Background

I. Background and Context

UN Women was established by GA resolution 64/289 of 2 July 2010 on system-wide coherence, with a mandate to assist Member States and the UN system to progress more effectively and efficiently towards the goal of achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women. Since 2001, UN Women (previously as UNIFEM) in Kyrgyzstan has implemented catalytic initiatives on promoting women’s economic, political and social rights. In 2012, a full Country Office was established.

Violence against women and girls (VAWG) persists as a pervasive violation of human rights and a major impediment to achieving gender equality in Kyrgyzstan. The Concluding Observations (COBs) of the 2015 CEDAW Committee highlighted a number of serious shortcomings in the state’s performance in protecting the rights of and ending violence against women and girls. The COBs expressed a particular concern about the high prevalence and persistence of bride kidnapping and early marriage as practices deeply entrenched in society, despite the existence of comparatively progressive legislation.

Forced and early marriages are two widespread practices in the Kyrgyz Republic, with an estimated one in five women kidnapped for marriage in the country. The 2016 Gender in Society Perception Study (GSPS) conducted by UN Women, UNFPA and IOM, in partnership with the National Statistics Committee, found that equal number of respondents (about 20%) believe that the dynamics of violent and non-violent abductions of women for marriage remain unchanged. This was observed to a greater or lesser extent throughout the country. While the national data show that the proportion of women married by age 18 is gradually decreasing after reaching its maximum at the turn of the century, the 2016 Common Country Assessment (CCA) suggests that early marriage is an on-going issue, although difficult to measure due to its hidden nature. In line with this argument, the CCA points out the steady increase in early motherhood over the last decade, with 7.4 children per 1,000 born to women in the 15-17-year-old age group in 2014, as against 4.4 in 2006.

The situation in Kyrgyzstan has rapidly developed since the first infection cases of COVID-19 have been detected in the country on 18 March 2020. As part of virus containment strategies the Government introduced a state of emergency and stringent curfews in several locations, including the cities of Bishkek, Osh and Jalal-Abad, Nookat and Kara-Suu districts of Osh Province, Suzak District of Jalal-Abad Province, locking them down and imposing a curfew from 8 pm to 7 am. The state of emergency will be effective until 15 April 2020.

COVID-19 is not just a health crisis, it is a humanitarian and development crisis with the worst impact expected in fragile contexts and conflict settings. Evidence shows that the impacts and implications of COVID-19 are different for women and men, and that they are exacerbating existing gender inequalities and posing an additional burden for women and girls. The situation around violence against women and girls (VAWG) is likely to worsen in the context of COVID-19, both globally and in the region. Emerging data shows that since the outbreak of COVID-19, reports of violence against women, and particularly domestic violence, have increased in several countries as security, health, and money worries create tensions and strains accentuated by the cramped and confined living conditions of lockdown. 

In Kyrgyzstan, according to the official data provided by the Ministry of Interior the number of reported cases for the first quarter of 2020 has increased by 1.6 times compared to the same period of 2019, showing that the increase is clearly correlated with the current lockdown situation.  The Ministry of Labor and Social Development already reported a surge in domestic violence cases as people have been under quarantine.  At the same time, compelled isolation spurred mental health pressure, causing suicides among 7 teenagers  for the month of March. The Ministry noted that the common causes of suicide are socio-psychological maladaptation, arising under the influence of acute psycho-traumatic situations brough about in light of COVID-19 crisis. The Association of Crisis Centers reported a high increase in calls received through helplines from women asking for psychological and humanitarian aid.  The country also lacks endorsed algorithm/instruction for victims of violence to turn for help to police offices, crises and shelters under the quarantine conditions, which makes it impossible for them to escape in case of experiencing violence. 

