Term of Reference For Design, Development and Deployment of National Dairy Database System

Term of Reference 

For

Design, Development and Deployment of National Dairy Database System

1. Background

Dairying is one of the emerging businesses in Nepal. It has been identified as second most important agricultural value chain that has potential for growth and contribution in national economy. The demand for dairy products is increasing as response to population growth, urbanization, food habit changes and income growth. Despite potential, the sector is quite volatile and is not in a position to absorb the various shocks like natural calamities and pandemics. For developing resilience and smooth growth of the sector, a conducive policy and program are required for which an authentic and reliable database is essential which is lacking at present. Heifer Project Nepal (HPN) in coordination with Department of Livestock Services (DLS) and National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is implementing a signature program "Milky Way-Transforming Dairy Sector of Nepal" with three interlinked pathways/ objectives. The third pathway is enhancing the overall dairy ecosystem in the country. NDDB as national level policy body for dairy sector development of the country, is planning to develop national dairy database which would be helpful for policy and program formulation as well as for the different stakeholders involved in the dairy sector. NDDB is planning to create, host and maintain web portal  regularly upload the dairy related data from the authenticated concerned parties also making the database and summary accessible to various stakeholders.  

2. Objectives

The primary objective of this assignment is to develop web-based application system that will be used to create an authentic dairy related database that is required for policy, strategies and program formulation for overall dairy sector development in the country. The primary data sources are considered to be:

i) Registered Dairy Farm / Farmers

ii) Dairy Cooperatives / Collection / Chilling Centers/ DMPCU/ CDCAN

iii) Dairy Industries / Processors

iv) Rural/Municipalities

v) Dairy shop in city centers

vi) National Dairy Development Board

vii) International dairy traders

viii) Others

Thus, the immediate objectives of the assignment are as follows: 

i) Develop user friendly, secure and strong centralized database software in close coordination with NDDB and HPN for smooth development, installment and implementation of the software as required. 

ii) Should be dynamic, easily manageable through Content Management System (CMS).

iii) Deploy the developed/customized portal into the infrastructure provided by NDDB.

3. Scope of Services

The scope of this assignment is to develop and implement the appropriate portal to collect primary dairy data for generating reports required to formulate plans and policies. Some major, but not limited, assignments under the scope of work are as follows: 

a) Design secure, robust and scalable web application for NDDB 

b) Design and deploy responsive system

c) Deploy the system to the server provided by NDDB

d) Should have dynamic and attractive dashboard with appropriate data visualization

e) Should generate Reports.

f) Provide free technical support for 12 months after deployment

g) The developed system should be open standard where possible. It should not be vendor specific and depend on some vendor specific technology. There should not be implementation of any vendor specific component, software, middleware, firmware to avoid the vendor locking situation. The proposed architecture, database, programming language and any technology used to develop and implement system should use 'Open Standard' whenever such standards are available and applicable to meet the specification. 

h) The system should have different access control features as per user levels and user privileges or user roles.

i) Develop a prototype with sample data for pilot testing and Handover of final product

4. Approach and Methodology

The consultant shall follow one of the agile methodologies of software development. The rapid module development is expected to create iterations with the users and continuous feedback helps the delivery faster. The best part of this methodology is short time boxes, known as iterations, which happen to last from one week to months. The consulting firm/ consultant should work in close collaboration with the technical expert assigned by NDDB.

The exact data entry interface can be obtained from HPN separately.

5. Output and Deliverables

After carrying out the scope of activities, the consultant shall handover the following output and deliverables to the NDDB.

a) Inception Report: The consultant shall submit the inception report,along with the detailed work plan within 15 days from the date of signing of the agreement.

b) Software Design Document (SDD):  a complete SDD Document shall be submitted by the consultant.

c) Source Code: Full source code including all developed systemshould be handed over to SD IT Section.

d) User manual: the consultant needs to submit the portal operating manual in the documents form as well as in soft copy of electronic version.

e) Piloting Report: The consultants are also responsible for piloting the app/portal develop in close collaboration with NDDB and preparing the Piloting Report

6. Qualification and Work Experience

6.1 Qualification and Experience of Firm

i) At least of 2 Year experience in web application development.

ii) The consulting firm must have developed at least one web application for government/corporate organization.

iii) Relevant document like company registration, VAT Registration, Latest Tax Clearance Certificate are necessary.

