Provision of legal services for the period 2025-2027

Request for Proposals (RfP)
Provision of legal services for the period 2025-2027
Name of the Office, IUCN ESARO
Welcome to this Procurement by IUCN. You are hereby invited to submit a Proposal. Please read the information and instructions carefully because non-compliance with the instructions may result in disqualification of your Proposal from this Procurement.
1. REQUIREMENTS
1.1. A detailed description of the services and/or goods to be provided can be found in Attachment 1.
2. CONTACT DETAILS
2.1. During the course of this procurement, i.e. from the publication of this RfP to the award of a contract, you may not discuss this procurement with any IUCN employee or representative other than the following contact. You must address all correspondence and questions to the contact, including your proposal. IUCN Contact: [email protected]
3. PROCUREMENT TIMETABLE
3.1. This timetable is indicative and may be changed by IUCN at any time. If IUCN decides that changes to any of the deadlines are necessary, we will contact you.

DATE – ACTIVITY

6 November 2024 – Publication of the Request for Proposals

8 November 2024 – Deadline for confirmation of intention to bid

10 November 2024 – Deadline for submission of questions

10 November 2024 – Planned publication of responses to questions

21 November 2024 – Deadline for submission of proposals to IUCN (“Submission Deadline”)

24 November 2024 – Clarification of proposals

10 January 2024 – Planned date for contract award

1 January 2024 – Expected contract start date
3.2. Please email the IUCN contact to confirm whether or not you are intending to submit a proposal by the deadline stated above.

4. COMPLETING AND SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL
4.1. Your Proposal must consist of the following three documents:
• Signed Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2)
• Technical Proposal (see Section 4.4 below)
• Financial Proposal (see Section 4.5 below)
Proposals must be prepared in English.
4.2. Your Proposal must be submitted by both email and physically to the IUCN Contact (see Section 2) and the physical address provided in the TOR. The subject heading of the email shall be [RfP Reference – bidder name]. The bidder name is the name of the company/organisation on whose behalf you are submitting the proposal, or your own surname if you are bidding as a self-employed consultant. Your
Provision of legal services for the period 2025-2027
Proposal must be submitted in PDF format. You may submit multiple emails suitably annotated, e.g. Email 1 of 3, if attached files are too large to suit a single email transmission. You may not submit your Proposal by uploading it to a file-sharing tool.
IMPORTANT: Submitted documents must be password-protected so that they cannot be opened and read before the submission deadline. Please use the same password for all submitted documents. After the deadline has passed and within 12 hours, please send the password to the IUCN Contact. This will ensure a secure bid submission and opening process. Please DO NOT email the password before the deadline for Proposal submission.
4.3. Eligibility
N/A
4.4. Technical Proposal
The technical proposal must address each of the criteria stated below explicitly and separately, quoting the relevant criteria reference number (left-hand column).
Proposals in any other format will significantly increase the time it takes to evaluate, and such Proposals may therefore be rejected at IUCN’s discretion.
Where CVs are requested, these must be of the individuals who will actually carry out the work specified. The individuals you put forward may only be substituted with IUCN’s approval.
IUCN will evaluate technical proposals with regards to each of the following criteria and their relative importance:
Evaluation Criteria Weight
Technical Proposal

1. Company Profile: 10
aProvide company profile showing names of the partners and their respective interest in the firm;
b)Certificate of good standing from LSK for the Partners;Period of operation.
i. Standing of senior partner Over 10 years- 15 Marks; 5-10 years- 10 Marks; Less than 5 years- 5 Marks
ii. Standing of Associates. (attach certificate of admission)
iii. Advocates to attach membership of professional bodies (attach proof and date) 5 Marks

2.Experience:
a) Number of years in the business (maximum score for five years and above); 5
b) List (and provide evidence) of 3 major references addressed to IUCN with their contacts within the last three years. State service provided and value of service. 15

3.Physical Facilities: Mandatory
a) Provide evidence of availability of office premises (copy of title deed, lease/tenancy agreement or utility bill);

4.Financial Capacity:
a)Provide audited accounts for the last 3 years; OR 5
b)Certified copies of six (6) months current bank statements.
c)Tax compliance certificate 5

5. Copy of the professional indemnity held by your firm, or advocates therein (10M and above) 10

6. Highlights of major briefs undertaken by the firm in the last three years; 25

7. Capacity of the firm 25
Provide qualifications and experience of key personnel (attach CVs) and Copies of the current practicing certificates of all the Partners and Associates in the firm. (Mandatory)