Description of the project Across Generations and Gender Borders – Communities Combatting Gender-Based Violence in Kyrgyzstan

Project strategy and expected results

In early 2018, the UN Women Country Office launched a project entitled “Across Generations and Gender Borders – Communities Combatting Gender-Based Violence in Kyrgyzstan” with the funding support from EU under European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR). The project is aimed at reduction of gender-based violence through changing gender discriminatory social norms and attitudes in the targeted communities using customized approaches, such as community mobilisation, interpersonal communication, community empowerment, public relations, public policy and media advocacy, entertainment-education, and social marketing tools. The project is implemented by UN Women in partnership with NGOs HelpAge International and Agents of Change in 16 target municipalities of four provinces in Kyrgyzstan, namely Issyk-Kul, Talas, Batken and Osh. Considering the spike in domestic violence cases and suicides among teenagers as a result of COVID-19 outbreak, in March 2020 the project expanded its community outreach component decreasing tension in families as they remain in compelled isolation and offering them a range of awareness raising and edutainment opportunities during the quarantine. 

The theory of change of the project is as follows: “IF the patriarchal attitudes & behaviors are changing to support gender equality and resist violence against women and girls, THEN the gender-based violence is reduced in target communities, BECAUSE a community with zero tolerance of gender-based violence or discrimination will enable women and girls fully realize their potential in in education, economic empowerment, and political participation. The project is aimed to bring target communities together to act against nonconsensual marriage practices and associated violence against women and girls of all ages and its main goal is to is to reduce the gender-based violence in communities.

This goal is being achieved with the help of the following project results:

1. Women and girls are skilled and empowered to transform gender relations on individual, family and community levels.

2. Platforms for inter-generational communication and collaboration are established and communities are equipped with tools and legal knowledge to combat violence against women and girls.

3. Older people, youth, women and men are informed and aware about the negative consequences of gender based violence for women and for societies.

The beneficiaries will be able to transform gender relations at family level (output 1) through a community-led process which provides tools to address social norms and gender inequalities within families. Through this transformative process, the action will establish community-level ‘task forces’ for inter-generational communication and collaboration and equip them with knowledge and tools for joint action and open dialogue on non-consensual marriage practices in the target communities (output 2). The ‘task forces’ will lead a multifaceted awareness-raising and advocacy campaign against non-consensual marriage practices (output 3), which will be developed using insights from behavioural science to deliver tailor-made messages that motivate people to take action. Meanwhile, due to the action’s network-based approach, the examples of positive benefits of more equal power relations within families and the support generated for collective action and gender advocacy under output 1 will have the additional benefit of rendering the wider population in the target communities more receptive to the messages and information provided through various channels under output 3, further encouraging people to call into question their beliefs and behavior, and to take part in joint actions against early marriage and bride kidnapping and thus, contributing to the outcome and impact-level results as described above.

Project beneficiaries and stakeholders

• 20 'Community Champions' will have the ability to apply Gender Action Learning System (GALS) tools in their activities with 2,400 families, comprising approximately 12,000 family members, who will in turn use GALS methodology to transform gender relations at household and community levels;

• Members of 16 inter-generational groups (IGGs) - a total of 190 men and women from age groups 15-18 and 55+ (50% youth and 50% elderly considering gender balance), 16 representatives of youth organizations and 16 peer trainers have increased knowledge of the law and behaviour change techniques to combat VAWG, and the ability to implement outreach and training activities in their communities.

• 160 schoolgirls aged 13-14 and 160 of their mothers will have enhanced their ability for frank discussion of non-consensual marriage practices and increased their knowledge of how to combat them.

• Members of 10 Courts of Aksakals, a total of 200 people, will benefit from the provision of legal expertise and training, increasing their knowledge and improving their ability to process cases involving gender-based violence.

• Up to 5,000 members of the target communities (out of these at least 50% GALS beneficiaries), including local authorities and religious leaders, will directly benefit from community-based outreach activities such as the forum theatre and additional 2,400 will receive information materials utilising behaviour change communication techniques which will encourage them to re-evaluate their attitudes towards non-consensual marriage practices.

• Key stakeholders include the government counterparts Ministry of Labour and Social Development, especially the Gender Department and newly established Domestic Violence Unit under the Ministry, National Council on Gender Equality and Women’s Affairs, Ministry of Culture, Information, and Tourism and Ministry of Justice, State Agency for Local Self-Government and Inter-Ethnic Relations and State Agency for Religious Affairs, representatives of Local Crisis Centres, women’s rights and youth organizations, media and development partners.

