EOI - Empanelment of Consulting Agencies to Undertake Third Party Evaluation of Different Schemes

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About the Organization

The Finance Department, Government of Odisha is responsible for management of finances of the State Government starting from mobilization of resources- raising Tax and Non-Tax Revenue, borrowing from different sources like internal debt, Small Savings and Provident Fund etc. to efficient use of resources through formulation of Annual Budget and execution of Budget, Public Expenditure Management, keeping account of Receipt into and Expenditure from the public account of the State, ensuring Accountability of Public money through internal audit and compliance to external audit. It also renders Financial advice, acts as a referral department in the matter of conditions of service & pension, facilitates Credit from Banks and Financial Institutions.

About the Proposal

Under this evaluation mandate, the Government of Odisha shall undertake baseline surveys, mid-term evaluations, end-term evaluations, concurrent evaluations, process evaluations, rapid assessment and impact assessments of Central and State-funded schemes as the case may be. The scope of such assessments/evaluations includes finding out shortfalls on achievements; identifying bottlenecks and gaps in scheme design and implementation; and providing recommendations to improve programme design, implementation, and outcomes. This also involves documentation of case studies as and when necessary.

To ensure that these evaluation programmes are carried out efficiently and effectively, the government is looking to empanel agencies with adequate and necessary expertise and experience in conducting evaluations.

Through this empanelment process, the government aims to engage agencies that can provide high-quality evaluation services, adhering to national and international standards and best practices. These evaluation programmes will cover various sectors and themes, including education, health, agriculture, infrastructure, and social welfare.

The empanelled agencies will work closely with the concerned Administrative Departments / stakeholders to design and implement evaluation programmes, using a range of methodologies and tools. They will also be expected to provide actionable recommendations based on the evaluation findings, which can be used by the government to improve its policies and programmes.

Overall, this empanelment process is an important step towards strengthening the government's commitment to evidence-based policy making and ensuring that public resources are used efficiently and effectively.

The duration of normal evaluation studies shall generally range from four (4) to six (6) months.

In case of rapid assessments, the duration may be from two (2) to three (3) months.

In this context, Finance Department, Government of Odisha seeks to empanel qualified and eligible consulting agencies, who are invited to submit their expression of interest for the purpose.

Scope of the assignment

The Government Schemes may be categorized into four broad sectors, namely a) general services sector, b) social services sector and c) economic services sector d) cross cutting areas as described below.

• Category A – General Services Sector: General administration, governance including e-governance, administrative reforms including government process reengineering, and adoption and implementation of social accountability measures like citizen charter, right to public services and right to information, police, vigilance, law and order, etc.
• Category B – Social Services Sector: General education, technical education, sports and youth services, art and culture, health and family welfare, water supply, sanitation, housing and urban development, information and broadcasting, welfare of SCs, STs and OBCs, labour and labour welfare, social welfare, and nutrition
• Category C – Economic Services Sector: Agriculture and allied activities including forestry, rural development, irrigation, energy, industry and minerals, transport including roads and bridges, science, technology and environment, tourism, trade promotion, and compensation and assignments to local bodies and PRIs
• Category D – Cross Cutting Areas: It may be noted that besides the above sectors, there are cross cutting areas that enhance the effectiveness and impact of the sector specific schemes. These are physical and IT infrastructure, capacity development, innovative scheme implementation, programme learning, gender mainstreaming, equity and inclusion, sustainability and social accountability that need examination and feedback to the system

The empanelled consulting agencies will be responsible for

• conducting evaluations, impact assessments, baseline surveys, using qualitative and quantitative methods including conducting inception workshop, submitting inception report, designing survey instruments and pilot testing the same, data collection, data processing, data scrutiny, data validation, data analysis of all collected data, report preparation, conducting study sharing workshop and submitting the final report.
• adhering to scientific procedures of data collection and ensuring that the data is complete, valid, relevant and appropriate to the study objectives and instruments. Data collected should be regularly assessed for accuracy, validity, consistency and appropriateness

Depending on the type of study the exact scope of services, project duration, key personnel requirement and geographical coverage (in terms of regions, districts, villages/wards, blocks, etc.) shall be communicated to the empanelled consulting agencies as part of the Terms of Reference of the specific study.

Moreover, knowledge of the regions and local language (Odia) is desirable and empanelled consulting agencies must ensure capacity in terms of trained field investigators and supervisors and other resources to undertake the study within the state.

Deliverables and time frame

The detailed list of deliverables and exact timelines with regards to a particular assignment shall be shared by the Administrative Department with the empanelled consulting agencies as part of the scope of the study.

An indicative list of deliverables has been provided below –

• Conducting Inception workshop and submission of Inception Report
• Submission of Draft Study Report Ø Conducting final sharing workshop and submission of Final Study Report
• Documentation of Human Interest Stories / Good Practices whenever mandated. All reports are required to be submitted in hard as well as in soft copy. In addition to the reports, for further analysis in the future, verifiable raw data in soft copy should also be shared with the concerned tender inviting authority. This will include detailed transcriptions of key informant interviews and focus group discussions as well as raw data from field surveys in MS-Excel / CSV format.

How to Apply

Applicants fulfilling the prescribed eligibility criteria of the selection process and conditions of the empanelment can access and download the complete EOI Document from the websites https://finance.odisha.gov.in/ and www.devnetjobsindia.org.

Proposal Due Date 07.08.2024 up to 5:00 PM

For more information please check the Link

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Tags Food, Agriculture and Nutrition Healthcare and Healthtech Others