The purpose of this document is to define the Request for Information (RFI) for a platform to support the Cash Consortium of Sudan’s (CCS) Shared Distribution Network (SEND) initiative. The RFI has been issued by Mercy Corps, a member of the CCS.

Sudan’s ongoing conflict has produced profound human suffering. It has also destroyed critical infrastructure and systems that previously helped citizens cope with shocks and stresses. Financial services, including access to basic banking services, have been hit hard as cash liquidity left the system and centralized infrastructure came under attack. Social protection systems have been dismantled, and benefit delivery came to a halt. Humanitarian cash transfers offer a critical lifeline during this period of uncertainty and need in Sudan but are hampered by the breakdown of the financial sector. Despite the challenging emergency environment, many humanitarian actors are identifying innovative ways to meet urgent needs today while laying foundations for a more stable future. 

Humanitarian cash actors have continuously expanded operations since the start of the conflict, through both individual and group cash transfers. But liquidity and Financial Service Provider (FSP) capacity concerns have hindered progress. These challenges, for example, have led to two hundred accumulated days of delays in providing assistance across all partners within the Cash Consortium of Sudan (CCS). Currently, CCS partners including Mercy Corps are working with 41 FSPs and struggling immensely with the management and contracting of these FSPs as well as managing payments across multiple different platforms. Beyond the consortium, most implementing organizations are struggling with provider capacity, delays, and barriers to scale cash delivery. Each FSP has their own method and platform that organizations need to learn, which leads to complications with data management and payments. Finally, as each partner is responsible for their own negotiations, they are unable to leverage scale for rate negotiation, leading to high and inconsistent rates and fees. (For the cash consortium, they face an average of 6% fees across the country, and 9% in RSF controlled areas.) 

To address these difficulties, CGAP, together with the CCS and other implementing partners, is developing a two-tiered system (SEND) that can reduce delays and improve cost effectiveness, allowing humanitarian and social assistance actors to serve more people, more quickly, across Sudan. 

SEND is built around two pillars: a common contracting mechanism and a shared platform for payments and liquidity management. 

The scope of this RFI is to identify candidate organisations that have the capabilities to provide the technology to support the shared payment for payments and liquidity management which is referred to as the SEND Platform (SEND-P). 

The CCS has a strong preference towards leveraging open-source technologies where possible to deliver  SEND-P, where existing systems have required functionality and capacity. 

The CCS is open to a number of options for technology providers including:

• Use of off-the-shelf open-source software to meet the requirements of SEND-P with configuration, as necessary.

• Use of bespoke development to meet the requirements of SEND-P. All bespoke development IP would be transferred to the CCS upon completion of the project phases.

• Use of a combination of off-the-shelf open-source software and bespoke development to meet the requirements of SEND-P.

Ultimately, it is envisioned that the selected technology provider will provide the solution to a
Platform Operator for SEND-P. The determination of the platform operator will be conducted as a separate procurement process.