Budget and geographical scope and timeframe

The project is implemented in 16 target municipalities of four provinces in Kyrgyzstan, namely Issyk-Kul, Talas, Batken and Osh. The timeframe is 32 months starting form 1 January 2018 till 31 August 2020.

Project management

The project is implemented by UN Women in partnership with NGOs HelpAge International (HAI) and Agents of Change (AOC). Field presence is established through Field Officers in each of the four target communities to lead and oversee implementation of the activities, to support and coordinate the beneficiaries and the implementing partners, and to liaise with stakeholders at local level. 

UN Women has a full-time Project Specialist to manage and oversee the project implementation, facilitate the work of the Coordination Committee, liaise with the donor, lead the joint monitoring activities and compile high quality donor reports based on the partners' inputs. The Project Specialist is supported operationally by a full-time Project Assistant and 2 part-time drivers in Bishkek and Osh. 

Agents of Changes has a full-time Project Coordinator coordinate and supervise planning and delivery of project activities; ensure regular quality reporting to UN Women; conduct monitoring of project activities and recording of lessons learned and a part-time Financial Manager for operational support. 

The existing HAI staff member serves as Project Coordinator to coordinate and supervise planning and delivery of project activities; ensure regular quality reporting to UN Women; conduct monitoring of project activities and recording of lessons learned. The Project Coordinator is supported operationally by the Country Director and Finance department who assist with finance reporting and audit, and contracting of Field Officers. HAI national Advocacy and Communications Officer contributes to implementation of the communication activities outlined in the behaviour change communication campaign in close cooperation with the partner agencies responsible for the community-based outreach activities. Finally, Regional Head of Programmes and Regional Finance Manager from HAI Eurasia and Middle East office based in Jordan provide overall supervision and donor compliance.

II. Purpose (and use of the evaluation)

As indicated in Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Plan of the Strategic Note 2018-2022 of the UN Women Country Office in the Kyrgyz Republic, a final evaluation with a special focus on lessons learnt will be conducted towards the end of implementation period of the project Across Generations and Gender Borders – Communities Combatting Gender-Based Violence in Kyrgyzstan. 

The findings of the evaluation and lessons learnt will contribute to effective programming, refining the CO approaches to EVAWG, organizational learning and accountability and should be also of use for the implementation of actions in similar fields like Spotlight Initiative. The information generated by the evaluation will moreover be used to engage policy makers and other stakeholders at local, national and regional levels in evidence-based dialogues and to advocate for gender-responsive strategies to peacebuilding and conflict-prevention with a particular focus on engaging adolescents in dialogues of gender equality, human rights, and peace and security at local, national and regional levels. The EU Delegation may also consider making use of findings and lessons learnt from this evaluation under future EIDHR calls.

Targeted users of the evaluation are UN Women staff at Kyrgyzstan Country Office, the responsible parties and the government counterparts at local and national levels, CSOs, and other UN agencies, donor community and development partners present in Kyrgyzstan and the ECA region and the project beneficiaries.

III. Objective 

The objectives of this evaluation are to:

1. Analyze the relevance of the project strategy and approach at local and national levels on EVAWG agenda, gender equality and women’s empowerment.

2. Assess effectiveness and organizational efficiency in progressing towards the achievement of the project results, including the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment results as defined in the intervention.

3. Assess the sustainability of the results and the intervention in advancing gender equality through the target group.

4. Analyze how human rights based approach and gender equality principles are integrated in the project implementation.

5. Asses how the intervention and its results relate and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. 

6. Identify and document lessons learned, good practices and innovations, success stories and challenges within the project, to inform future work of UN Women in the frameworks of EVAWG agenda and beyond.

7. Identify strategies for replication and up-scaling of the project’s best practices.

8. Provide actionable recommendations with respect to UN Women’s work on EVAWG agenda and beyond.

Key evaluation questions

Considering the mandates to incorporate human rights and gender equality in all UN work and the UN Women Evaluation Policy, which promotes the integration of women’s rights and gender equality principles, these dimensions will have a special attention in this evaluation and will be considered under each evaluation criterion.

Relevance

• To what extent was the design of the intervention and its results relevant to the needs and priorities of the beneficiaries? 

