Request for Tender. Case Management Database

Transcription

1 Request for Tender Case Management Database Asisténsia Legál ba Feto no Labarik (ALFeLa) is seeking proposals from organisations interested in developing a Case Management Database for use by ALFeLa to manage its legal case work in Timor-Leste. This request for tender comprises: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Project Background Statement of Requirement Conditions of Tender

2 Part 1 Project overview ALFeLa is an independent and not-for-profit legal aid organisation based in Timor-Leste. Its mission is to support women and children in Timor-Leste access a formal justice system that is fair and without discrimination. ALFeLa s core work covers the following three areas: (i) provision of free legal assistance; (ii) community legal education; and (iii) advocacy. ALFeLa receives funding from international donors to carry out its work, including through UNICEF and AusAID Justice Sector Support Facility. Between 2005 and 2012, ALFeLa provided victim support services to over 1,234 women and girls. ALFeLa currently has over 800 active client files and receives more than 20 new clients a month through four district offices in Dili, Baucau, Suai and Oecusse. The majority of these cases involve cases of domestic violence and sexual assault where ALFeLa provides legal advice and assistance to the victims. ALFeLa currently has 26 staff, including 10 legal staff who actively work on cases and one database officer who is responsible for updating information on each active case and managing the physical client files. Number of clients between ,234 Current active client cases 800 Number of new clients per month 20 Total staff 26 Total legal staff 11 Casework process ALFeLa legal staff receive most clients through referral from the Vulnerable Persons Unit of the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL VPU). Other clients are referred through our partner services providers, such as NGO Pradet, Fokupers and Casa Vida. A small number of clients contact ALFeLa directly to seek legal assistance. Each client s case is managed by a dedicated ALFeLa Legal Officer. The Legal Officer is responsible for opening a new client case file and following up the client s case to final court decision. The types of activities that a Legal Officer will undertake on a case includes: explaining to the client the legal process for their case lodging a complaint with the PNTL VPU (if the case has not already been registered) referring the client to other service providers, such as medical forensic examination, safe houses, social security accompanying the client to meetings with the Public Prosecutor lodging results of medical forensic examination with the Public Prosecutor visiting the client to provide updates on their case obtaining information about the status of the client s case from formal agencies (police, Public Prosecutor, the Courts) notifying the client of summons to appear in court to give evidence accompanying the client, witnesses and family members to court hearings explaining the final court decision to the client

3 ALFeLa closes and archives a client s case when a final decision has been handed down and the sentence executed (for example, when the fine has been paid by the perpetrator), or the client no longer needs ALFeLa s assistance. A number of old cases have also been closed in 2013 as the clients can no longer be contacted by ALFeLa. The below Diagram A shows the typical process for ALFeLa s case work. Summary of current information collect methods As illustrated above, ALFeLa currently uses a mixture of physical and electronic files to store client case information. The different methods currently used to store information relating to a case are: 1. Physical client folders a folder is opened for each new client to store all hardcopy forms, letters and other information related to the client s case (such as copies of court notices, decisions). This is opened and maintained by the Database Officer and kept in locked filing cabinets. 2. Electronic client folders on the ALFeLa server a folder is opened for each new client on the ALFeLa server in Dili. The client folder contain all electronic documents, mostly MS Word documents and PDF documents. This is a working folder and contain draft as well as final versions. Only ALFeLa legal staff have access to this part of the server. Client folders are organised according to the year and month in which the file was opened. 3. MS Excel spreadsheet is used to update client and case information for reporting purposes (to donors and internal ALFeLa reports). One spreadsheet currently contains information on all active and archived cases. The spreadsheet is populated with information recorded by Legal Officers in the Client Information Form, Case notes form, Court case form and Case decision form (see Diagram A). The data in the spreadsheet is used regularly by the Database Officer to produce statistics for donors. An overview of the current information collection methods is at Diagram B. Legal Officers in Oecusse, Suai and Baucau district offices do not have access to the ALFeLa server. They have basic access to the internet through a mobile modem. They provide information to the Database Officer once a month when they travel to Dili, usually through the hardcopy Client information Form.

