REQUEST FOR QUOTATION

RFQ Nº UNFPA/KOS/RFQ/2025/001

Dear Sir/Madam,

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) hereby solicits a request for quotation for the following service:

IMPLEMENTATION OF A FACE-TO-FACE SURVEY ON FERTILITY ASPIRATIONS OF WOMEN AND MEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE IN KOSOVO1

This Request for Quotation is open to all legally constituted entities that can provide the requested services and have the legal capacity to perform in Kosovo, directly or through an authorised representative.

I. About UNFPA

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is an international development agency that works to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.

UNFPA is the lead UN agency that collaborates with statistical institutions across the world on population data collection and provides technical support to governments on the development of evidence-based population policies to expand the possibilities for women and young people to lead healthy sexual and reproductive lives. To read more about UNFPA, please go to: UNFPA about us

II. Service Requirements/Terms of Reference (ToR)

1. Background Information

UNFPA has been providing technical assistance to Kosovo institutions since 1999. Focus of technical assistance was mostly on the development of population policies and strategies, as well as capacity building of policy makers, statisticians and service providers operating within the UNFPA’s mandate. To provide substantive evidence for its policy development and capacity-building work, UNFPA closely cooperates with statistical and public health institutions on data collection and analysis (including the development of population projections and monitoring of Sustainable Development Goals). In addition, UNFPA partners with all other stakeholders within their mandates and fields of expertise, as well as non-governmental organisations and universities that are active in the fields of demography, statistics and population development.

Demographic trends in Kosovo are showing a significant shift, marked by a recent decline in the total population and a narrowing of its once-dominant youth bulge. While historically one of Europe's youngest populations, the total fertility rate has declined to approximately 1.8 children per woman (2024), well below the replacement level of 2.1. This, combined with high emigration, has led to a population loss estimated at around 11% between the 2011 and 2024 censuses. Though the share of people aged 65 and over is relatively low, at about 11.1% (2024 data), this figure is projected to rise rapidly as the large youth cohorts age and the

1 All references to Kosovo should be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999)

low birth rate persists. Consequently, the pressure on the working-age population (15-64 years) is increasing; not only is its proportional size declining, but Kosovo also faces a major challenge with a very high rate of economic inactivity, particularly among women. This trend threatens to diminish Kosovo's human capital potential and socio-economic development rate, as a smaller, less active workforce will struggle to sustain and expand public services, especially given the anticipated rise in demand for health and social protection as the population ages.

Data from other countries worldwide suggest that many individuals and couples are prevented from achieving their desired family size due to systemic barriers. Experiences show that many individuals, particularly women, face significant structural barriers - such as a lack of affordable childcare, inflexible workplaces, and an unequal burden of unpaid care - that force them to have fewer children than they desire. Therefore, an approach centred on human development is to invest in comprehensive support systems that are more sustainable and focus on gender-responsive family policies. This includes promoting paid parental leave for both parents, ensuring accessible and high-quality early childhood education and care, and advancing flexible work arrangements. By tackling the root causes of the gap between desired and actual fertility, and ensuring that parenthood does not penalise women's career development or men's involvement in caregiving, policymakers can support both women and men to realise their full reproductive aspirations, thereby contributing to the long-term stability and vitality of the population.

2. Objectives and Scope of the Requested Services

The objective of the Survey on Fertility Aspirations of Women and Men of Reproductive Age in Kosovo is to gain a better understanding of the desired fertility and the barriers to achieving the desired fertility in Kosovo.

The overall purpose of this assignment is to:

1) Conduct a face-to-face survey on fertility aspirations of women and men of reproductive age in Kosovo in line with the methodology developed by UNFPA and sampling design to reflect the target population of Kosovo to be developed by the Bidder as part of the official bid (expected 1,067 male and female persons of reproductive age (15-39) living in urban and rural areas according to the 2024 Census).

2) Complete data analysis and draft a survey report.

3. Survey Design and Administration

The survey is designed by UNFPA. The selected Bidder will be provided with the questionnaire (approximately 35 questions), translated into Albanian and Serbian languages, to be administered through face-to-face interviews with 1,067 respondents throughout Kosovo, and data will be collected with computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI). The selected Bidder will be responsible for the CAPI software and hardware.

The selected Bidder will elaborate a sample design, representative of the Kosovo population who are between 15 and 39 years old, with an equal split between genders, using a multi-stage stratified approach, with stratification by region and by urban or rural areas.