• To what extent has the project been catalytic in addressing some of the root causes of gender-based violence?

• How innovative was the chosen design of the intervention with respect to other EVAWG projects?

• To what extent is the intervention aligned with international agreements and conventions on gender equality and women’s empowerment?

Impact

• To what extent adapting Gender Action Learning System (GALS) to local conditions has been successful, effective, has had an impact, it is sustainable and can be replicated.

• To what extent the objectives of the Action (the EIDHR project) has been achieved as intended, in particular the Actions’ planned overall objectives? 

• To what extent the capacity to achieve results has been facilitated/constrained by external factors? 

• To what extent the Action has produced any unintended or unexpected impacts, and if so how have these affected the overall impact?

Coherence

• To what extent does the project fit within UN Women’s Strategic Plan and interrelated threefold mandate?

• To what extent is the intervention consistent with the Government priorities and national development strategies? 

• To what extent the implementation of project ensures synergies and coordination with Government’s and key partners, including both national and international, in the field of eliminating violence against women and girls while avoiding duplications? To what extent are the interventions achieving synergies with the work of the UN Country Team?

• What is UN Women’s current comparative advantage in this area of work compared with other UN entities and key partners in the Kyrgyz Republic? 

Effectiveness 

• To what extent have the expected results of the project been achieved on both outcome and output levels?

• What are the reasons for the achievement or non-achievement of the project results? Has the project achieved any unforeseen results, either positive or negative? What are the good practices and the obstacles or shortcomings encountered? How were they overcome?

• How appropriate is the project strategy of empowering and engaging youth and local self-governments as advocates for gender equality, human rights and peace and security in making a contribution to peace and stability in the country? 

• How well did the intervention succeed in involving and building the capacities of rights-holders, duty-bearers as well as the project partners?

• To what extent are the monitoring mechanisms in place effective in measuring and informing management of the project performance and progress towards the targets? To what extent was the monitoring data objectively used for management action and decision making?

Efficiency 

• Have resources (financial, human, technical support, etc.) been allocated strategically to achieve the project outcomes? 

• To what extent does the management structure of the intervention support efficiency for project implementation and achievement of results? 

• Have the outputs been delivered in a timely manner?

Sustainability 

• What is the likelihood that the benefits from the project will be maintained for a reasonably long period of time after the project phase out?  

• How effectively has the project generated national ownership of the results achieved, the establishment of partnerships with relevant stakeholders and the development of national capacities to ensure sustainability of efforts and benefits? 

• To what extent has the project been able to promote replication and/or up-scaling of successful practices? 

• To what extent has the exit strategy been well planned and successfully implemented?

Gender Equality and Human Rights 

• To what extent has gender and human rights considerations been integrated into the project design and implementation? 

• How has attention to/integration of gender equality and human rights concerns advanced the area of work? 

It is expected that the evaluation team will develop an evaluation matrix, which will relate to the above questions (and refine them as needed), the areas they refer to, the criteria for evaluating them, the indicators and the means for verification as a tool for the evaluation. Final evaluation matrix will be approved in the evaluation inception report.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Scope of Work and Responsibilities

a. Scope of Work

The final evaluation of the project Across Generation and Gender Borders - Communities Combatting Gender-Based Violence in Kyrgyzstan will be conducted in the end of the project implementation and funding period and will cover the entire duration of the project from 1 January 2018 to 31 August 2020. The evaluation is planned to be conducted between June and October 2020.The geographical scope for this evaluation includes 16 municipalities in Batken, Issyk-Kul, Osh and Talas provinces of Kyrgyzstan, namely:

The evaluation might include a data collection mission to the four selected project sites in Kyrgyzstan which will be identified at the inception phase and included in the inception report. It is initially assessed that if possible and depending on movement restrictions the national consultant covers onsite data collection in the field with remote support of international team leader.  However, considering the current movement limitations, this might need to be revised. This will be discussed and agreed during the inception phase and methodology will be revisited accordingly. 

The evaluation shall cover all aspects of the project.

