Bid Announcement

This is a restricted competitive bidding process, used to secure a genuinely competitive outcome on a compressed timeline rather than to pre-select an outcome.

Restricted means CHM will directly invite a shortlist of pre-qualified, known specialist providers to submit proposals for each node, rather than issuing an open public tender, in order to meet the turnaround needs of a programme already in active delivery.

For each node listed in Section 3, CHM will directly invite:

• The incumbent node expert currently assigned to the node, who must submit a formal proposal as set out in Section 7.
• No fewer than two (2) additional qualified candidates identified and invited by CHM, so that each node receives a minimum of three (3) responsive bids.

Sole-source award is not permitted under this process. Where fewer than three responsive bids are received for a node, CHM will extend the submission window or re-issue the invitation for that node before proceeding to evaluation.

Ongoing or prior engagement with a node is a creditable qualification under the Relevant Experience & Track Record criterion in Section 9, but does not by itself determine the award.

The following node expert positions exceed the UGX 18,000,000 threshold and are the nodes for which CHM has sought aBi no-objection since 25 May 2026.

All four are the subject of this bid announcement.

Bidders (whether incumbent or new) must demonstrate:

• Direct, verifiable experience in the specific enterprise/node area (e.g., agro-tourism development, coffee roasting and quality control, digital storytelling and GPS mapping, or smallholder coffee farming at scale, as applicable to the node being bid).
• Prior experience delivering vocational, apprenticeship, or enterprise training to young women or similarly vulnerable groups in a rural Ugandan context.
• Capacity to deliver within Rakai, Kyotera, and/or Lwengo Districts for the remaining duration of the programme (through December 2026).
• No unresolved conflict of interest with CHM, aBi Development, or the Cafe Africa Uganda (CAU) consortium arrangement.
• Ability to meet CHM's Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) data requirements, including weekly field reporting and baseline income capture.

Bidders must address the following components in their technical proposal for the node(s) they are bidding on:

• Training delivery: Design and/or continued delivery of the node curriculum, structured for the applicable cohort(s), including practical/field-based sessions appropriate to the enterprise.
• Participant support: Onboarding, mentorship, and attendance support for enrolled participants, including approaches to address known retention risks (e.g., transport and household support constraints after the first two weeks).
• Milestone and income tracking: Support for the programme's 30-day milestone framework and capture of baseline and progressive income data for enrolled participants.
• MEL and reporting: Weekly field input consistent with CHM's MEL data system, and participation in monthly stakeholder reporting cycles.

Node-specific requirements:

• Node 9 (Coffee Agro-Tourism): Visitor experience and hospitality/service-standard design integrated with working coffee farms, and a clear linkage plan to aggregation and off-take partners (e.g., Hope Coffee).
• Node 7 (Coffee Roasting & QC): Technical roasting proficiency and quality-control protocols. Bidders must present a corrected, internally consistent roast-yield-loss methodology, addressing the discrepancy identified in CHM's curriculum gap analysis (stated yield loss of 5% against a worked example showing 35%).
• Node 13 (Digital Storytelling & GPS Mapping): Equipment training, digital content production standards, and GPS data collection protocols for aggregation and traceability purposes.
• Node 16 (Gonja Farming): Management of the programme's largest single node (567 Cohort 1 participants), including a staffing and supervision plan proportionate to that scale.

CHM's contracted delivery approach is an expert-led apprenticeship model, under which each node is led by a specialist with direct, verifiable expertise in that enterprise area.

Following alignment with Cafe Africa Uganda (CAU), a blended model is permitted in which certified Trainers-of-Trainers (ToTs) may support delivery, provided the node expert retains lead responsibility for curriculum delivery, quality assurance, and participant outcomes.

Proposals should articulate how the bidder's approach sustains expert leadership of the node, including how any ToT support (where used) is supervised by and subordinate to the lead node expert.

Proposals premised on a ToT cascade substituting for direct node-expert leadership will not be considered responsive to this bid.

Each submission must include:

• A technical proposal (maximum 8 pages) addressing Sections 4-6.
• A financial proposal, itemized against the contract ceiling stated in Section 3 for the relevant node.
• CV(s) of the lead expert and any supporting team members.
• Evidence of prior relevant work (curricula authored, training records, participant/outcome data) where applicable.
• A signed declaration of no conflict of interest.

This timeline is set at the maximum interval consistent with the instruction that the process be restricted and take no more than two weeks to reach submission close.

It gives invited bidders a full 14 calendar days to prepare technical and financial proposals, the minimum generally considered defensible for a proposal covering curriculum, staffing, and costed budget lines, while keeping the overall cycle, from issue to aBi submission, to just over three weeks.

Given that these four node engagements have been pending disbursement since 25 May 2026, CHM should treat the 20 and 30 July dates as fixed and avoid further slippage.

Proposals must be submitted in a sealed envelope or as a single PDF by email, marked with the bid reference number and the node number(s) being bid on.

Late submissions will not be considered.

Contact person: Eriab Sebunje

Email: procurement@celebratehope.org

• Sole-source award is not permitted. Each node must receive a minimum of three (3) responsive bids before evaluation and award may proceed; CHM will re-solicit rather than waive this requirement.
• CHM reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals without providing reasons.
• Award of any node under this process remains subject to aBi no-objection prior to contract signing and disbursement.
• CHM will not reimburse any costs incurred by bidders in preparing or submitting proposals.
• This process does not constitute an offer of employment or contract until formal written award and aBi no-objection are confirmed.

Issued by Celebrate Hope Ministries (CHM), on behalf of the EYE-C Sprint programme.