Consultancy Services for an Independent Technical Assurance (ITA)

Tender summary

ORGANISATION OF EASTERN CARIBBEAN STATES REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST NAME OF PROJECT - OECS SKILLS AND INNOVATION PROJECT (SKIP) GRANT NO.: E286 Assignment Title: Consultancy Services for an Independent Technical Assurance (ITA) Reference No . LC-OECS COMMISSION-558060-CS-QCBS The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) has received financing from the World Bank toward the cost of the OECS Skills and Innovation Project (SKIP) and intends to apply part of the proceeds to Consultancy Services for an Independent Technical Assurance (ITA). The objectives of the consulting services (“the Services) are to provide independent, evidencebased technical validation of the existing builds (KTIP and Virtual Campus) and of the sourced EMIS DPG and its adaptation, and to provide feedback to the SDT on how to bring each platform to a regionallydeployable standard through an iterative cycle of review, recommendations, remediation, and signoff. The OECS now invites eligible consulting firms (“Consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The minimum required qualifications and experience are listed in section 8.0 of the TOR below. The Qualifications and Experience of Key Experts shall not be included in the shortlisting criteria . Key Experts will not be evaluated at the shortlisting stage. The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III, paragraphs 3.14, 3.16, and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” September 2023 and (‘Procurement Regulations’), setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. To obtain the maximum degree of comparison among Expressions of Interest (EOIs) and facilitate the evaluation process, the EOI should be a maximum of 20 pages (including annexes) with the following information included below. Any pages exceeding this limit will not be considered for evaluation or shortlisting. Title page with name of firm submitting the EOI : should contain name of firm (or joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy, if applicable), address, email, telephone, name of contact person and date of submission. Expression of Interest : including the firm’s general and specific experience, pool of experts etc. Consultants may associate with other firms to enhance their qualifications, but should clearly indicate whether the association is a joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy. In the case of a joint venture, all partners shall be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) method set out in the Procurement Regulations. Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours 08:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (0830 to 1630 hours ). Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States OECS Skills and Innovation Projects P.O. Box 179 Morne Fortune Castries Saint Lucia TEL: +1 758-455-6349/68 E-mail: procurement@oecs.int An electronic copy of the Expressions of Interest must be sent by July 16, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. to: Yasmine Anatole, Procurement Officer At the following email address: procurementbids@oecs.int copied to: skip@oecs.int The email submissions should include the Firm's name and address and shall be clearly marked in the subject line as “ Expression of Interest – Consultancy Services for an Independent Technical Assurance (ITA).” The Terms of Reference for the Submission of Expressions of Interest for this consultancy are provided below. TERMS OF REFERENCE CONSULTANCY SERVICES FOR AN INDEPENDENT TECHNICAL ASSURANCE (ITA) FOR THE OECS SKILLS AND INNOVATION PROJECT (SKIP) Terms of Reference Independent Technical Assurance (ITA) Consultancy Technical Assurance and Iterative Validation of the KTIP, OECS Virtual Campus, and Regionally-Interoperable Post-Secondary EMIS Architectu