The evaluation will be a transparent and participatory process involving relevant UN Women stakeholders and partners in Kyrgyzstan. The evaluation will be based on gender and human rights principles and adhere to the UNEG Norms and Standards and Ethical Code of Conduct and UN Women Evaluation Policy and guidelines.

The evaluation is a final project evaluation and a summative approach focusing on capturing the lessons learned during the implementation and assessing the achievement of the results at output and outcome levels will be employed. The evaluation methodology will furthermore follow a ToC approach and employ mixed methods including quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and analytical approaches to account for complexity of gender relations and to ensure participatory and inclusive processes that are culturally appropriate. Methods include but are not limited to:

• Desk review of relevant documents such as project and programme documents, progress reports, financial records, meeting minutes and monitoring reports, and secondary data or studies relating to the country context and situation
• Online consultations and discussions with UN Women senior management, programme and project management staff
• Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, surveys with direct and indirect beneficiaries, implementing partners, donor and other stakeholders
• Field visits to and observation at selected project sites (to be potentially revisited)

Data from different research sources will be triangulated to increase its validity. The proposed approach and methodology should be considered as flexible guidelines rather than final requirements, and the evaluators will have an opportunity to make their inputs and propose changes in the evaluation design. The methodology and approach must, however, incorporate human rights and gender equality perspectives. It is expected that the Evaluation Team will further refine the approach and methodology and submit a detailed description in the inception report.

Comments provided by the evaluation reference and management groups are aimed at methodological rigor, factual errors, errors of interpretation, or omission of information and must be considered by the evaluators to ensure a high-quality product. The final evaluation report should reflect the evaluator’s consideration of the comments and acknowledge any substantive disagreements.

b. Evaluation Process

The evaluation process has five phases:

1) Preparation: gathering and analyzing project data, conceptualizing the evaluation approach, internal consultations on the approach, preparing the TOR, establishment of the Evaluation Management Group (EMG) and the Evaluation Reference Group (ERG), stakeholders mapping and selection of evaluation team.  

2) Inception: consultations between the evaluation team and the EMG, project portfolio review, finalization of stakeholder mapping, inception meetings with the ERG, review of the result logics, analysis of information relevant to the initiative, finalization of evaluation methodology and preparation and validation of inception report.

3) Data collection and analysis: in-depth desk research, in-depth review of EIDHR project documents and motoring frameworks, in online interviews as necessary, staff and partner survey/s, and field visits. 

4) Analysis and synthesis stage: analysis of data and interpretation of findings and drafting and validation of an evaluation report and other communication products.

5) Dissemination and follow-up: once the evaluation is completed UN Women is responsible for the development of a Management Response, publishing of the evaluation report, uploading the published report on the GATE website, and the dissemination of evaluation findings.

While the independent evaluation team will be responsible for phases 2, 3 and 4 above UN Women is responsible for phases 1 and 5.  

c.Stakeholder participation and evaluation management

The UN Women Kyrgyzstan  Monitoring, Reporting and Coordination Specialist will serve as the evaluation task manager responsible for the day-to-day management of the evaluation and ensures that the evaluation is conducted in accordance with the UN Women Evaluation Policy, United Nations Evaluation Group Ethical Guidelines and Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the United Nations system and other key guidance documents. Moreover, an evaluation management group comprising of UN Women Country Office senior management and key project staff will be established to oversee the evaluation process, make key decisions and quality assure the different deliverables. The evaluation process will be closely supported by the UN Women Regional Evaluation Specialist, who is a member of the UN Women Independence Service.  

An evaluation Reference Group integrated by key stakeholders involved in the implementation of the project will be established. The establishment of an evaluation reference group facilitates participation of the key stakeholders representing government, partner and donor organizations, other UN agencies, CSOs and project beneficiaries in the evaluation process. It will help to ensure that the evaluation approach is robust and relevant to staff and stakeholders and make certain that factual errors or errors of omission or interpretation are identified in evaluation products. The reference group will provide input and relevant information at key stages of the evaluation: terms of reference, inception report, draft and final reports and dissemination of the results.  

d.Timeframe and expected outputs

1. Expected deliverables and payment procedures:

Payment will be issued in three instalments upon the satisfactory submission of the deliverables cleared by the evaluation task manager to certify that the services have been satisfactorily performed: 20% upon accepting inception report, 60% upon accepting the draft report and 20% upon accepting the final evaluation report and other evaluation knowledge products.

