Issue Date: August 8, 2025

Submission of Bidder Questions (optional): August 12, 2025           

Proposal Due Date: August 20, 2025

Anticipated Award Notification Date: August 29, 2025          

To Whom It May Concern:

IREX (International Research & Exchanges Board) is seeking proposals from qualified respondents to establish a well-resourced knowledge management function to oversee data organization, internal AI use, system maintenance, training, and innovation.

IREX reserves the right to withdraw this request for proposals at any time up to the award of the contract. 

Background and Challenge

IREX in 2025 faces critical knowledge retention and data access challenges due to staff departures, budget constraints, and disjointed data and knowledge management processes. While some of these issues predate recent budget cuts and staff departures, recent shifts in public sector funding for international development organizations have exacerbated the problem.  The organization's 25+ years of institutional knowledge, intellectual property, program designs, partnership information, and implementation expertise are at risk of being eroded. This is particularly relevant since a) the remaining staff of highly specialized and tenured staff hold a significant amount of contextual information that will be lost with any future departures, and 2) a new donor landscape and funding reality require more agile operations and faster access to accurate, multidimensional data.  Current processes are inadequate for staff to access essential information-staff most rely on personal relationships to obtain needed data. There is also a current intent to implement a data retention and deletion policy for security and compliance reasons that could result in the loss of some intellectual property and other critical data if not managed in a thoughtful manner.

Expected Outcomes

A knowledge environment that enables program, business development, and operational teams to properly store information and maintain easy, accurate access to critical and proprietary business data through the development of data and knowledge management tools.  A function responsible for implementing emerging AI tools, conducting experimentation and innovation, while effectively managing organizational business data access and integrity. 

Approach

Coordinate all aspects of this engagement with a designated IREX Global Operations and Management (GOM) point of contact (POC) listed below.  Engage with units and representatives across the organization throughout the implementation, to gain a sense of context gather feedback, and engage in testing and experimentation. Collaboration with the Information Technology (IT) team is critical as well as the team of internal users in Global Programs (GP) and the Strategy, Development and Growth team (SDG). In the later phases of the engagement interaction with a broader group of IREXers for purposes of change management, training etc. will also be necessary.  The final phase of the work will require interaction with senior staff and executive team members to gain an understanding of needs regarding data for decision-making. 

Key required interactions: 

• IT Team representatives
• GP representatives
• SDG representatives

Final Product

A digital AI solution, as well as accompanying procedures and organizational training, which consolidates organizational data and information, maintains accuracy and relevance, and enables efficient retrieval of both historical and current data across IREX.

Proposal Requirements

Organizations or individuals interested in providing this service must submit a proposal which demonstrates their capacity to provide a solution to one or more of the following elements (preference will be given to respondents who propose a comprehensive solution to all five elements). Bidders must briefly describe how they will perform the work, keep their POC informed, and how they plan to deliver periodic updates on the progress of this engagement to senior and/or executive team members may be required. For each of the elements below bidders are required to propose a timeline and cost estimates. Please indicate whether and which elements can take place concurrently to achieve the end result more efficiently.  In addition to a proposal as required here, bidders are free to propose an alternative approach, that contains elements, sequence, timelines, deliverables and cost estimates.

Phase I: Digital Knowledge Management AI Tool Identification

1. Data Audit and Process Mapping: Conduct a comprehensive assessment of IREX's current data assets and workflows. Catalog all existing data sources, formats, and storage across the organization to understand what information IREX currently possesses and identify critical data gaps. Map existing processes to understand how data flows through the organization, where bottlenecks occur, and how information is currently collected, stored, and accessed by different teams. This analysis will aim to reveal inefficiencies in current workflows and highlight areas where processes need to be redesigned for upcoming AI integration.

   The Data Audit and Process Mapping should result in a written deliverable containing an evaluation of digital AI tools available to meet IREX’s knowledge management needs, addressing gaps identified through the Data Audit, and a roadmap for implementation of those digital AI tools.