4.5. Financial Proposal
4.5.1. The financial proposal must be a fixed and firm price for the provision of the goods/services stated in the RfP in their entirety.
4.5.2. Prices include all costs
Submitted rates and prices are deemed to include all costs, insurances, taxes (except VAT, see below), fees, expenses, liabilities, obligations, risk and other things necessary for the performance of the Terms of Reference or Specification of Requirements. IUCN will not accept charges beyond those clearly stated in the Financial Proposal. This includes applicable withholding taxes and similar. It is your responsibility to determine whether such taxes apply to your organisation and to include them in your financial offer.
4.5.3. Applicable Goods and Services Taxes
Proposal rates and prices shall be exclusive of Value Added Tax.
4.5.4. Currency of proposed rates and prices
All rates and prices submitted by Proposers shall be in KES.
4.5.5. Breakdown of rates and prices
For information only, the price needs to be broken down as follows:
Description Quantity Unit Price Total Price
1. Retainer fees
2. Hourly lawyer rates
TOTAL

4.6. Additional information not requested by IUCN should not be included in your Proposal and will not be taken into account in the evaluation.
4.7. Your proposal must remain valid and capable of acceptance by IUCN for a period of 90 calendar days following the submission deadline.
4.8. Withdrawals and Changes
You may freely withdraw or change your proposal at any time prior to the submission deadline by written notice to the IUCN Contact. However, in order to reduce the risk of fraud, no changes or withdrawals will be accepted after the submission deadline.
5. EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS
5.1. Completeness
IUCN will firstly check your proposal for completeness. Incomplete proposals will not be considered further.
5.2. Technical Evaluation
5.2.1.Scoring Method
Your proposal will be assigned a score from 0 to 10 for each of the technical evaluation criteria, such that ‘0’ is low and ‘10’ is high.
5.2.2.Minimum Quality Thresholds
Proposals that receive a score of ‘0’ for any of the criteria will not be considered further.
5.2.3.Technical Score
Your score for each technical evaluation criterion will be multiplied with the respective relative weight (see Section 4.4) and these weighted scores added together to give your proposal’s overall technical score.
5.3. Financial Evaluation and Financial Scores
The financial evaluation will be based upon the full total price you submit. Your financial proposal will receive a score calculated by dividing the lowest financial proposal that has passed the minimum quality thresholds (see Section 5.2.2) by the total price of your financial proposal.
Thus, for example, if your financial proposal is for a total of CHF 100 and the lowest financial proposal is CHF 80, you will receive a financial score of 80/100 = 80%
5.4. Total Score
Your proposal’s total score will be calculated as the weighted sum of your technical score and your financial score.
The relative weights will be: Technical: 70% Financial: 30%
Thus, for example, if your technical score is 83% and your financial score is 77%, you will receive a total score of 83 * 70% + 77 * 30% = 58.1% + 23.1% = 81.2%.
Subject to the requirements in Sections 4 and 7, IUCN will award the contract to the bidder whose proposal achieves the highest total score.
6. EXPLANATION OF PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE
6.1. IUCN is using the Invitation Procedure for this procurement. This means that only invited bidders may submit a proposal. IUCN typically invites from four to six bidders to submit a proposal.
6.2. You are welcome to ask questions or seek clarification regarding this procurement. Please email the IUCN Contact (see Section 2), taking note of the deadline for submission of questions in Section 3.1.
6.3. All proposals must be received by the submission deadline in Section 3.1 above. Late proposals will not be considered. All proposals received by the submission deadline will be evaluated by a team of two or more evaluators in accordance with the evaluation criteria stated in in this RfP. No other criteria will be used to evaluate proposals. The contract will be awarded to the bidder whose proposal received the highest Total Score. IUCN does, however, reserve the right to cancel the procurement and not award a contract at all.
6.4. IUCN will contact the bidder with the highest-scoring proposal to finalise the contract. We will contact unsuccessful bidders after the contract has been awarded and provide detailed feedback. The timetable in Section 3.1 gives an estimate of when we expect to have completed the contract award, but this date may change depending on how long the evaluation of proposals takes.
7. CONDITIONS FOR PARTICIPATION IN THIS PROCUREMENT
7.1. To participate in this procurement, you are required to submit a proposal, which fully complies with the instructions in this RfP and the Attachments.
7.1.1. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have submitted a complete and fully compliant proposal.
7.1.2. Any incomplete or incorrectly completed proposal submission may be deemed non-compliant, and as a result you may be unable to proceed further in the procurement process.
7.1.3. IUCN will query any obvious clerical errors in your proposal and may, at IUCN’s sole discretion, allow you to correct these, but only if doing so could not be perceived as giving you an unfair advantage.