Translation/interpretation will be provided during online meetings and interviews.

Competencies

Core Values:

• Respect for Diversity
• Integrity
• Professionalism

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Core Values and Competencies: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/about%20us/employment/un-women-values-and-competencies-framework-en.pdf?la=en&vs=637

Functional Competencies:

• Possesses the ability to work independently, under pressure and meet deadlines;
• Good knowledge of technical area;
• Good organizational skills and ability to pay close attention to detail;
• Experience in report writing.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications:

Education:

• At least a master’s degree in gender issues, human rights, development studies or other related area

Working Experience:

• At least 7 years of relevant experience in the field of evaluation, including substantive involvement in at least ten evaluations of strategies, policies and/or development programmes.
• Extensive knowledge and experience of gender-responsive and human rights-based approaches to evaluation.
• Proven experience of designing and leading gender-responsive evaluations and/or applied research utilizing a wide range of approaches and methods.
• Proven knowledge and experience of working in areas of elimination of gender-based violence in Central Asia. Previous experience in particular in Central Asia and/or Kyrgyzstan will be considered a strong asset.
• Proven knowledge and experience in gender equality and women’s empowerment, gender mainstreaming, gender analysis and the related mandates.
• Experience within the United Nations system will be considered an asset.
• Ability to produce well written reports demonstrating analytical ability and communication skills.
• Demonstrated facilitation and communications skills, experience in participatory approaches and methodology, and ability to negotiate amongst a wide range of stakeholders.

Knowledge of languages:

• Fluent in English, Russian and Kyrgyz.

1. Application Process 

The application should include:

• Offeror's letter to UN Women confirming interest and availability for the assignment, including financial proposal, indicating all costs relating to the delivery of outputs as per above description;
• Personal History Form (P-11 form) - including past experience in similar assignments; can be downloaded at http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment (a signed copy should be submitted);
• Copies of three recently completed evaluation reports submitted separately by email to hr.kyrgyzstan@unwomen.org
• Financial Proposal:  Specify a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this Terms of Reference. UN Women is responsible for buying air tickets (economy class), DSA and booking the hotel and will be supporting the visa and travel arrangements.

Please upload the P11 form combined with other application documents, including the financial proposal and a possible CV, as one (1) single PDF document.

Candidate should have the ability to quickly produce degree certificates and medical certification (of good health) should they be short-listed in consideration of the consultancy post.

Please carefully respond to the requirements of the Terms of Reference in the P11 that you submit.

Please note that the financial proposal should indicate fee rate per working day. For any travel that may be undertaken as agreed with UN Women, UN Women will provide the UN DSA, relevant UN terminals, air-ticket if necessary, and provide a vehicle.

The financial proposal should be provided in USD; if the proposal is provided in any other currency it would be converted as per UN exchange rate on the date of post closure.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Candidates can only be shortlisted if they profess to meet all the mandatory requirements in the Terms of Reference.  Applications without the completed P11 form are incomplete and will NOT be considered for further assessment.

The Consultant shall promote a client-oriented approach consistent with UN Women rules and regulations and commits to high standards of quality, productivity and timeliness in the delivery of tasks. The Consultant will meet and apply the highest standards of integrity and impartiality.

The Consultant must be fully dedicated to the mandate and the values of UN Women, particularly to promoting Gender Equality as a strategy to reduce conflict, improve livelihoods and ensure fairness and justice; to Women Empowerment underpinning Gender Equality promotion efforts; to inter-ethnic tolerance and concord; and to respect for diversity.

2. Payment Schedule

Payment for the services provided will be made in instalments upon achievement of expected results and submission of agreed package of documents and reports, approved by UN Women.

3. Evaluation process

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' technical qualifications and experience, and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Technically responsive/compliant/acceptable to the requirements of the ToR and
• Having received the highest cumulative (technical & financial) score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

4. Technical Evaluation Criteria:

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows:

p = 30 (µ/z)

Using the following values:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated