Excellent writing and presentation skills.
- Fluency in English
D. Eligibility
All proposals which fail to comply with the basic minimum requirements outlined in the solicitation shall be eliminated. Only proposals submitted in compliance with Sections C and E will be evaluated.
E. Application Instructions
Proposals must be submitted electronically to kbondar@pactworld.org no later than 17:00 on July 25, 2023 (Kyiv time). The subject line should contain: “Proposal under Consultant Request P4767-2023-17”. The proposals expected to be submitted from an individual consultant as an individual/private entrepreneur.
Proposal submission requirements:
- Technical knowledge, skills, and expertise in the field of culture and cultural heritage protection.
- Experience in organizing forums, and conferences with participation of high-level government officials and civil society.
- Excellent writing skills to support communication activities related to the Forum.
- Ability to effectively engage in negotiations with the government, international experts, and CSOs.
- Demonstrated experience in similar contracts.
Documentation required for application:
- Resume/CV (make sure Proposal submission requirements are fully described)
- Technical Proposal (a portfolio of similar implemented projects, examples of narrative reporting documents, Forum’s concept basic vision)
- Financial proposal (budget) in Excel file (in UAH currency). Clearly stated LOE with a requested rate per each Deliverable for consultants and per day.
Pact may require additional, more detailed budget information prior to issuing a contract.
Questions
All questions or clarifications regarding this Consultant Request must be in writing and submitted to kbondar@pactworld.org no later than 12:00 on July 17, 2023 (Kyiv time). The subject line should contain: “Questions to Consultant Request P4767-2023-17.” Questions and requests for clarification, and the responses thereto, will be circulated to all Consultant Request recipients who indicate an interest.
F. Evaluation Criteria
Review Process. Pact will establish a selection committee that includes representatives from various company departments and external professionals if necessary. All technical reviewers will be subjected to a screening process to eliminate any conflict of interest. Evaluation will be based on the criteria set forth in Section Evaluation Criteria.
Evaluation Criteria. The award will be decided on Best Overall Value as determined by a Selection Committee based on the criteria set forth below, as demonstrated in the Offeror’s proposal. Only proposals conforming to the solicitation requirements will be considered. This CR will use the tradeoff process to determine best value. That means that each proposal will be evaluated and scored against the evaluation criteria and expectations, which are stated in the table below (100 points in total) :
- Technical knowledge, skills, and expertise in the field of culture and cultural heritage protection – 30
- Experience in organizing forums, and conferences with the participation of high-level government officials and civil society – 30
- Ability to involve experienced and highly qualified international expert – 25
- Financial Proposal – 15
G. Terms and Conditions
- Pact reserves the right to modify by written notice the terms of this solicitation at any time in its sole discretion. Pact may cancel the solicitation at any time.
- Pact may reject any or all proposals received.
- Issuance of solicitation does not constitute award commitment by Pact.
- Pact reserves the right to disqualify any application based on applicant’s failure to follow solicitation instructions.
- Pact will not compensate applicants for their response to the solicitation.
- Pact reserves the right to issue an award based on initial evaluation of applications without further discussion.
- Pact may choose to award only part of the scope of work in the solicitation or to issue multiple awards within the scope of work.
- Pact reserves the right to waive minor proposal deficiencies that can be corrected prior to award determination to promote competition.
- Pact may contact offerors to confirm contact person, address, and that the proposal was submitted for this solicitation.
- Pact may contact listed past performance references without notice to the offeror. Pact also reserves the right to contact other past performance information sources that the offeror did not list in the proposal.
- By submitting a proposal, the offeror confirms they understand the terms and conditions.
- Information pertaining to and obtained from the Offeror as a result of participation in this solicitation is confidential. The offeror consents to the disclosure of the documents submitted by the offeror to the reviewers involved in the selection process. Please note that all reviewers are bound by non-disclosure agreements.
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