7.2. In order to participate in this procurement, you must meet the following conditions:
• Free of conflicts of interest
• Registered on the relevant professional or trade register of the country in which you are established (or resident, if self-employed)
• In full compliance with your obligations relating to payment of social security contributions and of all applicable taxes
• Not been convicted of failing to comply with environmental regulatory requirements or other legal requirements relating to sustainability and environmental protection
• Not bankrupt or being wound up
• Never been guilty of an offence concerning your professional conduct
• Not involved in fraud, corruption, a criminal organisation, money laundering, terrorism, or any other illegal activity.
7.3. You must complete and sign the Declaration of Undertaking (see Attachment 2)
7.4. If you are participating in this procurement as a member of a joint venture, or are using sub-contractors, submit a separate Declaration of Undertaking for each member of the joint venture and sub-contractor, and be clear in your proposal which parts of the goods/services are provided by each partner or sub-contractor.
7.5. Each bidder shall submit only one proposal, either individually or as a partner in a joint venture. In case of joint venture, one company shall not be allowed to participate in two different joint ventures in the same procurement nor shall a company be allowed to submit a proposal both on its behalf and as part of a joint venture for the same procurement. A bidder who submits or participates in more than one proposal (other than as a subcontractor or in cases of alternatives that have been permitted or requested) shall cause all the proposals with the bidder’s participation to be disqualified.
7.6. By taking part in this procurement, you accept the conditions set out in this RfP, including the following:
• It is unacceptable to give or offer any gift or consideration to an employee or other representative of IUCN as a reward or inducement in relation to the awarding of a contract. Such action will give IUCN the right to exclude you from this and any future procurements, and to terminate any contract that may have been signed with you.
• Any attempt to obtain information from an employee or other representative of IUCN concerning another bidder will result in disqualification.
• Any price fixing or collusion with other bidders in relation to this procurement shall give IUCN the right to exclude you and any other involved bidder(s) from this and any future procurements and may constitute a criminal offence.
8. CONFIDENTIALITY AND DATA PROTECTION
8.1. IUCN follows the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The information you submit to IUCN as part of this procurement will be treated as confidential and shared only as required to evaluate your proposal in line with the procedure explained in this RfP, and for the maintenance of a clear audit trail. For audit purposes, IUCN is required to retain your proposal in its entirety for 10 years after the end of the resulting contract and make this available to internal and external auditors and donors as and when requested.
8.2. In the Declaration of Undertaking (Attachment 2) you need to give IUCN express permission to use the information you submit in this way, including personal data that forms part of your proposal. Where you include personal data of your employees (e.g. CVs) in your proposal, you need to have written permission from those individuals to share this information with IUCN, and for IUCN to use this information as indicated in 8.1. Without these permissions, IUCN will not be able to consider your proposal.
9. COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE
If you have a complaint or concern regarding the propriety of how a competitive process is or has been executed, then please contact [email protected]. Such complaints or concerns will be treated as confidential and are not considered in breach of the above restrictions on communication (Section 2.1).
10. CONTRACT
The contract will be based on IUCN’s template in Attachment 3, the terms of which are not negotiable. They may, however, be amended by IUCN to reflect particular requirements from the donor funding this particular procurement.
11. ABOUT IUCN
IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.
Headquartered in Switzerland, IUCN Secretariat comprises around 1,000 staff with offices in more than 50 countries.
Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,300 Member organisations and some 10,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.
IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.
Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.
www.iucn.org
https://twitter.com/IUCN/
12. ATTACHMENTS
Terms of Reference for Service
Title: Provision of legal services for the period 2025-2027
About IUCN
IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.
Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,400 Member organisations and around 15,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.
IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples’ organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.
Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.
www.iucn.org
https://twitter.com/IUCN/