Since confidentiality is of paramount importance, the selected Bidder should administer the survey, host the survey, process the responses and ensure that survey respondents cannot be identified individually by UNFPA. Upon completion of the survey administration, the selected Bidder will submit the clean anonymised data in SPSS and Excel format to UNFPA.

The selected Bidder will be required to consult and collaborate closely with UNFPA. 4. Outputs / Deliverable(s)

The main deliverables of the consultancy are:

1. A database (in SPSS and Excel format) with responses from at least 1,067 respondents in line with the questionnaire TO BE DEVELOPED by UNFPA and sampling design to be developed by the Bidder to reflect the above-mentioned population in Kosovo. The questionnaire is currently in its draft version and will be finalised by the time of the selection of the best bidder. Bidders should plan that the survey will take up to 15 minutes. The selected Bidder will also ensure quality control throughout the survey.

UNFPA is the sole owner of the collected data, and no data or results could be shared or published without UNFPA’s written consent.

The Bidder is required to have full-time staff or staff on hire with adequate experience in the implementation of household surveys. The survey is to be implemented using CAPI methodology, so the Bidder has to have tablet computers in possession for the implementation of the survey.

As the official language of UNFPA is English, the selected Bidder will be required to translate any open-ended questions (if any) in the final database, before submission to UNFPA.

2. Data Analysis and Survey Report - The selected Bidder will complete a desk review and prepare an Inception Report, inclusive of proposed structure and content for the report. Once the data collection is completed, the selected Bidder will analyse and interpret the data collected through the survey. The selected Bidder will draft the report, which will include, but not be limited to, the findings from desk review, analysis of research data, good practices for supporting the realisation of fertility aspirations, and recommendations to inform policy-making.

The selected Bidder will be required to consult and collaborate closely with UNFPA throughout the process.

The expected deliverables are to be provided within the specified timelines below:

Timing / Schedule

The assignment shall be conducted from November 2025 to April 2026. The deliverables are expected to be submitted according to the above timeline. This schedule could be altered only in case of force majeure that would prevent the implementation of the face-to-face survey in the field.

III. Questions

Questions or requests for further clarification should be submitted in writing to the contact person below:

The deadline for submission of questions is 30 October 2025 by 12:00 (noon) CET. Questions will be answered in writing and shared with all parties as soon as possible after this deadline.

IV. Eligible Bidders

This Request for Quotation is open to all eligible bidders; to be considered an eligible bidder for this solicitation process, you must comply with the following:

• A bidder must be a legally constituted company that can provide the requested services and have the legal capacity to enter into a contract with UNFPA to perform in the country, or through an authorised representative.
• A bidder must not have a conflict of interest regarding the solicitation process or with the TORs / Technical Specifications. Bidders found to have a conflict of interest shall be disqualified.
• At the time of Bid submission, the bidder, including any JV/Consortium members, is not under procurement prohibitions derived from the Compendium of United Nations Security Council Sanctions Lists and has not been suspended, debarred, sanctioned or otherwise identified as ineligible by any UN Organisation or the World Bank Group.
• Bidders must adhere to the UN Supplier Code of Conduct, which may be found by clicking on UN Supplier Code of Conduct.

IMPORTANT:

UNFPA in Kosovo is 0% VAT payer.

Payment terms: the payment will be effectuated by bank transfer, after delivery of deliverables as agreed within the scope of work;

The full set of services to be provided by one contractor; partial bids will not be considered. Quotation Submission Forms should be with the company stamp and signature.

V. Content of quotations

Quotations should be submitted in a hard copy. Quotations must contain:

1. Technical proposal, in response to the requirements outlined in the service requirements/TORs, including:

• copy of the Bidder’s registration certificate;
• description of Bidder’s profile (Corporate CV), including list of similar surveys conducted (including URL) with a brief outline of any studies conducted concerning issues related to youth and fertility aspirations;
• list of experience working with international development organisations, preferably with the UN agencies, and clients’ portfolio;
• availability to start immediately, train and deploy interviewers – i.e. and fully comply with the above stated timeline;
• at least 2 references - please indicate email and phone numbers of the contact persons (No need to submit Ref. Letters);
• implementation (work) plan and management plan;
• resumes (CVs) of the key personnel comprising information requested as per the evaluation criteria, including expert(s) who will provide professional expertise on sample design methodology, oversight of survey administration, database monitoring, data analysis, report writing, etc.;
• ● written confirmation of commitment to meet the timelines for the deliverables.

2. Price quotation, to be submitted strictly in accordance with the price quotation form in Euros (one envelope).

VI. Instructions for submission

Proposals should be prepared based on the guidelines set forth in Section V above, along with a properly filled out and signed price quotation form.

