Enhancement and Technical Support of the Data Dissemination Platform for the Housing and Population Census and other surveys in Trinidad and Tobago.

To provide assistance to the Central Statistical Office (CSO) in Trinidad and Tobago in enhancing monitoring and reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Institutional/Corporate Contract 

Terms of Reference (TOR) 

Summary: 

Background:

UNICEF’s work on data for children is based on a simple premise: We believe that smart demand, supply, and use of data drives will produce better results for children. When the right data is in the right hands at the right time, decisions can be better informed, more equitable, and more likely to protect children’s rights. Effective use of data can help us not just track results for children but also shape those results with better insights about what’s working, what’s not, which children are thriving, and which are being left behind.

To support this mandate, UNICEF’s Office of the Eastern Caribbean Area (ECA) works with countries and territories to strengthen their statistical systems on the monitoring and reporting of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and enhance their overall statistical capacity. With the recent completion of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 6 implementation in Trinidad and Tobago, a Data Dissemination Platform, DataNeTT was used to help strengthen the office’s monitoring and evaluation processes using MICS 6 data. The new data monitoring system was used to help track and report progress towards the achievement of SDGs. These can be found using https://datanett.info

The CSO in Trinidad and Tobago, through the introduction of DataNeTT, is now equipped to manage and update the database warehouse with new sets of indicators on sectors (Demography and Economy) and data sets for various time periods. Since 2023, they have designed and developed two (2) dashboards for Demography and Economy. Previous work on the platform resulted in the population of variables from other departments within the CSO, and there are plans to extend this knowledge by integrating additional data from the upcoming Housing and Population Census and planned surveys.   

Through this consultancy, the contractor would support the strategic priorities of the UNICEF ECA Office with a strong emphasis on data-driven sustainable development. By doing so, the contractor would provide enhancement and technical support to DataNeTT to help improve their capacities for the upcoming Housing and Population Census and planned surveys.  

Objective:

The main purpose of the consultancy is to provide assistance to the Trinidad and Tobago CSO in enhancing monitoring and reporting on the SDGs with the already developed Data Dissemination Platform, DataNeTT used to manage large data sets derived from data captured during the implementation of the Housing and Population Census and surveys.

To engage a qualified contractor to (1) provide secure hosting of the application and its infrastructure for a minimum period of one year, and (2) enhance the application’s search functionality to improve dataset discoverability and metadata access. 

Specific Tasks:

The Contractor will complete the following key tasks/outputs specifically in collaboration with the CSO in Trinidad and Tobago including:

Hosting Services

• Provision of secure, scalable, and high-availability hosting for both web and mobile applications.
• Maintenance and hosting of application infrastructure, including regular updates, backups, and uptime monitoring.
• Ensuring compliance with applicable data protection and cybersecurity standards (e.g., GDPR, ISO 27001, etc.).
• Technical support and incident response within agreed service levels.

Application Enhancement

• Improve the search functionality within the DataNETT application to allow users to:
• Search datasets using keywords, tags, and categories.
• View contextual help, suggestions, and auto-completion to aid search queries.
• Access detailed metadata including dataset origin, update frequency, format, and licensing.
• Integrate a user-friendly interface that guides users in refining search queries and browsing related datasets.
• Provide documentation for the enhanced search feature, including admin controls

Methodology:

The Contractor will be required to select the methodology to be used for the enhancement and technical support to DataNeTT. The Contractor should therefore be guided by the following steps. These steps include: 

1. Provide Support Services – the Contractor will support and maintain the Service Desk Subscription. Through this subscription, there will be 24-hour / 7-day remote technical Help Desk for troubleshooting and assistance on DataNeTT platform. This support service provides technical assistance for various DFA software on the AWS cloud service. 

The Contractor would also support Cloud Hosting Subscription, an off-site solution for hosting the DataNeTT platform in a highly reliable and secure data center that is monitored 24 hours a day. The data center includes physical security, environmental temperature and humidity controls, dual network links, battery backups, and power generators to ensure high availability. The Cloud Hosting service includes regular backups and disaster-recovery assurance

 2. Provide Software Development Services – the Contractor would conduct a DFA Help Integration process, by having an interactive Help feature in key tools such as DFA Visualizer; DFA Dashboard; and DFA Data Manager. The DFA tool should act as a user manual integrated on each page of the tool, allowing users to immediately gather information on how to use the key features of the applications. 

The Contractor would also conduct DataNeTT Visualizer Enhancements by upgrading the DFA Visualizer with smart features to deliver a smarter, more intuitive user experience. This includes intelligent search, fuzzy matching, synonym recognition, and guided data discovery — all built using cost-effective, open-source tools. Based on an initial search for data within the data warehouse, users will then be taken to the Data Visualizer application. 

Expected Deliverables: 

Reporting: 

The Contractor would report to the UNICEF ECA Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist who is the focal point for this project. The Contract will also be required to report the technical findings of the activities to the Director of the CSO in Trinidad and Tobago. In this regard, all deliverables must be reviewed and approved by the above-mentioned parties.

Expected background and Experience:

The Institutional Contractor should have the following experience and knowledge:

• An academic background in Information Technology, Social Science or Statistics.
• At least 10 years of experience in data dissemination tools and software, data visualization techniques and charting, and surveys.
• Excellent visual skills, including demonstrable design knowledge, such as layout, typography, colors, interaction design.
• Proven experience in providing critical statistical inputs to the preparation of national and international reports on MICS and other surveys.
• Demonstrable analytical, writing and communication skills, through publications relevant to the purposes of consulting.
• Strong quantitative and qualitative data analysis skills are important.

Evaluation Criteria 

The technical evaluation will be considered in accordance with the following information: 

Technical Proposal (70 points) 

1) Overall Response (10 points):

a) Understanding of, and responsiveness to UNICEF requirements;

b) Understanding of scope, objectives and completeness of response;

c) Overall concord between UNICEF requirements and the proposal. 

2) Company and key personnel (20 points):

a) Team leader: Relevant experience, qualifications, and position with firm;

b) Team members - Relevant experience, skills & competencies;

c) Organization of the team and roles & responsibilities;

d) Professional expertise, knowledge of similar projects, contracts, and consulting assignments;

e) Financial status. 

3) Proposed Methodology, Approach and System (40 points):

a) Quality of the proposed approach and methodology;

b) Quality of proposed implementation plan, i.e how the bidder will undertake each task, and time-schedules;

c) Risk assessment - recognition of the risks/peripheral problems and methods to prevent and manage risks/peripheral problems. 

Note: The Financial Proposals will be open only to the companies considered technically approved (range between 49 to 70 points).

 Financial Proposal (30 points) 

The Financial Proposal will be opened and tabulated within the Technical Proposal, and the final range will be provided. 

Recourse: 

UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. Performance indicators against which the satisfactory conclusion of this contract will be assessed include timeliness/quality of submission and responsiveness to UNICEF and counterpart feedback.  

Payment Terms/Schedule: 

Payments will be made against all agreed upon deliverables after successful provision of the services at each stage and submission of final invoice to the Contract Manager. Final payment within 30 days after completion of satisfactory performance. UNICEF General Terms and Conditions will apply for non-satisfactory performance. The payment schedule is as follows:

• 30% upon submission of provision of Support Services
• 70% upon submission of completion of the provision of software development services. 

How to Apply: 

The application package should include the following:  

1. Technical Proposal  
2. Financial Proposal* (Detailed budget stipulating all-inclusive fees) 
3. Evidence of similar services provided in the past or currently; include a maximum of two (2) examples showcasing company expertise in the areas outlined in this terms or reference: 

Prospective institutional or corporate contractors should apply to the above email address with the subject line “Enhancement and Technical Support of the Data Dissemination Platform for the Housing and Population Census and other surveys in Trinidad and Tobago” no later than July 04^th, 2025, 5:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time).