Verfahrensangaben

Among others, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) is currently implementing two projects in the agricultural sector in South Sudan. The bilateral project "Community-based Rural Development in South Sudan" (CDRD) is commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and co-financed by the Directorate-General for International Cooperation (DGIS) of the Kingdom of Netherlands as well as the European Union (EU) and runs from April 2022 to March 2029. The project, "Improved Living Conditions and Psychosocial Support in the Context of Displacement and Displacement" (ILiPS), is commissioned by BMZ under the Special Initiative on Displaced Persons and Host Countries (SIGA), with a project period ranging from October 2022 to December 2026.
Both projects" main components focus on agricultural development of rural smallholder households. With its additional funding received in 2025, ILiPS now supports 2,000 households within Central and Eastern Equatoria. With its EU extension from 2024, CDRD supports now a total of 27,500 smallholder households across in Western Equatoria, Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Nothern Bar el Ghazal and Western Bahr El Ghazal.
All monitoring activities of the GIZ projects in South Sudan are centrally organized and coordinated by the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Unit. To measure progress and ensure accountability, both projects use a rigorous monitoring system based on representative household surveys. Data is collected once per year, with baseline, midline and endline surveys for each cohort. In addition to quantitative surveys, the projects employ a mixed-method approach combining household interviews with Focus Group Discussions and Key Informant Interviews. This design allows the projects to generate robust longitudinal and cross-sectional data on production capacity, income levels, nutrition and resilience, while also capturing the social, cultural and gender dynamics that shape household behaviour. Particular emphasis is placed on monitoring the impact of agricultural training on farming practices and the adoption of sustainable methods.
The evidence generated is used for donor reporting, project steering and strategic decision-making in the multi-donor context. By disseminating results to national and local actors, the projects also contribute to learning across the wider partner system. In this way, ILiPS and CDRD strengthen the resilience of rural households in South Sudan while providing actionable knowledge for future programming in fragile contexts.

The contractor will design and implement a multi-annual mixed-methods survey and qualitative research for the ILiPS and CDRD projects in South Sudan. The services include the development, adaptation and translation of questionnaires for household surveys, including a dedicated module on women of reproductive age. The questionnaires must follow a layered design with "must-have" questions for donor reporting and project steering, "should-have" questions to ensure context-specific adaptation of core themes, and "nice-to-have" questions that can be added according to regional or cohort-specific needs. All tools are to be translated into relevant local languages and pre-tested in the field to ensure clarity and feasibility, and must be designed in a conflict-sensitive and culturally appropriate manner.

Sampling must ensure representativeness at state and cohort level with a margin of error of eight percent for both state-level and displacement-strata estimates. Each beneficiary sample shall be matched by a control group of non-beneficiaries in neighbouring Payams, representing half the sample size. The contractor will apply stratified random sampling and use a digital data collection tool, preferably Survey Solutions on GIZ servers, in order to guarantee secure and efficient handling of data. Comprehensive training of enumerators, field supervision and quality assurance measures are required throughout.

The contractor will carry out household surveys for each cohort at the relevant survey stage. For ILiPS, this includes midline data collection in two states in 2026. For CDRD, this includes midterm and endline data collection for the 2024 and 2025 cohorts, as well as a final endline across all states in 2028. The surveys will gather information on sustainable food production capacity, income-generating activities and diversification, household consumption patterns and nutrition, as well as the adoption of sustainable farming practices following project-supported trainings.

The mixed-method approach further includes qualitative research through Focus Group Discussions and Key Informant Interviews. These serve to provide deeper insights into community perceptions of project interventions, barriers to adoption of sustainable practices, and the roles of women and youth in income generation. The qualitative findings complement the quantitative survey data by explaining why certain changes occur, identifying structural and cultural factors influencing livelihoods, and highlighting lessons for future interventions.
All collected data must be cleaned, validated and analysed. The contractor is responsible for preparing analytical reports for each round of data collection, integrating both quantitative and qualitative findings. Reports shall include descriptive results, trend analyses, and clear recommendations for project management and donor decision-making. The contractor must ensure ethical data handling, compliance with the "do no harm" principle, and avoidance of structural bias. Dissemination of findings to the partner system and local stakeholders is an integral part of the assignment, ensuring that results are accessible and contribute to learning beyond project boundaries.

Finally, the contractor must establish a robust operational and security plan for data collection in the fragile context of South Sudan. This includes clear timelines, staffing, coordination with GIZ and implementing partners, risk assessments, contingency planning and adherence to humanitarian security protocols. The assignment therefore requires an experienced research organisation with proven expertise in large-scale data collection in fragile contexts, strong methodological capacities, effective field presence and security systems, and experience in agricultural and food security surveys. The contractor must ensure high-quality delivery across all phases of implementation, while maintaining conflict sensitivity, context appropriateness and methodological rigour.

GIZ may optionally commission contract amendments and/or increases based on the criteria in the tender documents to the successful bidder of this tender. For details, please see the terms of reference.

According to Article 160, Section 3 of the German Act Against Restraint of Competition (GWB), application for review is not permissible insofar as
1. the applicant has identified the claimed infringement of the procurement rules before submitting the application for review and has not submitted a complaint to the contracting authority within a period of 10 calendar days; the expiry of the period pursuant to Article 134, Section 2 remains unaffected,
2. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that are evident in the tender notice are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for the application or by the deadline for the submission of bids, specified in the tender notice.
3. complaints of infringements of procurement rules that first become evident in the tender documents are not submitted to the contracting authority at the latest by the expiry of the deadline for application or by the deadline for the submission of bids,
4. more than 15 calendar days have expired since receipt of notification from the contracting authority that it is unwilling to redress the complaint.
Sentence 1 does not apply in the case of an application to determine the invalidity of the contract in accordance with Article 135, Section 1 (2). Article 134, Section 1, Sentence 2 remains unaffected.

All communication takes place in English via communication tool in the project area of the procurement portal.