Тender №

2021/03 Media Monitoring & Analysis

Services

Media Monitoring & Analysis of UA:Pershyi

Context: UA:PBC Reform

National Public Service Broadcaster of Ukraine (UA:PBC) is currently in the transformation process from state to public broadcaster. This is a unique process of reform in Ukraine, which does not have any precedent in the country. UA:Pershyi is a first national channel of UA:PBC.

Project description

DW Akademie, Germany’s leading organisation for international media development department of Deutsche Welle, in partnership with BBC Media Action, the BBC’s international development charity, supports the reform process of the National Public Service Broadcaster of Ukraine (UA:PBC). This is part of the technical support provided by DW Akademie to UA:PBC as part of the project entitled “Support to the National Public Broadcaster of Ukraine” (2017-2021) funded by the European Union (EU). A key objective of the project is promotion of the public broadcaster through the establishment of a functioning digital multiplatform Newsroom and a training centre, the Public Media Academy (PMA). The project seeks also to provide organisational development support to ensure sustainable development of the Ukrainian public broadcaster.

The overall expected outcome is to improve the effectiveness of UA:PBC, in particular to create a permanent basis of quality, objective, and unbiased news content for all population segments (at the national and regional levels). So that UA:PBC fulfils the benchmarks of a modern public broadcaster’s standards and has improved its ability to produce high quality news programmes, to provide multiple viewpoints, and news stories are shot and edited using professional and modern production standards. Overall, the improved news products will lead to better acceptance of UA:PBC/ UA:Pershyi by the public of the Ukraine, thus contributing to the improvement of information environment in Ukraine and a higher  understanding of the role of public service media in the country.  

Overall objectives and scope of the assignment

The selected external media research organisation/experts are expected to support DW Akademie project team to conduct media monitoring and analysis, which will be used to evaluate the progress of UA:PBC/ UA:Pershyi in reaching its key objectives of improved news content and programming. The assignment is a part of the Monitoring & Evaluation requirements of the EU-funded project.

The key objective of the assignment is to carry out the endline media monitoring study (quantitative content analysis as well as qualitative) of news and social-political programmes as well as its overall schedule grid of UA:Pershyi, in particular, for the time period of two weeks in September 2021.

Research scope

The research should be based on the following quality criteria to assess to what extent UA:PBC fulfills the standards of a modern public broadcaster:  

• CREDIBILITY - usage of trustworthy sources of information; accuracy; unbiased and balanced information; relevance (for its target audience) and diversity of topics of social & political and news programmes;
• QUALITY - accuracy; promptness; division of news and opinions; quality of production: picture, audio, cut, moderation, length of programming, timing, scheduling etc.; formats used – short news, reportages, long news with backgrounds, expert interviews, commentary, talk-shows, debates, guests in studio, live coverage, daily or weekly summary etc.;
• INDEPENDENCE - whether topics/ news stories contain multiply viewpoints, in particular, diverse political opinions, are neutral, express unbiased position, have variety of sources; editorial independence; independence from those holding economic, political or other power;
• DIVERSITY - public sphere for various ideas and opinions; diverse programming for all audiences/ population groups;
• MODERN TECHNOLOGIES - usage of infographics; mobile journalism; usage of new technologies, such as drone or VR; usage of various new/ social media platforms for content distribution; general level of multimedia & digital products; distribution of content in social media channels (same content or different from the content on TV/ website).

The scope of the content for the analysis will be as followed:

• overall TV UA:Pershyi schedule grid;
• all news programmes;
• all socio-political programmes;
• UA:Pershyi / Suspilne website;
• Social media channels of UA:Pershyi (sample analysis).

Expected outcomes/ deliverables

- Update of research questions and methodology of the monitoring in cooperation with DW Akademie before the monitoring starts based on the previous baseline and mid-term analysis (conducted in 2019-2020) – details will be provided upon request.

- Research plan including timeline & research milestone.

- Raw data of the monitoring collected.

- Monitoring report in English (max. 6 000 words) including an executive summary, a general findings section, as well as a detailed section for each of the public broadcasting service quality criteria mentioned above, and recommendations for further development of the Newsroom, in particular its content, of UA:PBC. The report should provide a proper visualisation of data (e.g. graphics, tables etc.). The report template will be provided.

Expected dates of service

11.08.2021 - Kick-off call to discuss the details of the assignment.

11.08 - 5.09.2021 – Planning of media monitoring, including revision of the research plan & methodology and contracting.

6.09 - 19.09.2021 – Implementation of media monitoring.

4.10.2021 – Submission of a draft report.

11.10.2021 – Feedback from DW Akademie on the draft report.

25.10.2021 – Submission of the final version of the report.

Payment

Upon fulfilling contractual obligations, DW Akademie will pay the Service Provider a fee in EUR as follows:

• 100% post payment, which shall be paid within 30 calendar days upon the final invoice and receipt of the services of the contract and its acceptance by the DW Akademie.

Service provider exclusion criteria

Bidders should:

• Have not been sentenced by final judgment on one or more of the following charges: participation in a criminal organisation, corruption, fraud, money laundering.
  • Are not in a situation of bankruptcy, liquidation, termination of activity, insolvency or arrangement with creditors or any like situation arising from a procedure of the same kind, or is not subject to a procedure of the same kind.
  • Have not received a judgment with res judicata force, finding an offence that affects its professional integrity or constitutes a serious professional misconduct.
  • Do comply with its obligations as regards payment of social security contributions, taxes and dues, according to the statutory provisions of the country where it is established.

Service provider eligibility criteria

• Proven experience in similar research services/ projects, in particular in media content analysis, and especially for international organisations.
• Proficiency in English and Ukrainian.
• Availability for the expected dates of service.
• Account in EUR.
• Submission of a bid before the deadline indicated in the call for tender.

Service provider award criteria

• Quality - price balance of proposed options.
• Experience and reliability of monitoring.

Documents to be submitted for participation in the tender

The following documents have to be provided by every bidder:

1. Short motivation letter with the information about the company and its experts (portfolio) as well as description of similar research activities. The motivation letter should also include a brief research proposal outlining the envisaged research approach and staff available.
2. Provisional budget with detailed breakdown of expenses prepared according to the following:

• made on the official letterhead of the company (LLC, Individual Entrepreneur) with the signature and stamp of responsible manager and/or director with indication of place and date;
• commercial proposal to be in EUR;
• commercial proposal should indicate the expected budget of human resources for the media monitoring (number of experts/ analysts, amount of time needed and their rates);
• inclusion of the commission of the service provider (should there is any) in the cost of each service without writing it as a separate line in the commercial offer;
• the project “Support the public service broadcaster in Ukraine” has been registered as a technical assistance project in accordance with the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine no. 153 as of 15/02/2002. Registration card #3958-03 dated by 21.04.2021. Therefore, potential suppliers are invited to provide budget offers with prices excluding VAT.

Call for tender issued

12 July 2021

Deadline for submission

30 July 2021, COB

Announcement of the results

06 August 2021

The winner will be awarded a direct contract with the DW Akademie (head quarter in Bonn) and will be delivering work to DW Akademie.

Contact information

If you have questions, on content-related issues please reach out to Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator of DW Akademie in Germany Amalia Oganjanyan ([email protected], +49 228 499 2822) or Project Coordinator of DW Akademie in Ukraine, Iryna Logvynenko ([email protected], +380 97 740 1822)/ on procedure-related issues address to  – Finance and Procurement Officer  of DW Akademie in Ukraine, Yana Naralska ([email protected], +380 67 502 3676).