DFAT anticipates establishing a number of contracts for evaluation services in the foreseeable future. Some of these contracts will likely be of the order of several million Australian dollars over multiple years, and will regularly review a single aid investment (or portfolio of aid investments) over the investment life.

This notice is to give potential service providers advance notice, including potential new service providers to the aid program.

For example, contracts that may be established through open tender include the following:

• An evaluation service provider to evaluate the investment SEED Pacific over its life
• An evaluation service provider to evaluate the investment: the Papua New Guinea Governance Facility over its life
• An evaluation service provider to provide evaluation and broader aid management services to DFAT
• A request for tender for a service provider to perform broader social research services is currently (September 2015) out to market: the Australia Awards Global Tracer Facility

Any queries on this note should be sent to contracts@dfat.gov.au

The services required will likely include services such as:

• carrying out annual or bi-annual Investment evaluations, including sub-Investment or 'topic' evaluations;
• assessment and certification of milestones achieved by the Contractor implementing the Investment;
• assessing the Contractor's compliance with the requirements of the Contract;

• providing ad hoc advice on issues related to the performance of the Investment;
• evaluating the ability of the Investment to achieve its objectives, including the rate of progress towards achieving objectives;

• evaluating the coverage by the Investment of all the necessary elements which should be considered in order to achieve the Investment's objectives;
• evaluating the sustainability of the Investment;
• evaluating potential synergies or overlap between the Investment and other investments; and/or
• evaluating the extent to which the Investment supports and/or reflects prevailing political and economic policies/reforms in the Country.
• Although the mandate of possible evaluation contracts necessarily includes the identification of emerging issues and problems, the evaluation service provider will not, under normal circumstances, be tasked with formulating strategies for problem-solving. Problem-solving will remain the responsibility of the Investment Contractor. Moreover, rigorous Investment level monitoring and performance management will be the responsibility of the Investment Contractor.
• Evaluation service providers shall not collaborate with the Investment Contractor. Evaluation commentary and analysis shall be the independent professional judgement of the evaluation service provider.

This information is provided for planning purposes only and it does not represent solicitation or constitute a request for proposal, nor is it a commitment to purchase or tender for any described services. The scale, scope and focus of any proposed program may change at any time and is subject to formal approval by the Australian and any partner governments before any procurement process will commence.

This information is subject to delays, revision or cancellations.