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• Issued by points of contact shall be provided for each. Digital Public Goods familiarity. Demonstrated familiarity with the Digital Public Goods Standard, and at least one engagement involving DHIS2, DHIS2Ed, OpenEMIS, or an equivalent DPGbased education or health information system, is required given the EMIS scope of this assignment. Technical breadth. Demonstrated firmlevel expertise across systems architecture, cybersecurity, data governance, software testing, and accessibility, evidenced by relevant team composition and prior assignments. Mobilisation capacity. Capacity to mobilise the senior expert team within four weeks of contract award. 8.2 Key experts required The firm shall propose the following five key expert positions. Each position must be filled by a separate qualified individual. The Team Leader shall be clearly identified throughout the proposal as the firm’s single named accountable individual for the assignment. Team Leader / Senior Technical Auditor The Team Leader is the firm’s single named accountable individual for the assignment, the primary author of the Inception Report (D1), the Final Audit Report (D7), and all gate signoff determinations, and the principal interlocutor with the OECS Commission and the World Bank. Qualifications: Master’s degree in computer science, information systems, engineering, or a related technical discipline. An equivalent senior professional certification with a Bachelor’s degree may be considered. Experience: Minimum 15 years’ experience in technical auditing or independent verification of complex IT systems, of which at least 5 years in a team leadership role on multistakeholder, multiplatform assurance assignments. Sector experience: Demonstrated assignment leadership on at least one largescale education platform, EMIS, or LMS assurance engagement. Skills: Demonstrated capacity to issue specific, actionable technical recommendations with acceptance criteria; strong written communication in English; experience of constructive engagement with inhouse or volunteer development teams. Systems Architect / Integration Specialist Qualifications: Master’s degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related discipline; or Bachelor’s degree with relevant professional certification (TOGAF, AWS/Azure/GCP Solutions Architect, or equivalent). Experience: Minimum 10 years in enterprise systems architecture, database design, API design, and systems integration. Sector experience: Demonstrated experience auditing or designing integrated multiplatform ecosystems involving SIS, LMS, or EMIS components. Skills: Codebase review competence; familiarity with interoperability standards (LTI, OneRoster, FHIR or equivalent); knowledge of microservices and cloudnative architectures. Cybersecurity and Data Protection Specialist Qualifications: Master’s degree in cybersecurity, information security, or a related discipline; or Bachelor’s with relevant professional certification (CISSP, CISM, CISA, OSCP, or equivalent). Experience: Minimum 8 years in information security, secure software development, and security testing. Sector experience: Demonstrated experience auditing security and data protection for systems handling personal data of minors and education records. Skills: Penetration testing experience; data protection and privacy frameworks (including jurisdictions relevant to OECS Member States); familiarity with cloud security and identityandaccessmanagement architectures. Testing and Quality Assurance Specialist Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, or related discipline. ISTQB Advanced or equivalent professional certification is required. Experience: Minimum 8 years in software testing strategy, test automation, performance testing, and UAT management. Sector experience: Demonstrated experience leading testing programmes on largescale education or publicsector systems. Skills: Familiarity with continuous integration and test pipelines; capacity to validate SDTauthored test plans and to design supplementary test scenarios; accessibility testing experience (WCAG 2.2 AA or equivalent). Digital Public Goods and EMIS Specialist Qualifications: Master’s degree in information systems, education technology, public administration, or a related discipline; or Bachelor’s degree with demonstrable equivalent DPGspecific experience. Experience: Minimum 7 years working with DPGbased education or health information systems. At least one countrylevel deployment of a DPGbased EMIS (e.g. DHIS2Ed, OpenEMIS) is required. Sector experience: Demonstrated familiarity with the Digital Public Goods Standard; experience assessing DPG suitability and adaptation scope; familiarity with the global DPG community (HISP network, DPGA, or equivalent). Skills: Ability to assess upstream divergence risk; familiarity with DPG governance and sustainability models; capacity to advise on adaptation scope that preserves community alignment. 9. Duration and Level of Effort The assignment is expected to commence in Q3 2026, subject to confirmation of the procurement schedule prior to the issuance of the request for proposals. Given that KTIP and the Virtual Campus are at approximately 80% completion, the procurement and mobilisation schedule shall be designed to support ITA mobilisation in time for the first G1 baseline audit, and a target mobilisation date shall be confirmed by the OECS Commission RPIU when issuing the request for proposals. Total assignment duration is estimated at approximately 18 months from contract effectiveness, covering the iterative cycles, predeployment certification, and postdeployment stabilisation across all three platforms. Engagement on KTIP and the Virtual Campus shall conclude as each completes its postdeployment stabilisation gate; engagement on EMIS shall continue through its DPG adaptation, pilot, and stabilisation gates. Total estimated level of effort (LOE) is approximately 110 to 130 working days. “Level of effort” refers to the total number of professional working days, aggregated across the firm’s key experts, that the firm is expected to expend in delivering the assignment. The LOE is not continuous: engagement is concentrated around platformspecific gates, iterative review cycles, testing phases, and reporting dates. The indicative LOE distribution is as follows: Component Indicative LOE (days) Basis Inception, baseline audits (KTIP, VC), DPG validation (EMIS) 20–25 Three platforms: two baseline audits of existing builds and one DPG suitability validation Iterative reviewandvalidation cycles 35–40 Multiple cycles per platform; expected 2 cycles per platform between G1 and G3 Testing, validation, and security clearance 20–25 All three platforms Predeployment certification and golive 15–20 Perplatform Go / NoGo decisions Postdeployment monitoring and final audit 20–20 Stabilisation review and scaling recommendations A detailed work plan, with the Level of Effort broken down by platform, by gate, and by expected number of cycles, shall be finalised in the Inception Report (D1) within 10 working days of contract effectiveness. 10. Ethical Standards, Independence, and Confidentiality The ITA shall at all times: Maintain strict confidentiality regarding all.
• Located in Saint Lucia.
• Source notice P179210 on worldbank.
• Notice published 30 Jun 2026; Tenqual indexed it 4 Dec 2025.
• No closing date is listed yet.
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