4 1. First interview with the client Legal Officer completes 1. Engagement letter - signed by client appointing ALFeLa as her legal representative (hardcopy) Coordinator reviews all documents and sends to Database Officer Database Officer 2. Client information form - with personal particulars and case information (in MS Word) 3. Authority to obtain information letter - signed by the client giving ALFeLa authority to receive communications on her behalf (hardcopy) 4. Authority to obtain medical records - signed by the client giving ALFeLa authority to obtain medical records related to her case (hardcopy)

5 2. Opening ALFeLa client case file Database Officer 1. Records client information in excel spreadsheet - from the client information form completed by the Legal Officer (in MS Excel) Saved to ALFeLa server 2. Creates new client folder on the ALFeLa server - all further electronic documents such as case notes to be saved into this folder (in ALFeLa server) Saved to ALFeLa server 3. Creates new physical client folder - for filing all hardcopy documents, such as signed Engagement Letter, Authority to Obtain Information and Authority to obtain medical records (hardcopy) Filed in physical client folders

6 3. Follow-up activities on client s case Legal Officer completes 1. Case notes form - recording all follow-up activities undertaken in the case, including further meetings with the client, meetings with police, prosecutor etc (in MS Word & print to hardcopy) 2. Court case form - recording information about the court hearing for the case (in MS Word & print to hardcopy) Database Officer Saved to ALFeLa server & filed in physical folders - in individual client files 3. Case decision form * - recording information about the final decisions (in MS Word & print to hardcopy) Legal Officer reviews all old cases at least once every month 4. Letters to client and agencies * - such as requesting information from the courts, letters of legal opinion, applications to appear in court (in MS Word & print to hardcopy) * Plan to implement in 2014

7 4. Closing an ALFeLa client case file Cases are closed when: final court decision handed down sentence is executed client no longer needs ALFeLa legal aid Legal Officer completes 1. Case archive form - recording reason why case closed (in MS Word & print to hardcopy) Coordinator signs form & letter and sends to Database Officer Database Officer 2. Final letter to client - explaining that the case has now been closed by ALFeLa (in MS Word & print to hardcopy) Saved to ALFeLa server & filed in physical folders - in individual client files Case archived

8 ALFeLa server 1. ALFeLa client case file [Client name_date] Client information form (MS Word) Case notes form (MS Word) Court case form (MS Word) Informaton in these documents is collected and entered into a MS Excel spreadsheet by the Database Officer 2. ALFeLa case statistics spreadsheet Case decision form (MS Word) Letters to clients and agencies (MS Word) Scanned signed letters (PDF)

9 Physical folders 1. ALFeLa client case file [Client name_date] Engagement letter (original signed hardcopy) Case decision form (hardcopy) Client information form (hardcopy) Letters to clients and agencies (original signed hardcopy) Authority to obtain information letter (original signed hardcopy) Copies of signed letters (hardcopy) Authority to obtain medical records (original signed hardcopy) Photocopied documents such as client electoral card, final court decisions (hardcopy) Case notes form (hardcopy) Court case form (hardcopy)

10 Case statistics ALFeLa collects case statistics for reporting to donors, and as part of monitoring and evaluation. Statistics are produced by the Database Officer by filtering data entered into a MS Excel spreadsheet (see above diagram B). A single spreadsheet currently contains information on all active and closed ALFeLa cases, from The spreadsheet is populated with information recorded by Legal Officers in the Client Information Form, Case notes form, Court case form and Case decision form. Case information captured in the spreadsheet are as follows: A. Client information B. Incident information C. Alleged perpetrator information 1. name 2. DOB, age, age group 3. marital status 4. sex 5. address 6. nationality 7. number of dependents 8. level of education 9. primary employment 10. nature of incident 11. type of incident 12. incident location 13. date, time of incident 14. applicable article from the Penal Code according to ALFeLa 15. article from the Penal Code used by prosecutor 16. whether case involves incest 17. number of perpetrators involved 18. name/s 19. sex 20. age/s 21. nationality 22. relationship with the client D. Preliminary interview information E. Case information F. Case status information 23. source of referral 24. interview date 25. medical examination 26. whether victim referred by ALFeLa to other services 27. whether case reported to police 28. whether victim wants to go to court 29. method of resolution for case 30. previous related cases 31. PNTL VPU case number 32. Prosecutor-General case number 33. Court case number 34. first court date 35. last court date 36. names of judge, prosecutor and lawyers involved in case 37. court decision, length of conviction 38. case status 39. comments 40. name of Legal Officer conducting first client interview 41. name of responsible Legal Officer 42. date file closed