Phase II: Establish Data Governance Protocols for Future Knowledge Management

2. Build Data Standards and Workflows for ongoing use: Establish data governance standards including naming conventions and classification structure that will govern how information is created, stored, and accessed going forward (ensuring that IT is involved in the process).  Concurrently design and implement standardized workflows for data collection, processing, and storage that integrate with (new) AI tools and centralized repository. Extract and preserve valuable content from legacy systems before implementing data deletion protocols, and support IT with data retention policy implementation.  Develop documentation (templates, examples) and training materials to ensure that staff understand and follow new data standards and workflows. Ensure that systems are built with futureproofing in mind, meaning that designs will remain flexible enough to adapt to evolving technology and organizational needs.

Phase III: Digital Knowledge Management AI Tool Implementation

3. Create Relational Database and Centralized Repository: Catalog critical documents and data from the last 10 years, focusing on high-value program materials and operational data. Conduct system architecture and integration planning to ensure links between existing platforms work. Implement comprehensive document and data organization which will include metadata creation and tagging to allow for efficient search and retrieval. Once this infrastructure is established, consolidate program documents and data into a structured SharePoint repository that will serve as the single source of truth for program information. Create relational databases and keys linking programs and operational data in order to enable cross-referencing between projects, staff, partners, and impact. Work to connect systems to eliminate data silos and establish automated data flows where possible.
4. Develop and deploy AI integrations: Configure and implement AI tools and agents within (new) data infrastructure including one or more of the following: 1) SharePoint Libraries with Copilot, 2) Azure (AI capabilities with SharePoint), 3) ChatGPT (with RAG or Enterprise), 4) Claude MCP, and/or other AI tools. The Function will connect AI tools to the centralized repository and relational databases established in Deliverable 2. Develop specialized AI agents tailored to IREX's workflows. These will be designed to support staff with document analysis, content generation, data extraction, and automated reporting. Provide comprehensive training to staff on how to effectively leverage new AI tools and establish best practices and guidelines for efficient and secure use. Implement monitoring systems to track AI tool effectiveness, adoption, and ROI to inform decisions on further investment.
5. Reestablish Executive Management and Senior Management Data for Decision Making tools: Update data initiatives in support EMT and SMT decision-making processes by rebuilding or updating existing tools and dashboards that include real-time key performance indicators, program metrics, financial data, operational insights, risk assessments, fundraising pipeline, and other executive priorities. Integrate program and operational data streams that provide current and accurate information for strategic decision-making without the need for manual updating. Finally, develop automated reporting workflows that generate regular executive summaries, dashboards, performance reports, and other documents.

Proposal Content

• Company’s profile, resumes of key personnel, references (a list of three similar projects, with contact information for the clients). Preference will be given for demonstrated understanding of, and experience working with international development organizations, non-profits, and preferably organizations who receive funding from a variety of donors (private, foundations, public sector, etc.). Page limit: 5 pages
• Technical proposal and timeline (a detailed description of the method used to perform the tasks outlined, the timing and content of deliverables). The timeline should be no longer than 16 months. Page limit: 12 pages
• Financial proposal including a breakdown of cost by project phase and element. Page limit: 2 pages

Proposals must be accompanied by a budget in sufficient detail to determine the price elements.

Proposal Submission Requirements

If you are interested in furnishing this service, please e-mail a proposal to akubera@irex.org  Attn: Amber Kubera.  Questions regarding the RFP will be considered up to 5:00 pm Eastern Standard Time on August 11, 2025.

If you decide to submit a proposal, it must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on the closing date indicated above. Late submissions will only be considered if in the best interests of the project, and then at IREX’s sole discretion. All proposals submitted must be valid for a period of not less than sixty (60) calendar days from the closing date indicated above. 

Proposal Evaluation

The criteria are listed in descending order starting with the most important factors to be evaluated.

• Sufficiency of methodology outlined (30%)
• Overall Price Competitiveness (30%)
• Feasibility of approach and timeline realism (15%)
• Qualifications of key personnel (10%)
• Flexibility & Customer Service (10%)
• Past references (5%) 

IREX may at its discretion ask for additional information or perform site visits. IREX may accept multiple bidders and partial bids for the services requested. 

Renewal

IREX reserves the right, based on availability of funding and vendor performance, to enter into subsequent contractual agreements with the winning vendor for a period of up to three years without issuing a new RFP.

Contact Information

Name: Amber Kubera

Title: Sr. Director of Global Operations and Management

IREX

1350 Street NW, Suite 1100 

Washington, D.C.  20005