28 Apr 2021 | HUC

Call for vendors – HUC online portal

4 mins Read

1. Background

The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a regional knowledge development and learning centre serving the eight regional member countries of the Hindu Kush Himalayas (HKH) – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan and established in Nepal in 1983. Globalization and climate change have an increasing influence on the stability of fragile mountain ecosystems and the livelihoods of mountain people. ICIMOD aims to assist mountain people to understand these changes, adapt to them, and make the most of new opportunities, while addressing upstream-downstream issues. The Centre supports regional transboundary programmes through partnerships with regional partner institutions, facilitates the exchange of experiences, and serves as a regional knowledge hub. ICIMOD strengthens networking among regional and global centres of excellence. Overall, as an inter-governmental organization ICIMOD works to develop an economically and environmentally sound mountain ecosystem to improve the living standards of mountain populations and to sustain vital ecosystem services for the billions of people living downstream – now, and for the future.

Himalayan University Consortium (HUC)

As one of the initiatives under the Mountain Knowledge and Action Networks (MKAN) Regional Programme at ICIMOD, the Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) has its mandate in developing an effective, sustainable network of universities in the HKH, in collaboration with knowledge generating and exchange institutions within and outside the region. The HUC engages top-notch professionals capable of undertaking high quality research, education, and knowledge dissemination in service of a mountain-specific, sustainable, fair, and inclusive development for HKH communities and adjoining mountainous areas. Currently with almost 86 member universities and research institutions, HUC seeks outcomes that enhance collaboration and networking by increasing capacity of professionals for sustainable mountain development through mountain-specific education.

ICIMOD is the founding member and incubator of the HUC. Since 2016, the HUC has been made an emergent programme and an initiative of the MKAN Regional Programme. ICIMOD hosts a full-fledged HUC. In 2017, an HUC website and online portal (HUC Portal) was developed and its features have been continuously expanded to serve the Consortium’s growing institutional members and fellows’ community. Since October 2017, a number of Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) was established, some among which have gained momentum and increased the demand for an effective online platform for their activities.

2. Objectives

The HUC website and portal provides an effective platform for HUC institutional members and fellows’ community to interact, share information, and promote collaborative research and higher education activities as per the HUC mandate.

We are looking for local vendors to enhance the existing functions and develop additional features of the website and portal.

3. Scope of work

The feature development and maintenance requires close coordination with the Knowledge Management and Communications Team at ICIMOD – the Web and Knowledge Management Specialist, and Web Content Management Assistant, who is responsible for handling HUC Portal. All the backend rights should be provided along with the guidance on specific modules. The work includes the up keeping and enhancing the existing features and developing new features listed in deliverables list below.

4. Deliverables and timeline

S/N	Deliverables	Timeline
1.	Upkeep and enhancement of existing features 1.1 Refine the existing module on the dashboard of users categorized as Thematic Working Groups, Steering Committee Members, etc. Includes features such as scheduling and reminders, group emailing, document sharing. 1.2 Improve the grant function and extend its usage to events and webinars modules to receive and evaluate applications. 1.3 Refinement of webinar module. Receive and evaluate the applications from both backend and dashboard of few users tagged under certain category Mass emailing to applicants from the system Create a field to attach pre-designed certificates Embed with virtual event platform like Hubilo and/or webinar hosting platforms like MS Teams, Zoom, GoToMeeting Track the activeness of webinar organizer(s) and attendees to accumulate ranking points in the membership management module 1.4 Provide multi-option filter in the search listing page of registered users 1.5 Adapt the (co)-lead profile feature to function as user profile for taskforce members, country coordinators and supporting members on working groups 1.6 Remodel the workflow to create institutional profile for existing members.	7 July 2021 20 July 2021 04 August 2021 10 August 2021 18 August 2021 30 August 2021
2.	New feature development 2.1 Build flexible sections on the backend for webpages (home page, content page) in addition to providing maximum page design rights from backend 2.2 Sub-menu categorization from the backend 2.3 Contact experts through admin with emails encrypted 2.4 Develop a module to integrate forms and provide flexibility to design forms from backend 2.5 Develop e-badge module (credit merit system) linking to the activeness of their institution/university 2.6 Build a central repository of the resources, materials to be made available on users’ dashboard 2.7 Design a module for payments/contributions for individual users linking to the merit point system 2.8 Integrate with video management software	31 October 2021
3.	Support and maintenance	1 year from the contract start date
4.	Support and maintenance for new features	1 year from the contract end date

5. Coordination and reporting

The vendor will work in close coordination with the Web Content Management Assistant at ICIMOD and will provide full authority to the backend.

6. Contract period

1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022

7. Bidding process

The interested bidder may submit their bid addressed to ICIMOD procurement office. The extended deadline is 4:00 pm, 10 June 2021.
The bid should include copies of :

- Company registration certificate
- VAT/PAN registration certificate
- Experience of similar work
- Latest tax clearance certificate
- Bid validity period
- Payment terms

Bidder shall quote the item rates as applicable for the work in formal quotation with signature and stamp.
Bidder should indicate applicable VAT in the bid.
ICIMOD reserves the right to accept or reject any or all bids without giving any reason whatsoever.

Due to the current situation, it may be difficult to have the bidding drop to the office, hence you could actually submit it via email to procurement@icimod.org with CC to (Achala.sharma@icimod.org). Also, in case of any queries, call Rajana Shrestha, Procurement Assistant (9861237262). For technical queries regarding the HUC portal, please write to HUC Secretariat at huc@icimod.org attn: Kritika Sharma.

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