6.2 Key Person Involvement

The following key personnel are required during the project period: 

7. Method of Selection

The consulting firm selection method shall be Quality Cost Based Selection (QCBS). The weightage for Technical and Financial evaluation shall be 80% for Technical and 20% for Financial Proposal.

8. Scheduling and Timeframe

The consulting firm should complete all the tasks, obligations, Presentations and reporting within 3 months from the date of signing the contract agreement.

9. Training and knowledge Transfer

The consultant should prepare the technical, user and operational training materials for successful operation of the system. The training shall be conducted by the consultant in coordination with the NDDB. The consultant shall conduct knowledge transfer training to staffs of NDDB.

10. Technical Specification

The technical specification of the proposed system should confirm the listed standards and specification requirement.  

10.1.Application Software:  

The software should be developed in reliable programming languages and programming standard must be generic data acquisition, access coding using application technology. 

10.2Programming Language 

The Consultant should use languages like JAVA, PHP, Development is desirable or any other language. The chosen programming language must have readily available compiler and host environments for common operating system like Centos Linux, Red hat Linux operating system and windows operating system.  

10.3 Compatibility with Operating System

The developed system should be compatible and could be hosted and compatible to any widely used operating system. The Linux, UNIX, Windows system is more preferable and should avoid any vendor specific system.

11. System Module

The target system should comprise of at least following modules

a) User Management Module with Log

This system should have different types of users from related organizations in hierarchy. The system shall have the user management module with sign up form. New user can sign up for registration by requesting to the admin. The users should be able to access the specific feature and functionality based on the role and responsibility assigned along with forgot/reset password feature.

I. Commercial Farm

II. Primary Cooperatives

III. District Coop Union

IV. Dairy Industries

V. NDDB

b) Data Entry Module

All the users will be able to enter data into the system. All data will be collected using prescribed form. Sample Form/Indicators are attached in Annex. The forms will be provided to the concerned agencies/stakeholders.

The data should be depicted in the system after the collection and dispatch to concerned processing centers

c) Frontend Module

Frontend module is visible to all public and should have well formatted data views model. Public can view and download when they need. 

d) Admin Module

Administrators can basically do everything to user role and setting, update milk prices according to NDDB guidelines and make export records. Administrators can view all user registered on the platform and their profile information such as email ID, phone number, address, location, etc.

e) Report Module

The web-based system should have advanced report module. The module should have different types and formats of reports.

f) Dashboard Module

The proposed web-based system should have the customize dashboard module based on the types of data. The dashboard should be able to provide a quick overview of the major milk production data.

g) GIS Visualization Module

Map Visualization, zoom/pan, locate coordinate (latitude/longitude), symbology of data, and search option.

12. Software Ownership

Consultant should bind on following constraints for software distribution, copyright and subsequence modification:

NDDB will have full ownership of the software including all subsequent modification done within the service period.

NDDB will have the full and sole authority to distribute, copyright, modify and re-engineer the system without binding obligation to any other institution.

Source Code and Design Document should be provided to NDDB.

13. Required Documents for Submission:

• Cover Letter
• Brief profile of the firm/organization
• Updated CV (relevant competency and experience) of the proposed team
• Technical proposal including proposed methodology, calendar of operation, deliverables, and roles and responsibilities of key professionals.
• Financial proposal with detailed breakdown
• Evidence of similar work
• Firm/organization registration certificate
• VAT certificate
• Tax clearance certificate (FY 081/82)

14. Submission Guidelines:

Applications, including a cover letter, firm/organization profile, CVs, and proposals (technical and financial), must be submitted by the email by 19th February 2026, 5:00 PM to Procurement-NP@heifer.org  with the subject line: “Application for Dairy Database.”

HPN will only contact the shortlisted firms/organizations. Verbal and telephone calls will not be entertained.

HPN reserves the right to accept or reject any proposal.