Nutrition Software Development for SMART Initiative

Action Against Hunger tackles the causes and effects of hunger and diseases that threaten the lives of vulnerable children, women and men. Established in France in 1979, Action Against Hunger are a nongovernmental, non-political, non-religious, non-profit organization.

Action Against Hunger – Canada intends to award a service contract for the supply of services in the development and testing of a suite of digital tools to combat malnutrition. These tools perform mobile data collection, analysis and quality assurance, aggregation, visualization and dissemination of malnutrition data in the framework of humanitarian and development programs.

The subject of the call for tender is the supply, delivery and maintenance by the supplier of the following services to Action Against Hunger:

• Reproduce all existing statistical analyses currently used for SMART in the field: part of the SMARTplus software suite is a set of statistical analyses that allow survey managers to plan and analyze surveys. These are currently embedded in the Emergency Nutrition Assessment software, a piece of software specifically developed for the purpose of SMART. The first step of the software development project will be to reproduce all existing statistical analyses embedded in ENA, plus any recent additions or improvements, and replicate them in SMARTplus.
• Produce and test a modern user interface design with SMARTplus users: based on the wireframes provided, design a comprehensive user interface for each component, in cooperation with the SMART team and SMART users. Any improvements to the general user experience, or the ‘look and feel’ of the apps outlined in the design document are welcome and will be considered. The visual experience of all user-facing applications needs to be high-end and appealing. Features should be easy for existing ENA users to use; this should be determined through user testing and feedback.
• Develop each of the four elements of SMARTplus based on the Technical Appendix (A): A comprehensive plan that lays out the system design and workflows for each of the elements of SMARTplus has been developed. This information is contained in the Technical Appendix (A). The Technical Appendix (A) should be considered authoritative, as it was developed by software developers together with Action Against Hunger Canada and users. However, changes and improvements to the design will invariably emerge and are a key element of this software development project.
• Test the system: In addition to extensive unit testing by the tenderer, each of the system components should be tested separately by Action Against Hunger Canada and users, and a broader User Acceptance Testing phase should be planned for at the end of the software development. Given the high number of stakeholders and users across many countries, a longer testing phase than would be usual is anticipated relative to the technical complexity of SMARTplus. Moreover, service providers will need to account for the unique security, operational (e.g., connectivity), multi-lingual and multi-cultural context in which SMART is used to effectively test the product.CA-TOR-00003 Action Against Hunger – 14 / 35 Procurement 2019
• Document the work: All software development work should be documented in a transparent and understandable way, to enable other software developers in the future to understand, modify, and extend the software design where appropriate.
• Provide continuing assistance in maintaining SMARTplus: A portion of the contract will be reserved for any assistance in maintaining the system throughout the 2 years and beyond. The service provider is asked to provide in the proposal an overview of the type of maintenance they will be able to provide with this retainer (e.g. how many days of maintenance, until when in the future) and identify the types of work which fall under this retainer.

Generally, to complete these works to the quality required for SMARTplus, the company is expected
to propose a team with the following qualifications
Experience in managing significant application development projects with multiple
stakeholders, with a focus on:

• Productively managing experts from diverse technical and non-technical backgrounds.
• Managing projects within budget, overcoming financial challenges and clearly communicating budget constraints, using Agile, traditional, or hybrid approaches where applicable..
• Dedicating staff that can focus on the project to deliver target outcomes.
• Planning projects, both upfront and throughout the project, clearly communicating timelines and mitigating risks effectively.
• Conducting user experience research in diverse cultural contexts (including through interviews) and integrating findings into the product design and project plan.
• Advocating for user and client interests, including incorporating user feedback.
• Navigating large organizational structures with complex processes across different countries and cultures.
• Keeping on top of processes, clearly communicating and managing internal (developers) and external (clients) stakeholders.

Experience in designing multi-tier applications with complex architectures, with a focus on:

• Integrating numerous applications through secure web and/or hardware application programming interface connections. CA-TOR-00003 Action Against Hunger – 15 / 35 Procurement 2019
• Designing end-user apps for mobile/desktop/web and different operating systems built on top of ODK (Open Data Kit) using language such as Javascript, Java and Ruby.
• Ensuring applications adhere to the highest standards of security and privacy and conform to all relevant laws and regulations, as well as humanitarian community ethical norms.
• Complying with relevant web accessibility standards.
• Running extended user acceptance testing and adapting products as necessary to promote user acceptance.
• High standards of quality assurance and documentation.
• Implementing mission-critical software projects in high-stakes environments (e.g., aerospace, healthcare).
• Striving for an absolute minimum of bugs in production code.

Expertise in statistics and data analytics, with a focus on:

• Expertise in statistics or a quantitatively oriented discipline, including ability to translate statistical functions into code and thoroughly test edge cases and assumptions.
• Experience with data analytics (data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence a plus) or a related field.
• The ability to summarize and visualize data in understandable formats for different audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to work with cloud or high-performance computing infrastructure (e.g., Microsoft Azure, AWS, Google Cloud) or resource-constrained computing (e.g., embedded systems, robotics, edge computing).

Experience in designing applications with user-centric across web, mobile and desktop, with
a focus on:

• Designing compelling and appealing end-to-end user experiences.
• Customer-centric design of applications, for users with different degrees of technical competence.
• Building interfaces with appealing and intuitive design.
• Building applications for multiple platforms and operating systems.
• Developing internationalized applications for global audiences.

The following features, while not necessary, are preferred:

• Experience in the social sector (ideally humanitarian) and understanding of the unique logistical (e.g., low-bandwidth, intermittent connectivity) and ethical (e.g., confidentiality, privacy, do no harm) challenges facing humanitarian actors.
• Location in Canada or proximity to Eastern Time.