Futures Group tapped to develop cost-effective RH program

On Feb. 19, 2014, the U.K. Department for International Development awarded a contract to provide technical services under the Adolescent Reproductive Health in Ghana, or GHARH, to Futures Group, a U.S.-based international development firm. The four-year contract is valued at approximately 11 million pounds ($18 million), and may be extended as needed through a negotiated procedure. The official call for proposal was announced April 20, 2013, with bids due May 20, 2013. Small and midsize firms, community organizations, and social enterprises were eligible to participate. Four organizations submitted their bids to an electronic auction. The bids were ranked according to the most economically advantageous tender in terms of capacity to undertake work, quality of personnel (including technical expertise and management, skills and experience), commercial pro forma and methodology (including input on number of man-months). The entire procurement process — from the tender announcement through contract award — lasted approximately 10 months. The bid evaluation process took eight months. Futures Group is expected to mobilize within five months of signing the award. The management consultancy contract requires the firm to provide evidence not only of cost-effective adolescent reproductive health interventions, but also that these programs can be replicated and scaled up. The goal is to help boost Ghana’s capacity to manage and implement its national family planning program. The firm is known for its evidence-based and integrated approach to improving health. Its technical solutions involve policy and development advocacy, research and strategic information, health markets and private sector engagement, modeling and economic analysis, strategic consulting, and program management. In preparation for project implementation, on March 12, 2014, Futures Group sought expressions of interest from qualified senior health experts. The EOIs were due March 28, 2014. In addition to these senior health experts, the key personnel for this contract includes a monitoring and evaluation expert, behavior and change communication officer, and reproductive health service delivery consultant. The fourth-largest donor to Ghana, DfID’s work in Ghana through 2015 has two cross-cutting priorities: girls and women, and poverty reduction and growth in northern Ghana. GHARH — which aims to support young girls between 10 and 19 years old — is in line not just with DfID’s priorities in Ghana but with its “Strategic Vision for Girls and Women: Stopping Poverty Before it Starts” initiative as well. In addition, GHARH complements DfID’s other projects for women and girls in Ghana, which focus on providing greater economic opportunities, ensuring completion of secondary school and preventing violence. The project would help Ghana move closer toward meeting its Millennium Development Goals to reduce maternal mortality and achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015. By the end of the project, approximately 350,000 adolescents are expected to have better reproductive health knowledge, 90,000 unintended pregnancies would have been avoided, 240 maternal deaths prevented, and 2,000 health professional would have been delegated to provide family planning services. Although there are currently no EU-funded contracts related to GHARH, it does succeed a U.N. Population Fund-sponsored project called Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health. Also implemented in Ghana, the project is managed by Pathfinder International, a family planning and reproductive health nonprofit. Founded in 1971 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., global health consulting firm Futures Group has implemented more than 100 contracts in 93 countries. The company has offices in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Middle East and North America. Currently, Futures Group manages 40 projects on reproductive health for other governments, private sector companies, and a host of other prominent multilateral and bilateral donor agencies. Futures Group’s work in international development began as a result of a U.S. Agency for International Development contract for the Awareness of Population Impacts on Development, or RAPID, project in 1977. Before then, its focus was on developing computer-based modeling programs for the private sector. Some of the company’s current and past projects include the Reproductive and Child Health Program in Sierra Leone, HIV and AIDS Prevention Care (HAPAC) Phase III in Kenya and HIV and AIDS Program in China, all of which are funded by DfID. Futures Group has an office in Ghana, which was set up to house the operations of the USAID-funded Health Policy Project. The firm’s portfolio in Ghana covers nine projects, mainly in the health sector, including HIVCore and Action for West Africa Region for HIV and AIDS. Join the Devex community and gain access to more in-depth analysis, breaking news and business advice — and a host of other services — on international development, humanitarian aid and global health.