Request for Expression of Interest For Empanelment of Institutions and Individuals for National Level Monitoring of Rural Development Programmes

Request for Expression of Interest For Empanelment of Institutions and Individuals for National Level Monitoring of Rural Development Programmes

FUND UPTO 2 Cr.

Invitation:-

The President of India, through the Secretary of Department of Rural Development in the Ministry of Rural Development (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Authority’, ‘the Head of Empanelment’, ‘the Procuring Entity’ and ‘the Department of Rural Development’ respectively), invites Expression of Interest (hereinafter referred as the ‘EOIs’) from eligible and qualified interested individuals and institutions (hereinafter referred as the ‘Applicant’) for empanelment of approx. 160 NLMs (120 Institutional and 40 Individual) to carry out activities as described in ‘Part II: Schedule of Requirements’ (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Services’). Interested Individuals and Institutions should provide sufficient and relevant information demonstrating that they meet the specified eligibility criteria and have the required qualifications to be shortlisted for providing the Services as NLMs. This Request for Expression of Interest (REOI) document, reference number Q-11018/01/2023-NLM, details the process of such short listing and empanelment.

Schedule of Requirements:-

About Department of Rural Development: Department of Rural Development (DoRD) is the nodal Department for most of the development and welfare activities in the rural areas. As approximately 70% population of the country live in the rural areas, Department of Rural Development (DoRD) plays a pivotal role in the overall development strategy of the country. The vision and mission of the Department is sustainable and inclusive growth of rural India through a multi-pronged strategy for eradication of poverty by increasing livelihood opportunities, providing social safety net and developing infrastructure for growth and improvement of quality of life in rural India. This is expected to improve quality of life in rural India and to correct the developmental imbalances, aiming in the process, to reach out to the most disadvantaged sections of the society. At present  following flagship Schemes/ Programmes of DoRD, DoLR & MoPR are being monitored underthe NLM mechanism:

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)
• Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana– National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM)
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) [PMAY(G)]
• National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP)
• Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)(Except quality)
• Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY)
• Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs)
• Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY)
• Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana – Watershed Development (PMKSY)
• Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP)
• Assessment of Panchayats and Schemes / Programmes as per the
  requirements of Ministry of Panchayati Raj
• Any other programme of the Ministry, which may be specified.

Objectives:-

The overarching mission of National Level Monitoring System is to assess and enhance the development effectiveness of the programmes/initiatives through independent monitoring, oversight functions for self-correction of process and products, and proactive engagement and partnerships with esteemed institutions to foster their involvement in sharing the best practices emerging from the field visits and inspections. The Core Objectives of the NLM System are given below:

• To Monitor and Map the assets being created with reference to laid down
  implementation Strategy and Guidelines.
• To serve as effective feedback loop and contribute to enhanced quality feedback to Ministry of Rural Development, comment on effectiveness and quality of assets created with reference to their utility to the community in general and end users in particular.
• NLM to serve as a concurrent method of tracking the implementation and
  identifying process flaws including suggesting immediate corrective actions in the implementation of RD programmes.
• A repository of desirable policy inputs which can contribute to improved programme design for the future.
• Provide data on a generic set of impact indicators for each programme to capture
  the benefits of RD programmes.
• Documenting with evidence, the best practices in relations to outcome/asset
  creation of programme to assist MoRD in disseminating and up scaling those.
• Reality check on transparency issues to assess whether the selection of
  beneficiaries under the programme has been transparent, unbiased and fair.
• With a view to make the process demand driven and for continuous improvement in delivery of initiatives, ascertain the views of the villagers/end users on the programmes/assets and recording their suggestions.
• To verify the veracity of the complaints and report to MoRD.

Scope of Work: The proposed scope of work under this contract includes (but is not
limited to) the following three types of monitoring assignments:

• Regular Monitoring of all Rural Development Programmes: NLMs are deputed for regular monitoring to monitor and report on various aspects of implementation of the Rural Development Schemes in all 783 districts of the country every financial year. In every allotted district, the NLMs are required to visit 8 villages spread over 3 pre-specified blocks, choosing 2/3 villages GPs in each block based on the major RD Programmes currently going on in the villages. NLMs will also interact with the beneficiaries to find out the impact of the schemes at the grass root level.
• Special Monitoring of Individual Schemes: NLMs are also deputed to cover a particular scheme or some specific aspects of a particular scheme only and report on the issues/processes in detail. It has been felt over the years that Regular Monitoring visits cannot provide detailed enquiry into specifics of a particular programme as the efforts and attention of NLMs are divided to cover all the programmes in a very short visit. It has been decided that three Special Monitoring visits covering specific detailed enquiry on critically important parameters of three (3) programmes shall be taken up on a rotational basis every year. Sampling and methodology for these visits will be decided each time in consultation with the respective Programme Division.
• Complaints/Enquiries: In case of complaints of serious nature from people’s
  representatives, NGOs, etc. regarding mis-utilization of funds, irregularities, etc.,NLMs may be deputed to verify facts or for a preliminary enquiry with the approval of Secretary, DoRD.

Quality Monitoring of NLMs:-

It is important that a system for taking care of the quality control processes at field level, much needed for accurate, reliable and valid results is in place. It is therefore of prime importance that a systematic quality assurance procedure is adopted to prevent
unacceptable practices and to minimize possibilities of errors in the data collection.
Establishment of an efficient and effective procedure towards improvement of the quality of field work will help achieve timely collection of high quality data and the validity of the results. Such procedures of quality control can also provide for implementation with predefined operational standards regarding the methodology, processes and outcomes of the huge data collection field exercise undertaken under the NLM programme. The Quality Monitoring Mechanism shall be transparent, systematically monitored and will also be carefully reported as a part of the NLM’ compiled reports. The proposed Quality Monitoring Mechanism is aimed at ensuring that:

• The data collection by the NLMs is relevant and meaningful for the monitoring needs of this Ministry;
• The field work undertaken by NLMs follows established procedures and accepted protocols;
• The data collection errors are minimized;
• The NLMs not performing up to the mark are identified, eliminated (if needed) and the data collection capability is improved overtime;
• NLMs have capacity to identify and upload the best practices during the field visit.
• In order to assess and cross verify the data collection processes adopted by the NLMs, it is proposed that a team comprising of three members, one each from Ministry of Rural Development, NIRD & PR and Support Service Applicant will visit an NLM in the field at least once in a year. The Quality Monitoring Team (QMT) will select villages located in any district where the NLM work has been carried out recently. Monitoring Division, MoRD will decide the ToR and duration of the visit of the QMT.

Eligibility:

a. Registration: The applicant Institution/Applicant should be a legal entity in the
country, registered in India with the concerned authorities/Registrars since last 5
years.
b. Experience: The Applicant should have minimum experience of 5 monitoring and
evaluation studies in Rural Development and other social sectors during last 3 years.*
c. Annual Turnover: Rs.50 lakhs annual average turnover during last 3 years.*
d. Manpower: Should have at least 8 professionals possessing Master degree (Post
Graduate) in any discipline with 5 years’ experience in the field of monitoring,
evaluation and research work, at the rolls of institution/firm. The Institute should
also have at least 8 field supervisors & investigators on its roll having experience in
conducting such Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) work.
e. Establishment: The Applicant must have a permanent establishment of its own in
any state for applying for empanelment in that region.

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