TERMS OF REFERENCE PAYMENT SERVICES PROVIDER (PSP) FOR CASH TRANSFERS PROJECTS IN NIGERIA Purpose: To provide payment services for cash transfer projects (CTP) in Nigeria within the framework of a Long-Term Arrangement (LTA). The contracted PSP will be responsible for delivering cash transfer benefits to eligible beneficiaries at national and sub-national level with an acceptable geographic coverage of delivery points for the project. Specific objectives a. Deliver cash payments to approximately 50,000 project beneficiaries and/or volunteers as per the list provided by UNICEF under its programmes for specific payment cycles on minimum monthly cycle. This may be through e-payments (direct to bank/PSP account, mobile phone account) or direct cash payment modalities, singularly or in combination. b. Properly account for the transfers delivered in accordance with the UNICEF instructions, amounts and list of beneficiaries, and make the reconciliation of delivered benefit amounts to actual payments made at the end of each payment cycle. c. Provide other services within the existing LTA if requested. Type of contract The LTA holder for the provision of payment services to beneficiaries will be awarded a service contract under the framework of the signed LTA and agreed rates. This contract will cover the payment cycle scope and its duration only subject to availability of funding; and may be extended covering one or multiple additional payment cycle(s), where TOR would be adjusted in line with the LTA and project needs. Location Currently, this will be in 12 states in northern Nigeria under different UNICEF programmes as per the Detailed Requirements of Services. Duration Two years, with possibility of extension by another year, subject to continued requirement of service and satisfactory performance of PSP. Reporting to: UNICEF Chief of Supply & Logistics 2 Introduction a. Background UNICEF is seeking payment services providers to conduct cash-based transfers to recipients enrolled in various existing and potential future cash transfer programmes. Below are the details of the different existing and future cash transfer programme for which UNICEF is seeking a PSP to provide its services; namely: A. Educate A Child CTP; B. Humanitarian CTP; and C. Polio/C4D for VCMs CTP. Contingent on their capacity and geographical coverage, bidders are encouraged in their proposal to respond to the service for one or several programmes outlined below for which the provider has on the ground capacity to fulfil the request. Henceforth, it is not required in the proposal to respond to and have on-the-ground capacity in the geographical regions of all three programmes outlined. UNICEF uses a third-party payment services provider (PSP) to implement its cash transfer projects (CTP) in Nigeria to deliver cash to beneficiaries. The CTP is managed and implemented by UNICEF through a Technical Working Committee (TWC), with funding and technical assistance from partners. The Cash Transfer (CT) model requires several interrelated processes to be conducted. These include facilitation, payment, grievances redressal, case management and third-party monitoring, all of them transversally supported by communication and relevant CT monitoring tools. The CT starts with the generation of a beneficiary list by UNICEF which stipulates the benefit amount per beneficiary case, calculated using a pre-defined payment formula and flags indicating specific actions to be taken by the PSP instructed by UNICEF. A facilitation mechanism, which should be proposed by the PSP and approved by UNICEF, initiates and maintains regular dialogues with local, formal and informal authorities to facilitate a smooth execution of project activities, and through them reach beneficiaries with all relevant information about the project. Currently, the programme has a coverage in 12 States, viz; Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Taraba, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kaduna, Niger, Kebbi, Zamfara, and Sokoto under C4D/Polio; and 2 states (Kebbi and Zamfara) under the education programme; with the flexibility to reach every beneficiary at their current locations; and possibility of scaling up nationally, if needed. During the cash distribution period, beneficiaries can go to the payment sites closer to their current location for payment, or benefit from outreach support if they are elderly or have any other mobility restrictions. In previous payment cycles, beneficiaries went through a thorough verification process to verify their identity against project’s beneficiary list which ensured that the right beneficiaries receive their cash benefit and was a requirement for collecting the cash for the first time. Once their identity had been verified, beneficiaries were given an authorisation form that, together with the identification used for verification, were to be presented at the payment site to collect their cash benefit. During the payment cycle, beneficiaries will go directly to the payment site/provider and present the identification accepted by the project as to confirm their identity prior to payment processing. During this cycle, specific information will be collected from the beneficiaries to facilitate the payments in subsequent cycles. Later, beneficiaries may be given an ID issued by the PSP, which will become how they can certify their eligibility to collect their cash benefit in future payment cycles. If throughout the process beneficiaries have any complaints, they can lodge them through a call centre or a secure and confidential complaint receiving/addressing mechanism that the PSP may propose. All cases are analysed, feedback is provided to the beneficiaries, and case management is activated as required. A third party/independent entity is responsible for monitoring compliance with project procedures and regulations. This includes investigating all cases of potential fraud. 3 To support coordination, a TWC functioning at national and field office levels and chaired by UNICEF will be meeting on a regular (at least monthly) basis. The TWC has the overall task to secure sufficient coordination and collaboration between the various stakeholders in the preparation phase as well as throughout the entire implementation of the CT project. At the field level, the TWC coordinates the every-day activities of all participating service providers in the respective geographic region and responds to any possible upcoming crisis situations through appropriate actions. For the duration of the payment cycle, UNICEF will contract the LTA holder for providing the payment services. The following Terms of Reference (ToR) describes the scope, tasks and responsibilities, deliverables and required qualifications of the assignment. The PSP will be contracted by UNICEF, as the Contracting Authority, and will coordinate with the other service providers as described in this ToR. UNICEF may contract more than one LTA holder for the provision of PSP services for the CTP should the need arise. 2. The Assignment a. Scope of Work The PSP will be responsible for timely delivery of cash transfers to CTP beneficiaries. Fixed and outreach (mobile) payment sites may be used throughout the payment period, covering different LGAs assigned by UNICEF. Each payment site (fixed or mobile) will be valid for a given number of days until all beneficiaries living within a radius of 10km or 2 hours walking distance are paid. The expected validity of a fixed payment site is 26 days, and for mobile sites will vary depending on the needs. For the beneficiaries with special needs who are not able to go by themselves to the fixed or mobile payment sites, the outreach-home modality will be used by the PSP. Outreach staff of the PSP will visit the homes of these beneficiaries and process the payment. For the outreach-home modality, beneficiaries will be flagged as outreach-home in CT-MIS, and CT PMU will provide the banks with the addresses up to village level and contact numbers. The PSP must execute the following general activities to pay beneficiaries using the manual modality (pay in cash): • Prepare a detailed country-wide plan for delivery payments with the objective of making access to payment sites as close as possible to beneficiaries, not requiring beneficiaries to travel more than 10 km or 2 hours’ walking distance. This plan should include establishment of or using current network of sites and outlets for delivering cash to project beneficiaries (fixed, mobile payment sites, and outreach-homes), each with a geo-location coordinates, ward name, number of working days and maximum number of beneficiaries to be paid. • Identify security challenges, risks and their mitigation measures. • Based on the payment schedule advice from UNICEF, plan a detailed payment schedule for each site and inform the beneficiaries on the date they should come to the payment site or expect to be paid at home. • Implement the crowd management protocol for payment sites as established by UNICEF, based on proposal by the PSP. • Provide the CTP beneficiaries with bank photo ID cards with sufficient security and protection features (as per PSP’s proposal aligned to UNICEF instructions). • Pay the CTP beneficiaries at least every month with the possibility of expanding to additional quarters if funds are available and upon satisfactory performance of the PSP. • Ensure that the provision of services to regular customers will not affect the quality of services provided to CTP beneficiaries (fixed payment sites). • The PSP will also participate in the national or field Technical Working Committees when invited to coordinate actions with other partner organizations. For the e-payment modality, only CTP beneficiaries having already mobile phone and a bank account with the PSP will be able to participate. The PSP must execute the following activities: 4 • Prepare the list of CTP beneficiaries who are eligible for e-payments • Secure the confirmation on the interest of CTP beneficiaries to be paid using e-payment modality • Transfer the benefit to these beneficiaries who accepted to be paid using e-payment modality. • Provide ex-post information to UNICEF about the transfers made. The PSP will undertake timely and accurate reconciliation process of accounts after each payment cycle.