Description of the Service
IUCN seeks to appoint a qualified registered law firm to provide it with legal services on an ad hoc basis for a period of three years.
1. Objectives
This bid aims to appoint:
i. 1 qualified law firm in Kenya
ii. to provide advice and services and/or represent IUCN with legal matters in a professional and cost-efficient manner.
2. Scope of Work
The selected law firm shall support IUCN on an as-needed basis on the following:

i. Provision of legal opinions on diverse areas of the law, including but not limited to:
a. Corporate law
b. Regulatory compliance
c. Labor law
d. Intellectual property
e. Data protection and privacy issues
f. Tax law
The Legal opinions should:
a. be clear and promote IUCN’s objectives in as far as possible;
b. show an appropriate understanding of IUCN’s legal problems;
c. clearly present any options open to IUCN;
d. be based on comprehensive legal research using appropriate legal terminology;
e. reach clear conclusions, even if the conclusion is that there are options or doubts;
f. contain appropriate subheadings and numbered paragraphs to make the opinion easier to read;
g. contain important and relevant statutory sections; where necessary; and
h. quote relevant and in as far as possible, recent case law for a particular legal position

ii. Completion of a detailed legal and regulatory questionnaire for countries where IUCN is setting up independent offices
iii. Represent IUCN in disputes and litigation proceedings
iv. Review, draft and advise on various contracts and agreements
v. Provision of regular updates on any changes in laws or government policies affecting IUCN
vi. Registration of Trademarks
vii. Review, draft and advice on policies and by-laws
viii. Attend office conference(s) or meeting with the IUCN team when required;
ix. Any other services that may be incidental or ancillary to the provision of the above Services.
3. Deliverables/Outputs
When called on to provide Services from time to time, the selected law firm will be expected to carry out the requested tasks/assignments in accordance with instructions provided by IUCN management.
The request will specify the form of output/deliverables at the time instructions are issued.
4. Notes
IUCN shall be under no obligation to obtain legal services from any selected law firms during the contract period.
5. Proposal Submission
Interested and qualified law firms are invited to submit their proposal(s) comprising of the following:
i. Legal and Regulatory Compliance
(a) Copy of the Certificate of Registration/Incorporation of the Law Firm
(b) Copy of the law firm’s valid tax compliance certificate
(c) Copy of the law firm’s PIN certificate
(d) Copy of the law firms professional indemnity cover
(e) Certificate of good standing from the Law Society of Kenya
(f) Valid Practicing certificates for the lead advocates in the law firm
(g) Reference list of at least 5 non-profit and corporate clients, indicating the scope and magnitude of similar assignments;
ii. Technical qualifications
(a) A detailed profile of the law firm
(b) Demonstrate capacity to render the said services through a team of qualified advocates based in and familiar with the Kenya context
(c) The Managing Partner should have at least 10 years of experience in offering legal advisory services in Kenya, whilst the law firm’s associates, who shall handle the file should have at least 5 years’ of experience.
(d) References from at least (1) International NGOs with which the law firm has supported (current and past agreements).
(e) References from at least 3 registered corporates/commercial organizations with which the law firm has provided similar legal services.
6. Submission of proposals
Technical and Financial proposals will need to be submitted as separate documents.
7.Price
a) The Law Firms shall provide their charge-out hourly rates for the advocates assigned to IUCN matters.
b) The Law Firms shall provide their yearly retainer fees.
c) The Law firm shall also charge matters based on any legislation which stipulates the fees payable to lawyers for their services, for instance in Kenya this is the Advocates Remuneration Order or any other law which
d) IUCN will consider law firms that offer the right balance of value for money as measured by the quality of legal services provided.
e) The payment of fees will be based on the Advocates Remuneration Order, capped or as may be agreed between the law firm and IUCN.
8. Criteria for Evaluation
In deciding the final selection of qualified bidder, the technical quality of the proposal will be given a weightage of 70% on the basis of a criteria for evaluation. The financial proposal shall be allocated a weightage of 30% and the proposals will be ranked in terms of total points scored.

Evaluation Criteria Weight
Technical Proposal
8. Company Profile: 10
c)Provide company profile showing names of the partners and their respective interest in the firm;
d)Certificate of good standing from LSK for the Partners;
Period of operation.
iv. Standing of senior partner Over 10 years- 15 Marks; 5-10 years- 10 Marks; Less than 5 years- 5 Marks
v. Standing of Associates. (attach certificate of admission)
vi. Advocates to attach membership of professional bodies (attach proof and date) 5 Marks

9.Experience:
c) Number of years in the business (maximum score for five years and above); 5
d) List (and provide evidence) of 3 major references addressed to IUCN with their contacts within the last three years. State service provided and value of service. 15

10. Physical Facilities: Mandatory
b) Provide evidence of availability of office premises (copy of title deed, lease/tenancy agreement or utility bill);

11. Financial Capacity:
d) Provide audited accounts for the last 3 years; OR 5
e) Certified copies of six (6) months current bank statements. 5
f) Tax compliance certificate

12. Copy of the professional indemnity held by your firm, or advocates therein (10M and above) 10

13. Highlights of major briefs undertaken by the firm in the last three years; 25

14. Capacity of the firm 25
Provide qualifications and experience of key personnel (attach CVs) and Copies of the current practicing certificates of all the Partners and Associates in the firm. (Mandatory)

Interested and suitable firms are invited to submit their Technical and Financial Proposals as separate documents by close of business on November 21, 2024 at 3:00 pm East Africa Time (GMT +3) to the below address:

IUCN ESARO
Wasaa Conservation Centre, Mukoma Road
Nairobi

Disclaimer
IUCN reserves the right to determine the structure of the process, number of short-listed participants, the right to withdraw from the proposal process, the right to change this timetable at any time without notice and reserves the right to withdraw this tender at any time, without prior notice and without liability to compensate and/or reimburse any party.
Clarifications
Questions and/or clarifications may be submitted to [email protected]
Duration of the Assignment
From 1st January 2024 to 31 December 2027