11 From the information collected in the spreadsheet, the Database Officer is able to produce case statistics such as the following: Types of cases handled by ALFeLa between January and December 2012 Case type Total number of cases Percentage of total Domestic violence % Rape 37 17% Sexual abuse of a minor 36 17% Attempted rape 5 2% Threats 2 1% Abduction 1 0.5% Domestic violence - murder 1 0.5% Civil case (alimony and paternity) 10 5% Total % Sources of referral to ALFeLa between January December 2012 District Ba Futuru Casa Vida CJP Family OPL Police Pradet Uma Pas Baucau VSS Other Total Aileu Ainaro Baucau Bobonaro Covalima Dili Ermera Lautem Liquiça Manututu Manufahi Oe-Cusse Viqueque Total ALFeLa clients by age, 2012 Age group Number of clients Percentage < % % % % % > % Don t know 8 4% Total %

12 Part 2 Statement of Requirement The contractor will develop a Case Management Database for use by ALFeLa to manage its case work, information collection and production of case statistics. The Database will simplify and improve the procedures currently used by ALFeLa as described in Part 1. Functional requirements The Case Management Database (Database) will have the following core uses: A. Legal Officers to open client files, record and update information on each case, upload documents relating to the case and close client files. B. Coordinator and Program Manager to monitor monthly case activities, such as number of new cases opened, number of cases assigned to each Legal Officer, number of closed cases and total number of open cases. C. Database Officer and Program Manager to export information from the Database in MS Excel or other form in order to produce case statistics for ALFeLa management and donors. Essential functionalities are: Multilingual information fields are in both Tetum and English. Database assigns an automated unique ALFeLa case number to each new case opened. Ability to search for cases by the unique ALFeLa case number and other key information, such as client s name, responsible Legal Officer s name, date case opened, or case type. Additional desirable functionalities include: Automated monthly alerts prompting responsible Legal Officers to follow-up on open cases. Generate some automated statistics frequently required by ALFeLa, such as referral points of new cases, types of cases handled in a given period, and status of open cases. Security requirements ALFeLa will store confidential client information on the Database. Currently, information is secured on the ALFeLa server and locked filing cabinets. It is essential that the Database has the highest level of security in order to protect confidential client information. Access will only be provided to ALFeLa Legal Officers and selected management staff. Description of tasks The work will involve four components: 1. Design & technical documentation 2. Software development 3. Deployment and testing 4. Technical support

13 Design & technical documentation The contractor will undertake consultations with ALFeLa to understand its requirements and provide an overview of the proposed form of the Database and technologies used. The document should also define how ALFeLa staff will interact with the Database, and how it will meet the functional requirements as defined by ALFeLa in this Request for Tender document and during consultations with the contractor. Software development The contractor will develop the Database as per the design & technical documentation. Deployment and testing The contractor will deploy the Database for testing by ALFeLa and resolve any problems with the technology as identified by ALFeLa and the contractor. Technical support The contractor will provide technical support to ALFeLa for a period of three months and fix any bugs as they arise.

14 Part 3 Conditions of Tender 1. Lodgment of tenders 1.1 Tenders must be lodged electronically with ALFeLa at <[email protected]> and <[email protected]> by 5 pm on 2 December Tenders must address the technical criteria and financial criteria separately in two discrete documents. Tenders which do not meet this requirement may be excluded from assessment. 1.3 Late tenders may be considered by ALFeLa at its discretion. Any decision to exclude a later tender from the evaluation process will be final. 2. Period of tender 2.1 ALFeLa requires that tenders submitted in response to this Request for Tender be open for acceptance for no less than a period of six (6) months after the tender closing time. 3. Language of tenders 5.1 The tender, including all attachments and support material, is to be written in English or Tetum, using simple language. Technical industry terms should be clearly defined. 4. Tender information 4.1 Tenders much include the following information: a) Response detailing the tenderer s solution to the Statement of Requirement; b) Detailed workplan with approximate timeframe to implement the tenderer s solution; c) Details of all personnel that the tenderer proposes to use to deliver the services to ALFeLa under the contract; and d) Schedule of costs in US dollars. 5. Assessment of tenders 5.1 Tenders will be assessed by ALFeLa to determine the tender representing the overall best value for money. 5.2 The value for money assessment will comprise: 80% for the technical criteria; and 20% for the financial criteria. 5.3 Evaluation criteria will involve consideration of the following: Technical criteria a) Tenderer s technical approach to the provision of the services in the Statement of Requirement; b) Tenderer s demonstrated understanding of ALFeLa s requirements;

15 c) Tenderer s ability to deliver all services; and d) Previous experience delivering similar services in Timor-Leste. Financial criteria e) Pricing of the services. 5.4 Tenderers should note that the list of criteria is not exhaustive and not in any order of importance. 5.5 These Conditions of Tender is not a contract between ALFeLa and the tenderer. No contract shall be created in relation to the tender until a formal contract is executed.