Your offer comprising technical proposal and financial proposal, in TWO separate sealed envelopes, clearly indicating RFQ No. UNFPA/KOS/RFQ/2025/001 as a reference, should be hand-delivered to the following address no later than: 6 November 2025, by 17:30 hours.

VII. Overview of Evaluation Process

Quotations will be evaluated based on the proposal and the total cost of the services (price quote).

The evaluation will be carried out in a two-step process by an ad-hoc evaluation panel. Technical proposals will be evaluated for technical compliance and scored first, before the evaluation and scoring of price quotations.

Technical Evaluation

Technical proposals will be evaluated based on their responsiveness to the service requirements/TOR listed in Section 2 and in accordance with the evaluation criteria below.

The following scoring scale will be used to ensure objective evaluation:

Financial Evaluation

Price quotes will be evaluated only for bidders whose technical proposals achieve a minimum score of 70 points per category in the technical evaluation. Price quotes will be evaluated based on their responsiveness to the price quote form. The maximum number of points for the price quote is 100, which will be allocated to the lowest total price provided in the quotation. All other price quotes will receive points in inverse proportion according to the following formula:

The total score for each proposal will be the weighted sum of the technical score and the financial score. The maximum total score is 100 points.

VIII. Award Criteria

In case of a satisfactory result from the evaluation process, UNFPA intends to award a Professional Service Contract on a fixed-cost basis with a duration of 10 days to the Bidder(s) that obtain the lowest-priced technically acceptable offer.

IX. Right to Vary Requirements at Time of Award

UNFPA reserves the right at the time of award of contract to increase or decrease, by up to 20%, the volume of services specified in this RFQ without any change in unit prices or other terms and conditions. X. Payment Terms

UNFPA payment terms are net 30 days upon receipt of invoice and delivery/acceptance of the milestone deliverables linked to payment as specified in the contract.

XI. Fraud and Corruption

UNFPA is committed to preventing, identifying, and addressing all acts of fraud against UNFPA, as well as against third parties involved in UNFPA activities. UNFPA’s Policy regarding fraud and corruption is available here: Fraud Policy. Submission of a proposal implies that the Bidder is aware of this policy.

Suppliers, their subsidiaries, agents, intermediaries and principals must cooperate with UNFPA Office of Audit and Investigations Services as well as with any other oversight entity authorized by the Executive Director and with UNFPA Ethics Advisor as and when required. Such cooperation shall include, but not be limited to, the following: access to all employees, representatives agents and assignees of the selected Bidder; as well as production of all documents requested, including financial records. Failure to fully cooperate with investigations will be considered sufficient grounds to allow UNFPA to repudiate and terminate the Agreement, and to debar and remove the supplier from UNFPA's list of registered suppliers.

A confidential Anti-Fraud Hotline is available to any Bidder to report suspicious fraudulent activities at UNFPA Investigation Hotline.

XII. Zero Tolerance

UNFPA has adopted a zero-tolerance policy on gifts and hospitality. Suppliers are therefore requested not to send gifts or offer hospitality to UNFPA personnel. Further details on this policy are available here: Zero Tolerance Policy.

XIII. RFQ Protest

Bidder(s) perceiving that they have been unjustly or unfairly treated in connection with a solicitation, evaluation, or award of a contract may submit a complaint to UNFPA Head of the Office Ms. Visare Mujko Nimani at [email protected]. Should the supplier be unsatisfied with the reply provided by UNFPA Head of the Business Unit, the supplier may contact the Chief, Procurement Services Branch at [email protected].

XIV. Disclaimer

Should any of the links in this RFQ document be unavailable or inaccessible for any reason, bidders can contact the Procurement Officer in charge of the procurement to request for them to share a PDF version of such document(s).

● Quoted rates must be exclusive of all taxes, since UNFPA is exempt from taxes.

Vendor’s Comments:

I hereby certify that the company mentioned above, which I am duly authorised to sign for, has reviewed RFQ UNFPA/KOS/RFQ/2025/001, including all annexes, amendments to the RFQ document (if applicable) and the responses provided by UNFPA on clarification questions from the prospective service providers. Further, the company accepts the General Conditions of Contract for UNFPA and we will abide by this quotation until it expires.

ANNEX I:

General Conditions of Contracts:

De Minimis Contracts

This Request for Quotation is subject to UNFPA’s General Conditions of Contract: De Minimis Contracts, which are available in: English, Spanish and French

For more information: https://unf.pa/4hrLugW.